ABERCROMBIE & FITCH NOW HIRING LESS-ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE

You no longer have to be good-looking to work for Abercrombie & Fitch. Former Chief Executive Officer Mike Jeffries, who left in December, set rules in the stores. Only the most attractive people were hired to work in the main store. If you were deemed less than attractive, or too old, you would be relegated to the back room, if you were even hired at all. But now, with sales dropping over the last six years, Abercrombie is putting the customer at the center of the business, according to new president Christos Angelides. Also gone is the “Look Policy” for employees, which banned French-tip manicures, certain hair-styling products and mustaches. Clerks still can’t wear extreme makeup or jewelry, but the rules are gentler. The idea is that sales forces should focus on selling, not on obsessing over their level of accepted handsomeness.
* If sales are dropping, I don’t think a store full of ugly clerks is going to help.
* Sure, it’s dumb – but what did you expect them to do – lower prices?
* I don’t like my store clerks with mustaches. Especially the girls.
* I think Abercrombie & Fitch could save a lot of money if they got rid of Fitch.
* What’s going on here? We’ve got Abercrombie & Fitch in a sales slump; McDonald’s just closed hundreds of outlets. Sure this recovery isn’t just a bunch of hype?
* This still could work out: if we quit eating burgers we’ll need to buy new clothes.
* Maybe the Look Policy has just been replaced with the Paper Bag Policy.
* I’m not a fashion person. See, I don’t even know what a French-tipped manicure is.
* I know what I think it is, but the FCC wouldn’t want to hear that.
* PHONE TOPIC: Abercrombie & Fitch has caused a lot of controversy in the past over its hiring practices. Have any of your listeners had experience working – or trying to work – there?