Or are shop assistants (clothes shops, specifically) getting increasingly annoying

[BakerStreetSaxRift]

Or did I just not used to notice it?

Today I went into a well known underwear shop, it's one haven't really been in since my student days (5 years ago).

So I walk in and there is the standard girl there to say hello, I thought, so I say hello and try to walk on passed but instead we do that thing where you try and go to her right, then left and she goes that way too and kept blocking me off then walked along beside me so she could ask what it was I was in looking for today, did I need any help, etc. This annoys me! If I want help, I'll ask, you've said hello so I know you are there. So I just say "I'm just browsing, thanks" and walk on.

So I go and pick up a bra to try and keep walking around looking when another girl comes over to ask if I off help. "No thank you", then another girl comes up to ask me "Did you not see the matching pants?" I say I did, and try to continue browsing, she follows me to tell me where the pants are or I can get the thong if I would prefer? I hate when they do this. I'm choosey about pants! I only get them from M&S and if they're not a PERFECT match, I can live with it, so shoot me But it's like they are judging you and giving the cat's bum face to make you get the pants too.

Then, in another shop, tried to go into the changing rooms to try on a jumper, no assistant there so I go on in myself when one runs across the shop to ask if I want to try that on? Well, yes, clearly! Then she takes it off me to walk me the 2 metres to the changing room of her choice (the first one), and then closes the curtain for me. I like to pick my own changing room down near the back, and close the curtain so I it is sealed with no gaps

Then, when you try and pay, they don't stop their conversation to say thank you, or they act like you are rude for interrupting their conversation to pay.

And why don't shops seem to have mirrors in them anymore? Sometimes I like to hold things against me in the mirror to decide if I like it enough to try it on, so I look around and there is one tiny one on the other side of the shop.

AIBU?!

Disclaimer: I might just be in a bad mood as I've just had to pay £130 for a new passport and am trying to fill the 4 hours while I wait for it by hemorrhaging more money

[RavenRose]

BakerStreet,

Sadly not! Her friend just stood there and sniggered

When I worked in retail there's no way we have even thought that was acceptable, mind you we would never have followed customers either. There's a happy medium, availed if needed but don't harass!

[RavenRose]

Available if needed that is!

[Spaulding]

YANBU but I will defend the running-to-the-fitting-room thing. I work in a clothes shop and the fitting room is a great opportunity for shoplifters. Hiding extra items in between the clothes they're holding so it may look like they're holding 4 things but they actually have 5. They steal the extra one, give the sales assistant back the 4 and no-one is any the wiser until they check the cubicle and find a security tag hidden somewhere or sometimes hidden in the other clothes they gave back. So it's important for sales assistants to make the customer aware that they're there and they know for sure how many items are being taken in. Of course staff also need to acknowledge the customer going in because it's rude otherwise and in case the customer needs someone to run and get another size.

But I absolutely hate the type of sales assistants who pounce on customers. We're told to say hi and ask if they need help if we see them looking at something for quite a while but we're not one of these stores that harass people. Thankfully, because I just couldn't that, because I find it bloody annoying myself. Many moons ago we had to sell store cards and extras at the till. It would make me cringe inside. We didn't personally get anything for signing customers up, but it was a store target and the store manager would get an earful if we didn't hit our target. I'm so glad we don't have to do it anymore.

[Neitheronethingortheother]

Lush are the worst i have ever come across

[LionelRichieAndTheWardrobe]

I'm a sales assistant. I'm friendly and not at all persistent but I have noticed that on days where we know we were due a mystery shopper so went through all the script we were supposed to with customers, our conversion rate was amazing! The 'did you find everything you were looking for?' Works from a sales point of view too I'm afraid. People always complain on here about all the sales tactics but bosses will not change them because they do work. And that's all they care about, more money on the till

[BlueStones]

Lush are horrendous for this; at least, the branch in Westfield is. I really felt quite harassed - I walked out and won't go there again.

[purrtrillpadpadpad]

Oh, lush are amazing. You can't diss them for their customer service. They always know their stuff and they actually listen. But then, I love their products so talking to an employee is kinda fun for me, probably not if you're not into lush.

[nosleeptilever]

Service in the UK seems to run to either extreme. There are the shops where the sales staff make you feel like you're a great inconvenience to them (or they're just downright rude and unhelpful) and then there's the Disney store. My friend told me of a game where One had to make it to the back of the shop without being greeted. Impossible.
My first job here was at body shop in a very new mall in the middle of nowhere. The only people in the place were new Mums getting out of the cold. We got training videos of how to sell and ALL things mentioned here were on it. It was cringeworthy and I only lasted 3 months before getting something else. I simply can't sell tat to people who obviously don't want it

[howrudeforme]

My worst experience was about 15 years ago in a shop on oxford street.
best friend was a trainers addict and saw a pair -asked shop assistant for her size. Shop assistant sneered and went off to get her size - i'm talking 15 frigging minutes later in a quiet and big shop this shop assisant was talking to her mates so I went up to enquire on if they'd found my friend's v. normal size 5 size.

