Mohamed El Fayed

[CassieMaddox]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz6x635wpjxo

This is shocking. It is scary these men are so powerful they have to die before the scale of their offending becomes clear.

I think NDAs should be banned. Rich men are able to use them to cover up their crimes.

Another filthy pervert.

I am so sick of this. One headline after another, and yet more revolting men in my local news today too.

And to think I felt sorry for the man after watching The Crown.

Sick abusive piece of dirt. I hope he rests in chaos...too bad I don't believe in hell cause I'd like to imagine him there.

I think NDAs should be banned. Rich men are able to use them to cover up their crimes.

Completely agree.

I worked in Harrods in the mid 00s and heard about all this stuff. Fortunately I wasn't his type and was stashed away in a non-glamorous department. The management there even let me off the four inch heels, red lipstick etc uniform code. But the 'mandatory uniform' list for women was something else! Full make up including lip LINER!

I'm surprised anyone's surprised. This has been known about for decades.

Well he’s certainly not Mr.Selfridge! (Late to the party and enjoying the series).
Mr. Selfridge is idealised of course, but I bet he wasn’t like this.

This controlling shit went on all the time, probably still does.

I went for an interview at a boring accounting firm, fat ugly old men, dusty office, dreary suburb, and was told to wear a skirt to the interview. I wore trousers as that was my comfort zone and normal work wear. I got a bollocking from the accountants through the agency (who should have known better but it's all about the commission).

I am not surprised.

Agree with a ban on NDAs.

I think that's how I feel about it tbh.

I guess if a female refused his advances and left the shop she would be afraid of a bad reference.

Just thinking as I write, what would happen if she refused a luxury few days away ?

I felt sorry for him loosing his son but I must say each time I saw his face on TV or news I thought he was an unpleasant person

Well ex colleague was sacked, no idea of her reference, but she got a job with the publishing firm I was with at that point, so I guess the reference was fine. But she was happy to spill the beans, we were all early 20s at the time (99 or so), so it was recent to her joining us.

My first job was in Harrods when I was a young teen. Despite it being a short contract of 6 weeks over Christmas in the food halls I was trained for a week and we all watched hilarious John Cleese films about how not to talk to the customer. The service was impeccable and the food halls utterly beautiful.
There was a saying that the customer was always right and Harrods could fulfill all their needs from a mouse to an elephant.
We had everyone in, from millionaires who bought out all the caviar in one swoop to the tiny woman with leprosy who I used to gift wrap individual choclates for.
And for the 70s it was incredibly diverse from the 7ft Ghanian with a fro in the dried fruit department to the Omar Shariff look a like in nuts...I lurved him ;)

It was really hard work standing on those hard marble floors , 8am to 8pm and 1/2 an hour for lunch 6 days a week for £40 , more than 100,000 customers a day went through at xmas.
And then just after it was sold to him and it all slid into the most tacky crassness.
It was heartbreaking seeing such a beautiful institution disintergrate.
And the same has happened to Libertys.
I wish we hadnt sold off so much of our heritage from Harrods to Royal Mail. Our country is not remotely better for it, its now just branding without substance like every other corp.
Anyway, none of this suprises me in the slightest, the writing was on the wall immediately with Fayed.

I applied for Saturday retail job at Harrods and Harvey Nichols imtowards end of 80's Worked at Harvey Nicks and was talking to someone about how I had applied and been offered a job at Harrods and I was told then I was lucky I hadn't gone there as he was a groper and that they had to line up to be inspected by him.

Zelda Perkins fronts a campaign to get NDAs banned.

The bbc stopped using them a year ago in the light of the Russel Brand allegations.

"He was a monster aided by a system."

I've just heard on radio 4 world at one.

The system always enables abusers.

"I have never seen a case as horrific as this"

He was compared with Weinstein, Savile, and Epstein

It sounds absolutely horrific. I'm so sorry for the survivors. They are so very brave

Jesus, the medical exams

Awful.
But how desperate would you be for the job to undergo the invasive medical tests? Let's hope they catch up with the medics who did this.

I think most of the women it was their first role as they were so young. What I understood from the documentary was that they were sent for a medical but it was not explained what the medical would cover. IIRC correctly one of them expressed surprise at a smear test being part of the process.

Frankly, if a man is:
a) rich
b) in a position of power over women
c)over a certain age (55?60?)
d) has either had that power for a long time or expects to have it for a long time

I reckon it is fairly likely he sexually exploits some of the women he has power over.

Rich, powerful men seem to be untouchable don't they? The level of entitlement and control.
A part of me wonders if all that's stopping the reast of them is lack of opportunity.

Nor suprised at all. I know someone who worked there 20 years ago and it was an open secret.

The Press Conference by the representatives of the victims was long and thorough and quite heartening. I hope they can do everything they are saying they will do. Gloria Allder was magnificent. It is worth watching in full on catch up. It was on the news on BBC this morning.

Well duh!!

Yup, and Gisele Pelicot has made us see it's a lot more than a remote possibility.

Doesn't have to be rich. Just needs to have the power.

I'm finding the contrast of opinions between Saville and El Fayed quite interesting.

It seems to me to be "well everyone knew what he was like, why is it coming out now". Where I am horrified at the nature and scale of his offending and the extent it was enabled and covered up. I would have thought there would be a more "Saville" like response (inquiries, investigations etc).

Goes to show how little the sexual assault and rape of women matters in my opinion

Thanks, I'll try to find that :)