Chemist refused to sell my Mother make up. How odd?

[fortifiedwithtea]

DM a bit deaf but all her facilities and aged 85 .

She wanted to buy her granddaughter (my DD2) a lipstick for her birthday. DM went to a local independent chemist. The sort that stinks of perfume the moment you walk in. She explained to the sales assistant ( who mum presumed was the owner or manager ) that she was looking for a colour to suit someone with blonde hair, fair skin tone.

Assistant replied sorry I know this sounds awkward but we only serve people who have bought a product before as its caused problems in the past.

So mum went to Boots with the exist same request and was helped , no problem. Except now she is over thinking it and worrying the lipstick could cause God knows what skin allergy.

Does this sound really odd? I wondered if first shop thought she was buying for a child. Dd2 is 20 years old btw. Or do you think its because make up choice so personal its highly likely its not to daughter’s taste. But why should that be of any concern to the shop, everyone should know make up can not be returned.

To me its a weird business model only to sale products your customers have had before. How is business growth achieved if nobody tries anything new.?

Oooh excellent advice Grand Fromage. Tres useful scampers to the luxury makeup aisles

I used to love Estée Lauder bc their counter staff would always give me massive foundation samples. Didn't buy a foundation for years as a teen because of it. But when I had more money I spent a fortune at them.

So I guess it works out in the long run.

My guess is that your mum totally misinterpreted the conversation. My mum’s hard of hearing and constantly mis-hears what people are saying. I honestly can’t think that his was how the conversation went between your mum and the chemist.

it's because the chemist is concerned that the person receiving the gift might try for a refund if they don't like or want it, working in a chemist the number of times people ask for refunds on cosmetic, vitamins or medication that they have brought wrong for themselves, or others is unbelievable, and we can't resell it after.

Totally invested in this thread. It's turned into a slightly pissed convo on a night out with snatches of random - but sort of connected - chat. Sick cats, 80's nostalgia, casual ageism with a soupçon of incontinence thrown in. Perfect Friday night scrolling content!

That’s made my day thank you 😆

I think it is something far more innocent linked to the person receiving the lipstick not liking the colour and wanting to return it , which of course, you can't once it has been opened and tried , and making a scene ... so the problem being the customer .

But surely it's the member of staffs job to point out an item can't be returned (unless it's faulty) rather than to simply refuse to serve a customer.

My guess is they sell dodgy shite with something illegal in and they're worried thr grand daughter might figure it out. Not sort of place young people would buy make up so not usually a problem.

My first thought anyway

😂

If they don’t want to sell makeup then why stock it though?

OP's mum should go back with five massive bags from Boots.
"Big mistake. BIG mistake. HUGE."
In thigh boots and a miniskirt.

I'm dying, best comment of the thread!

I think it was probably members of staff from a different part of the shop minding the make up counter so they could sell stuff if people knew what they wanted but didn't have the knowledge to make recommendations.

I wore Mocha and Peach shimmers!

To be fair to pharmacists, there are regulations about what medications can and can’t be sold OTC and what they can be used for. Doesn’t always make sense, but that isn’t the pharmacist’s fault, it is the weirdness of drug licensing laws.

So for example, you can buy aspirin 75mg tablets OTC for heart disease or pain relief, but not to prevent pre-eclampsia. So my obstetrician had told me to start it at week 8, hadn’t given me a prescription, and hadn’t given me my Mat B certificate, so I still paid prescription charges. I tried to buy it in Boots and they turned me away. So I went round the corner and said it was for my grandad and they sold it to me.

@Feef83 I hate when people search other threads or comments. It is always to make an insulting comment. Not sure why it is a feature?

@gloomydarkness were you trying to get gaviscon on minor ailments? Because pregnancy is an exception unfortunately. You could have just bought it from tesco....

I guess OP didn't get that call back?!

Laughing at Lipstickgate thread.

Friends dm asked for Dope, she meant Joop.

@Feef83 ffs arn’t you the naggy one . Did it occur to you I stepped away from the thread because it was obvious I was not going to get an answer today?

Correct my 85 year old mother has a hearing trouble .Correct I posted about it. She is now wearing one hearing aid.Still refusing the other as she has eczema and the hearing aid drives her up the wall. So bit deaf is a fair description, I did mention it in the OP.

Mum uses one of those 4 wheeled shopping trolley things to help with her balance. And the stairlift is still cancelled.

Seeing as her experience was so completely different at Boots I think the real reason is independent shop was very odd. The assistant in Boots showed her a selection of products and tested them on the back of her young hand for mum to choose from.

I think they thought your mum had dementia so didn't want to take her money.

@LauderSyme sadly not. i did try calling again after my second phone call with mum as it seems reason is more likely shop assistant rudeness than shop policy. I have more details now to pin point which assistant served her. However the phone was constantly engaged.

my guess is that the assistants were not the usual ones, maybe left to mind the counter while the real make up girls went for a sneaky fag, and were told not to sell anything to anyone who wasn't 100% confident what they wanted, as it needs special qualifications to recommend a lipstick. So, not wanting to get into trouble with the (slightly scary) real make up girls, they played safe by fobbing off OP's mum.

Now of course, they will be in much bigger trouble because they've pissed off OP.
So...some kind of lesson learned perhaps.

I think they just couldn’t be arsed early in the morning

@autienotnaughty I wonder if she thought that too. But wouldn’t that be ageist? I meant in my OP she has all her faculties but typed facilities 😂