Dear American Girl Company,
I wanted to let you know that I recently read a story about a truly horrible experience a little girl had at your New York City doll salon.
I'm the father of a little girl, and I've been waiting to get an American Girl for her, but having now read this story, and seeing the type of people you hire and the policies you endorse, I will not be buying my daughter one of your dolls. I will further be telling EVERYONE I know about this experience.
One of your employees broke a little girl's heart and invalidated every good feeling she had about herself. This employee crushed this young woman's self-esteem, and it's absolutely deplorable.
There are not words strong enough for me to express my outrage, and it was not even my daughter.
I hope you act quickly to rectify this matter and take care of that little girl.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Maurice Reeves
http://oneofthosehorriblemoms.blogspot.com/2007/03/fake-out.html
http://consumerist.com/consumer/american-girl/american-girl-place-mocks-6-year+old-for-having-a-doll-from-target-refuses-to-style-the-dolls-hair-246666.php
I'm a working class mother living in one of the boroughs of New York City. My daughters and I have been to AG Place in NYC a few times, with dolls and without dolls, dressed nicely and dressed not so nicely, and we've always been treated very well. Most of the customers seem to be tourists, and the employees are a mix of different ages and ethnicities. I doubt any of them would be this rude to a customer, especially a six-year-old customer.
If you read the whole blog, it clearly states that Etta is the one who chose to buy the Target doll rather than the American Girl doll. The stylist, even if she was rude, wasn't telling Etta anything she didn't already know...her doll is not a real American Girl doll! And honestly, I don't think there's anything wrong with AG refusing to style other doll brands. If they damage the hair of their own brand of doll, they can easily replace it. But can you imagine the outrage of a parent/child whose non-AG doll's hair has been ruined by the styling treatment? Then there would be a whole big deal about replacing it, etc.
This morning I decided to read some of the mother's other blog entries. She talks about her cleaning lady, sending her kids to expensive summer camps, the VCR in her minivan, the kitchen and facade renovations on the Brooklyn brownstone that she purchased, a 3-day trip to a spa, trips to Ireland and Italy with the kids, and the expensive nit-picker she hired when her kids got lice. Yet her letter to AG Place implies that her family is impoverished and that her kids dress in thrift store clothing. Yeah, right.
My vision of what really happened: the stylist told the woman that she couldn't style the doll's hair because it's not a real American Girl doll. The woman got mad and argued with the stylist while the kid cried. The other moms got annoyed because the woman was causing a scene and holding up the line, and so they made some rude comments to the woman. The woman writes this melodramatic, embellished blog in order to gain sympathy and attention and maybe some free stuff.
If the employee did behave that way, she deserves to be disciplined or fired. But I'm not sure why you would boycott a company because of one employee's alleged behavior.
While at first glance this seems like a terrible thing, but I have worked in the Doll Hair Salon at the Los Angeles AG Place and there is a policy about styling non-AG dolls.
I've seen non-AG dolls done on very few occasions, and only because of an angry/insistent parent. The reasoning is these other dolls have very different hair and our brushes and styling methods can damage it/rip it out completely and if we allowed all other dolls, we'd have even *more* angry parents, accusing us of ruining the doll's hair. :/
think the story is probably rooted in truth, but it was very ignorant to bring a knock-off Doll to the store
I grew-up w/ AG Dolls (I was not a privledged child) & I introduced them to my my cousin when she was 6. She's 9 now and we have been to American Girl Place NY 3 times now. we have shopped & ate in the cafe and it was a wonderful experience each time.
I find it hard to believe that a member of their staff would be so blatantly rude.
I too have read many of oneofthosehorriblemoms blogs & I don't know what her motive was in writing the one about AG Place, but she was not even there so her views of what happened isn't clear. So what they wouldn't style the dolls' hair - CRY ME A RIVER, BUILD ME A BRIDGE & GET OVER IT!!!
think the story is probably rooted in truth, but it was very ignorant to bring a knock-off Doll to the store
I grew-up w/ AG Dolls (I was not a privledged child) & I introduced them to my my cousin when she was 6. She's 9 now and we have been to American Girl Place NY 3 times now. we have shopped & ate in the cafe and it was a wonderful experience each time.
I find it hard to believe that a member of their staff would be so blatantly rude.
I too have read many of oneofthosehorriblemoms blogs & I don't know what her motive was in writing the one about AG Place, but she was not even there so her views of what happened isn't clear. So what they wouldn't style the dolls' hair - CRY ME A RIVER, BUILD ME A BRIDGE & GET OVER IT!!!
Angelique, the problem for me is that the employee was so rude about it. It's one thing to say to the girl nicely and as an aside "Honey, I can't help you with your doll". It's another to publicly humiliate her.
Regardless of the circumstances, it should be heartbreaking to see a child torn down like that.