My mother is beginning chemotherapy for breast cancer this week, during which she will lose her hair. We were searching for a wig, and ended up visiting Empire Wigs. When we walked in, the lights were off, there were no staff people in sight, and we couldn't really tell if the store was open or not. Eventually, a man--I assume the owner of the shop--came out of the back, and turned on half of the lights in the store.
We began looking through the wigs, and my mom found one that she wanted to try on. She asked for a head covering for sanitation purposes (we've used them at every other wig store in the state), and he told her it would be $2 to use one. She asked if she could try it on without, and he just waved his arm at her. After she tried on one wig, she found one she liked better--it was bright red. My mom wants a fun wig to get her through this difficult time, so she tried it on. He snorted like he was making fun of her, and told her she should go to the party store. I made sure he knew she had cancer, and asked if he had any more wigs in bright colors since that one didn't really fit her.
The owner then told us that she wasn't allowed to try on any more wigs, and we should leave the store. I calmly told him that the way he was treating our family wasn't a really great way of retaining customers, and he yelled 'get out!' to me, my two younger sisters, and my mother. He grabbed me by the arm and shoved my 13-year old sister to throw us out--literally. I told him not to touch either of us, and he continued to attempt to shove the family out the door.
When we left, shocked at the way we had been treated, he locked the door behind us and turned off the lights again. I have never experienced such an unbelievable display of emotional and physical abuse at the hands of a store employee/owner. Mocking my mother the day before she begins chemo...shoving and grabbing young women to force them out of a store...we were just shocked and appalled at being treated this way.
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