A company’s reputation isn’t just built on the products they sell, but the way they treat people.

One woman walked into a store to discuss a broken exercise machine, but walked out having exposed a business’ discriminatory hiring practices.

Read on for the full story!

Manager reveals illegal hiring practices when mistaking me for applicant

I’m a bit older (I’ve got grandkids in high school, let’s put it that way). So I’ve been especially cautious about staying home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part of that has, unfortunately, meant indefinitely cutting out my regular trips to the gym. So I invested in a couple of pieces of equipment for my house.

I’d purchased them from a local fitness retailer, who I’d selected in part because of their generous warranty and repairs agreement.

But owning the equipment was another story.

But then, one of the machines broke.

I called them up, and all of a sudden, they were a lot more difficult to get on the phone than they were during the sales process.

They wouldn’t commit to a repair date, the technicians were never in, and customer service kept putting me on hold for ridiculous amounts of time — even though it was a small local store.

Just endless.

So she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Finally, I decided to go over and sort it out in person.

At this point, our state was only just beginning to open up, so things like fitness equipment stores weren’t seeing a surge of foot traffic yet.

She didn’t exactly look the part of someone who would patronize this business.

I was just coming from a full morning of meetings, so I was wearing business-appropriate attire — dress pants, pearls, knit turtleneck, the works.

I came in and saw a line of buff, meaty guys lingering near a counter, looking as though they’d also just come from work. I figured they too were waiting to talk to customer service.

They looked surprised to see me, but I figured it was because most older people were staying put if they could help it.

I gave a polite wave and otherwise kept my distance.

She tried to move the waiting process along, and again the employees were surprised to see her.

After a few moments, I realized the employees were calling the buff, meaty guys by name and taking them into a back office to deal with their concerns.

I assumed it was a social distancing measure.

So I went over to a guy wearing a store uniform, calling names, and asked, “Excuse me, do I have to take a ticket or get my name on a list or something?”

He seemed surprised too, but again, I chalked it up to age. He said to wait a minute.

They were acting dodgy towards all her questions.

I asked if I should get started on any paperwork — a lot of the other guys were filling things out, and I figured they were claims related to repairs or other information I’d need to provide to expedite the process.

But he just kept insisting I wait there.

Meanwhile, a more senior guy kept surfacing every few minutes, calling for people to talk to him in the back. “Brett, Tony—” Then the more junior guy pulled him to the side and pointed me out.

I waved.

Now they’re just being outwardly weird.

The senior guy came over and asked, “Hi, ma’am, are, uh, are you sure you’re in the right place?”

I replied, “Oh, definitely, I’ve been planning to come down here all week.”

Suddenly she was moved to the front of the queue and she couldn’t figure out why.

He said, “Alright, then, we can chat right now. You want to come on back, you ready?”

The beefy guys exchanged puzzled looks, but I thought it was because I was jumping the queue. I assumed they were prioritizing me because I was at the highest risk.

I said, “Oh, that’s sweet of you, but most of these men were here before me. I’m fine to wait. Why don’t you give me any requisite paperwork to take care of in the meantime?”

But he just shook his head, going, “Well, before you fill anything out, why don’t we talk first?”

And off we went.

She was puzzled with how formal the employees were acting for such a routine request.

I sat down in a small back office, across from these two men at a desk.

It seemed like quite the to-do over scheduling a simple repair, but I figured this was life in the “new normal.”

They looked at each other as though neither quite knew what to say, and I thought, “Is this both their first day on the job? Let’s get on with it here.”

Then they started to ask some odd questions.

Finally, the more senior one cautiously ventured, “So… do you have a lot of experience with the specificities, inner workings, and maintenance of gym equipment?”

Now I’m thinking they’re trying to find a reason to put me at fault, void my warranty, or otherwise upsell me, so I shoot back a curt but truthful answer.

So finally, she was fed up with all the weirdness.

“I’ve been working out every day for longer than at least one of you has been alive.

I can look at any model on your floor and tell you what they do, why, and which features are necessary versus which features are just extra flash designed to line your pockets. And I definitely know a working machine from a broken one, so I don’t even know why this discussion is necessary.

Just tell me what information you need, I’ll sign what I need to sign, and let’s get this taken care of.”

So they got blunt.

The more senior guy folded his hands on the desk and went, “Alright, listen, I’m sure you’re very experienced and do know your way around but… ok, listen, how old are you?”

“WHAT?”

She couldn’t even begin to understand what was happening.

There was no universe in which he needed that information to get a repair tech to my house. I was really and truly lost at that point.

Was he coming on to me? Was he insinuating there was no use in fixing my machine because I’d be dead soon enough anyway?

“WHAT? What could that possibly have to do with anything? You have no right to ask me that.”

The junior guy whispered, “Hey, yeah, I don’t think you’re legally allowed to ask that.”

But then she started to put two and two together.

That’s when it all started to click for me.

The senior guy put his hand up in a “shut up” gesture to his partner and continued.

Somehow, they made things even worse.

“It’s just that, when the clients come in, they’re going to have a much easier time trusting someone who looks like them. So, it’s not even so much about age than that you’re a woman.”

The junior guy gasped in pained dismay. “Bro, no—”

He turned to me, switching into professional mode in an instant.

“What my colleague meant to convey is that we are targeting a certain demographic, and…” He ran out of buzzwords with that sentence alone.

They finally realized the situation was getting away from them as I sat in silence, staring daggers into them.

So she lets them know just how big of a mistake they’ve just made.

Fully understanding that I’d walked into a pool of job applicants and been mistaken for one, I said, “You realize it’s illegal to ask an applicant their age or discriminate on the basis of gender?”

The senior guy exclaimed, “It’s really not about us, ma’am. We’re trying to keep you safe, you know. We’re not saying you can’t work here, like that you’re incapable. Just that you shouldn’t, like, we’re doing you a favor by not considering you, really.”

I wanted to be sure I had my bases covered.

She decided to make these guys really sweat.

“Well, thanks for your concern. But times are tough, and I’m qualified for this position, so I’d still like to fill out an application.”

The junior guy looked like he wanted to give me one just to make this end, but the senior guy said firmly, “For all the reasons I just outlined, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

It was time to escalate this all the way to the top.

I’d heard enough. I asked to speak to the owner.

They said the owner wasn’t reachable by phone.

There was a tray of business cards on the desk, so I picked up the one with “Owner” listed on it.

While it only had a phone number for the main business line, it also had an email.

So I said, “Guess I’ll just email him then. Now, I need your full names.”

The junior guy gave me his real name. The senior guy lied.

Turns out, her intervention made lasting change at the business.

I found his real card and took it for my records.

I later exchanged emails with the owner.

The senior guy was let go. The junior guy was disciplined.

The kicker? The business owner was a woman!

It turns out her equipment wasn’t the only thing in desperate need of repair.

Reddit is sure to get a kick out of this one.

Maybe this woman discovered an unexpected calling!

Sometimes all it takes is one good patron to call out an issue in a business.

It seems like everything worked out exactly like it was supposed to!

Some things should just be off limits, especially during the hiring process.

Workplace discrimination doesn’t go unnoticed.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.