The Power of Retail

Abercrombie & Fitch has been known to hire people for its stores solely based on how they look and this policy is ruffling feathers once more. The brand has always hired people with the ‘abercrombie look‘ which is likely to be an illegal method and some say that the company could fact legal action. As long as the company does not discriminate on race or gender, it is all legal. According to Todd Corley, Abercrombie’s vice president of diversity and inclusion, the “face” issue is based more on the presentation of a person and not only on his or her face.

The ideal abercrombie sales worker is said to be “all American, clean, wholesome” essentially the “girl or boy next door” look. If you don’t meet this criteria, then you are sent to the stockroom and are not allowed to talk to customers at all. Staff is evaluated based on secret shoppers who ask questions like “Was the cashier attractive?” and so on.

“There’s no real problem to discriminate against ‘ugly’ people,” said Jahan Sagafi, a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, the firm that represented the plaintiffs in the original diversity suit. “The problem is when you define beauty to incorporate white, which it essentially does at Abercrombie.”

Ms. Carmichael and Mr. Payne are both white and say they don’t expect legal or financial compensation. Instead, they believe their demotion signifies a disturbingly shallow mentality in youth-focused retail.

The job is “a cattle call and you are hired based on looks, not your ability to fold clothes or work with people,” Mr. Welch said.

Getting life insurance used to be quite a big deal at one time, but now there is such a simple procedure to get it that no one should ignore it. If you’d like there is even a no exam life insurance policy available, if the test is what you’re worried about. Having life insurance is just basic sense, it’s something that will work to your advantage, but you have to see it as a sort of investment that you never want to cash, but if you have to, then at least you’re well taken care of. Don’t be squeamish about it, it’s definitely worth getting, so get on with it.

I find it very interesting that there are so many things that we see these days that we actually end up blocking things, since there is only so much information that we can take in at a time. Everywhere you go, there are signs to catch your attention, things for you to see, lights flashing and constant, so the thing that happens is that while we end up taking in more information, we cannot process or remember it and so it just goes to waste. Which is why I am finding taking a camera along for my morning walks as such a cool way to notice, see and remember things. Here’s a shot that I took several months back. Enjoy!

My neighbor has been asking me for help to find the right air tools and while I wasn’t initially sure of what exactly she meant, once I searched on the Internet, I became clear enough. The way the Internet and being able to search for things online has changed our lives is pretty radical. At one time, we used to use the encyclopedia and the dictionary and local phone books to find things, now it is a lot simpler and the search and results are a lot wider. It’s a great time in the cycle of how things work and how we live our lives, with technology impacting us in almost everything we do.

Well, I will be taking some time off this month, to travel, to relax, to catch up with friends and family. My last break was in March and even though it doesn’t seem too long back, I am so ready for a break from work and my routine. I’m looking forward to traveling a bit and hope to stay away from the laptop and computer for a while….a break is never a break if you keep logging on, is it? So, I really do like to have a week or ten days a year, where I completely switch off…the cell phone, the computer, the internet and so on….a total break from all communication, except with the people around me, the people that really matter.

The change of seasons is never very good from the skin is it? I recently read a study about how the sale of various acne cures goes up during these time periods, just showing how responsive the market is. The thing that a lot of people do not realize about acne is that it does not have a short term fix, you have to change your life and diet and habits for the long term to really have a significant change. once you do that, only then will all the cures work their magic and will continue to do so long after you’ve stopped taking the medication too. Try it out and you’ll see the difference.