to want to do something about breathtaking stupidity from member of staff in a shop, or should I just let it go?

[Mintyy]

I went to a well known High Street shop to buy a pair of dungarees for my dd. It is one of those shops mainly frequented by young people .

She is 13 years old and very slender but about 5'6" to 5'7" so needs adult sized clothes.

There were two pairs of size 10 dungarees on the rail but they looked a little large to me and I imagine dd is probably an 8 or even a 6, depending on shop.

There was another pair of the same dungarees that looked smaller than these two size 10s, but when I looked at the label, both the sewn-in label and the cardboard hanging tag it said size 16!

There were no other smaller sizes so I took them to the till and queried the labelling with the assistant. I said "these must have an incorrect label sewn in to them but I am going to take them because they look about the right size for my dd but I'm just guessing, because they obviously aren't a size 16".

This was too much for the assistant serving me to comprehend, so she showed them to her more senior colleague who looked at them briefly, shrugged and said "it could just be the style of the dungarees, some things come up smaller than others".

Now aibu to think someone who works in a fashion shop should be able to tell, roughly by sight, if a pair of skinny dungarees is a size 6 or a 16??

As it happens they were too small for dd. I suspect they are a size 6 and I will have to take them back to exchange for an 8.

I just want to say to the assistant "pmsl these are a size 16 and they are just designed that way like you tried to tell me ... chinny reckon".

But I have to forget about it eh?

True, but a bit rubbish if its your job isn't it?

Shame though, isn't it? Shame that they have that reputation and that we don't expect better. It's not like I was asking for anything in particular.

Could it be that they were age 16? Some shops seem to have clothes for teens with ages in?!

this

Was it next? Same thing happened to me in there.

Volestair has it spot on though I'm afraid.

No, it is normal adult sizing on the label. Besides which, it would be an extremely rare 16 year old who could have fitted in to these dungarees.

Dd measures 32, 22, 32. I don't think that is the size of your average 16 year old these days?

What would you propose doing? You didn't actually ask the sales assistant a specific question as far as I can see, just told her what you were proposing to do?

Maybe she was new to the job and still learning and not at all 'breathtakingly stupid'?

No, she wasn't new to the job. She was the senior one on the tills.

As I said, I want her to say that she was wrong to try and fob me off that they weren't labelled incorrectly. That's all.

What answer were you actually expecting? I really can't see the issue. You had already decided you were taking them, and that the label was wrong. What new information could the staff possibly have for you?

er, the new information could be "thank youbfor bringing the incorrect label to our attention, we'll deal with it"

When you said this "they look about the right size for my dd but I'm just guessing, because they obviously aren't a size 16" was your dd actually stood with you? For all the shop assistant knew your DD could have been a 14 hence her answer would have made perfect sense.

Being senior on the tills could mean she's new to fashion retail but not new to being at the tills or supervising

I'm new to the products I sell but not new to retail

It's rare something is labelled wrong and not discovered (ime) as when it's received to store it's scanned in etc etc

I realise not all shops work in the same way

er, the new information could be "thank youbfor bringing the incorrect label to our attention, we'll deal with it"

The OP had already said she was buying the item. So how would they deal with it? Remove the item from sale? Because that wouldn't have gone down well either.

It was an error. They do happen occasionally, and are out of the control of the staff.

I don't think many care, especially on a Saturday.
I think in general people who work in shops get a rough deal.
Don't let it worry you Mintyy its not worth it and ime typical of the usual service in high street shops.

Not really breath takingly stupid OP. They won't be getting any customer service awards but tbh I was expecting something a little juicier .

IME of retail, staff don't have time to croos reference every item to its label. So things like this are very easy to miss.

I'm not sure what you expected from the sales assistant.

allthingsfluffy I just wanted the staff to say "you're right, there's obviously a mistake there" not try and pretend they were labelled correctly.

There is an enormous difference between a size 6 and a 16, surely anyone could see this?

I bought the dungarees on Thursday btw.

unelss they were adtually comparing the two, i guess it woudl be hard to tell, by just one pair of dungerees.
and sounds like they didnt care. tbh.

does it matter?
did they fit?

I just want to say to the assistant "pmsl these are a size 16 and they are just designed that way like you tried to tell me ... chinny reckon".

Do you often say "pmsl" and "chinny reckon" to people?

perhaps they were just sticking up for their clothes in that they couldnt possibly be incorrectly labelled??

I would have hoped that she'd have noted down the style and details of the mis-labeling regardless as to whether you bought them.

If they were labelled a size 16, somewhere on a computer system a team like mine would be analyzing the wrong data in a size curve and ordering more of the wrong size. Then we'd be paying for extra fabric that didn't exist and possibly ordering less of the small sizes for the future.

So thank you for pointing it out Mintyy.