sales assistant sniffs clothing I returned to the store

[shethinksistink]

I have namechanged for this as I find it very embarrassing.

I went shopping end of last week, found trousers and a top I liked, wasn’t sure of the sizes and couldn’t be bothered trying them on, so took both items in 2 sizes. At home I tried the bigger sizes on first, they fitted great so didn’t even bother trying the smaller sizes. Bagged up the 2 smaller sized items and set them aside to return yesterday.

Friend arrives 9am and we drive into town and my first port of call is to bring my returns back. Shop assistant packs out the two things, looks at my receipt, starts checking the numbers off against the tags then picks up the top and sniffs at it. Not in a discreet way, the exact same way you’d sniff at the armpits to check if it needs to go in the wash, blatantly! She didn’t look happy. I hate to do the exaggerated “I was shocked to the core” mumsnet thing, but I was. I have genuinely never felt so shocked, embarrassed and dumbstruck in a shop in my life. I am hyper vigilant about personal hygiene and the thought I would return smelly items made my recoil in horror. But I hadn’t even tried them on, so I was totally confused. There was a queue a mile long behind me at the desk. Everyone could see and hear this.

In a total fluster I ask the sales assistant what the problem is, she replies in quite a disdainful tone “I just thought I smelled cigarette smoke”. I don’t smoke and neither does anyone else in my house but I was just massively relieved it wasn’t a BO smell. So I jump in and say that it can’t be smoke as I don’t smoke and my house is smoke free. And she again replies disdainfully with “well I can definitely smell it” with a kind of roll-eye facial expression. The whole exchange had a hostile kind of undertone to it. At this point it dawns on me my friend smokes in her car all the time, just not when others are in it. No doubt she’d smoked 2 or 3 on the drive down to my place. The bag with the items had been in the car for around half an hour. Yes, they no doubt had a second hand stale cigaretty smell to them.

But even at that. I was appalled that any sales assistant would sniff an item of clothing in such a blatant manner then bemoan the fact the smell wasn’t to her liking. 40-a-day smokers are actually allowed to return clothes. As are dog owners, chip pan owners, curry cooks, people who cook fish in their homes, people who don’t shower daily and so on. While I sympathise with stores who no doubt get some ponging items of clothing returned, I have never ever witnessed a sales assistant do an in-your-face sniff test in front of a long queue of onlookers. AIBU to find this an appalling lack of manners on the part of the store/sales assistant?

If things must be sniffed, shouldn’t it been done discreetly? Then again, I doubt stores can refuse to accept items of clothing that have been stored in the houses of smokers or pet owners or people who own a chip pan or fry fish or are painting the skirting boards with gloss or people who wear cheap crappy perfumes. So why the hell did the sales assistant sniff my fucking top? lol

For the record the whole thing knocked me so sideways I didn’t say a word to the sale assistant. I just left the store as quick as I could. Checked with my friend and yes she had smoked in the car that morning (and it would be fair to say she smokes daily in her car as she spends 3-4hours per working-day on average on the road, wouldn’t surprise me if she smokes 50 ciggies a week in her car). My mood was so fucked up I abandoned my shopping trip and came straight home.

Calmed down in the afternoon, and called the head office of the store. They were appalled and assured me it would be dealt with. I had the name of the sales assistant as it was on the return receipt. Asked me to put the whole event in writing and send it to the head office, which I have done and they’ll get back to me in the new year. I then called the actual store and spoke with a manager who was equally sympathetic and horrified, apologised on behalf of the sales assistant and assured me it would be dealt with and wouldn’t happen to anyone again.

So AIBU to consider having a little trip into town tomorrow morning, finding the sniffing sales assistant and just politely ask her if she meant to be so rude she meant to spoil my day and embarrass me to the core then she should be wholeheartedly congratulated as it worked a treat. And tell her that I hope after head office and the store manager are finished with her that she feels half as rotten as I felt yesterday morning. Then just wish her a happy new year and smile and leave.

Or am I just being childish and petty and should leave it at the written complaint and the 2 phone calls?

Was it Matalan? I was also shown up at the till when returning something that was ripped that I had bought the day before, with receipt. She said 'you cannot return this, it is ripped'...

Sheesh. All this time you have wasted stressing about this.

Bet you wish you had tried the clothes on before you bought them and saved yourself this huge drama.

I doubt she sniffed thinking they'd been worn on a night out. The returned items were lycra yoga pants and a lycra sports top.

Fair enough to you all who think I am over reacting. I agree in as far as going into town tomorrow to get a one up on the sniffer. I know that's childish and petty. Am far better leaving it to head office and the store manager. So point taken.

Totally disagree with you all who think it's reasonable to blatantly sniff returned clothing items. And the head office and manager agree with me, that is absolutely not done in this particular chain of stores.

palegreenstars "You can't return smokey clothes!"

define "smokey clothes"? They were in a bag (two bags actually) for a half hour in a car that had been smoked in before I got into it. No one smoked near the bag. The bag was only exposed to second hand smoke for about half an hour at most. And whether we like it or not, people who smoke in their homes can and do return items to stores.

You actually abandoned a shopping trip because of this!!

I hope her managers are pleased that she's being sensible about returns. They'd struggle to sell those things now.

