out of TOUCH and drenched in SMELL

Perhaps this is the first sign that I am at the starting line of being out of touch with teenagers. I remember five years ago when I was an assistant manager at Abercrombie and Fitch and I thought that my dad was so out of touch because he consistently called it Abercrombie and Finch. And now today, five years later, I find myself questioning a couple different things about this "clothing" company. First of all, I got summoned to testify when many different law suits were taking place regarding the physical appearance of the employees versus those who did not get hired. And in all actuality, every retail place I have worked for asks that the employees look the part. It's kind of like that old saying, "Never trust a skinny chef."

But secondly, is the younger generation all of sudden unable to smell? If you walk by the Abercrombie or Hollister stores in the mall, you smell like them just walking by their entrances. Its not really luring, but I suppose it does help directionally. It's not just the stores themselves, but the frequent shoppers as well. There are times when you walk by that guy with his popped collar hand-in-hand with his girlfriend and destroyed denim mini-skirt...and the smell radiating from their pores pollutes the air for an entire block. Do you put one squirt of the overly-expensive, generally not long lasting fragrance and decide that's enough? Then the next day you don't smell it anymore so you put on three squirts...then four...then five. In a couple months you'll be puttin' on full bottles of the dang stuff. And when this happens, we get that couple walking around, oblivious to all of the flowers they're killing with their odor as they pass them.

Let's be honest...forget worrying about the sexually suggestive advertising they're causing American teens to accustom to--what about the physical downfall of smell they're marketing to young people. There are many other things to disagree with when it comes to this company (i.e. the "models" baring close to everything welcoming you at the front of the store). All I have to say is protest all you want...but I'm pretty sure my sense of smell is on top of my priority list of protecting.