Intermix Doesn't Like Poor People

I never wanted this to be a rant blog. From the day I started writing Paint the Town Leopard, I wanted it to be a funny little site my girlfriends could visit when they were procrastinating from law school homework, at the office needing to zone out from all of their socially awkward colleagues, or getting anxiety waiting for that guy to call them and needing a little kick in the ass back to reality. There's four things in my life that I could never live without; water, sushi, my Judith Ripka ring, and my writing. And because of that, I would never want to utilize something that I see as being so important for anything but entertaining and making other people feel happy.

HOWEVER.

Enough is enough and they deserve to be outted for the way they make me feel every single time I walk into their poorly decorated, monochromatic boutique with the ugliest purple curtains that are supposed to function as dressing rooms and don't even close correctly! It's been a long time since I've been able to shop on the budget of a girl who had an "emergency-only" credit card in high school and college, but being DC Restaurant Week right now, I decided today that I had a little bit of extra money in my pocket and wanted to splurge on this gorgeous Elizabeth & James dress that I've always walked by on my way to the gym. While I do pride myself on having treated myself to nice purses and sunglasses, being on the way to the gym, decided it would be a safer choice to sweat all over my bootleg Raybans, instead. And maybe my fake designer sunglasses made the sales girl nauceous or else I would have been treated differently. Upon walking into Intermix, which is located directly across the street from me on M street, I walked in like the biggest frump on Earth in my gym attire (which probably didn't help), only to immediately see a sales person helping a MILF-y mom try on something that was supposed to look fashion forward but was actually hideous and probably $700. As I look through the racks and come to the realization that the Elizabeth & James dress is not even in my size, I continue perusing (there was a HUGE 40% off sale, so it was actually relatively affordable), still not greeted by the sales girl, who looks like she needs to eat a cheeseburger pronto, I might add. After eavesdropping on the conversation between the milf and the sales girl, which dealt with dog grooming or something else rancid and completely irrelevant to clothes or anything having to do with Intermix, she eventually made her way over to me as I was flipping through clothes and instead of saying hello, looked down at my bag and blatantly scoffed at it. STRIKE ONE. Because I have nothing to prove to anyone, I would like to add that there is no reason that the bag I was carrying this afternoon should have been scoffed at, because it was a recent Christmas and not cheap. But by Intermix standards, I guess that means it's poor. About five minutes later, the same girl was standing directly in front of me as I was looking through different boots, so I decided to execute some level of social etiquette, and said hello (EVEN THOUGH I SHOULD HAVE BEEN GREETED!!). She responded saying something I couldn't really make out, that sounded like a "Hehhhhh", and probably couldn't speak properly because the Nicole Richie head band she was wearing was cutting off all of the circulation in her James van der Beek-esque forehead. Homegirl didn't even ask me if she could help me with anything, and at this point, probably should have just left, but realized that I could get a gorgeous pair of Giuseppe Zanotti boots that were on sale for a hundred bucks (!!!). Being forced to deal with this disaster of a human being again, I promptly asked her for my size (which will not be stated). But after ten minutes, I still did not have a pair of shoes to try on, and when I did find the sales woman again, was out of the stocking room, clearly having "forgotten" to get my boots for me. Needless to say, I left Intermix, and will not be returning.
I know what many of you will be saying; don't let one bad apple spoil the barrel, but this isn't the first time this has happened at multiple Intermix locations. Apparently I don't give off a "richesse" attitude that looks like it will produce a huge sales check, despite the fact that I've gone in with credit cards on multiple occasions ready to shop. I've shopped at other luxury boutiques and department stores from Cusp to Saks to Wink regularly, and even if I've gone in looking like Rosanne Barr or didn't buy anything, was still greeted with the proper salesmanship that every customer deserves. A manager of mine once told me that he likes to exude "professionalism without pretension" when each of his guests arrive at his fine-dining restaurant. Though expensive and not for the average wallet, he always encourages each of his employees to treat every guest equally. Well, congratulations, Intermix; you did a great job in achieving the opposite. I want to be fabulous and love dressing great and encourage my loved ones to do the same, but there are plenty of other great establishments I'd rather give my money to that don't make me feel like a plebe from the moment I walk through the door. In 2005, Kanye West said that George Bush doesn't like Black people. Well, it's 2010; and, stated by Angela Milas, Intermix doesn't like poor people.