Burberry and Breastfeeding
When it comes to fashion, I’ve always believed in quality over quantity. I’m a big fan of amortizing my purchases — dividing the estimated number of times I’ll wear something by the cost of the item and then adding in maintenance fees. It helps justify a big ticket item.
For example, 11 years ago I bought a pair of classic black Gucci loafers with silver horse bits for $300. They have never gone out of style and I wear them all the time. With a little shoe polish I keep them looking good — although I have had to get them resoled twice. I can’t begin to imagine how many actual days I’ve worn them. But even if I amortize the initial purchase price over 11 years – they were a steal. $300 + $100 (cobbler fees) / 11 = $36. I dare you to find a quality, classic shoe for less than $36.
So Ladies, as summer comes to an end, if you are thinking about purchasing any new cold weather gear, I urge you to consider buying quality. How about Burberry? A trench will require a $900 outlay of cash up front and a rain hat $125. But do the math. You will have these items forever.
Not convinced? Here’s an even better reason to buy Burberry. Your option is Totes/Isotoner and sure their products can be purchased at malls, department stores and outlets everywhere. And sure, they cost a lot less than Burberry and look pretty good. But, did you know, that Totes/Isotoner fired an employee for taking unauthorized breaks to pump her breasts?
That’s right, according to an article in the Columbus Dispatch the woman went to pump before her scheduled break because her breasts ached. She was fired for not following directions. That direction was you can pump every five hours.
Anyone out there ever nurse? If so, you know that women can’t really control how and when the milk flows. A sound, a picture, a thought and plain old biology will trigger it. And somehow it never really feels that professional to leak through our Ann Taylor blouses. Nor does it feel very comfortable to ask our bosses if we can go pump our breasts. Instead, we sneak off discreetly to the corporate lactation room (Yeah right. After my first child was born I pumped in an electrical closet filled with spiders. After my second child, I pumped in a bathroom stall.) and make up the missed time at lunch, at night, somehow, someway.
This case is a classic example of the many unchecked obstacles women face at work. As one commenter pointed out on the Columbus Dispatch website, what about the employees who take the sports page into the men’s room and disappear for 30 minutes? Should we fire them too?
So Ladies, before you decide to save money and buy the $24 umbrella instead of another brand for $30, $40 or perhaps $125, ask yourself what your purchasing power is worth to working women and mothers everywhere. Ban Isotoner.
As the mother of three, I find this appalling…ok, not the Burberry part…the Isotoner part. How can they get away with that??? How, other than a word of mouth boycott, can we do more to stop this sort of ‘ruling’ in the workplace?