Growing up, it was a common sight for us to see “no shirt, no shoes, no service” signs on the doors of stores we entered.
And while we always joked that this seemed to open the floodgates for people to come in their underwear, one thing we can say for those signs in hindsight is that they were at least clear on what they wanted.
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Compare that to modern dress codes and we see a lot of language about wearing ” respectful ” or ” appropriate ” clothing, which are such vague terms that they seem to be up to the interpretation of whoever happens to be enforcing them at the time.
And unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happening. And it’s a particular problem for women, whose fashion choices are often held under intense scrutiny to the point that they’ll face consequences if just about any part of their bodies are visible.
And we’re about to see, this seems to happen whether the place they’re entering actually has a dress code or not.
Be advised that the video featured in this article contains explicit language
On November 8, a woman shopping at an Asda grocery store in London’s Isle of Dogs peninsula was confronted by a store employee over her outfit.
In a video she uploaded to Twitter, the employee could be seen telling her that her outfit is not something that employees like him would be allowed to wear.
In the accompanying tweet, she also claimed that he told her she shouldn’t be there because she wasn’t wearing enough clothes, she wasn’t respecting herself, and was practically nude.
It’s worth noting that as we can see here, she was wearing sweat pants, a tank top, and an open hoodie.
Nonetheless, he claimed that her outfit wasn’t acceptable because “We can see your body almost.”
Presumably, this small strip of midriff and the area around her collarbone constituted “almost” being able to see her body.
He also stated that he had called over the manager, whose input we do not see in the video.
Before their conversation wound down, the woman told him, “So I don’t respect myself, is what you said.”
And although that was what she recalled him saying earlier, he seemed to deny this, saying that his response to her outfit had less to do with self-respect and more to do with the store’s policy.
However, a tweet from Asda’s corporate service team in response to the woman’s video states that no such policy exists at their stores.
Instead, it seems that the employee in question was exercising his own personal judgment regardless of the store’s policies.
As a representative from the supermarket chain told Ladbible, they have since launched an investigation into the incident and reached out to the woman to apologize.
