Scary Mall Movie – The real deal!
Scene 1 : Amman, City Mall – Claire's – the accessory store beloved of young girls to preteens for earrings, headbands, etc.
Date: Midday, midway through Ramadan 2008
Characters: girls aged 8 – 13 and their mothers, both local and foreign, taking their daughters out for a fun shopping treat, in preparation for the end of Ramadan festivities.
Soundtrack: heavy duty gangster rap with extremely foul and sexually explicit lyrics blasting in English from the loudspeakers, including the F word or a variation on the theme for just about every other word in the song.
Lights, camera, action ….. CUT!
What's wrong with this picture?
A friend of mine recently experienced this and reported how she politely and discreetly asked the manager at the cash register to please turn off the music or change it to something a little more suitable for such a young audience, and did he really think this is what his clients wanted to listen to when they came to Claire's in the middle of Ramadan?
At least the managed apologized and said "You're right" and told a staff member to turn off the music.
Fast Forward Half an Hour: Returning to Claire's as the "meeting point" for the family, my friend was appalled to hear the same/similar kind of music with even worse lyrics blasting from the sound system! Again the manager was approached, but with total indifference shouted across the room for a staff member to do something about the music. The member of staff looked up at my friend from the work he was doing as if she was from another planet.
Date: Midday, midway through Ramadan 2008
Characters: girls aged 8 – 13 and their mothers, both local and foreign, taking their daughters out for a fun shopping treat, in preparation for the end of Ramadan festivities.
Soundtrack: heavy duty gangster rap with extremely foul and sexually explicit lyrics blasting in English from the loudspeakers, including the F word or a variation on the theme for just about every other word in the song.
Lights, camera, action ….. CUT!
What's wrong with this picture?
A friend of mine recently experienced this and reported how she politely and discreetly asked the manager at the cash register to please turn off the music or change it to something a little more suitable for such a young audience, and did he really think this is what his clients wanted to listen to when they came to Claire's in the middle of Ramadan?
At least the managed apologized and said "You're right" and told a staff member to turn off the music.
Fast Forward Half an Hour: Returning to Claire's as the "meeting point" for the family, my friend was appalled to hear the same/similar kind of music with even worse lyrics blasting from the sound system! Again the manager was approached, but with total indifference shouted across the room for a staff member to do something about the music. The member of staff looked up at my friend from the work he was doing as if she was from another planet.
Well I suppose ‘we’ are – the Planet of Mothers against Lurid Rap Lyrics - or MARL for short!
The manager apologized again – "My staff are very bad, ma'am." Then, quite unsurprisingly, he asked that quintessential Jordanian question “where are you from …”
…. so much for ‘management’ - must be an import from another planet then! J
The manager apologized again – "My staff are very bad, ma'am." Then, quite unsurprisingly, he asked that quintessential Jordanian question “where are you from …”
…. so much for ‘management’ - must be an import from another planet then! J
posted by joladies at Wednesday, September 17, 2008
2 Comments:
Oh my, oh my. THANK YOU for speaking up. Lord, have mercy!
Yes, I have found this in more than one store. I have been told that some of the soundtracks are sent to the store from the franchise owners who have a set tape for playing over and over-- Regardless of the lyrics obviously. The problem is that many people don't understand the lyrics (or maybe that is a good thing) and they just listen to the beat. Something similar to the nasty t-shirt syndrome in Amman...?
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