Look at this ad, then look at yourself, then look at this ad. You don’t look like the ad.

That’s a good thing, unless you actually like the heroine-chic-Lower-East-Side-crack-whore-circa-1980s look. If that’s the case, then be mad that American Apparel owner Dov Charney doesn’t like ugly people who wear bad shoes. People were up in arms recently because Gawker revealed shady information about the company’s hiring process based on intel they received from former managers. According to documents obtained, managers were given specific instructions on who to hire based on how they look. One manager was told not to hire trashy black girls and to make sure they had nice hair (ironically, nice hair to them was not permed or straightened). Another manager said this:

“American Apparel is full of it when they tell you that staff photos or “class photos” as they call them, are infrequent. When I was managing we had to send photos into our store consultant (a high school dropout) weekly… Not only did they police our clothes but our eyebrows, makeup, nails and hair color. They also openly mocked employees by posting photos of them online. Our store consultant also on several occasions told girls to lose weight or told them they were “too top heavy for crop tops”…They routinely denied applications based on looks or shoes.

It makes sense why the times I’ve been to American Apparel, the $8.00 an hour snobs who work there tended to seem like they had chips on their shoulders.  I never had any awful experiences that would make me complain but a lot of times, I was either not acknowledged at all or regarded with disinterest (which only bother’s me when I have a question or if I’m ready to purchase product). Strangers don’t hurt my feelings easily so I really didn’t care but at least now I know my observations were valid. And me bringing up how much they make isn’t me trying to say I’m better (because Lord knows I’m struggling) but the point I’m trying to make is, superficial and insecure people who get in certain positions of what they perceive as legitimate power feel better about themselves when they can scrutinize other people. This brings me to the American Apparel Owner, whom Gawker reported as having favorite “models” that he hires to over see the hiring process. This is him:

Can you imagine what he was probably like in high school? Yep. So it’s not surprising that he would grow up get rich and take all his insecurities, bully trauma and date rejection out on the world. I’d rather that than having another serial killer added to the list of psychos I already have to watch out for.  The bottom line is, if he didn’t own American Apparel, he’d probably own a white van, a hatchet, cables and some duck tape, and live in a house built on top of homemade graves filled with missing Jane Does.

So there, don’t be mad or surprised that American Apparel discriminates. It’s really not that deep. Plus, who wants to pay $40 for a cotton t-shirt anyway?

It’s not like I’ve never patronized American Apparel ever, but I always knew they weren’t checking for me, but I digress. Just know that if this “scandal” bothers you, you don’t have to support them.

Check out Gawker for full details and documents of their hiring process.

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Tags: American Apparel, Gawker

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 12:30 PM and is filed under Misc, Pop Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.