Although he usually wears an XL, the XXXL he was offered was too small for him
Losing a job is often a traumatic experience, but if the reason is as difficult to understand as the unavailability of a properly sized uniform, rejection can be a psychological slap that is hard to swallow. That is what happened to Raquel Riquelme, a 22-year-old from Murcia who claims to have been rejected from a position in a warehouse because the company that hired her could not provide her with a uniform that would suit her.
The difficulties in rejoining the labor market after the non-renewal of a contract as a butcher led her to go to the temporary employment agency Randstad, willing to try her luck in other sectors, even if they were not her first option. She there she managed to access a job offer in an agricultural warehouse. His enthusiasm for starting a new professional stage was cut short when, after passing the selection processes and signing the relevant documentation, one day after joining the campaign he found himself unable to enter the regulation uniforms that were provided to him, of mandatory use.
“They weren’t the real sizes,” Raquel Riquelme complains: “I normally wear XL, between 46 and 48, and if it’s a bad brand, XXL. But the XXXL pants they gave me had a tiny waist, no button or belt, and I have wide hips, I couldn’t wear that. Embarrassed, she went to Randstad for a solution, but her case remained unanswered. “It’s easier to hire someone else,” she complains, and she criticizes that she was also not allowed to wear her own pants, which look similar to the regulation ones. “The shame I’ve been through I don’t wish on anyone,” she stresses.
When contacted by LA VERDAD, the temporary work company did not want to make any statements about the incident. However, she assures that she continues to count on Raquel Riquelme for future professional opportunities. “Randstad told me that they would call me if there was another position where they needed people, but after what has happened, I don’t know…”, confesses the young woman, discouraged, because now she wonders if the same thing will happen to her in other jobs.
“When I go shopping I come back depressed”
Although it is the first time that this Murcian has lost a job because of her size, she is used to feeling discriminated against due to the difficulties in buying clothes in fashion stores, dealing with derogatory comments and even claims to have suffered bullying. An intolerable social pressure that has caused eating disorders, such as episodes of bulimia, against which she has been fighting for years.
Thanks to the support of those who love her, like her partner, she has managed to improve her self-esteem, but this new setback has reopened old wounds. “As a result of this I have been crying for several days and without eating,” she confesses. “It has cost me my life to accept and love myself, but now it has gotten back into my head that I have to lose weight, but I have a thyroid problem and it is very difficult for me.”
Like Raquel Riquelme, millions of women with measures that do not correspond to the normative beauty canons struggle daily to feel validated. “I can give as much or more than a size XS girl. That has nothing to do with it », she complains bitterly. More than the kilos, what weighs him down is the continuous struggle to fit in, not inside pants, but in a society that continues to be anchored to the aesthetic stereotypes dictated by brands.
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