Fat Customers Get Cold Shoulder

The New York Times has picked up on some research from Rice University:

Obese shoppers routinely suffer rude and dismissive treatment at the hands of sales clerks. According to a study undertaken by graduate students at Rice University, sales clerks act unfriendly, neglect to smile, avoid eye contact and end interactions prematurely when dealing with overweight customers.

However where the obese customers were dressed in "professional attire", they were treated better than those in casual attire.

There is no need for this discrimination. The retail stores lose out:

Reports of greater interpersonal discrimination were related to spending less time in the store, spending less money than originally intended, and reduced chances of returning to the store in the future.

But then do the sales assistants really care?

It seems that perception is everything. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has felt intimidated when going into clothes stores. The more (apparently) hip/cool the store, the more intimidation I feel. Perhaps it's because I'm woefully unhip and uncool.

There are dozens of stories of people who have gone from over-sized to regular-sized - then finding they get treated quite differently by retail workers.

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