Orlando R.
Yelp
HARASSED BY EMPLOYEE IN WINTER GARDEN, FLORIDA
This happened today, Friday, October 11th/2019, at the Cost Plus World Market in Winter Garden around 5:30 p.m. The employee was a middle aged lady with black hair, blue eyes, thin physique. She seemed to either be a supervisor or a manager at the store.
My partner and I drove AN HOUR to visit this store. We wanted to check out all the neat Halloween stuff that World Market had to offer and were considering mentioning the store in one of our Youtube videos given the cool stuff they have. Free advertisement and a great experience! Instead what we got was getting harassed by an employee and basically threatened to get a membership...and us deciding to never set foot in a World Market store again.
As we ended our visit, rounding up into the mug and kitchen area, a lady, an employee, yelled at us questioning us if we had become members. She said that she could tell that we were not members and continued to shout at us (in the middle of the store! In front of all the customers...the employees.) how we were going to end up signing to become members and how she would come and find us at the end of the cashier. Talk about aggressive, necessary, and a harassing conduct! ...What are you training these people to do? Is this part of your company policies? Is this Employee what your values represent? ...To harass customers and literally push them out of your store?! (ALL FOR A MEMBERSHIP?!)
We told her, both my partner and I, MULTIPLE TIMES, how we were not interested, she started bickering out loud to her coworker of how stupid it was that we were not becoming members and how much money we were losing because of it. REALLY? Do you guys train your people like this? I HAVE NEVER SEEN AN ATTITUDE LIKE THIS IN MY LIFE BEFORE!
Not only did the employee yell that we WOULD end up becoming members, she also followed us to the end of our NOW hasty final look around the store. While I debated if to report her, leave the items and get out, this neurotic lady then had the audacity to physically grab me by the arm, TOUCH ME, as my partner was paying for our items (that I know regret even purchasing!), and tell me: "See! I KNEW you would become members!". This was both embarrassing, uncomfortable, and INCREDIBLY DISTURBING not only for my PARTNER, not just for ME, but the OTHER CUSTOMERS, and the other EMPLOYEES, who looked at her, at us, and who clearly seemed uncomfortable (and also seemed to disliked her attitude as well as her behavior.)
It wasn't until I told her: "This feels a lot like Harassment." That she let go of my arm and walked away saying: "Oh, we don't do that here!" (NO? Really? ...Then what was THAT?)
After I mentioned the "H" word, she finally left us alone, and then went over to randomly quiz an obviously uncomfortable employee about some stuff about the store as the other employees walked away from them, clearly very uneasy.
The whole store gave an odd vibe and you could see the other coworkers annoyed or irritated through the store. I can see WHY!
This happened today, Friday, October 11th/2019, at the Cost Plus World Market in Winter Garden around 5:30 p.m. The employee was a middle aged lady with black hair, blue eyes, thin physique. She seemed to either be a supervisor or a manager at the store.
We will not be coming back and we will definitely recommend our viewers to stay away from this store! We are considering taking further action with this situation as it has clearly left a horrible taste in our mouths. Whether it was harassment, discrimination, or whatever it was...we definitely felt UNCOMFORTABLE and THREATENED!
What a horrible experience that speaks volumes about the company.