Turn Up Your Volume
*Photos credited to Marie Hoffmeister LuLaRoe has been in some hot water over the last year. With issues and lawsuits mounting, it seems LuLaRoe is truly in need of some positive light being shed on its tarnished, nay... beaten to the verge of demise image. Today is not that day. When you enroll to participate in LuLaRoe as an "independent fashion consultant" or more recently, "retailer", you sign a document that stipulates that you are not actually participating in the purchase of a business or business opportunity. You're simply a 1099 contractor that has the right to buy the LuLaRoe brand at wholesale. A responsibility of those rights as outlined in the contract- is to abide by the policies and procedures document that accompanies all LuLaRoe applications. In spite of document after document, videos and screenshots of ownership and internal LLR management citing "owning your own business" and to "work your business like a retailer" you do not, in fact, own your own business. I bring this up because a true business owner would be aware of things like the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990- whereby provisions are made in the law to help guarantee that those with disabilities can be afforded participation in regular employment and enjoyment of society- not overlooked, discriminated against, or dismissed because they might need a bit of extra service or simply a little bit of compassion from another to participate fully. There happens to be no ADA provision in the LuLaRoe contract or policy and procedure manual to date. In the case of Amber Jones, thousands of individuals are taking to social media to express to LuLaRoe that she is hardly the type of rep that should be selling their brand. If this were a franchise, it may be a little harder to have a "business owner" revoked from their ability to represent the brand. In this case however, it is as simple as compliance stepping in and putting a stop to it. What's all the fuss, you ask? Yesterday, December 8th, a young woman named Marie had tuned in to Amber's live LuLaRoe sale on Facebook. Marie was a member of Amber's shopping group and asked about an article of clothing that she loved and inquired about the size and availability in the screenshot below. "Do you have a XL Carly in velvet?" she asked.
She followed up immediately with "I am deaf." For anyone that has ever hosted a live video online- especially one with several hundred viewers and comments rolling in rapid-fire, it would have been understandable if the comment was missed. No worries, Marie asked again. This time, her comment was followed by a comment from another live participant, Alyssa, that said (directed to Amber) "You should have a sign that says "sit back and relax, we will show it all- no ISO" (In search of) Well excuse me, Alyssa. Let's take a step back here for a moment: There are no captions. No one is typing out the sizes and information for all participants. (No one is implying that she should have been doing that, as I'm not sure that's possible on a Facebook live) A deaf woman comes on, can not hear what's going on- and basically excuses herself for jumping to just ask for what she's looking for- and lets Amber and pals know that she's not trying to be demanding, she's simply deaf. Sit back, and shut up, Marie. She's going to show everything. No ISO. Wow. Alyssa... you deserve a shit sandwich for that one. But wait, there's more.
Marie asks- "Why did you ignore my comment? I'm deaf." She says again: "I want velvet." Another person chimes in to help- "She asked about sizing." Another participant- "They do not take requests..." Great, but I'm seriously handing out shit sandwiches for some of you. Yikes... Others begin to speak up in Marie's defense. Comments ranging from "She's deaf!" to "Can you please show the tags so she can see the sizes, please?" No dice. Marie comments again- to the tune of- "I don't know if she showed the sizes, I didn't see." (paraphrase, not direct quote) What was Amber's response? Because you know by now she saw the comments... "Sorry ladies, we can not stop and show all of the tags." Ah...ha. M'kay. I'mma go out on a limb here and ask if you could just maybe have shown her the fucking XL velvet Carly dresses? I mean, common sense, right? Or how about- "Hey Marie- sure, I can take a look and p.m. you just as soon as this live is done, ok?" Nothing. Nada. Just a quick comment that said basically- "Hey deaf lady- no help here. Sorry not sorry."
Through the screenshots, you can see her viewership is tanking. Some are getting very upset with Amber- and justifiably so. Comments are coming in faster now... "This is my first and last time shopping...", "How rude..." At any point in time, Amber could have stopped the carnage. Instead, she (or whomever is responding for her) types out a single line comment- "Lots of ladies banned today, easier for those of you here to shop." Then, it gets worse. Supposedly, a comment is made either by Amber or in the comments that Marie, or those that are having a hard time hearing should "Turn up the volume" on the live. The backlash speaks for itself:
Turn up the volume. How many times does this woman- or ANY of the participants need to point out that she's deaf? After Marie who is now fed up has left the live, she took to her Facebook profile and posted the following:
Shortly after this post was made, a few petitions were started on Marie's behalf- to call upon LuLaRoe to terminate Amber's rep contract. Marie claims above that Amber is in the top 100 sellers for LuLaRoe. If this is true, it will be even more interesting to see if LuLaRoe steps in to make an example of Amber- and show their faithful as well as their now enraged following if the dollar means more to them than the right thing, and... well... the law. We know LuLaRoe hasn't batted an eye before when another then- controversial rep was accused of being dismissive to a woman who was hard of hearing. In fact, that rep went on and terminated her own contract, I am told. She later started her own clothing brand with many seeming to have forgotten that she was the rep responsible for the similar uproar this year involving a similar chain of events. As if all the above wasn't enough to make a grown person completely see red, it appears that Amber's own mother sought out Marie's Facebook page, and public post shared above- to accuse her of slandering her daughter. Further, one individual thought enough to private message Marie as well as post to her page what appears to be victim shaming for Marie's speaking out against her treatment. What the...what??? Here's a few screen shots of whom we believe is Amber's mother commenting on Marie's page, accusing her of slander (if it's written and untrue, it's libel, you toolbox.) and threatening to take her to court. I don't think she understands how screenshots work...
I guess I'm lost here about how much actual effort is required to show a woman a size tag, or just point blank say- "Hey Marie- I don't have any of what you're looking for." Or if she does- let her know you'll gladly address it in a few minutes? Why is that not a minimum standard to be expected? And what in the hell world do we live in that a woman should be subjected to being trolled for simply asking for a little help? I reached out to Amber for comment- and I have received no response yet. Should she respond, I will update this article. However, Amber did issue this "statement" earlier today:
So that we understand this, in this statement, Amber claims that she didn't know there was a deaf woman watching. Was that before or after announcing you were blocking people for their negative comments...? Was this statement (which seems to have been assembled in a blender, because I'll be damned if one sentence reads correctly...) done after you reached out to Marie to apologize and make it right? According to Marie, Amber hasn't reached out yet... but her momma bear sure did- with a threat of lawsuit for slander. As fake professional as this mea culpa tries to be, it would seem to me that a simple- "Hey Marie, look, I'm really sorry" is in order. But maybe Marie missed it with her volume down and all...smh. What say you?
I spoke to Marie, and in spite of her upset, she managed to give me this statement for Amber Jones: "I'm very disappointed , I feel very disrespected by you and your mom. I am a great person who would stand up for myself and advocate for other disabled people. Honestly disabled and all people are beautiful human beings- we are not animals!" Indeed. Marie, I hope that LuLaRoe addresses this issue, and I know there are many more smaller retailers that not only would love to have your business, but would be happy to oblige a pause to address a question from any of their valued shoppers. Good luck!