Behaviour at the Beauty Counter

No you are not being unreasonable. I had bad service or non service a couple of years ago but mine was at the Clinique counter a Boots store. I sent in an e mail complaint. I received a lovely reply from the head of that department and saying when I next went in to make myself known and would receive a gift to make up for my experience. He did say it wasn’t how the staff were trained to treat customers ie being ignored. I didn’t go to receive it as I didn’t require anything in recompense it was just to bring attention to what had happened and hopefully for them to act on it which the manager assured me they would.

I would have done the same you were nt being rude you should be afforded the same attention as the other spoilt lady I use the term lady loosely

Of course you weren’t being rude, the customer was.
If you want private, individual attention don’t go for free advice in a store. Pay and go to a salon.

I personally wouldn’t have sought advice from the assistant if it was obvious she was on her own and busy with another customer. I’d probably have gone off browsing, whilst at the same time, feeling tetchy at the counter being short-staffed, and returned later. But hey that’s just me.

My sister worked at a Clinique counter in Selfridges London. The assistant should have excused herself from the customer getting free make up and asked what you required. She missed out on a potential sale because of the other customer.

The other customer probably didn’t buy any makeup but asked for samples something lots of customers do. The assistant probably didn’t want to annoy the other customer but should have been more assertive.

I think you were rude to expect attention when the assistant was otherwise engaged.

I don't think you were rude at all. You were only asking if something was in stock.

I am undecided on this.

I have made appointments (with Estée Lauder) for makeup trials/sessions when I had big events or family weddings coming up and I wanted to refresh/change my look.

Having booked an appointment and taken time out of a busy working day I would not have taken kindly to having that session interrupted by another customer/s however, I would not have reacted rudely. (I am by nature not a rude person)

In my opinion the assistant should have noticed you hovering and said sorry, I will be with you in ^x minutes^

So you were asking to go behind the counter and rootle through her stock drawers whilst she was dealing with a customer. Why couldn't you just wait your turn? I think you were the rude one here.

In real life, I'm coming round to the view that those who accuse others of rudeness are generally the one being rude, in extreme cases even breaking the law.

Not rude at all. I’d be fizzing. Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman comes to mind! ‘Big Mistake’! When I’m having treatments in my local salon, (for which I pay a hefty amount) the assistant sometimes excuses herself to attend to a ‘walk-in’. I don’t mind. If everyone was kind & sensible and less selfish it’d be a better world.

Marmight

Not rude at all. I’d be fizzing. Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman comes to mind! ‘Big Mistake’! When I’m having treatments in my local salon, (for which I pay a hefty amount) the assistant sometimes excuses herself to attend to a ‘walk-in’. I don’t mind. If everyone was kind & sensible and less selfish it’d be a better world.

Exactly! 👏👏👏

Sarnia

So you were asking to go behind the counter and rootle through her stock drawers whilst she was dealing with a customer. Why couldn't you just wait your turn? I think you were the rude one here.

I’m not sure we are hearing the full story-
First of all, behind the counter is always “off limits” for customers for reasons of security- shoplifting is apparently increasing at an alarming rate- and also just not convinced about the (exaggerated?) reaction of the other customer .
There are two sides to every story- sometimes a third!

Just to clarify at no point was I expecting to rummage around behind the counter. I simply wanted to know if the item was still stocked and so may be worth either hanging around for or coming back for another time.

I think my immediate response to the woman accusing me of being rude would have been "If you want rude lady, look in the mirror !"

You behaved perfectly reasonably. The customer was unnecessarily rude.

Given that you simply wanted to ask a question to which, presumably, the answer would've been a yes or a no, and that you had absolutely no idea how long you would have to wait to ask it - I think it's perfectly reasonable to politely excuse your intrusion for an exchange that would probably have lasted for a few seconds.

Then you would've known whether it was wroth hanging around for 10 / 20 / 30 minutes.

Of course, the store could employ more than one assistant on that counter, but that would raise their costs, so you pay the price for the cost-cutting.

But so do they - how many customers will they lose? If I'd seen a woman in the process of being made-up, I'd simply have walked out. If I'd been the assistant I would have politely excused myself from my current customer and told the prospective one roughly how long I'd be before becoming available.

I would have gone to another beauty stall and asked someone there to go and check the drawer. I know they all help each other.. I think the other customer sounds very rude and entitled..

I'm not sure whether you were asking to look through her stock drawers behind the counter? In which case that would not be permitted and would be rather like getting behind the bar at a pub and serving yourself a pint.

On the other hand, the assistant should most certainly have acknowledged your presence and given you some indication of her intentions. The free make up sessions offered by John Lewis can take at least an hour and it would be extremely unreasonable to expect another customer to wait that long.

The fault lies with the store which clearly hasn't offered adequate training for such a scenario and is clearly under staffed.

To be fair, they are primarily a retail store and not a beauty parlour.

I’ve reflected on it a fair bit since the incident and also thought that it the same situation again I’d go to another of the counters to ask someone else like you’ve suggested. It was one of those things that just happened at the time . I guess I didn’t think too much of an asking quick question . But the other persons response really shook me up at the time, as I’m a relatively calm quiet person who’d hate to appear rude.

No you’re not being unreasonable, that customer was being very rude.

Slightly different scenario, but when I'm having my hair done, often a customer will walk in wanting to book an appointment, or buy a hair product, if there isn't anyone on the desk which is often the case, my stylist or another will say "just excuse me whilst I see to this customer" what else can they do? they can't leave that person just standing there. Similar situation to yours OP, good grief that woman sounded a right entitled Duchess. I don't think you were being unreasonable, under the circumstances the assistant should have excused herself whilst she served you.

Having said that, I do object to someone barging up with an interruption whilst the customer is at the till in the throes of paying, that happened to me once and the shop assistant gave me the wrong change.

The shop was at fault offering time consuming beauty treatments and selling with only one staff member there. Difficult for everyone concerned.

The customer was rude, however as there was only one assistant maybe she had been interrupted a few times, it doesn’t excuse her though.