Woman Asks Why Store Isn’t Stocking Formula, Unbelievably Told She Should Be Breastfeeding
An Australian woman sent an email to her local headquarters of Woolworths to find out why the store wasn’t stocking her formula with any regularity anymore. She got a call from the regional manager saying there hadn’t been much of a demand for it and she should be breastfeeding anyway. Jaw – meet floor.
She told a local radio station that the manager first started to explain the reasons why he couldn’t supply the stock: “He then said to me he didn’t feel it was a needed product”¦ and when I queried”¦ he told me there isn’t a lot of newborn formulas on stock because newborn babies should be breastfed.”
Woolworths has gone into damage control, apologizing directly to the woman on their Facebook page:
We are very sorry that you not only had a bad experience in one of our stores, but that you had been both upset and dissatisfied with the responses received from your contacts with Woolworths.
We will get one of our senior managers to contact you and talk through both our response and the issue of stocking the newborn formula in her local Woolworths store.
Woolworths stocks a range of formula in its stores around Australia. We believe that mothers should be supported in their individual nutrition choices for their newborn children whether that be formula or breastfeeding.
Wow. Why is a man with a chip on his shoulders about formula-feeding mothers the manager of the “Baby, Formula and Needs” section of the store? That seems odd. It’s really disturbing that one person’s bias can effectively get a product off shelves for no reason. It is beyond annoying to go to a giant store like Woolworths and have them be out of formula. I wonder how many women were inconvenienced by this? I’m sorry, but this is a big deal. This guy should be fired – not for openly judging a customer but for seemingly withholding necessary stock. What a fool.
Every time I read another story about someone giving an unsolicited opinion about how a woman decides to feed her child – I feel like my brain is going to explode. I don’t even know what I would do if the male manager of a store made a comment like that. I’m pretty confident I would start with “F**k off,” but I’m not sure what would come next.
(photo: Getty Images)