Shame on you, Zara!

Social media and its ability to propel word of mouth – both good and bad – is an extraordinary thing. 

At 2:40pm yesterday afternoon, I read in horror this Facebook status update: 

“[My friend] wonders if once I am out of this change room, I should lose it on the Zara clerks that didn’t want to let me feed [baby] in one of the many empty cubicles after I just bought something at the store.”

What followed were 16 comments all from women who were as appalled as I was.  First of all, does no one remember the outrage that followed the H&M debacle in 2008 where new mom Manuela Valle was rudely informed by three staff members (including a manager) that she had to go into one of the dressing rooms that they had assigned for breastfeeding?  Surely there must now be some kind of education for new retail employees to avoid this kind of ignorance, if only to avoid possible public scrutiny?

As hard as it is for me to imagine, I will be a mom in October. While I can’t possibly conceptualize what kind of uncertainty this new role will bring, one thing I know for sure is that if my child needs to be fed, I will do whatever I have to do to make that happen.  If it had been me in that store yesterday, I cannot imagine that I would have handled myself half as tactfully as my friend.

So what did she do?  Grabbing a random shirt, she told the clerk, “pretend I’m trying this on,” and then proceeded to feed her baby in one of the changing rooms while reading up on Canadian laws about this very topic.  When she was finished, she “spoke to the manager about her store policy, the law and her ignorant staff…and also just finish[ed] sending a scathing e-mail to the company.”

Now less than 24 hours later,  all  236 friends she has on Facebook know about what happened yesterday.  Further – in my opinion - this story encompasses the kind of content prevalent in urban legends (you know, my friend knows a friend…) so it’s bound to get repeated again and again. 

How many people will it eventually reach?  And what kind of damage control will Zara have to do to reverse its negative implications?

All of that from one little status update…amazing.

In the beginning: A weight loss journey

This past Saturday I celebrated an exciting milestone.  After 15 (sometimes very long and arduous) months, I finally reached Lifetime Member status at Weight Watchers.  It all started on January 3, 2009…

On a cold, snowy Saturday morning, my mom waited for me outside my apartment complex.  As I walked towards the car, I slipped on a patch of ice and I fell – a total wipeout.  (My girlfriend Christa later told me that my fall was partially the result of not having any core strength, but that’s another story.)  I had scraped the palms of my hands and ripped my leggings, but nothing was going to distract me from the morning’s ultimate mission.  Cheeks blazing in embarrassment, I picked myself up, looked around to see if anyone had seen, brushed myself off, and got in the car. 

We had been planning this day for a while.  Having gotten engaged in November 2008, I had been silently preparing what needed to happen to make myself “bride” ready. One thing heavily weighing (no pun intended) on the list of priorities: lose weight.  We were on our way to our first Weight Watchers meeting, and had made the commitment early in December that we would do it together, as a team.

I can safely say that when I stepped onto the scale on what would be the first of our Saturday meetings, I was close to the saddest version of myself that I had ever been.  I was in complete denial about how much weighed I had gained and how I had gained it, and there it was in black and white – I had gained over 40lbs since meeting my (now)  husband. 

We chose seats in the very back of the meeting room – a classroom style setup – and I barely averted my eyes.  Silently, I looked through my Week 1 materials, calculating how many weeks I had.  The wedding was scheduled for July 25^th 2009, which meant that I had just over 6 months – 24 weeks.  I determined that I wanted to lose 2lbs/week to reach my ultimate goal of losing 50lbs.  As a motivator, I vowed that I would not step foot in a wedding dress shop until I was down at least 30 lbs. 

And so our journey began…

“Breathe deeply and enjoy the moment”

The morning that I discovered I was “officially” pregnant, I wore a new lululemon shirt for the first time. As I stood in the bathroom staring at the test as that second line materialized, I noticed a special message inscribed on the inside of the bottom of my shirt. Thank you lulu, good timing.

When I say, “officially” – what I mean is, it was not the first time I had taken a test. Earlier in the week, I felt like something was…amiss. We had recently “started trying” so when there was some cramping in my belly and I didn’t feel quite right, instinctively I thought that something might be happening. So the very next day when I took a test and it came back with a faint pink line, my suspicions were confirmed. However, when I told my husband that “umm…I think that we were successful” he refused to believe me! He insisted that I wait until the end of the week and then try again, “just to be sure”. Umm..ok.

So, on the Friday morning that I took the 2nd and 3rd tests and those pink lines showed up fast and furious, as my heartbeat started to race and my hands started to shake, being reminded to “breathe deeply and enjoy the moment” was exactly what I needed.

Baby Proulx, debuting October 2010…