Sighting while clothes shopping

[fma_fanatic]

I went out clothes shopping yesterday. It's not something I do very often, but when I do, I tend to get overwhelmed with sales people bugging me every few minutes. I'm not complaining, because when I do shop - boy do I shop - and those extra hands taking away my potential purchases are more than welcome.

Yesterday apparently seemed to be the exception to the rule. I went to the local shop, and started to look around. The reason for my shopping was many fold

• I had a coupon
• They were having a buy one get one on shirts sale
• I have a SIL who is getting married later this summer and I wanted to see what I could get for the wedding
• I had seem some items on their website that I wanted to check out

So I walk in. There is one other customer besides me, and 3 sales people. Now 2 of the 3 would normally come up to me at different intervals and ask if I'm looking for something, do I need help,etc.

But I got nothing. Okay, I figured they didn't want to pounce on me right away as I clearly looked like I knew what I was looking for.

20 minutes later, my arms are laden down with several shirts, two skirts, and one dress that I was trying in vain to not drag on the floor. And again, no one comes to ask me if I need help. So I go up to the register where one of the other sales girls are and ask if I might get a fitting room. She gives me this look as if I've just walked in off the streets, then sighs and says I'll have to wait till the other girl is done, she's got the key.

Okay. I ask if she might hold some items as the limit is 6 per person. Again, the sigh and she holds her hand out like I'm going to give her money. I hang onto one of the skirts, the dress and a couple of shirts. I wait for the other clerk to finish. Clerk 3 is nowhere to be found at this time. Clerk 1 is merrily chatting away with the customer, and it appears they will be doing this for some time.

After another 10 minutes of this, I go back up to the registers and again ask if I might be able to get a fitting room. Again, the eyeroll, the sigh and the "You have to wait until the other girl is done" spiel.

I finally get a bit testy and say "So you mean to tell me that I need to wait for Ms. Social Bug (other sales girl) to finish with her story about how her 6 month old is crawling to try on the clothes? Sorry, forgive me for wanting to spend money in your store." I dropped the items I had wanted to try on on the counter and walked towards the door.

Just as I get to the door, I hear a "Miss, that room is open now" being shouted at me. I turn back, smile sweetly and tell them to have a nice day and leave.

I ended up going to another location closer to my home and made some of my purchases there. They didn't have the dress I was interested in, but they did offer to order it for me and have it shipped at no charge to the store for me to try on. I also did get the contact information for the district manager of our area.

For the record, I spent close to $300 on my clothes, and this trip will last me a good while. The last time I went clothes shopping was about 2 years ago, so it's one of those rare occasions where when I shop, I shop.

[marasbaras]

I was once in a Video Only store ... walked around looking for help for 15 minutes. Nobody. I was shopping for a DVD/Karaoke player (at the time, about $1000). No help.

Finally, as I'm walking out the door with my family, the manager asks me if he can help me. I just said "too late" and kept walking.

Even through the closed door, I could hear that he went postal on the sales drone at the front counter.

[Record Store Tough Guy]

Might want to mention that to a higher level of management, just so they know what's going on in their stores.

[Aethian]

Mom had that happen to her at a furniture sale just because six sales floor people didn't want to help the little old lady with the ripped jeans. It was her pocket, one of the dogs caught the hem and pulled down when jumping a hello. The jens themselves her fine, only the pocket was ripped and she wasn't showing any panty. But still they didn't want to help her .

So finally she walked over and asked who wanted a 3k commision sale. When one jumped at it she said "Good, now you know what it's like to gain one and then loose it because your a over pompus ass." Turned and then walked out with me snickering in tow.

[katie kaboom]

So finally she walked over and asked who wanted a 3k commision sale. When one jumped at it she said "Good, now you know what it's like to gain one and then loose it because your a over pompus ass." Turned and then walked out with me snickering in tow.

Three cheers for mom!

[marasbaras]

Good job for your mom!

[wolfie]

Back when a 286 was a hot system and 5 1/4" disks were common, I (student at the time) routinely bought the Future Shop "white box" disks with the lifetime warranty. Occasionally, I'd get one that formatted with bad sectors, and take it back to Future Shop for a replacement (after all, a lifetime warranty should cover disks that are bad right out of the box).

