Shop assistants asking if I need help

[blueskypink]

I probably am just being an intolerant bitch but I wish shop assistants would just leave me alone.

If I'm standing in a shop looking around with a puzzled/confused expression THEN, by all means ask me if I need help. IF, however, I'm walking purposefully towards some merchandise, am deep in concentration studying a label or an item, or have literally just walked through the door (avoiding eye contact and keeping as far away from you as possible) could you please just leave me alone?

If I want your help I'll ask for it.

I also don't want someone saying hello as I cross a threshold and saying 'bye - thank you' when I leave 5 seconds later because I've realised very quickly it's not my sort of shop.

I presume assistants are obliged to do this? Or maybe everyone else likes this sort of attention and doesn't snarl the way I do? I'm being unreasonable aren't I? But after a day's shopping I just wanted to scream "leave me the fuck alone!!"

Blueskypink I'm sure people don't come into your office to steal though. We don't do it because we think everyone's a shoplifter but it it seriously helps to deter the people who are!

The shop lifting prevention is fair enough. But for some reason all management/head office think customers just love this chit chat.

I used to work at MacDonalds, so customers stealing the products wasn't possible. Head office had a policy that "Small Talk" had to be given to every customer. Recommended phrase - how's your day been. It was excruciating. As if people want a 14 year old roboticly asking "how has your day been" instead of getting their food. Terribly cringe. But if you didn't do it you got in trouble and if you didn't do it to a secret customer you could lose your job.

blueskypink
It's nothing to do with shoplifting where I work, all of our stock is locked away and we have security guards so not up to me to stop shop lifters!
Also, I've never been ordered to as I do it automatically, but it is a customer facing role so customer service training is given. I don't know what your job is, but if you have customers presumably you help them?
And the points you've just made are answers from other P

PPs, not what you were complaining about in your first post..

ImNotDancing - that's absolutely awful and inexcusable. I do appreciate that sales staff have to greet and ask - if that's what management decrees. I would never be actively rude but I do reserve the right to refuse to engage in artificial pleasantries and unsolicited questions. I will avoid eye contact as much as possible and decline very firmly any offers of help.

As for pp above re the sizes, if you know sizes are missing from the rack and you have them, why not put them out on display? I have come to think "looking in the back" isn't even a real thing, because in all my years of shopping, shop assistants have looked many times but never once found the missing size "in the back".

And no point offering to order it online if I haven't been able to try it on.

It makes me paranoid that I have resting clueless face

And no point offering to order it online if I haven't been able to try it on.

I don't get this either. If I wanted something ordering on line, why wouldn't I just do it myself? Quicker than relaying my details to someone else for them to do it for me.

I have ASD and it makes me feel super awkward when this happens.

As for dd, who is far more ASD than I am, the ground would literally swallow her up if anyone approached her in a shop (this is why at 14 I still can’t get her to go shopping).

I realise people with ASD are in the minority but actually this level of ‘helpfulness’ can actually cause major problems for those that are on the spectrum.

@Thursday We don't just hoard clothes in the stockroom, if my delivery lorry arrives at 8:30am and it contains 500+ units do you think it's possible to get all the stock unloaded, checked in, sorted, hung, tagged and out on my shopfloor before it opens?

WH Smith
" Hello you look a bit confused, like most men who come in here ".

Next is also quite bad for this, especially when quiet. I dislike being followed around by the sales staff like a game of cat and mouse.

If we order stuff in the customer doesn't have to pay until they try it on and decide whether to buy it or not. We also don't have an online shop.
For other shops they might have more ways to get your size than online (like from other branches).

We offer free home delivery, usually next day, and free returns. If the customer were to order it at home they would have to pay for delivery. It is also handy for those customers who are unable to order themselves for any reason.

When I visit Sainsbury’s I’m not greeted when I enter. I’m not followed around either. There’s a fellow near the entrance with a cctv screen to observe potential shoplifters. The assistants on the checkouts often make small talk but I don’t know why because you’re leaving at that point and just want to buy your stuff then go home. If I’m feeling depressed or unwell I go to the self service checkouts.

I hate this too, makes me feel pressured and I always walk out. I think the store managers think you will buy more but not so.
The exception is John Lewis, they always say, 'are you alright madam or would you like some help?' This is perfect, allows you to say I'm fine, without rejecting, and to ask for help later if you need it. Perfect shop, fabulous service.

I can cope with 'can I help you?' when I'm shopping, what I really really hate is the 'up-selling' that happens at the tills. Savers is particularly bad for this - you pop in to buy a tube of toothpaste and then have to negotiate a barrage of product promotion at the till. "Can I interest you in buying...…………….." Perfume, chocolates, dishwasher tabs etc. I know the cashiers have to do it, and I'm sure they hate it too, but it really winds me up.

I like being greeted/acknowledgement but then I want to be left alone. I really hate being asked at the counter if I want to purchase extra items like sunglasses or make a donation.

I live in Australia and what I hate here is that assistants always ask things like "Up to anything today?" and "What plans have you got today?" whilst you're paying for your goods.

I feel like saying "It's none of your fucking business!"

Obviously I wouldn't actually SAY that but it feels like such an intrusive question!

No...it's Wednesday afternoon....I'm buying milk and then going home to scour the mould off the bathroom tiles. What about you?

I’m perfectly happy to be greeted or acknowledged, but it really gets on my nerves when staff don’t take ‘I’m fine thanks, just browsing’ for an answer. I don’t want to be followed around the shop having someone comment on everything I pick up. I used to spend loads in Lush, but never go in now as they really seem to have upped their harassing sales tactics in recent years. If I’ve just nipped in for something specific, I really, really don’t want to have a random product demoed on me. I’m never rude to shop assistants, but nothing puts me off a brand quicker than aggressive selling tactics.

I hate it too. Especially annoying when an assistant asks “can I help you?” Or “are you looking for anything in particular?” , you walk a few yards and another assistant asks the same question...then another.
It’s like walking through a mine field of shop assistants. I just want to be left alone!

I hate this too. It feels like harassment and is more likely to drive me out of the store than entice me in.

I do understand that staff are doing this under instruction from head office very often, and that most big them don't like it any more than I do, so I would not be rude to them. I also understand that it has some anti shoplifting value too.

However, I want to browse in peace and will ask for help if I find myself needing it. I will actively avoid places I know might not allow me to do that. I think the management of these places need to realise that this in-your-face approach is off-putting and loses more custom than it probably gains.

Most OF them!! Sod off auto-correct!

I worked in retail for about 6 months and this is the reason I'll not go back in a hurry!
I don't know if anyone answered your question about why don't we feed back to management, but, I did, as did others. The manager would nod, agree, shrug and say we have to because someone in an office playing with graphs says it works. Never seen a customer in their life!
Also trusted to use your judgement - ha! I wish! You are a money making vessel, and they push you to wring every last penny out of the customers. You have targets in the company I worked for, for up sells at the tills. If you didn't meet your % you got hauled and asked why - and the customers say no is not a good enough answer! Three months running and you could face a disciplinary. Utter lunacy.
Only way to change it is to complain to higher than even the store manager - and not about the specific shop or assistant (that'll just get them a bollocking - nope you can't win!) But about the policy. If enough people do then maybe something will change.....
Not holding my breath though!

@AjasLipstick god I also hate this! I'm in Australia too. I feel like I'm supposed to tell them something interesting or then ask them back or something. When they ask me I just think ffs just take my money and stfu.

Me too mycat, I have a seriously crap memory, I have to walk away from my DC in the supermarket so I can concentrate on my list, I can't concentrate if a shop assistant's talking to me! Leave me alone!