When parents are in public with young children, they usually bring them to use the same restroom or fitting room as them. After managers at Ross told a Florida-based mother of young twin boys she couldn’t take them with her into the same changing stall as her, she vowed never to shop there again.
In a clip with more than 47,000 views, TikTok creator Jaimie Rose (@twenty7heights) sits in her car.
She says, “If you shop at Ross, this video is for you. I had a terrible experience at store 0494 in Boca Raton. Never in my life have I ever had to call corporate and file a complaint, but best believe that I did because it involved my children.”
Then, she recounts the incident that led to this decision.
The negative Ross experience
“Yesterday, I had a problem in the store because I decided to try things on for myself and my children,” she says. “My kids are boys. They are in elementary school.”
When she and her kids were about to enter the fitting room, she says an employee stopped them.
“I was told that my kids would not be allowed into the fitting room with me, and if they wanted to try any clothes on, they would have to go into the men’s fitting room,” the content creator says. The employee claimed that trying on clothes was a “choice” and offered her an “alternative,'” she says.
“I could leave my kids in the furniture section that they had because [there are] chairs there,” she says the employee told her.
However, Rose was livid with this option.
“Who in the [expletive] would go into this a fitting room and leave their kids unattended? Not this mama,” she says. “You picked the wrong one.”
As the employee was informing her of this, she says she requested another changing room.
“I go ahead and ask him, ‘So do you have a family fitting room?’” The content creator claims she was met with rudeness and was given the same answer. “I couldn’t believe it. My blood was boiling inside,” she says.
At this point, she says she demanded to speak to the manager. Unbeknownst to her, she already was.
“He boldly told me, ‘You’re looking at him. I am the manager,’” she recalls.
Ultimately, Rose solidified her decision.
“So, I gave him the little number back and told him, ‘Here you go. I won’t be trying anything on. Thank you,” she says. “I went to the front of the store because I found two pairs of Nike shorts for the boys and I purchased them.”
The situation escalates
While the female employee was ringing up her items, the content creator decided to get a second opinion.
“I’m there at the cash register, I ask the lady that’s ringing me up [who] was very nice if there was another manager in the store and she pointed right at her,’” she says.
Unfortunately, Rose says this manager’s answer didn’t provide any clarity.
“She proceeded to tell me that it is a store policy kids at this certain age,” she places her hand up as a height measurement, “are not allowed to go into the women’s fitting room.”
Confused, the content creator says she asked,“‘Is this a gender policy or is this an age policy or is this a height policy?’”
However, the explanation was even more ambiguous.
“She proceeded to tell me that when kids are ‘of school age.’”
Anytime the employee ‘clarified’ the policy, the age limit seemed to get younger until the conversation became unproductive.
“We just kept going in circles and circles, and this manager just kept talking and she wouldn’t let me speak,” Rose says. “She was just really set on the fact that this is a policy where boys are not allowed to go into a fitting room with their mom and it doesn’t matter how old they are.”
What did corporate say?
“So, I took it upon myself to call the 1-800 number that is behind my receipt because I felt like this was a very unpleasant experience not only for myself but for my children,” she says.
Because the content creator lives in Florida, which ranks at no. 3 for human trafficking, she is extra protective of her kids.
“Anyone who knows me as a mother knows how overprotective I am over my boys. I live in Florida, one of the top states that is known for human trafficking,” she explains.
Although the Ross district manager was understanding, she says he portrayed the policy as being about gender.
To make matters worse, Rose says the manager at that store lied about her sons’ age. “The manager that spoke to him told him that my boys were teenagers.”
“The whole situation is very frustrating. I don’t think I can ever walk into another Ross store without thinking about that experience that I had,” she says. “Why don’t you have family fitting rooms? What makes it OK for little kids to go into a male fitting room and [them be] the only ones in there and not have adult supervision?”
After the district manager told her this had never happened before in his career, she had her own retort.
“’Well, I’ve been going to Ross for many years also and never in my life and I had such a distasteful experience where they’re telling that I cannot go into a fitting room with my children,'” Rose replied.
Now, Rose vows never to shop at that location. “I will never be visiting this store ever again,” she says.
Parents rallied behind the TikToker
Both mothers and fathers praised her for standing her ground.
“You are 100% right my kids need to be with me at all time,” one viewer wrote.
“You are not wrong!! As a mom of 2 boys as well this makes me so mad! I would never leave my kids alone! Boys or girls, it does not matter!! There are too many creeps out there!!” another stated.
“As a single father of two boys 6-8 I totally agree with you. If I can’t go without my boys then we are not going. They won’t go alone in the [men’s] dressing room or wait alone in a certain section,” a third agreed.
Is this a Ross store policy?
According to former and current Ross employees, it wasn’t.
“I worked at Ross and I [spent] most of the time in fitting room. I never ever heard of this. I’ve let moms with [their] children in all the time. That’s crazy,” one commenter said.
“As a Ross supervisor, we allow young children into the fitting room with parents,” a second wrote.
Even the district manager whom Rose spoke with reinforced it. “According to the managers I spoke to, it was store policy. When I called the 1-800 they said it is not,” she replied in the comments section.
The Mary Sue couldn’t find a published fitting room policy. On the other hand, Teal lists the responsibilities of a Ross fitting room associate, which include assisting customers and cleaning the fitting room.
@twenty7heights @Ross Dress for Less If small boys cannot enter fitting rooms with their mothers you need to make family fitting rooms! As a mother with two small boys I’ve never in my life visited a store where I’m told to leave my children at their furniture section if I want to try clothes on As a mother I would never allow my two small children into a Men fitting room without my supervision #fyp ♬ original sound – Jaimie Rose | RN
The Mary Sue reached out to Rose via TikTok comment and direct message as well as Ross Dress For Less via contact form.
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