Needless to say, the sales drones invariably took a long time replacing the disks, and one even asked me "why are you the only one who has problems with them?" - more likely, I was the only one who was willing to take the time to return the bad ones.

On one occasion, during the "hope he'll go away" wait, a middle-aged couple approached me (I was wearing my UBC Engineers jacket) and asked which of the systems the salesperson had shown them (IBM PS/2 models 25 and 30) they should get (salesperson was helping someone else while letting them decide). Naturally, I gave them an honest answer - along with a referral to the clone shop where I had bought a 286 machine (systems they were looking at were 8086) for less money than either the model 25 or 30. If the salespeople had been prompt about exchanging the defective disk, I'd have been long gone, and not cost Future Shop the sale of a whole system.

[Barefootgirl]

So finally she walked over and asked who wanted a 3k commision sale. When one jumped at it she said "Good, now you know what it's like to gain one and then loose it because your a over pompus ass." Turned and then walked out with me snickering in tow.

Is your mum a screenwriter? Because didn't that exact same scene occur in Pretty Woman?

[JustADude]

This reminds me of, of all things, the movie Exit Wounds. The guy played by DMX walks into a Lamborghini show-room dressed in hip-hop fashion and is ignored and talked down to by a sales guy while browsing. He selects a silver Diablo and then pays cash for it, giving the money to a different sales rep.

[Aethian]

Is your mum a screenwriter? Because didn't that exact same scene occur in Pretty Woman?

No Mom is not a screen writer, in Pretty Woman they were talking clothing and she approached the ladies who kicked her out for not being 'their type' after she got new clothes and looked their type. As for calling them pompous asses I don't believe that happened in Pretty Woman either.

Now Mom could have gotten the line from their but she is the type of woman who will make that type of point. She is also one of those that if she see's something wrong she will say something. Not the safest thing to do in todays times but she does do that.


Other then that, what are you trying to get at?

[bainsidhe]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but were you perhaps "dressed down"? There've recently been articles on MSN suggesting customers dress down in order to avoid being hassled by salespeople. Also, dressing down is suggested when buying a car, because salespeople are less likely to assume you can afford a higher price and will negotiate a lower price more easily.

Stereotypes may be wrong, but they're a fact of life. And if they work in my favor...(coming from one who DOESN'T like being hassled by salespeople).

[fma_fanatic]

I was dressed in my normal shopping clothes - t-shirt, jeans and sandals. I have always worn that when I shop, and up until then, I'd never had a problem. Add to that, the other customer was dressed similarly. So unless my clothes - which were purchased at the same store - were a problem, there shouldn't have been a problem.

I'm waiting for someone to call me back on this. We'll see what happens.

[HappyCthulhu]

I've been in sales for 20 years and I have learned to never judge a book by its cover....or a customer by their clothes.

Ratty looking farmers will easily spend $250,000 on a tractor.
So I always treat a prospective customer with respect.

[CancelMyService]

I've been in sales for 20 years and I have learned to never judge a book by its cover....or a customer by their clothes.

Ratty looking farmers will easily spend $250,000 on a tractor.
So I always treat a prospective customer with respect.

Quoted for truth. I once waited on a guy at Circuit City who was in a dirty t-shirt and ratty jeans who ended up buying the most expensive computer we had at the time + warranty. I had just came back from break and didn't know he had been ignored for a while. Turned out he was some high paid business guy who was in the midst of a do-it-yourself home rebuilding project.

[JustADude]

Quoted for truth. I once waited on a guy at Circuit City who was in a dirty t-shirt and ratty jeans who ended up buying the most expensive computer we had at the time + warranty. I had just came back from break and didn't know he had been ignored for a while. Turned out he was some high paid business guy who was in the midst of a do-it-yourself home rebuilding project.

Heh. Sounds about right. The people I've met who have enough to be considered Wealthy (As opposed to merely Rich. You can spend Rich. Wealthy you can't get rid of unless you try!) all tend to dress "for comfort". The only way to tell them from a typical "penniless slob" if they haven't affected some form of understated-yet-expensive accessory (watch, leather jacket, etc) is for them to do something like dropping $10k on a computer in hard cash.