When a company is hiring, they have to make sure that they are following all the laws when it comes to how they make their decisions.

What would you do if you went into a store as a customer, but the managers thought you were applying for a job, and then they said they wouldn’t hire you because you are too old?

That is what happened to the woman in this story, so she got in touch with the owner and got her issue solved and the manager fired.

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.

People made lots of sacrifices during COVID.

Part of that has, unfortunately, meant indefinitely cutting out my regular trips to the gym.

So, I invested in a couple 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.

It is frustrating when companies don’t support their products.

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.

Wouldn’t commit to a repair date, technicians never in, customer service always putting me on hold for ridiculous amounts of time even though it was a small local store, just endless. Finally I decided to go over and sort it out in person.

Why are so many people at the fitness store?

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, and I was surprised to find about a dozen cars parked in the lot. Mostly lifted trucks and jeeps with punisher stickers and similar embellishments.

I figured that made sense for the kind of clientele whose first order of business after a nationwide shutdown would be to get to the gym equipment store. I didn’t really think much else of it at the time.

Odd, but no big deal.

I was just coming from a full morning of (Zoom) 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 around near a counter, looking as though they’d also just come from work, and figured they too were waiting to talk to customer service.

They looked surprised to see me, but I figured it was because most old people are staying put right now if they can help it. I gave a polite wave and otherwise kept my distance.

Social distancing was very important at the time.

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, and I figured 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. 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.

They seem confused.

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

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

She didn’t have much of a choice since they wouldn’t send someone out to fix her equipment.

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

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

Getting her in and out quick was very nice.

The beefy guys were exchanging some 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?”

Maybe they can help her quickly.

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

And off we went. 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.”

You’d think they would know how to help her.

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

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?”

Wow, she had the perfect answer ready for them.

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

Wait, they can’t ask that.

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?”

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 onto me? Was he insinuating there was no use in fixing my machine because I’d be dead soon enough anyways?

Good job standing up for herself.

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

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

So, that’s when it all starts to click for me.

What are they even talking about?

The senior guy (in rank only, he couldn’t have been a day over 30,) put his hand up in a “shut up” gesture to his partner and continues, I can’t tell if he’s trying to walk back his earlier statement or double down on it, going “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 gasps, in pained dismay, “Bro, no—“ and turns to me, switching into professional mode from night to day 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.

Now it is all making sense.

They realized the situation was getting away from them at that point as I sat in silence, staring daggers into them. Finally 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 definitely thought he had the situation handled as he exclaimed, “It’s really not about us, Ma’m, 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. There’s a lot of heavy lifting that’s not safe for older people. Your bone density decreases hand over fist as you age, haven’t you noticed that? And you’d be in the store alone sometimes with other employees, you’d be the only woman here, that would be very uncomfortable… for you, I mean!”

Their excuses don’t matter, it is discrimination.

I wanted to be sure I had my bases covered, because I’m lucky to have stable employment, but plenty of my old bitty peers are struggling right now, and it infuriates me to think they’re ever dealing with this kind of thing.

So I went, “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 senior guy clearly doesn’t know what he is getting into.

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.”

I’d heard enough. No way this infant sweat stain owned and operated a business, so 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.

She is not letting this go.

While it did only have 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 said his name was Ken Lopez. Fine. The senior guy said his name was Brian Smith. I nodded and asked, “Hey Brian, why’s your shirt say ‘Andy’ on it?”

Adding lies on top of it.

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

I didn’t want to give the guy any opportunities to hide behind those bogus excuses, so as I turned to leave, I concluded a final time with feeling, “Just so we’re clear, you’re saying you will not even let me apply for the job, because you won’t consider me based on my age and gender?”

What an idiot.

He tried to stay silent at first, but eventually cracked under the pressure and babbled, “Look, it is what it is ma’m.”

While his clueless junior counterpart said, “Good luck on the job search! And tried to offer me a coupon for my trouble of having driven all the way there.

He wasn’t as bad, but he was still bad.

I had no sympathy for the junior one either though, because he didn’t give me an application back at the beginning when I still thought I was in line for customer service. He took one look at me and got his boss instead to weed me out.

So, I left shortly after that point and exchanged emails with the owner. I explained what had happened, not only that their people utilized discriminatory hiring practices, but that I’d arrived as a customer and no one greeted me or asked how they could help, to such a degree of negligence that this situation was allowed to occur without either ever realizing I was a customer.

Oh, I bet the owner wanted to keep her very happy.

I still didn’t get a job application, but that’s quite alright, my current employer probably wouldn’t be too thrilled to hear I was shopping other offers. What I did get was swift, hassle free repair of my machine and a direct number to contact for the future.

The owner also later called to personally apologize and informed me the senior guy had been let go and the younger one disciplined.

I didn’t see this coming.

The kicker? The business owner was a woman!

These types of hiring practices are bad enough, but to not even try to hide it means they are stupid on top of breaking the law.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

She would make a great secret shopper.

I mean, this commenter isn’t wrong.

This commenter is also a female business owner.

Yeah, they should not be in management.

She handled the situation perfectly.

What were these guys thinking?

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.