A FORMER bottle shop attendant hired to wear a bikini to attract customers has hit out at the suggestion it was degrading work.
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Kellie Arrowsmith said she was upset the owner of Wodonga's Carrier Arms Hotel described the use of scantily-clad workers in the drive-through bottle shop as degrading.
Greg Evans made the comment to The Border Mail in announcing the pub had reopened after it closed suddenly with lessees Ron and Michelle Montgomery leaving the business.
The Montgomerys had hired Ms Arrowsmith and Chris Allard to show some flesh in the bottle shop, but Mr Evans said the skimpy look would not be returning.
Ms Arrowsmith said she felt like she was "being spoken about like I'm a bimbo".
"It's not a degrading job, why did he need to say that?" Ms Arrowsmith said.
"Most of the people that came through were saying 'good onya for doing this', there were a couple of people saying 'you poor thing' and I looked behind me to see who was holding a gun to my head.
"As far as I was concerned I was happy to do it and it's not like…I'm forced into that job.
"There are girls in Western Australia who are skimpies and they own three homes by the time they are 30.
"I don't understand what's degrading about that, to me that's pretty empowering."
Ms Arrowsmith says she believes her appearance helped lift purchases.
"We did see a significant increase in sales in the last three weeks I was working there," she said.
"They were making more money, so it did prove to be successful and I don't believe people cancelled because I was in the bottle shop."
Ms Arrowsmith said she wore a singlet over her bikini and added "you would see more going down Dean Street with teenagers with skimpy shorts and crop tops".
The author of Skimpy – Outrageous true tales of crocodiles, snakes and pulling beers in the Outback said the Border's response to her employment was remarkable.
"In seven years in the industry I've never seen such a reaction and an over-reaction, I was like ‘really? It's just a girl in a bikini’," Ms Arrowsmith said.
