Pretty Woman Moment

That reminded me of getting my (inherited) Omega watch fixed at some big luxury jewellery store place. I just went there because it was big and handy.

I went to the Omega counter and explained what I needed. The sales assistant looked over my watch and sniffed, “It’s an old one.” I just said mildly, “It was my grandmother’s,” but I was dying to make some comment along the lines of, you mean people actually buy these watches new? How amusing! 😂

This happened to me only once. I was ordering flowers for my wedding of all things. You would think a florist would want to upsell you, not question whether you can afford something, but no.

My mother was an avid gardener and an expert especially on flowers. Me, not so much (it must skip a generation because my daughter is a skilled gardener). Anyway, my mother made a special trip to join me when I went to the supposedly best florist in town to order my bouquet and the bridesmaids' bouquets. I was willing to defer totally to her as she had excellent taste and also was paying (bless her). We were both dressed well and were very polite, but when she told the sales person what we (she) wanted, the response was "that's very expensive, but we can do such and such for much less." My mother told the woman that the price quoted wasn't a problem, but she (sales person) became really resistant. It was so odd. My mother persisted and eventually the order was taken; my mother paid, and we left. The flowers were lovely, by the way.

It is poor service but you have also made ageist assumptions of your own!

Even though that trade show might be open to the public, it's very possible that they're actively seeking B2B customers. Think property developers, overseas clients, distributors, international retailers etc. Most companies use those shows as a way of setting up big deals and meeting their existing contacts in person.

It's no secret in trade show circuits that many businesses actively dislike the private customers who are only looking to buy a single unit of a product. Even if that one item is very expensive, it's still not a big sale for them. Behind the scenes, they will moan about certain days where visitors to the show are usually private families, mom and pop stores etc. Many salespeople will avoid eye contact or engaging with people who clearly look like private visitors. Or they will give you an anti sales talk so they don't have to process the paperwork for one unit.

In all honesty, if you received that treatment when you walk into their showroom then it would be grounds for complaint. But at trade shows, it comes down to whether you look like the buyer for Habitat, a property developer from Dubai or just a random couple wanting a front door. She knows you can afford it, but she's probably tired and hungry and doesn't have the energy to give the whole sales pitch for just one door. And this is obviously with permission from her boss so complaining is not going to do much.

EDIT: Especially considering they barely have an online presence, it suggests the company is very B2B, not B2C. They aren't selling single doors but they're looking for real estate contacts who will buy 20-50 doors at once when constructing a new development.

I've had similar when trying to buy a car, as I'd arrived in a sweatshirt and jeans, driving an admittedly pretty knackered little runaround. I got one word answers, almost grunts - until DH turned up, straight from work in his much nicer car and full suit. Suddenly they were fawning all over us. We left!

I had similar when I went to buy a car before we were married. My now dh came along with me and the salesmen addressed himself to dh the whole way through. He barely glanced at me, and when I asked a question he spoke directly to dh. It was really weird, almost laughable.
Dh finally had to tell him "There's no point telling me about it, I'm not the one buying the car" I hope it gave the salesman pause for thought. I didn't buy the car either.

I'm confused, what's this got to do with being pretty?

It is poor service but you have also made ageist assumptions of your own!

The other place I find people (not the staff but other customers) make assumptions is on business class flights. I travel semi regularly BC to Asia. Not a humble brag it’s for work and due to the distance we travel BC. Having done the flight a number of times, knowing it’s going to take approx 20hrs I dress for comfort. Hoodie, leggings and trainers. On a few occasions I’ve been given the evil eye while standing in the BC queue and on one occasion recently an older woman pointed out to me as I tried to reach the boarding gate that this queue was for priority boarding only. Gave me immense pleasure to walk past her and board while she was turned back (she’d followed me to the gate) as the desk agent explained they were only boarding BC passengers at this time

My dad too (though he's still alive), quite well to do, went to public school etc but wears battered trainers and favourite comfy clothes which he doesn't notice have holes in. A few years ago my parents came to ours for Christmas and within the space of a week my dad was mistaken for a homeless person, my son was mistaken for a drug dealer and I was accused of being a shoplifter. I think the lot of us need to smarten ourselves up!

I've had similar when trying to buy a car, as I'd arrived in a sweatshirt and jeans, driving an admittedly pretty knackered little runaround. I got one word answers, almost grunts - until DH turned up, straight from work in his much nicer car and full suit. Suddenly they were fawning all over us. We left!

I had this at an expensive shoe shop. I was also in my thirties. Two old ladies walked in and the assistant walked straight past me to serve them first. I guess she thought they were going to spend something. I could´ve told her they were two ladies passing the afternoon trying on things and then going to a patisserie for coffee and butter biscuits. While the ladies were trying on these shoes I managed to get her to bring me the two pairs I was interested in to buy, which she practically threw at me and went to the old ladies. Mine fitted nicely so I went to pay, another assistant took my card. When this one went near me I did tell her " they won´t buy anything, you know". I walked out and about two minutes later, the old ladies walked out, bagless. I never returned to that shop on principle. Atrocious sales assistants.

The client could've been my Dad. Lived in a very run down house (in a bad area) and always looked like he'd crawled out of skip. When he passed away I was very surprised to find he had hundreds of thousands in the bank.

DH and I were at a homebuilding and renovation show yesterday as we're in the middle of an extension project. Specifically we 're on the hunt for a new front door and while looking around one of the vendors we had a "pretty women" moment.

We had a look at the various products on show before trying to get the attention of one of the representatives who appeared to be avoiding our gaze. Eventually she approached and I said 'hi, we're interested in bespoke front doors and quite like this one on show'.

Without asking our budget or any of our requirements she went into a spiel about how the doors were very expensive, how they were imported from Lithuania and the import charge was also expensive, all the while wincing as she was saying it. She then said we might be better off with a more mass manufactured door. I was absolutely stunned at her condescending tone. She hadn't asked a single question about what we were looking for.

I was so close to confronting her about her approach, but held back. DH calmly told her her sales pitch needs some work and we walked away, but I was fuming. We were both dressed smart/casually so the only thing I can think is she guaged our age (late thirties) and made an assumption we couldn't afford it (even though we can).

WWYD in that situation? I'm half inclined to email the company and provide feedback on our experience but I also don't know if it's worth the energy.

Would love to hear if anyone that's had a similar experience but DID confront the rude person as I'm still annoyed I didn't give her a piece of my mind.

Exactly, a lot of these flounces don't hit the way people hope. Ideally the customer would stand up for themselves first, before withdrawing their custom.

We needed new sofas and for some reason my PIL were with us. I think maybe they had something to do on that out of town trading estate too. Anyway, DH and I were first in and it's one of those massive chain stores. We started looking round, only looking at sofas and with focus because we bloody hate those places and shopping, we wanted it done. We were early 30s maybe. Pointedly ignored by sales staff. ILs walk in few minutes later and the sales person zoomed past us to them. They of course said they were with us and we were the customers. We said no, not anymore and left.

I don't get it! How many couples in their 30s spend their weekends driving to awkward to get to furniture places and wondering round just for fun? Compared to the number of couples buying and kitting out their first home and therefore really needing sofas?