Pretty Woman Moment

My father had something similar happen years ago

My mother loves expensive jewellery and gets a piece every birthday/christmas/mothers day/there is a y in the day

As I explained with the motorbike,my father doesn't give a fuck about how he looks,he doesn't need to (im not bragging,im nc with him now and will never see a penny)

He rocked up to a posh jewellers wearing baggy,manky and knackered jeans,scruffy boots,a moth eaten jumper,a coat which has seen better days (the sleeve was hanging off) his signature hat (which is so worn,its more holes than hat) and one of those jute shopper bags thats held together with duct tape (my dd bought it for him with her pocket money when she was about 7and shes 29 now)

He also whiffs a bit of horse shit and soil

I admit if you saw him in the street,you'd think he was a homeless person

They shooed him out of the shop!literally shoved him back out of the door!

He was amused and wandered around to another posh jewellers,who couldn't do enough for him and he spent a few grand (cash) and has gone back so often over the years,they make him a cup of tea and have a chat while he explains what he wants (he knows all the staff by name)

The first jewellers loss as hes spent a fortune with the second shop and all the family followed suit and have boycotted the first shop (not me,i cant afford to and buy my jewellery from a lovely seller of vintage jewellery on Ebay)

Those wardrobes are still going strong decades later in quite a few homes I know.

They still look exactly the same and have aged surprisingly well.

My sil and her husband are extremely wealthy and extremely unassuming and frugal.They don’t dress for fashion at all or buy expensive labels, think supermarket jeans and trainers. I’ve witnessed snobbery towards them both here and in the states and it has always made me chuckle at how stupid it makes others look but also more than a little
pissed re how much is put on appearance and how ridiculous it is.

No, I don't think so. I do think there's more awareness that not all wealthy people swan around in expensive gear, but I think many people still take appearances at face value. And are impressed by obvious shows of wealth.

What I'm finding surprising here is the stereotypes about clothing. I thought the days of smart expensive clothes being indicators of wealth were long gone.

I remember MFI! Ah, those were the days!

MFI made for idiots!!

Im old enough

Was it actually true, though? How DOES someone in their early thirties without a conservative City finance/law job, that pays loads early on, pay 70k cash for a car? I'm not sure I blame him tbh, and I'm doubting you too! 🤣 But he was rude and silly. It wouldn't have taken long to establish what you wanted. I would have been rolling my eyes inwardly but I wouldn't have been outwardly rude or kept you waiting. I also probably wouldn't have believed what you said, if you're that young and have pink hair.

(I'm going to assume you're not in a career like merchant banking or City law, due to the pink hair.)

70k cash is a HUGE amount to pay cash for a car at that age. How do you have that much money???

Edit: Sorry, I just read that it was due to an inheritance. I'm sorry for your loss. 😢

I mean, if you look like a middle-aged hobo, you're not going to get much respect. You could quite easily have fake ID and nick the test-drive car if you look dodgy. Not infrequently, people who look dodgy ARE dodgy.

If you want some respect, look neat and clean.

If you go into posh shops looking truly unkempt and scruffy, it's really not surprising that they don't want to hand over expensive goods. You could run out with it.

If they're being rude because you look young or just because you're not glam or wearing designer togs, that's stupid of them.

But if you actively look like you've slept on the streets, you can't really be surprised at not getting respect. Putting a little effort into your appearance garners some respect because we all know it takes effort.

In Pretty Woman, she was literally shopping in the gear she wore after dark to pick up johns. She did look dreadful in that get-up. Should have got the concierge to run out and get her some Levi's and a white T-shirt instead of shopping in Rodeo Drive in her pick-up gear! 🤣

Oooh, how do you ham up the damsel thing? Would like tips!

?? Trade fairs are the perfect front for money laundering. Many years ago I used to work for HMRC and the nature of taking orders at fairs with the high footfall makes money laundering very difficult to prove. It’s thankfully harder to get away with now than then, but over-inflating big orders can still provide a way to feed in dodgy money or allow legitimate cross-border invoicing to avoid tax. So small orders are of no use, big commercial orders offer the biggest possibilities. TBF the legitimate side of these businesses are often real and very good, but they are unlike to be interested in small orders.

Where there’s millions involved, stumping up £20k to put on a stand at a fair is small-fry. It absolutely happens, it’s not a conspiracy theory. There are lots of people across the financial industry who are paid good money to follow the paper trail of legitimate businesses that have sparked interest. They are never out of work.

why on earth would a sham business go to the effort and expense of spending a whole day at a home reno show fair, which presumably included a fair bit of outlay on paying for a stall, mocking up a few prototype doors, brochures/flyers/banners, paying for at least 1 staff member to stand there for 12 hours, with at least enough basic knowledge about bespoke doors to briefly bullshit anyone who engaged with her?

Not to mention if you're trying to go under the radar with your fake business possibly the worst place to do so would be a building filled solely with hundreds of other people and businesses in the same trade, who would soon note red flags from a company they'd never heard of turning away trade all day and not being able to discuss even the absolute basics of their professed speciality!

I think you might want to take a walk outside and get some fresh air! Not everything is a conspiracy.

Mystery shoppers are on an extremely low income, self-employed, probably a mum or retired person earning an extra few pennies. They are more likely to dress inexpensively / look out of place, so store owners should be falling over themselves!

nope. I won't go in dirty or smelly but anyone who wants my money can take me as I am. i waas a regular shopper in Harrods some 40 years ago (I had an account card) and never got anything but a pleasant attitude from staff

About 40 years ago a colleague told me a story about how a mystery shopper in Harrods, dressed very scruffily, was completely ignored by the staff. The staff were taken to task on this and were apparently very pissed. Possibly that's why their training now tells them not to make assumptions.

I try to dress respectably when doing serious shopping; it does make a difference. It's annoying, but there it is.

It’s similar to the moment in the Film ‘pretty woman’ when the sales assistants won’t help her in an upmarket clothes shop because of the way she is dressed

I would tell them, as I'd like them to know how offputting they are. We sell high end jewellery, one of our customers told us one store refused to serve her, I guess they didn't think she had enough money to talk to, but she's spent tens of thousands with us. I once had it with a hotel booking in Australia. I was backpacking and had a reservation, I was treated badly due to looking like a poor backpacker, until they realised I'd booked and paid - I hate that their attitude changed so much immediately, it shouldn't be like that.

My nieces went to a very expensive school, and most of the 'old money' parents would turn up in old bangers, scruffy clothes, hair all over the place.. If you're that rich, you've usually mastered 'don'tgiveafuckism' a long time ago. The newer money people would appear to be much more concerned about what they looked like. It's very ignorant to think that someone who's not conventionally well presented has no money.

Pretty Woman, the film.

thats really crap. I’d write and complain. My late sister and her ex-H both were happy to dress scruffy. She loved the look on estate agents face when they offered cash for their 3 bed house!

This sounds like a sales tactic to embarass you into buying it.

You should leave them their very first trustpilot review

Maybe their products are shit and she didn’t want you to waste your money!