Two sales representatives are probably kicking themselves today after a woman they body-shamed refused to be embarrassed and used their words as fuel to spread more love in the world instead.
Harriet Rae was shopping at a pharmacy in Cornwall when two staff members looked her up and down and made rude comments about her appearance.
While most people on the receiving end would have averted their gaze and pretended not to hear, Harriet looked the girls straight in the eye and gave them a “massive cheesy smile” instead.
In a now-viral Facebook post, Harriet described how the sales girls were immediately taken aback, obviously not expecting to be greeted with kindness rather than disdain after shaming another.
“It’s obviously not the first time you’ve had a giggle and a made comments about another girl but when you do it normally, the person you talk about probably looks away and you actually make them feel really sad inside,” Harriet said.
“But today, by the looks on your faces, you really weren’t prepared for the massive cheesy smile I gave you!”
Harriet’s message, that women should boost each other up rather than tear each other down, has clearly resonated around the world. The post has currently been shared nearly 55,000 times.
Representatives from Superdrug, the store where the incident occurred, have apologised to Harriet and promised her that her experience will be used to better train staff in customer relations going forward.
For her part, Harriet is refusing to give the description of the girls who have shamed her as she does not want to publicly embarrass them. We are guessing they’ve probably got the memo, anyway.
