Inequality Makes Hot Dogs Taste Better!

Five Things I'm thankful for:
1. The gorgeous manager at Ralph Lauren.
2. Delicious inequality hot dogs.
3. Double char cheddar dogs.
4. Ralph Lauren not knowing about their discrimination.
5. Liz working on my blog with me and fixing redline to...red line. AND switching smack on the hand to slap on the wrist. (I couldn't remember the idiom{correct me if I'm wrong concerning the word})Thanks Liz!

Quote of the Day:
I did a quote earlier in the day from Nathaniel Hawthorne. I will not be doing a second quote. Sorry. You can't argue. It is after all Quote of the Day, that means only one remarkable quote per day. Sorry readers.


As promised in the Blog from last night, or early this morning—depending on how you choose to call it, I will be writing about my social experiment. Last night, Spencer and I decided that it would be a good idea to get an early start on the day. We decided to take off around 10. This morning I woke up at around 9:45. He texted me shortly after and asked if I was ready to go, I was not. I told him I’d need some time. I then proceeded to get ready for the day and as I started getting ready I was extremely disappointed that I had mixed up my shirts and realized that the one I thought was ironed was not. I then ironed my shirt. I then got ready. I wore my khaki pants, my light blue shirt, and a red tie. I wore my black shoes. I looked quite spiffy. I even put a part in my hair. Yes, I was fancy. We then got onto the red line and rode to the Chicago exit. That put us basically in the center of the Magnificent Mile.
The first store we went into was Ralph Lauren. The first thing we noticed was that the entire first floor had only Caucasian employees. There was no diversity. We went up to the other floors and we were able to find diversity there. My friend and I separated. Three times he was asked if he needed help. I was not asked once. It was almost as if I was an afterthought. As I was looking through the ties, an employee kept glaring at me, he did not follow me but I repeatedly caught him glaring. We then left the store and took notes.
The next store we went to was Banana Republic. We saw a “we’re hiring sign” in the front window. We decided to split up and ask for job applications. I went in first and asked. I was given a business card, a number to call, and told that the Internet was where this was handled. Spencer had a similar experience. The first thing I noticed upon entering the store was that there was instant diversity. On the first floor there was plenty of diversity. That made me happy.
As we left Banana Republic and were out on the street a lady came up to me and said, “Donde esta Illinois street?” I replied, “Yo no sé donde esa calle es. Lo siento, I’m so sorry.” The lady then said, “oh, ok. Gracias, ciao.” I said, “Sorry, have a great day.” As the lady walked away I processed things in my mind. The lady that I did not know had just walked up for me and assumed I spoke Spanish. I had missed an opportunity for an action step. Why did she think I spoke Spanish? Was it my skin color? Was it my facial features? Why had she assumed I spoke Spanish? I chuckled and realized I had missed a golden chance to educate someone on stereotypes.
The third store we went to was Tiffany & Co. on the first floor there was one non-Caucasian. He was the store security guard. The sales people were all white; there was a lack of diversity. I once again was not asked if I needed help. I then went to the second floor. Upon reaching the second floor, I was greeted and asked if I needed help. The employees of the second floor were predominantly “minorities.” As I was looking around on the second floor I was asked upwards of three times if I needed any help and that there were people to help me. A major difference between the first floor and the second floor was the price. On the first floor of the store the items being sold were extremely expensive. Things on the first floor were priced in the thousands as a start. Things on the second floor were priced in the hundreds. Was it purely coincidental that where all the expensive merchandise was held there were only white employees and that where the relatively inexpensive merchandise was held there were only minorities? I personally think it’s more than just coincidental.
The next store on the block was Saks 5th Avenue. We went in and to my contentment they were very diverse right off the bat. We then split up. As I was walking around I was politely asked if I needed help with anything. To my astonishment this happened on each floor. It was a relief to see that at least one company knew what proper customer service was. I was happy to see that they were not only good at customer service but they also were extremely diverse.
Spencer and I decided that we would go back to Ralph Lauren and discuss what had taken place earlier with a manager. We went in and walked around for a while. Nothing had changed. There was still a lack of diversity on the first floor and the man who was in charge of looking over the ties was still glaring at me. We went to the front desk and asked to speak to the manager. The lady asked if there was anything she could help us with. We were quite blatant about the racial issue and her jaw dropped. She said, “Yes of course you can talk to the manager…but that’s more of an HR thing.” She then called the manager to the desk. While we were waiting for the manager to appear I asked for the number of HR. She gave me the names and numbers that I should contact. The manager finally arrived. She asked what the problem was. We told her our concerns of the lack of diversity on the first floor and asked her if that was purely coincidental or if it was like this for a reason. She was completely dumbfounded with our question. She told us that it must be purely coincidental and that it was also because the first floor mainly consisted of those of seniority and tenure working the first floor. I replied with another question and asked her why was that group mainly Caucasian. She replied saying that she did not know why that was but that this was only one of the branches of Ralph Lauren and that there was diversity among its other branches. I replied and informed her that I was not shopping at the other branches and that I was shopping at this branch. The other branches were irrelevant. She asked us why we had these questions. Spencer then told her that he was asked multiple times if he needed any assistance or anything while I on the other hand was completely blown off. We noticed this and then one thing led to another and before we knew it we had seen the massive inequalities in Ralph Lauren. Spencer then said that he was worried that he was getting all the attention and then I would end up getting tailed or something of that sort. She asked if that had happened. I told her that no I had not been tailed but that I had an employee glaring at me each and every time I went through his department. She asked us who it was. Spencer then told her that we did not want to put anyone on the spot and get anyone fired or anything of that sort. I mentally disagreed with Spencer at this point but I did not voice what I had to say. If it had been up to me I would have told her who it was and brought it to her attention because he needs to be talked to and shown that this is not okay, as for his job security I doubt he will have anything worse then a little slap on the wrist—figuratively speaking—and that would be the end of it. Spencer went on to say that we just wanted to shed light on the issue. She immediately apologized for the lack of customer service and promised that she would talk to the employees and make sure that this was addressed. She then told us how sorry she was that this had happened and let us know that she was sorry for the discrimination we had seen and then she promised that Ralph Lauren was not a place of discrimination. We thanked her for her time and she apologized yet again. We then left.

After completing our great feat Spencer and I went to a little hot dog restaurant. It was fantastic! I got a double cheddar char dog with everything on it but pickles and hot peppers. It was amazing. I got my hot dog and to my surprise when they say double then mean you get to hot dogs in one bun! I was so excited. It was absolutely delicious. I will most definitely be revisiting that restaurant soon…with Liz.

I am going to possibly upload a lot of pictures so look for a pure photo blog. Maybe...Maybe not. Is the suspense killing you?

I love you all, goodbye.
Mi amor a todos, adios.
אני אוהב אותך כל, סלאמאת.