Marks and Spencer have fallen, part III; we’re gonna need a bigger boat

[MrsSnippyPants]

Fresh thread in case part 2 fills up overnight.
I am yet to receive a reply to my third email, have been furiously tweeting, and as am now pursuing the options available to me as a shareholder.
Still crossing fingers for John Lewis!

All I can say is that given what the deck is likely to end up covered in I'm not scrubbing it!

Adding to watch list!

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Thanks for part3, the last part was an eye opener. Hopefully everyone can see the depth of the problem.

I agree that part of M&S appeal is because of history. They are plenty of online shops selling sexy knickers where they could shop and women wouldn’t come across men in their changing rooms or read their reviews. This way pop over in lunch break, pick up a sandwich and try on some pants (and put them back).

Hello. Would it be any uses to have a substitutions thread anywhere - i.e. here are things that you might have bought from M&S but can be got elsewhere, like the shortbread.

Riverford do the stuffed turkey leg that M&S were advertising on my television last night, for example.

But what I urgently need to know, by Saturday, is where I can get non-underwired D cup bras for my thirteen year old. Which is not a question I now want to ask anywhere near M&S.

I would recommend molke, they have dinasour bras at the moment!

Need to know where to get men's undies from?

A subs thread be good idea I think. Be easier find in one place

MrsSnippyPants Have you checked to see if you would be eligible to apply to be on theM&S Share Holder Panel?

The panel comprises a selection of private investors who are invited to M&S’s Head Office a couple of times each year to spend time with members of the senior management team and discuss a range of issues that are relevant to the business and to them as investors.

Seems like it would be worth trying to get on it to raise awareness amongst the senior management team.

Yet another thing to be grateful to MN for; without it I would never have known about the right way to fit a bra and would still be buying from M&S

You’re gonna need a bigger boat.
And quite possibly a bigger pair of drawers to fit all of your curves In gents.

May all your drawers be man-made materials and may you claw your itchy bits silly.

Well done to M&S for allowing the clowns to have a voice...

Not so well done for joining the circus

All I’m getting on MN ads now are M&S and their jumpers!

I'm planning to email John Lewis, next, house of Fraser and anyone else I can think of this week to ask their policy.

Is it worth starting a spreadsheet? Safe retailers for women?!

Perhaps a timed tweet to M&S with pictures of the reviews asking why they think women should share space with men like this. Happy to coordinate.

Signing in. I've already managed to M&S-peak two people this week. They had no idea. And I had no idea about the latest findings in Part 3 till now but I look forward to updating them.

Jean Hatchet did a visit in Sheffield this week with a friend. Interesting results on Twitter with staff trying to explain how they could tell the difference between women and men.

KFC have had a sniff of the kool aide and rejected it.

Glenthebattleostrich Safe retailers for women is an excellent idea-although they’ll then be targeted :-/

Didn't see thread 3 until too late.
Re-post from thread 2

Glad JP is talking to the people at the top. You know, the ones making the decisions and policies.
Shooting the messenger (sales staff in M&S Sheffield who have no say re. HO policy ) is bad form.
The quest for publicity worked but what can sales staff do about the situation in reality, day to day?

Good grief - the last few pages of the previous thread

They should just rename the shop Mark's Suspenders and be done with it...

Elodie I don’t think staff are being made to feel as though they should do anything about it. Quite the opposite. Many staff don’t understand the policy either or are not aware they are being put in this position. They will hopefully raise it with management and ask questions themselves.

I don’t think lone female staff in changing rooms at M&S, with no training or even basic information, should be the front line for tackling inappropriate male fetish behaviour in stores. Which is what M&S now say is their store policy. Staff should be questioned about this and encourages to do so themselves.

So their official policy is to put staff in the line of fire and have them approach and challenge randy fetishists? Well, I hope the first employee put in that position takes them to court.

Indeed @HumberHellraiser

The staff who work in changing rooms are the most vulnerable in my opinion. They often are there alone and have no choice about having Mark and his suspenders and other associates frillier on their own some.

We can at least choose not to use a fitting room.

It is bad enough that M&S are making females vulnerable. It is shameful to leave their staff to deal with it whether they agree to it or not.

I wonder what they would think of one of their staff being assaulted?

Shameful. Just shameful.

Associated frillies and ownsome.

I got this rubbish response from M&S Executive Office.

“ Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
As a business, we strive to be inclusive and therefore, we allow customers the choice of which fitting room they feel comfortable to use, in respect of how they identify themselves. This is an approach other retailers and leisure facilities have also adopted.
We understand your concerns and I want to make it clear that if any customer was to act inappropriately or cause intentional offence, the necessary action would be taken.
Thank you again for your email.”

I’ve written back but I’m not buying anything from them at the moment.
If anyone can recommend a source for good reasonably priced bras and knickers (big knickers) and kids underwear, Id be grateful! Always get their long length men’s lamb wool pullovers for dog walking too. Not to mention veggie snacks at xmas!

I don’t think lone female staff in changing rooms at M&S, with no training or even basic information, should be the front line for tackling inappropriate male fetish behaviour in stores. Which is what M&S now say is their store policy. Staff should be questioned about this and encourages to do so themselves.

I agree that sales staff shouldn't have to deal with this. They should never have been put in the situation by their managers or HO.
Equally, I don't think they should be tackled on this issue by customers on the shop floor. Sales staff really are in the firing line.
By all means speak directly to the store manager who has the power to feed back to HO but not sales staff. It's bad form. Having worked in retail I know that it's not a democracy- shop floor staff have to just do as they are told sadly.

Equally, I don't think they should be tackled on this issue by customers on the shop floor. Sales staff really are in the firing line

I agree, but asking them questions to check their, and our understanding of the changing room access is not putting them in a firing line. If staff haven’t been made aware of their responsibility by management it’s probably a good thing that customers put them in the picture.