No I don't work here....

[Andara Bledin]

Problem is, METRO trip planner doesn't think the address of the one closest to me exists, since it's in a shopping center off of a feeder for 59.

I never trust the trip planners to get me to addresses. I just find the nearest major intersection and let it get me there.

Oh that's a nice store two. I regular the one closer to me though (obviously) down by the NASA bypass. It's huge! And everything is sooo pretty!

Oh, hey, what's the theme of your Fry's? We've got 4 that are somewhat nearby, and one's tiki, another's got a space shuttle theme, one's gearworks, and the last is roman aquaduct. That last one had running water in a section that fell into a fountain where the aqueduct was "broken."

^-.-^

[SG15Z]

I never trust the trip planners to get me to addresses. I just find the nearest major intersection and let it get me there.

Oh, hey, what's the theme of your Fry's? We've got 4 that are somewhat nearby, and one's tiki, another's got a space shuttle theme, one's gearworks, and the last is roman aquaduct. That last one had running water in a section that fell into a fountain where the aqueduct was "broken."

^-.-^

Mine has an International Space Station theme. Probably because NASA is just up the road from it.

[AriRashkae]

I never trust the trip planners to get me to addresses. I just find the nearest major intersection and let it get me there.

Oh, hey, what's the theme of your Fry's? We've got 4 that are somewhat nearby, and one's tiki, another's got a space shuttle theme, one's gearworks, and the last is roman aquaduct. That last one had running water in a section that fell into a fountain where the aqueduct was "broken."

^-.-^

What? Now I wish Fry's was up here.

[Lace Neil Singer]

If someone walks up to me in a store, I usually make the small effort to at least help them a little bit, even if it is just telling them where to look for the products (if I know the store) or finding an associate who can help them. It doesn't usually take much time, and most people are very appreciative....

The thing is, when I'm on my day off and am just shopping like a normal, non retail slave, I don't want to have to help people. I want to just be left alone to shop, and not have customers bearing down on me, demanding help. And it always seems to happen when I'm dressed in clothes that bear not the slightest resemblance to the store's uniform. -.-

[Pagan]

The thing is, when I'm on my day off and am just shopping like a normal, non retail slave, I don't want to have to help people. I want to just be left alone to shop, and not have customers bearing down on me, demanding help. And it always seems to happen when I'm dressed in clothes that bear not the slightest resemblance to the store's uniform. -.-

Exactly! Especially when it's a store that you don't work at in the first place.

[AriRashkae]

Oddly enough, I've never gotten asked outright to help find something, unless it's something already in my basket. "Oooo! You found the coloring books? Where are they?" "Over there, on an endcap by Tools. " "Yay!"

If I'm walking by and hear someone trying to find something (and an employee isn't already involved), I'll toss out the info as I walk by if I happen to know, but I've got my own stuff to do.

[Anakah]

I was on the other end of "do you work here." My hubbie and I went to Home Depot and couldn't spot any of the workers. We don't normally go in there and didn't know the uniform. Still no excuse...

This guy had some kind of logo on his shirt and was well dressed and you guessed it, the hubbie goes: Excuse me, we have a question.

Guy: I don't work here.

My hubbie and I cracked up and I told him he belongs on this site. LOL

Whoops. We felt like complete fools too.

[Chrismor]

I once had an "I don't work here" incident while browsing through the specials in a supermarket with my parents. I was in work that morning, so I was wearing trousers and a short sleeve shirt. I happened to be reading a message on my iPhone when a customer stops me to ask if there were any more stepladders on sale (this was a German Supermarket known for selling anything. An Irish comedian once joked that it was the only supermarket where you could go in looking for ham and cheese and come out with a chainsaw and a kayak.)

I politely informed him that I did not work there and pointed him to one of the guys in blue shirts less then 5 feet away.

(In the customers defence, I did look like I was a manager type person.)

C.

[KellyHabersham]

I had one of those incidents just the other day at the grocery store - don't recall exactly what I was doing/looking at, but this guy came up to me and asked if we sold greeting cards. When I turned around, he said something along the lines of "Oh, you don't work here - I thought you were a stock person.", and hurried off before I had a chance to say anything. Funny thing was, I had on a black band T-shirt and was carrying my Ipod.......definitely not anything like an employee uniform.

[leesyITFC]

I've had that many times when i go into another store after work when i still have my uniform on or sometimes even when i'm just in my normal clothes.

One time i was standing in the drinks aisle in my local Co-op supermarket trying to decide what drink to buy and this man behind me turns round to me and asks,

Man: Excuse me? Do you have any Red Bull left?

Me looking puzzled: How would i know? I don't work here.........

Man: Oh sorry! lol I thought you worked here because you were standing beside a cage.

I was in an Ipswich Town football shirt and jeans! lol

It always gets me that some people can't tell the difference between someone who is clearly in the correct uniform, working and actually cares and someone who is in a uniform vastly different to the store's uniform or just normal everyday clothes, NOT working and trying to do their shopping without being bothered all the time! lol

[draftermatt]

Last night I got my first "do you work here moment" since I was a teenager hanging out at my buddies store.

We went to dinner at a local place that does everything cafeteria style. I took my wife's and my mother's drinks for refills and (literally) bumped into a guy. I said sorry, so did he.

He saw the drinks in my hands and said "can we get refills here" "Yes" I reply "take them back up front and ask for them"

He then gives me a dirty look and goes and sits back down.

Seemed he thought I worked there?

I was wearing a Baltimore Orioles T-shirt, jeans with a hole in them, and had just gotten up from sitting down.

[TonyF]

Unfortunately, 80% of my store's clientele are regulars, so I could never get away with acting undercover in my street clothes.

I do get mistaken for an employee at other stores, I'm puzzled. I dress very casual on my off-days: hoodie, jeans, and a ball cap. Obviously, I'm dressed very different from the actual employees but I still have someone asking me a thing or two sometimes. I guess reading the back of a box of computer equipment or hardware means that I MUST be confirming a product label or bar code.

[Kogarashi]

My Hubby has an uncanny knack for wearing his red polo and tan khakis when we shop at Target (hey, guess what the uniform is!).

Whenever I get approached when grocery shopping, so far it's been someone who appears to realize I'm another customer and phrases their question accordingly. None have yelled at me yet for saying, "I think it's that way," or "I think I saw that over there," or "I'm sorry, I don't know."

And then there was last week. My MIL was in town, and we took my girls to Chuck E. Cheese's for fun. The place was crazy (we later realized it was Ash Wednesday, and in the middle of Winter Break for the local schools too). At one point, my 3-year-old had managed to wander away from me and I was looking through the crowds to try to find her, when a kid came up behind me saying, "Excuse me! Excuse me!" Wondering if the kid had spotted my daughter and why he actually felt like addressing me, I turned around. He pointed behind him and said, "Your hockey game over there isn't working."

I blinked a few moments, then answered, "I don't work here." He got a deer-in-headlights look and turned and walked away quickly, and I resumed my search (found my daughter just a few moments later, crying and scared because she couldn't find me). When I reflected on the incident later, I realized the shirt I was wearing was the same color (but not the same style by a long shot) as the CEC employees' shirts. Go figure.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I'm pretty sure that if you work in a shop, you give off an aura of strange retailness whereever you are and whatever you're wearing, even if you're off work.

[It's me]

I mentioned this somewhere else here but...

A while back I was in Ikea, in the lighting dept. A guy who was fiddling with a lamp turned a nearby 12 year old kid who was dressed in jeans and a sweat shirt and asked, "Do you work here?

I often wonder... given that these people managed to learn speak English, dress themselves and drive a vehicle to the store... where did their brains go when they walked in the door?