American Eagle Outfitters:Disappointment

It took me awhile to think of a company worth calling and a question worth asking. I was shopping last week and noticed that all the clothes I looked at were made in a foreign country. I decided I would call American Eagle Outfitters and ask why more of their products are not made in America. I decided that I would call on Monday to see where that got me. The first time I called the woman that answered was very pleasant, but when I got to the point of my call she simply hung up on me. I was astounded. I could not believe that she had hung up on me. I had expected a practiced answer that they were supposed to give everyone. So I called again a few minutes later and another woman answered. She was also very pleasant, but when I asked my question her cheery attitude disappeared and she gave me a standard answer that did nothing to answer my question, told me to have a nice day, and hung up. I decided that I would try again the next day. For the next four days I called everyday and received the same treatment as the second time I called. However, I received different levels of kindness and hostility. One woman asked me why I cared, another woman said that she could not agree with my question, but that she wondered the same thing. I found it interesting the different opinions and attitudes that people gave me when I called. In the end every person refused to transfer me, saying it would get me nowhere. In the end I found that this experience was a lot like The Grapes of Wrath. Throughout the book there is a constant search for where to place the blame. On the banks, on the land owners, on the East or on the men that drive the tractors through their homes. Its the same as trying to reach the CEO of a large company like American Eagle Outfitters to ask a simple, yet important question. Who do you blame if you can’t get an answer, where do you go to find the answer if they don’t help you? I think that perhaps the reason for this project was to help us understand, if only in a small way, what the people in The Grapes of Wrath went through. How frustrating it was for them to have no one to blame, to have no one to answer their questions. I was extremely annoyed and frustrated simply by calling and asking a question, it’s hard to imagine how the people in the Dust Bowl felt when they had no one to explain what had gone wrong in their lives. Once I determined that I was going to get nowhere with my phone calls, I decided to try a different avenue. So I sent an email to the company. They sent me a standard response that explained to me where their clothes were made, where they sold clothes and that they employ so many people in the United States as well as the products that they sell. Overall the answer gave me no answer, but proved to be a further annoyance because in both the phone and email responses they did everything to avoid my question and they danced around a real answer. Overall I think that my attempt at reaching the CEO was a complete and utter fail. It was not from lack of effort however. American Eagle Outfitters simply made it impossible to go anywhere with my question. However, I think that as a whole my project was a success, maybe not the actual assignment itself, but what it was supposed to teach us. I find that I have a greater appreciation for the situation that the Joad’s and all the other people went through. It goes right along with the who do you shoot? In this situation do I shoot the women who answered the phone when I called or the people that told them what to say? Do I shoot the stockholders of American Eagle Outfitters or the CEO? Or maybe other executives? Where does the blame lay? I think that maybe this is why we did this assignment, to better connect with the book, the characters and the situation. Something else that I noticed was the different levels of kindness and hostility I encountered. Some people were cruel as if saying it was my problem and they were just doing their jobs, just like the men who drove the tractors across the farmers’ fields. Then there was a woman who tried to help me as best she could just like May when she sold candy for those little boys. I think any situation is based off of how people work together and act to one another. They can either be helpful to those around or just look out for themselves. I have a greater respect for the people who survived the Dust Bowl and the struggle that they went through. Not only physically, but mentally. They had no one to blame when their lives fell apart, no where to give forgiveness, so how could they come to terms with their situation and the new life that was forced upon them? How could they decide who to trust and whether they should look out for those around them or just themselves?