There aren't many ways you can smell a top without it being obvious what you're doing, and the assistant was right that it did smell. Good for her for having the nerve to say something.

You should really have been thanking her for still allowing the refund in spite of you having allowed the top to pick up an unpleasant smell. I'd love to read the letter you sent them.

Are you suffering from anxiety or something? This is a major overreaction to a non event. You were returning smelly clothes so hardly blameless anyway.

If OP doesn't return to this thread stat I'll be thinking the thought that MNHQ says dare not speak its name.

I think you will make yourself look a bit ridiculous to be honest.

And remember this all arose because

"found trousers and a top I liked, wasn’t sure of the sizes and couldn’t be bothered trying them on, so took both items in 2 sizes."

You were relying on the store going through the faff of refunding you and having to take backs clothes they thought they'd sold because you couldn't be bothered trying them on. Then you get offended because they wanted to check that the clothes were still in a saleable condition - which they aren't if they stink of smoke. Or chip fat. Or dog.

Try things on next time and save yourself the hassle - and a shopworker doing her job a telling off.

I can only imagine your days are usually filled with rainbows and unicorns if this total non-event could ruin your day.

This is very strange, I posted about the exact same thing happening to me a couple of weeks ago on someone else's thread, the only difference in the two stories is I simply held my ground and refused to move from the store until she refunded them, i also told every single customer who came to the till, as well as speaking to varies levels of management. Are you in the south east by any chance? Wonder if it was the same woman. I wasn't embarrassed, I was simply appalled and very angry as she was wrong and talking shit.

I got my money back but I was very angry about it. If this is for real, no I wouldn't go back.

Get a fucking grip op. You got your refund and no, you can't return smelly clothes for a refund. You have a legal right to return faulty or defective goods but the goodwill returns doesn't extend to smelly stuff.

The complaints and stalking the poor women for having the audacity to notice your smelly clothes were smelly is unhinged behaviour.

Dear god, what a massive over reaction! Two phonecalls and a written complaint??

This is just so over the top (pun intended). You should feel sorry for the person who might buy these items and (possibly too late) realises they smell of fag smoke.
Honestly move on, it's really not the end of the world.

Oh, she did come back.

Pheww!

Was beginning to worry there.

EggnogChai "Uhh no you can only return clothing (unless faulty) in the same condition as it was sold to you. Therefore not fucking stinking of cigarette smoke, fish, grease or any thing else you've put in that description. You do realise that they have to be sold again correct? You sound petty as fuck YABU"

I agree with every word of that. I wouldn't be at all happy to buy something in a store and smell smoke on it or to want to buy it but be unable to do so because of the smell. Really unpleasant. You expect new clothes to smell new, i.e. clean.
In my opinion you didn't return the item in a saleable condition. The assistant could obviously smell the smoke as soon as she took it out of the bag. How many times have you heard of people wearing a new top for an evening and then returning it for a refund? As far as the assistant knew, that's what you'd done, especially as you said you didn't smoke, which would understandable lead her to think it had been worn in a place where other people were smoking. I don't think the assistant did anything wrong. If you'd returned a clean and clean-smelling item it would've been fine that the assistant wasn't discreet about smelling it, because it would have been apparent that it smelled absolutely fine. Understandably, she made a face because it didn't smell clean at all.

Was your trend with you at the returns desk? Seems more likely the cashier caught a whiff of smoke from her, rather than a double-bagged top.

You were relying on the store going through the faff of refunding you and having to take backs clothes they thought they'd sold because you couldn't be bothered trying them on.

What's wrong with buying in different sizes? Online shopping return forms specifically ask you to tick 'Bought more than one for size' if you did so. Some people prefer trying on clothes in the comfort of their homes, with shoes/accessories they need.

So AIBU to consider having a little trip into town tomorrow morning, finding the sniffing sales assistant and just politely ask her if she meant to be so rude she meant to spoil my day and embarrass me to the core then she should be wholeheartedly congratulated as it worked a treat. And tell her that I hope after head office and the store manager are finished with her that she feels half as rotten as I felt yesterday morning. Then just wish her a happy new year and smile and leave.

So her losing her job is equivalent to you feeling a bit embarrassed. She might have a family to support.

Leave the poor girl alone she never wanted to spoil your day, she doesn't know you. You ruined your own day.

*friend, not trend!

You abandoned your shopping trip because you were so upset? Yabu, bet your mate was thrilled. Ffs, OP, massive overreaction, first world problem, here's a grip. Dearie me.

If you bought new clothes and they smelled of cigarette smoke, you 'd complain about that. Let it go now.

Goodness, I think you win the award for Overreaction of the Year 2016 (and that's saying something).

All this recoiling in horror, never feeling so shocked in your life, knocked sideways, etc. Really? Really?

Haha. I love that you think the manager and head office took it seriously.

Ex retail manager here. You will be forever used in interviews as an example of the pain in the ass customer that needed dealt with in a professional way.

'people who smoke in their homes can and do return items to stores'

As others have said, stores are not obliged to accept items back unless they are faulty though.

I don't think smokers realise how much the smoke smell is transmitted - in their cars, on their clothes, on their hair... I find it really gross.
In fact, I've just taken a coat to the cleaners as it was obviously put next to a smokers coat when we visited friends yesterday and it just STANK when I came home last night.