She sneers - 'well, ovbiously not' at which point I had three pair of shoes in my hand that I was going to try on and I just dropped them at her feet and started to walk off.


Assistant went ballistic at me - at which point I sneered at her back.

Job done.

Not the best way to buy shoes. Not the best way to sell shoes.

[OneUp]

I can't stand shop assistants coming up to me, I'm a very antisocial shopper and I like to go in, get what I want and go. I have a rule that if I'm approached twice in a store that I leave and never come back.

[PumpkinPie2013]

YANBU

I don't mind the 'hello' or even 'do you need any help' being asked once.

Anymore than that I leave without buying anything!!

I find bodyshop one of the worst but disney store and claire's accessories have also been bad when I've gone on for presents for nieces/nephews.

[Financeprincess]

I can't bear the cynical, fake, "oh, that's lovely isn't it?" at the till when you're buying something. I know it's nice, that's why I'm buying it. Harvey Nichols are the worst for this. Their assistants also insist on telling you that things look nice when they obviously don't. The thought bubble with, "what about my commission?" written in it is almost visible above their heads!

[Spaulding]

PumpkinPie, agree with your comments on the Disney Store. Was in one recently and DS didn't want to let go of a toy which he already has a smaller version of. Assistant next to us, "Oh it's only £10 now" (I had seen the price) We smile and explain he already has one almost the same. Assistant: "I'm not sure how long it'll be £10 for" AAAAGG WE'RE NOT INTERESTED (I said in my head) We smiled politely and left.

[Gavlaaa]

I agree that lush is too much, so much so that I now do not shop there. Yes, it is nice when they know their products, but the endless questions, and demonstrations of the products are overwhelming, annoying and time consuming.

They do not seem to understand that "oh, I'm just browsing thankyou" does not mean "please, follow me, talk to me, and make me stop at every single product so you can give me a hand massage"

[Snowbility]

I hate it when you try on a jacket and the Sales assistant starts to gush about how amazing it is on you - while you are thinking it's at least two sizes too small, most likely 3 but they don't give a shit...make that sale! I hate it when they tell me they love the item I bought - I've heard them say the same thing to every single customer before me. I love clothes but shop assistants make me grumpy and annoyed and so often I have left shops and because I feel hounded. There are loads of shops especially boutiques that I have to be pretty desperate to face, their sales teams are exhausting.

[Snowbility]

I'm very direct with Lush Sales assistants - I say if I need help I'll ask, any more enquiries and I'll repeat, it's all I say to them, the kids like the bath bombs, the shop stinks - no way would I use that amount of perfume anywhere near my skin.

[Repeatedlydoingthetwist]

The pushing stuff at the till thing is really bloody annoying too. Clinton's are awful for this and I really feel for their sales assistants. I was in there the other day and I think I was offered five different things at the till? The assistant looked embarrassed and bored to be saying it all. What I really don't like there though is the attempted guilt tripping over cancer research pens. 'Would you like to help fight cancer today?' What are you supposed to say to that? 'Oh no I don't feel like it'?! and I've already got five of them at home because they write beautifully

[ThornSayre]

The last time I went shopping for something specific rather than just to replace worn-out basics was many years ago for my wedding.

I was pretty much left alone. Yesterday I was looking for a top to wear with a black suit and I was constantly harassed. I wouldn't mind if I was examining everything in the shop and browsing but I was purposefully stalking around and homing in on anything which looked suitable.

The number of times people asked me what I was after! I got quite fed up with explaining that I wanted a top in purple or jade, not sparkly or flashy for my mother's funeral gave me the rage.

[sandfrog]

I don't like the ones who want to squirt a perfume sample on you as you enter the store. As if you can't tell what it smells like from the clouds of the stuff sprayed on everyone who's already gone past.

[TheSinisterTrifle]

Engaging with a customer and making eye contact can actually stop a potential shop lifter.

I am not saying the posters are shop lifters but a simple 'Hi, can I help you'? and a smile means they know they have been clocked. It is standard retail practice.
My friend owns a shop and she has part time staff with varying degrees of efficiency. The ones who are chatty and friendly sell more on their shifts and the silent ones get more stuff nicked.

One sullen Saturday girl cost her over a thousand quid in a month due to shoplifters. The cost is past onto the customers which means you and me.

Then again, her staff were on an hourly rate and not on commission so no pressure on them to sell.

[chipshop]

It's really not that hard is it. Greet your customer when they walk in, don't pester but be on hand to help when browsing and trying on stuff and then be attentive at the till - a nice brief chat. So many shops get this wrong.

[Snowbility]

I feel the shoplifting vibe sometimes when I'm followed around a shop and it annoys me so much I leave even if I want to buy something.

What I find is when I actually need help I can find no one to help me. They don't want to go get you stuff, they just want to bloody harass you. And don't make fake compliments about what I'm it's insulting.

[southeastastra]

i actually quite like it, if they are helpful and know the range well enough. imagine it's quite boring if you just stand around.

it does depend on the shop though but mostly i have found them helpful.