Photo courtesy of Fashion Network
There’s never a dull moment working in retail. However, an insect outbreak is the latest controversial issue the well-known clothing brand H&M has faced as an employee released photos of bug-infested clothing in the store.
According to the New York Post, Netroya B, 28, a sales adviser at New York City’s World Trade Center Oculus location, released disturbing snapshots of the insect-infected clothing reportedly being sold to unmindful customers.
“I work at the H&M in the Oculus at World Trade & today a customer discovered lice on a rack of hoodies,” Netroya claimed in a tweet Wednesday. She proposed that the fashion chain’s managers and executives knew of the parasitic outbreak but decided not to stop the business flow.
“They’re not closing the store, nor are they notifying employees of the problem,” the Brooklyn native claimed. “The section was just blocked off.”
After uncovering the incident on Twitter, Netroya’s tweet garnered more than 3,000 likes and re-tweets on the social platform. She also shared three images of the wingless insects that feed on human blood, carry bacterial diseases, and cause skin discoloration and severe fever. The photos indicate that the bugs were crawling around the collars of sweatshirts ready for purchase, The Post reported.
An H&M spokesperson told The Post that the store did close.
“We take customer and employee safety extremely seriously. Out of an abundance of caution, we closed the H&M store at Westfield World Trade Center in order to investigate fully,” the rep said.
“We take customer and employee safety extremely seriously,” the statement said. “Out of an abundance of caution, we closed the store in question in order to investigate fully.”
The scandal sparked outrage and disgust on social media as Twitter users tweeted their thoughts on the matter.
“OMG, Ewwww, that’s so damn gross,” declared one disgusted Twitter user. “Nope, the whole store has to go,” commented another, adding the peace-sign emoji for emphasis.
Knowledgeable internet users didn’t hesitate to inform Netroya that the bugs in her pictures were likely bedbugs instead of lice.
“These are adult bedbugs. The store needs to be closed immediately,” urged a commentator, who tweeted a diagram of a bedbug’s life cycle.
“Oh noooo, those are bedbugs, but awful either way!! Someone prob tried on clothes and transferred them into the store. Take your work clothes off as soon as u get in your home, put them in a plastic bag to transport to a dryer immediately and run that s – – t on the highest heat,”
urged another.While the 28-year-old felt it was her duty to inform the public what the store was doing, many Twitter users suggested that she delete the tweets to save her job.
However, Netroya didn’t seem too worried if she no longer worked for the company.
“Thank you to everyone concerned about me losing my job. my last day is Friday (I’m resigning because I hate it there),” she tweeted. “My job knows about the tweet lmaoooooo. Yea… we just gonna make today my last day,” she shamelessly continued in the following post.