Behaviour at the Beauty Counter

The job of the sales assistant on the Estee Lauder counter is to sell EL products. She should have seen you hovering and left the othet customer for a second, politely excusing herself. What would she have done if 10 people had been waiting ????

I expect a list of charges was displayed. It was a consultation - he spent time listening to you and answering your question.

Would have done the same. Would have also found a person "in charge" and highlighted they did not have enough staff on to cover when a customer is having make-up applied whether they had a prebooked appointment or not. Terrible attitude from the customer though.

Here’s an experience I had though not buying makeup, just wanting to ask my dentist a question. The receptionist asked me to wait a few minutes so that I could catch him between patients. The question was a yes or no answer to put my mind at rest. He was as charming as ever but when I came to leave the surgery the receptionist charged me £75 for the “consultation ‘ It was a private dentist and that charge was higher than a routine check-up. They wouldn’t back down. I never went back and managed eventually to find an NHS dentist. I feel I should have been quoted a price beforehand.

The ( VERY rude) customer put the assistant into a really difficult position. I'm guessing she was probably quite young and wouldn't have the confidence or experience to say quietly something like " I'm so sorry; we're short staffed today. It will only take me a minute to check. would you mind if I had a quick look?
And SUsyQqq, I suggest you should complain to the management that there was no one available to help you, describe the customer's behaviour, and suggest that staff may need more training in dealing with awkward and rude customers.

I don't think you were rude at all, presumably the other customer hadn't paid for a consultation and was just trying out eyeshadow. She was uppity and entitled imo.

I worked in a public facing role all my working life. I always found that, if I was busy with another client, either in person or on the phone, a quick smile and a gesture indicating that I’d seen them and would be with them shortly, was the courteous way to deal with this situation. Polite people then don’t mind waiting a few minutes, and rude people will always be rude anyway!

I would have gone to another beauty counter and asked if there was anyone who could help me with an Estée Lauder query. The assistant in question couldn't have been running the whole John Lewis beauty department single handed!

Many years ago I visited the John Lewis flagship store in Oxford St wanting to purchase some fabric. A very grand old lady was seated at the counter and the assistant was measuring out meters and meters of very expensive curtain fabric for her. It was obviously going to cost a great deal. I was next in line and there was another lady behind me. A young man walked to the front and ignoring the customer and the queue began to engage the assistant in conversation. The assistent was young and easily flustered and left off measuing the fabric.

The elderly lady banged her stick on the floor and said, in a cut glass accent "Young man, this assistant is attending to me. Kindly go to the back of the queue and await your turn!" Her manner was so intimidating that the brash young man actually left the department rather than wait.

When my turn came, I asked the assistant why she had not simply said "Im sorry but Im attending to this customer. Can you please ask another assistant?" The assistant said that "In this store cutomers are not always right but they are never wrong".

When I ran a public library I trained my staff never to leave off attending to one person to deal with another, as there is nothing so infuriating to customers. Unless it is a real emergency you ask the interrupting customer to either seek help elsewhere or wait for their turn.

I worked with one boss who even mde people on the telephone wait their turn (1960s), on the grounds that people should not be allowed to jump the queue just because they could afford a phone. Comparatively few people had a home phone back then.

Ive always been a great believer in doing one task at a time.

Just to reiterate in answer to the question about checking stock, I did not expect to look through the stock myself and meant with my wording that I just wanted to check with the assistant whether it was in stock ( not check the stock myself). Sorry if wording was confusing. Can’t seem to edit my original post to clarify. In hindsight I’d look for another assistant on another brands counter, but it was a quiet weekday morning and with few staff around at the time it didn’t cross my mind . We live and learn . I’ve had the same situation in reverse at hairdressers or other small businesses so didn’t think it was a huge deal . But interesting to see the different views here . Thanks everyone 😊

All three don’t come out well imo . The OP shouldn’t have interrupted the assistant . I would have approached another assistant on another counter . The lady having a free makeup was rude in her response and the assistant should have acknowledged you and said she’d be with you soon .
Working in health care I was taught to acknowledge a patient , even if I was on the phone or dealing with another patient .

I would've done as you did. I wouldn't have time to wait whilst someone had a make-up session if I'd just popped in specifically to purchase that one item.If you ask tentatively and not demandingly, it's not at all rude.

When I'm at the hairdresser's she sometimes asks if she can attend to someone who is waiting at the counter. I don't mind at all if it's just a short time. She doesn't wait until the customer has to approach her which would feel awkward.
That is good customer service.

I'm not sure that those who wouldn't interrupt are the precious ones.

Oh I so agree GSM to interrupt a conversation is so rude (I was taught that too!). But to ask a question whilst someone is having their makeup done (which could take ages) isn't quite the same. It's no different from my hairdresser answering a colleague's or customer's question whilst doing my hair. I'm just not that precious.

And why another customer would interrupt is beyond me. Something which I was taught is rude.

Well this post has certainly indicated how different we all are. Just why anyone having their makeup done by a consultant (for free!) would object to a customer asking a question is beyond me. What harm would it do? It wouldn't occur to me to be offended! Each to their own I suppose.

What I don’t understand is why you couldn’t have asked another assistant to help you. There are always assistants in the make up department standing around at Cribbs with nothing to do as it’s usually very quiet these days. The assistants are always extremely polite and very helpful. A few weeks ago I returned a Clinique eye shadow which I was allergic to, runny nose, and was pleasantly surprised to have my money refunded. I had only used it once but I was under the understanding that you couldn’t return eye shadow but it wasn’t a problem.

Boots is only a few minutes walk away so if you didn’t want to ask another assistant, which I don’t understand, you could have gone there to buy your foundation.

Cribbs Causeway shopping mall is where I do most of my shopping so I know it very well. I pay JL a visit, even if only to use the loos almost every time I go there.

I’m very surprised at how rude the customer was.

By the sound of things, the customer being made up would have been upset. Both she and the OP were rude.

AGAA4

This was the fault of the assistant. With good customer service training she should have acknowledged you and said she would be with you shortly. If you had then said you wanted to ask her a quick question she should have politely asked her customer if she could serve you. A few minutes later she would be back doing the make up and nobody upset.

Yes, this.

This was the fault of the assistant. With good customer service training she should have acknowledged you and said she would be with you shortly. If you had then said you wanted to ask her a quick question she should have politely asked her customer if she could serve you. A few minutes later she would be back doing the make up and nobody upset.

When I've been to the Estee Lauder counter for foundation and there's no EL consultant there, I've just asked another employee to get it for me. No problems. They all cover for each other.
The consultant should have noticed you loitering, obviously needing assistance and quickly called over another member of staff to help you rather than allow the rude customer to intervene.

Some people are unbelievable.

Aren't they though. Incredible that some people should think it's not rude to interrupt people.

I would not have interrupted this lady was having her make up done.

I'd probably have loitered, looked at other items in the store or walked away.

Oh what a lot of differing opinions to the OP question .
I do not think that she was out of order at all . The assistant may of been engrossed in the ‘make up session’ however surely she would also of been aware of a customer hovering . At which point she could have said either ,’ I’ll be with you as soon as I have finished this customer/ lady’s consultation’ or words to that effect .
The OP was not expecting to be told she was being rude . She. Knew what it was she wanted to purchase and asked a question , how is that ‘rude ‘!
Some people are unbelievable.