Remember when M&S once stocked an LGBT sandwich to show support for the trans community? Well, I guess those days are long gone as they’ve just issued an apology to a customer who was upset that a transgender employee offered to help them at one of their stores.
The retailer has apologised to a mother for causing her teenage daughter “distress” after she was asked if she needed help by a 6’2″ trans employee in its lingerie area.
M&S said it was “truly sorry” after the mum complained that her 14-year-old daughter had felt uncomfortable when they were approached by the trans shop assistant in the bra section of the shop, where they were hoping to have a bra fitting.
Despite the staff member being polite, the mum said it was “completely inappropriate” for her daughter to be approached by a “biological male” in that section.
In a complaint to M&S, she told the retailer: “Imagine her horror, then, when the person to approach us and ask if we needed help was a transgender ‘woman’, ie, a biological male.
“This is obviously the case: he is at least 6ft 2in tall… My daughter recoiled, so I politely declined the offer and we left immediately. She was visibly upset and said she felt ‘freaked out’.”
The following day, M&S issued an apology to the mother and her daughter via e-mail:
“Thank you for reaching out to us and sharing your experience. We deeply regret the distress your daughter felt during her visit to our store. We understand how important this milestone is for her, and we are truly sorry that it did not go as you had hoped.”
M&S said it took her concerns “very seriously” and would ensure her daughter “receives assistance from a female colleague during her next visit”.
“We want to make this experience as comfortable and positive as possible for her. Please let us know when you plan to visit again, and we will make the necessary arrangements.”
I wonder if M&S’s response would have been different if this incident occurred before the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that said equality law refers only to biological sex? These massive companies do tend to just go with where the wind is blowing on matters like this.
The response from M&S seems fair enough IMO, but the mum felt it fell “significantly short of the response that was required to satisfy me that M&S takes seriously the safety and dignity of women and girls”. She’s not messing about!
The mother, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Telegraph that while the retailer had acknowledged “this colleague is not female”, it was “not sufficient to offer just my daughter the protection of not being approached by him”.
Maybe a substantial gift voucher would make her happy? Well, either way, I’m sure M&S will have issued a company-wide e-mail by now to ensure that trans employees are not asking teenage girls if they need help in the bra section of M&S stores. JK Rowling is going to hit the roof when she hears about this!
For the time M&S’s ‘luxury’ biscuit got massively exposed, click HERE.
