I seldom blog in anger. Well ok that’s not entirely true but if I do, it’s published on BluntMoms and is reviewed by the most awesome editor ever.
Tonight however I am so disgusted that I am putting all sensible thinking aside and posting a rant at 11pm at night, when I am exhausted and behind on many other writing commitments including my Monday Musings post. And yes we are nearly Thursday.
There will be typos of all sorts but tonight I don’t care.
A wonderful small children’s theater group called Curtain Up Drama decided to organize a Christmas Caroling event to raise funds for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan which struck the Philippines last month. It was the biggest storm ever recorded and has left innumerable people devastated.
They reached out to Emporium to get the OK to sing out front and the Shopping Mall, much to their surprise, said they could perform indoors. There were some caveats: the song list needed to be approved and the mall asked that we wear long trousers and skirts and no sandals. (Even though if you wear these to go in and shop at Louis Vuitton, they are quite happy about it).
It was all good: Song list approved, flyers made, email sent out with dress code.
A dedicated group of us showed up with children, many of which were sporting christmas hats, white dresses with wings, etc. We had some excellent choir singers among us. The rest of us (like me) put in a lot of heart and an acceptable number of false notes.
About halfway through the event, they came down and asked us to leave. The ‘official reason’ was that we weren’t in choir uniform as promised. This is absurd given that at no point was this agreed as is obvious by the fact they were telling us what not to wear.
In truth, Emporium decided that we didn’t look ‘posh’ enough for their tastes and in the true spirit of christmas, decided to hell with the victims of Haiyan, let’s make sure we don’t offend a potential Chanel client.
Well here’s what Coco Chanel had to say about people like you:
Emporium: You are the Christmas Grinch. You are everything that is wrong with the world. You care only about image, not about heart. I will never shop at your store again. (I may just use the loo if I am passing by. After all, I have kids under the ages of 6 so that’s all you’ll get from us). I can only hope others join me in a boycott of your store. (Ok, I realize I am thinking about them since I am writing this post but I’ll be terminating this affair once I’ve adequately shared this message)
Dear readers, I don’t often beg that you share and tweet my posts but today I am setting standards aside and pleading with you to help me get this message out.
Multilingual Mama 
“You are everything that is wrong with the world. You care only about image, not about heart.”
After reading your post, I completely agree. It’s very, very sad… You were right to write this article, now try to follow the advice of Coco Chanel… :)
Thanks Judith. I feel so much better now that I’ve got that off my chest. Funnily enough my nickname is Coco; here’s to hoping that helps with the letting go. MMxx
Count me in on boycotting Emporium.
Thanks!
Is there one in Shanghai?
I don’t know but I’ll find out. xx
Wrote to Emporium but they only gave a brush-off answer. Share with Filipinos if you want to see this go viral.
Thanks for writing to them. I sent it to a Filipina friend of mine but she is in the States. I’ll try another friend here but she is first generation in the US.
I hope that you yourself wrote to the management. They owe your group an apology and a generous donation to the typhoon fund.
Actually I didn’t. I should write to the parent group since the manager we dealt with couldn’t care less.
I will share this in my page and my FB account. Wow! Speechless.
Thank you Sigrid. We were speechless too!
Thank you. I am actually going to write a more formal piece and try to get it picked up as recommended by someone else. When I hunt down head office address, I’ll also post so hopefully more people will write to them as well!
Why dont you tone down the emotion slightly and send this as a letter to the editor to bkk post and the nation? And any other English media in bkk… surely that will get emporium’s attention
Gee I hadn’t thought of that. Sort of wish I’d done that earlier. That said, I struggle toning my emotion. Iat see of I have a friend who can help with that.
The Emporium sent me the following Facebook message today: “Please be informed that we had already posted a message from our Marketing Department at https://multilingualmama.com/2013/12/12/bangkoks-emporium-pooping-on-the-spirit-of-christmas-and-charity/#comment-2080
For further assistance or any query, please do not hesitate to contact us.”
However, I don’t see any message from them on your wall :(
Regards,
Sorry I just approved it. I am glad they are apologising but what they are saying is simply not true. I am preparing a response and we believe they should make a sizeable donation to the fund to support their apology.
Dear Sir/ Madame
Thank you very much for the great effort you put in to organizing your Christmas Carol event recently held at The Emporium Shopping Complex to raise funds for the victims of Typhoon Hainan in The Phillipines.
We understand, though, that because of a misunderstanding resulting from miscommunications during the event, you were left with an unfavourable impression. Therefore, please accept our sincere apologies. Also please be assured that The Emporium Shopping Complex has long strived to provide not only the best the shopping experience, but has always been ready to support worthy charity events.
While the account of your experience has been reported to the Marketing Department, our initial enquiries suggest that the confusion arose from the concerns of well-intentioned parents who felt the event would be better conducted outside. We, then immediately arrange a sound system outside, and extended the performance period to give the carolers more time to raise funds as much as possible.
We look forward to welcoming you and your team again at your next event or visit, and please be assured that you and your team will always be made most welcome at The Emporium Shopping Complex.
Yours sincerely
Marketing Department
The Emporium Shopping Complex