DSW Shoes - Schaumburg

01/28/12

They Racially Profile

by mjones654 at Citysearch

I went into this location because they usually have a good selection of items on their clearance table. I just so happen to find a Sakroots ereader cover (I've been looking for one for awhile) so I grabbed it up and walked on to the back to look at the clearance table. Out of nowhere a woman approached me and started questioning me "Are you finding every thing ok?" (I said "yeah") Then "Can I help you find anything in particular?" (I said "no"). By this time I'm wondering how she managed to walk by the 15 to 20 people all the way in the front of the store JUST TO HELP ME? She was looking at my hand to see what I had, then asked if I had a rewards membership (I said "no"). She goes to the front...after a bit she reappears and literally signs me up, she has yet to approach anyone else. This time, she inspected what I had in my hand and began inquiring about it. All the while I'm thinking "Wth? Ummmm, why are you bothering me?" Then she goes back to the front of the store...not once stopping to help any of the 20 to 30 people who are now in the store. I felt really weird and uncomfortable after that. Then I looked up and saw an attractive blond woman walking around and pretending to look for something in my immediate vicinity. I was thinking "you've got to be kidding me?". I realized what they were doing...I was being profiled. These people were racially profiling me. I was the only African American in the entire store! I was the only one approached to receive this special "customer care." I later found out the attractive blond, pretending to inspect things in my immediate vicinity, was the MANAGER! Btw, her response to me when I made a very quiet complaint (some people would have went off) was "I'm so sorry you were made to feel that way. I'll look into it." I'm thinking "seriously lady??" I'm a BioChem major, minoring in Economics, yet getting profiled by some shoe reps??...I left the store (after purchasing the ereader cover) feeling like garbage. Btw, I later called the customer service number on the receipt to see if they had me listed yet as a rewards member..........N.O.T.H.I.N.G! Perhaps it takes awhile for it to show up in their system, but I honestly don't expect anything to ever show up because her goal wasn't to provide customer service...it was to make sure I didn't steal.