Behaviour at the Beauty Counter

Just touching on yet another degree of negativity with the ‘attitude of the ‘new breed’ of customer service associates ie sales people. I recently stopped by aninternet provider’s kiosk in the mall. A young lady associate was sitting on a stool studying a computer screen in an effort (it would seem) to avoid making eye contact with me. I positioned myself in front of her and waited silently and patiently for her to look up so as to acknowledge my presence.

Eventually she did lift her eyes from the screen and looked at me in silence and totally expressionless! When she did respond to my issue she made several statements that indicated I should go elsewhere to sort out the issue because I was in the wrong place ……but her general demeanor seemed to suggest she wasn’t in the frame of mind to want to help me.

So….l took a deep breath (very aware that I was so angry with her dismissive attitude but also knowing it would get me nowhere if I demonstrated anger or frustration towards her) ….and so I smiled sweetly and looked directly at her and said “I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but you have the most beautifully shaped eyebrows I have ever seen - they are gorgeous - have you just had them microbladed?”

That did the trick……her face lit up and she looked absolutely delighted with this compliment and went on to proudly announced that she shapes and attends to her own eyebrows daily….and no they are not microbladed! So then I added a few more compliments about these beautiful eyebrows - and lo and behold the attitude change and with a smiley face and a totally different attitude she started to resolve my problem!

I’ve used this type of technique several times if a sales associated is totally disinterested in helping me ie”that’s a gorgeous tattoo you have “ of “what beautiful fingernails you have” …….and so far it has worked every time!

Like the customer being served, I would have found you rude for butting in, as if your concerns were more important than hers, but I would have told you so, and not dragged the shop assistant into the matter. Poor girl, what a way to treat her.

In all shops, it is, and always had been, a matter of first come, first served, an I really do not know how anyone could think it acceptable to barge in as you did.

SuzyQqq

I needed a new foundation and wanting to buy a replacement for one I had bought a while before from Este Lauder. I popped into the Mall at Cribbs Causeway near Brisol and headed to John Lewis who I knew were a stockist. This was the main purpose of my visit. On arriving at the counter in store there was only one assistant who looked like she was advising another customer. The customer was sat on one of their stools and having some eye shadows applied . I looked around the counter to see if I could see the foundation and shade I wanted but it didn’t seem to be out and I know they are sometimes kept behind the counter in their stock drawers. No other assistants were around and I hovered a while to see if the other lady’s consultation was coming to an end, but it seemed ongoing , so I moved a little closer and asked the assistant if I could just quickly check whether they had an item in stock . I thought given she was the only one available this would be acceptable and she may be able to point in me in the right direction whilst then carrying on with her customer. However before she could reply the lady seated on the stool said in a loud voice ‘ How rude ! Do not serve her. Carry on attending to me !’ The assistant looked a bit shocked but obviously didn’t know what to do . Neither did I . I hadn’t thought it was too unreasonable in the circumstances. But to avoid further confrontation I just turned and walked away . I went to Boots and bought another brand and then went home. Was I being unreasonable? Please can someone advise on beauty counter decorum and the do’s and don’ts in these situations? Thanks 😊

Who the actual f* do these sort of people think they are!
Don't be a !
I'd be livid if someone tried to belittle me like that one sitting down.
The assistant should have acknowledged you in the first place. They were both wronguns.

I had a similar experience at the John Lewis store at Cribbs Causeway. I got to the Clinique counter and someone was having a makeover, so I stood and waited, and waited, at no point did the assistant say, sorry, she would be with me as soon as she could, or call someone else, after about ten minutes I left, and went up to Boots.
Sadly this isn’t the only department in John Lewis where the customer service has gone down hill

I think you were wrong to interrupt whilst the assistant was serving another customer, but it wasn’t her place to tell you.

Would you expect the assistant in a shoe shop to stop fitting a customer in order to serve you first, or at a cafe counter for instance?

The assistant probably wouldn’t have known off the top of her head what was in stock, and would have had to stop what she was doing to look and serve you.
It wasn’t a quick question like ‘ Is there another assistant?’

I wouldn’t have interrupted, but I do understand your frustration, I think, as in my case, the sales assistant should have acknowledged you, and maybe called over another assistant, well I won’t be going back, that’s for sure.

just reading the the OP first.

It's a bit like 'pushing in'. were you asking if you could look in the drawer you mentioned?

I would not have interrupted. the customer was very rude though. my opinion

SuzzyQqq

I do not think you were rude at all. The other person was getting a free makeover but you wanted to spend money so the buyer always should come first. The problem was with the counter service, there should always be two assistants working one for makeovers and one for serving, especially with the price of their cosmetic range.

I was in JL the other day at the Lancome counter where there was no assistant. Very quickly a girl arrived from nowhere to help me. After making my purchase I mentioned it was my birthday so she boxed up lots of free samples including perfumes. I explained I was an Angel girl so she proceeded to tell me the offers they had on that.
When I asked if she was the Lancome girl she said she was the everything girl so there would have been other assistants who could have helped.

To interrupt the assistant who was already engaged with a customer in my opinion is very bad manners. Your query was not more important than what she was currently dealing with. Patience is a virtue!

