Rude, demeaning treatment from staff at SLC airport location
I recently visited this Johnston & Murphy at the Salt Lake City airport to buy a dress shirt for a conference. I tried on five shirts and was fully intending to buy one because I needed it for my trip.
From the start, the salesman was short with me. I politely asked if there was a dressing room and if I could try things on, and he agreed, but his responses were very clipped. After I tried on the shirts, I put them back on hangers and came out and asked him what I should do with them. He didn't answer me, so I put them back in the fitting room.
When I went to try on another shirt (to take advantage of a 20% promotion after I had already picked one), he spoke to me in a scolding tone and said something along the lines of, "Would you please button up the shirts you left inside that you dirtied and messed up in there?" He then told me to hang them back up.
I understand that trying on multiple shirts creates extra work, but the way he spoke to me was demeaning and made me feel like I had done something wrong just by trying things on. Being described as having "dirtied" and "messed up" the shirts felt especially disrespectful.
I am a dark‑skinned customer and was wearing athletic clothes at the time. I left feeling that I was being judged based on how I look and that I wasn't welcome shopping here. During my visit, the same employee was extremely polite and cordial with another well‑dressed white customer, which made the contrast in treatment feel even worse. I felt very uncomfortable from the entire exchange, and it will probably stick with me in the future. Because of this experience, I don't plan to shop at this store again.
I hope management takes this feedback seriously and addresses how customers are spoken to and treated at this location. Based on what I've seen and experienced, I believe this behavior needs attention from whoever is responsible for supervising this store, so that other customers are treated with more respect in the future. read more