Railed online, Zara’s saleswomans tell a daily life marked by disrespect, assaults and an often ignored reality.
Criticized for their coldness, caricatured online, Zara’s sellers are experiencing a completely different reality. Behind the well -aligned racks, they face behaviors on a daily basis that leave traces, far from clichés and fast judgments.
The apparently harmless fitting rooms sometimes reserve unpleasant surprises. “”Colleagues have found used hygienic towels in the cabin“Says Eliza.”Someone even defecated“, Adds Anaïs. These displaced gestures, which have become almost banal, impose the teams with a foolproof patience.
To this discreet weariness are added visible tensions. It only takes a missing size to explode frustration. After indicating that there were no more XS, Maïwenn saw a client throwing a whole bearer of clothes on the ground. Sometimes the annoyance is more direct. “”I was launched pants in the face“Remember Eliza.
At the checkout, impatience is a permanent background noise. Amélie, alone in the checkout, did not have time to fold each piece as it should be. As a answer, a client threw her coins on the face. Without a word, without a look. The displaced gestures leave marks, sometimes invisible. A Parisian saleswoman tells the target of a spit. An isolated, but symptomatic gesture of a climate where respect is no longer obvious. Behind an attitude sometimes closed, there is the exhaustion of a daily life made of small silent humiliations. “”After a while, we arm ourselves“Explains Maïwenn”But it is not because we remain professional that we are insensitive“. In store, fleeting looks and disproportionate requirements draw a form of social invisibility.”We sometimes have the impression of not existing“, breathes Amélie. Over the years, the tension has settled.”From the pandemic, people have become more aggressive, “observes Eliza.” They support the wait less, minus the slightest obstacle.“”
These testimonies tell another facet of the retail world. A space where the saleswomen continue to ensure, day after day, in the shadow of the brilliant windows.
Thank you to the sellers who agreed to testify. Their names have been modified.