Glad I just help myself at the no 7 counter.😂

I had a bad experience in m and s. They were doing a bra fit promotion with booked slots. The fitter measured me, produced 2 inappropriate bras and moved on to the next customer who had arrived 10 minutes early. When I complained she said the other lady was pregnant so she didn’t want to keep her waiting!
Clearly she was more entertaining than an old lady!

Ideally the sales assistant should control the interaction by acknowledging the waiting customer, pointing out that s/he is currently occupied, and suggesting a solution. Find another assistant, wait a few minutes, etc. Unfortunately sales assistants are often young and poorly trained and dont have the confidence to do this. In those circumstances the customer currently being attended to may have to speak up to impose the rules.

Many years ago I tore a strip off a rude man who interrupted while the assistant in a computer shop was dealing with me. The man had already queue jumped. and then left the shop. A few minutes later he returned and thought that he could just cut in as I was "only" a woman in a computer shop. I was working as a dominatrix on a chat line at the time so he got a lot more than he bargained for. I enjoyed the look of shock on his face at being told off like a toddler.

This happened to me yesterday. I arrived at the nail salon on time for my appointment and found that the technician was still dealing with her last customer. It was 30 minutes before my treatment started. I nearly walked out then but my nails needed doing for my holidays. Then she kept bobbing up and down to see to customers at the reception desk. I just said to her that I would appreciate her undivided attention especially when I was paying £50 for the treatment. She apologised saying they were short staffed. After 1.1/2 hours that should have taken 45 minutes for the treatment I left and when I arrived home I went straight onto the website, gave a poor review, not of the technician but of the company itself for leaving the poor girl alone to deal with everything.

I know for sure I will not be going there again.

A paying customer that is ready and willing to pay for goods there and then should always come first.

The girl was on her own. Maybe someone had called in sick, leaving her to cope. It happens. She had to speak to people arriving at the reception desk, she couldn’t just ignore them. Your attitude just made things worse for her and she will probably be delighted if you go elsewhere. There was no need to give a poor review. I wonder, had you been someone turning up at the reception desk while she was attending to another client, would you have considered it acceptable to be totally ignored?

I was working as a dominatrix on a chat line at the time

Ooh, biglouis

Strangely enough I was also at this shop a quite a few months ago and went to a makeup counter with a list of items for my daughters as Christmas presents.
I discovered three assistants all doing make up demos on customers whilst a queue of people waited patiently to be served.
These customers were ignored until one spoke up and asked if one of the assistants could serve the queue!
This did happen but quite frankly I thought it was rude of the assistants to ignore paying customers as their products are not cheap.
It all comes down to the training of the staff I’m afraid.
So no, I don’t think you were rude at all.

by the way........ I was very lucky at a large Boots store recently. I asked an assistant at the perfume counter if they had any free samples, she happily said she'd go and have a look and came back with 3, two Dolce & Gabbana tiny spray bottles on cards. one called 'Q' and the other was 'Devotion' the third was Carolina Herrera's 'Good Girl'..
always worth an ask, in your most sweetest nicest way of course!

I popped the Good Girl one in a birthday card to a friend!

On my last visit to John Lewis, I had the incident at the Clinique counter, I was very dissatisfied with my service in the lingerie department, the shoe service was poor, but the electrical department beat the lot.
We were wanting to purchase a fairly large item, so we wanted to have a look, then order it online.
We asked the gentleman serving us, if he could jot down the details, he said, no, surely you can remember them.
I sound like a right moaning old bag, but I have always raved about John Lewis staff, and am sorry to see such a deterioration in their staff.

The ‘lady’ was quite unnecessarily rude. I personally would have no objection to a short interruption to a free makeover! Rather, I would have felt empathy for an assistant working on an understaffed counter and a shopper who just wanted an answer to a question. I worked in a customer facing role for many years and understand the assistant’s dilemma. You were not being unreasonable, just paying the price for cost cutting by a beleaguered store and a very ill mannered person.

In my case I had patiently waited for my turn in the shop while the rude man was discussing printers with the assistant. It was one of those shops where all the products are piled up in boxes with just a few models out for customers to try/look at. Once the man left the shop his "turn" was over. Thats the deal.

It was the way he thought he could waltz back in and talk over a woman which angered me. He would not have done that with a man.

Submissive male customers used to pay a lot of money to ring up on the chat line and have me be "very strict" in talking with them. He got my service for free!

My first reaction was to laugh! I pictured it as a scene in a “Carry On” film. There was Hattie Jaques as the customer in the chair and Barbara Winsor as the make up advisor. You as an innocent would be customer. Sorry 🤣🤔

I have had a gentler experience - if you can call it that! I went into a large Boots to ask about some face cream and there wasn't a soul in sight!!!!! I gave up and went to my local chemist instead which had something similar. I've not been in that Boots since.

PoorJenny

SuzzyQqq

I do not think you were rude at all. The other person was getting a free makeover but you wanted to spend money so the buyer always should come first. The problem was with the counter service, there should always be two assistants working one for makeovers and one for serving, especially with the price of their cosmetic range.

The person having the free makeover could have been tempted to buy every product that was used on her, that this what the makeovers are for.

What a rude diva-bitch! I hope her karma is on it's way.