Pretty Woman Moment

I stopped in at my local car sales room and was happily wandering around when the sales guy appeared and tried to steer me away from a particular area as”these are the premium cars”. I told him I was looking for an Audi or a Mercedes (totally true) so he waffled for an bit and I left.

I had this in Harvey Nichols. I did complain.

God, how disappointing.

I was expecting to find a story about how a billionaire swept you off your feet and took you shopping for your dream wardrobe!!!

The amount of people I serve in my job who dress shabby and/or could do with a really good haircut and then pay with their Coutts or Hoare & Co card, I have learnt never too judge a book.

AIBU to be disappointed you haven't been rescued from prostitution?!

Not heard it called this before but was out with a friend in our lunch break a while back, tidily dressed because we were at work. Friend wanted a new kitchen (and could afford it). We went into an independent kitchen showroom shop to look. Salesman looked at us and said, 'These kitchens are very expensive'. Extremely condescending tone. We exited and laughed so hard and it's been a joke ever since.
Friend went with another company and spent £20 000 on her new kitchen there. A reasonable sum in 2006 or thereabouts.

I spent a year in Ecuador as a nanny and flew home first class paid for by the wonderful diplomatic family (flew first leg with them but they stayed in Madrid.) At Madrid airport I went towards the first class lounge but was stopped (with a palm almost on my chest) by a woman who said in a very condescending voice.. with the facial expressions too... 'First Class only '. She actually spluttered when she was presented with my ticket..
I can still remember all the men in their business suits and briefcases looking up when I entered.. it was the 6am flight to Heathrow. I will admit I probably didn't look much like a first class passenger because by then I'd been travelling for nearly 24 hours and had worked on the plane. Twin 2 yr olds..This was in 1989 before the film was released but I still remember my Julia Roberts moment.

“The assistant said we have nothing for you here.”

What the hell @Stanislas ! That’s so incredibly rude!

About 20 years ago I went into a Vivienne Westwood shop. I don’t know if there was more than one. I dress very conventionally camel coat ,Barbour etc. and was on a stop off on my way to New York . The assistant said we have nothing for you here. My financial advisor had told me I needed to get rid of some money🤣 and was thinking of buying a treat for my daughter who had just had a baby.

I have a similar kind of story, though, the sales person wasn’t rude.

I was in a garden centre buying a new set (sofa, two chairs and a table) for my conservatory and the salesman made a comment about it being cheaper to buy that than buying actual living room furniture, thinking I was using it in a living room.

my experience was with Toyota and I bought a Rav too.

Negative selling isn't a tactic. Its actively discouraged.

It's not only the high end places either. I recall 20 odd years ago now, the frozen food emporium 'COOK' in Barnes village had a notoriously snooty young woman working in there who was rude to legions of very wealthy local customers who would enquire about various things!

You have some very rude friends!

Ha, I had that happen on a United flight to Washington, and they wouldn’t let me help because I wasn’t American! They said they’d rather have a US nurse (who had also stepped up) than a British physician “because they didn’t know if British doctors were properly trained or not”. Cheeky fuckers.

Fine with me as the patient appeared to just be drunk and vomiting anyway.

It's a sales tactic. They rely on you getting angry and wanting to "prove you can afford it" by making a big purchase. It's worrying how often it works.

Bloody awful behaviour isn’t it? I think this will be us forever more now too, for the last 10 years we’ve had a direct contact at Audi as we are the same, all our cars, servicing, MOTs, the lot (had literally picked up my new car the week before this happened). I think this experience cemented our loyalty!

Glad your DM found them great too. I will never understand the mentality when it comes to sales, some of the richest people I work with dress like they have nothing. It is literally never possible to judge!

Bil is a doctor and a call went out on a plane for one. He was a junior doctor at the time qualified but quite boyish and young looking when he stepped up the air hostesses were having none of it!

I worked in finance and we were all well aware that sometimes, the least likely looking person was the wealthiest. Multi millionaire landlords arriving by cycle for example.
None of us ever judged by looks.

Same with Land Rover etc, surely most of their clients are very wealthy, farming or horsey types? It would be career suicide to expect clients to be only dressed like aristocracy.

I was nine months pregnant organised a test drive for a Toyota 4x 4 rAv 4 3 door. The escort nearly had a fit when I got behind the wheel, drove the very narrow country lanes with pull ins up to our house. And yes I did have to reverse twice. Then I measured up for a bale of straw, yes it was big enough. Fair dos after driving with me fast braking and acceleration. Around the area he was happy for a cash sale. So Toyota were very good.

I asked to try two pairs of walking shoes in my local Trespass shop. Lady went off to bring the other part of the pairs. In the meantime I'd seen another pair I wanted to try which turned out to be the same as the original but a different colour. She said but it's the same shoe. I said but I might buy both pairs. She suddenly woke up and was all animated then sent someone else to get the other. I decided to buy both pairs. I told her that how she had been wasn't very good, clearly she didn't want to go up and down the stairs but that no one should buy a pair of shoes without trying them on, her colleague joined in at this point and agreed and I pointed out that the same item of clothing in black can fit differently to one of a different colour so I assume the same can be for footwear. Even though they couldn't take the voucher I had, I still bought both pairs as I knew I wanted them and I was only down £20 ish on an over £100 sale.

I think that's a terrible story, she didn't show any respect to the shop by going in there all muddy.

A firend of mine (very horsey) was always dressed in messy clothes, muddy boots and a grotty old Barbour jacket which had lost practically all its wax! She had an outdoor job, so never really got dressed up during the day.

She went to the local market town after work to a posh jewellers in order to buy her parents an anniversary present, and planned to spend about £1,000 - but as soon as she walked in the assistant fetched a big brush and literally swept the floor in front of her, edging her back out of the door. Needless to say, she didn't spend her money in there!!

From someone with experience in sales specifically in the door industry. This reaction was probably less about you and more about the product and industry itself I wouldn't take it personally, it's likely she'd been wasting time with people all day who didn't have the budget and some suppliers don't ship just one door they only deal with developers and such. It's likely she paid poorly or on commission only she may only be brought in for the few days the show is on, don't cause unnecessary upset and stress. If your actually interested email the company directly with your requirements so they can deal with you properly rather than in the middle of a busy trade show, I'm sure they'll be able to offer something suitable once they have all the info.

The BMW salesman told her “he only deals with organ-grinders not monkeys, and to come back with her husband”, and refused to serve her.

Omg that's shocking! Hope she complained!