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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

81 replies

Mintyy · 11/01/2014 23:10

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 Grin.

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?

OP posts:
allthingsfluffy · 12/01/2014 00:00

Still not sure how not saying that makes her breathtakingly stupid.

procrastinatingagain · 12/01/2014 00:01

It's not really what I would describe as breathtaking stupidity tbh. Even if she was, as you say, stupid, even stupid people have to pay the bills. Why are you so upset about it? The situation has obviously triggered something for you for you to be so annoyed/bothered about it. Or did you for some reason just want an excuse to talk about how tall and slender your dd is?

NK493efc93X1277dd3d6d4 · 12/01/2014 00:04

Breathtakingly stupid in my book too! Always astounds me on this forum - the number of people who appear quite content to put up with this level of service & make excuses. Probably explains why these shops continue to thrive.

LucyLasticBand · 12/01/2014 00:05

but you were payign for them,m so what does it matter. if you werent then that would matter.

Joules68 · 12/01/2014 00:07

Op, were you angling for a discount? Is that what all this is about?

Original poster
Mintyy · 12/01/2014 00:07
Grin
OP posts:
LucyLasticBand · 12/01/2014 00:09

and they saw through your game minttyy ? Grin

Tweasels · 12/01/2014 00:13

Ah, what a great trick to make fat people like me cry. I've lost weight and gone from an 18 to a 16. In a moment of madness I may have felt dungarees were suitable attire for a chubby 35 year old and tried those fuckers on. Oh how I would have wept when I couldn't even get one of my toes in.

Original poster
Mintyy · 12/01/2014 00:18

Tweasels, I reckon you could have got them up to just past your ankles

OP posts:
BlackholesAndRevelations · 12/01/2014 02:03

"chinny reckon"?? Wtf does that even mean?

Caitlin17 · 12/01/2014 03:40

Sorry I have no idea what you're complaining about (nor what pmsl and chinny reckon means)

You had decided they looked as if they would fit your daughter. The label might have said "size 0" or "made by Blacks of Greenock to cover battleships" It was completely irrelevant.

The sensible thing would have been for your daughter to be there to try them on. So actually you made a mistake by making a judgement the item would fit your daughter and it didn't. Why did it matter what the label said? It was clearly inaccurate and you said it couldn't possibly have been a 16.

JapaneseMargaret · 12/01/2014 03:49

Is "chinny reckon" auto-text misappropriation...?

Actually, I don't think it is, since my auto-correct tried to change it to "chunky"...

rightsaidfrederick · 12/01/2014 04:19

There really is a limit to how much you can bring yourself to care when you're working for minimum wage and you've just survived both Christmas and the January sales.

It wasn't that big a deal, now was it?

ApplesinmyPocket · 12/01/2014 06:01

Current MN thread which answers BlackholesandRevelations and Japanese Margaret's question What does chinny reckon mean?

As for OP, sizing has gone a bit mad in the UK. It's all a bit 'look, guess and hope' these days isn't it, regardless of the number in the label, or on the hangar, which frequently don't match.

ravenAK · 12/01/2014 06:24

...so when you initially waved the dungarees at her, it would have been more helpful if she'd said: 'I can see immediately that these are not a size 16. They have been incorrectly labelled by the small children who stitch these together for us in some ghastly sweat shop. Frankly, your guess is as good as mine as to what size they really are.'

Since you aren't sure what size dd is & she wasn't with you to try them on, you'd have been no better off if the assistant had possessed the spidey sense ability to look at them & tell you if they were a 6 or an 8.

I suppose I can see that she's guilty of not pretending to give a shit, but beyond that...

It's not 'breathtaking stupidity', though. Neither member of staff actually needed to 'comprehend' anything beyond the fact that they had a customer who was buying a garment for someone else, wasn't too sure about sizing, & would be returning the garment if it didn't fit.

I'd just give dd the money next time & let her shop for & try on her own clothes before buying. It'd save you getting cross.

JapaneseMargaret · 12/01/2014 06:28

Thanks Apples. :)

PasswordProtected · 12/01/2014 07:19

YABVU to expect any intelligent response from a shop assistant under these circumstances.

Joules68 · 12/01/2014 07:29

Why password?

Tweasels · 12/01/2014 09:11

"Is "chinny reckon" auto-text misappropriation...?"

That genuinely made me laugh out loud.

Chinny reckon is a valid and underused phrase in the English language.

anothernumberone · 12/01/2014 10:58

I just cannot get my head around the phrase chinny reckon. I read the thread and forgt it as soon as I am done. It might as well be a foreign language Smile

Original poster
Mintyy · 12/01/2014 11:05

They were a birthday present for dd, which is why I didn't want her to try them on beforehand.

My use of the phrase "chinny reckon" was my homage to the Mumsnet thread of the other day.

Now I am having enormous fun trying to find an H&M near me which has a size 8 in stock. I can't even find the flipping things on their website, which is also pants.

OP posts:
LucyLasticBand · 12/01/2014 11:10

were they too small?

Caitlin17 · 12/01/2014 11:11

In case you are in any doubt it wasn't the assistant who was breathtakingly stupid. I wouldn't be as rude as you are but your rant on here wasn't needed.

Primadonnagirl · 12/01/2014 11:18

What does chimney reckon mean? Never heard that before .

Original poster
Mintyy · 12/01/2014 11:18

How many rants on aibu are needed? 5% maybe, at a guess.

Yes, they were too small despite saying they are a size 16 and the assistant saying that maybe they just "came up small".

OP posts:
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