Gracie Lorincz TikTok video: Chuck Degrendel Ava Lane boutique store owner condemned on internet after email criticizing sales model applicant not being cut enough goes viral.
So who’s feeling amazing now? A 21-year-old Michigan woman has called out a local fashion boutique store owner after he branded her ‘not that cute’ in response to her application for a position as a ‘sales model’ in his store.
Gracie Lorincz posted a screenshot of an email that was sent to her by Chuck DeGrendel, the VP of operations at Ava Lane Boutique – an Auburn Hills, Detroit area fashion store that is owned by his wife, Laura – in a now-viral TikTok video, while pointing out that the irony in the company’s motto: ‘beauty through confidence’.
In the message, which appears to have been intended for his wife but was sent to Gracie in error, DeGrendel, 42, questions whether he really needs to interview her for the sales position after voicing his opinion that she is ‘not that cute’.
‘So I applied for this job as a brand representative to a company called Ava Lane and their motto is “beauty through confidence”. This is the email I accidentally got sent from the VP. Enjoy,’ Gracie begins the video, before flashing up a screenshot of the email – which includes DeGrendel’s full name and job title.
His email reads: ‘This girl is fresh out of college (hope college) and not that cute. She applied to the sales model position. Are you sure you want me to interview her?’
@ggggmoneyyyy:))))) feeling amazing #greenscreen #foryou #foryourpage #CompleteMyLook #FriendsReunion #rentfree♬ original sound – gracie
Cause the internet always knows better…
The subject line of the email is ‘photos and Instagram handle’, suggesting that Gracie was required to send in images of herself as part of her job application.
Gracie concluded the video by stating: ‘Not that cute. Not that cute. OK, OK. That’s OK.’
Gracie sardonically captioned the clip: ‘Feeling amazing.’
And then it really started…4,3,2,1, blast off….
TikTok users were quick to condemn DeGrendel- with many calling for a virtual ‘takedown’ of the boutique, with many telling of leaving negative reviews in retribution on the Ava Lane Google pages, while others pointed out that the brand changing its motto to ‘confidence through fashion’, along with the boutique turning its social media accounts private.
Can you guess why?
‘Won’t you please take me back…?’
Of note, the company’s Google page does not currently list any of the negative reviews – and the most recent customer comment is listed as being posted more than one month ago, leading some TikTokers to accuse the boutique, Ava Lane of ‘deleting its negative reviews’.
Do you suppose?
Gracie’s video currently led to more than 1.4 million views and upwards of 11,000 comments (don’t you love the internet echo chamber when it comes onto its own…) many of them furious at DeGrendel who was prompted to make a tearful public apology on Facebook Live hours later, (since removed but caught on video anyway and shared directly above) in which a remorseful (understatement…) insisted he ‘didn’t know why he had said that’.
‘[I need to] apologize to somebody for something I did yesterday that was very inappropriate, very unprofessional, and downright stupid,’ he said in the clip according to the dailymail.
DeGrendel went on to try and explain the situation, noting that Gracie had submitted photos with her application, which was initially seen by his wife, who forwarded the email to him because their HR person is on vacation.
He continued: ‘I reviewed the email, I reviewed the application, I downloaded the resume, and I sent a reply back to Laura that said that she was a recent college grad and I didn’t feel she was that cute. So I didn’t know if I wanted to proceed with an interview.
‘When will our nightmare go away?’
‘I don’t know why I said that, but I did, and I am very sorry for saying that.’
At one point during the 10-minute-long video, he wife Laura appeared alongside him, putting a reassuring hand on his back, before talking when her husband seemingly became too emotional to carry on.
Sitting on a stool in the boutique, Laura began crying as she thanked their supporters for standing by them, and then revealed that the couple’s ‘phone numbers are out there’ and claimed their ‘children have been threatened’ as a result of the video.
‘I’m sure that was not [Gracie’s] intention, but that’s what has happened,’ the boutique owner said. ‘So we appreciate your support. It is okay for people to come on and… leave hurtful comments. We can move on from that.
‘But it’s when you start threatening children. That’s where we have to draw the line. So yes, we are making our accounts private. We don’t really have anything else to say at this point.’
‘He made a mistake, and he owns it,’ Laura concludes.
Many went on to condemn the husband and wife’s mea culpa, accusing the boutique bosses of trying to garner ‘sympathy’ through the post.
‘The only reason you are apologizing is because you got caught. Had you not sent the email to the girl you wouldn’t be crying and you wouldn’t be sorry,’ one person said.
‘I’m disappointed to see Laura on here turning the apology into a cry for sympathy,’ another added, calling out DeGrendel and his wife.
Another posted: ‘How you act when you [think] people aren’t looking is pretty much exactly your core values.’
‘So where’s Gracie’s apology anyway?’
Speaking to Fox 2, Gracie’s mother, Heather, criticized DeGrendel, saying that his email was ’embarrassing’ for her daughter and ‘made her feel terrible’.
She also criticized his Facebook apology, revealing that DeGrendel had yet to reach out to Gracie directly.
‘I don’t want [Ava Lane Boutique owner Laura’s] business to suffer. I don’t, but I feel my daughter deserves a real apology, not a Facebook Live.’
Heather added that her daughter had not anticipated the viral response to her TikTok post, nor the furious outrage being directed at the DeGrendel family, insisting: ‘She is sweet kid, she is not an attention hog, she is not a social media personality and didn’t anticipate what this turned into.’
