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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Changing room etiquette: asked by staff to hanger the clothes

217 replies

Lostkitty · 09/09/2018 23:24

I took four pieces of clothing to the changing room, selected two, and was trying to hand over the remaining two to the staff in the changing room alongwith the hangers when I was told to "hanger the clothes and then return" by the staff. Is it normal to hang the discarded clothes while out shopping and was I being U in handing those over to the staff without neatly hanging them back on?

OP posts:
Lifestyleinlondon88 · 11/09/2018 18:01

Oooh I would feel incredibly lazy had I at least not have made an effort! I always do my best. Their wages for the work they do are a pittance. I’m glad to do clean up after myself Smile

Suzypoo10 · 11/09/2018 18:11

I was buying jeans recently for my daughter; she tried on six pairs, and decided to keep one pair, I folded the rest up neatly and handed them to the assistant, who asked me to put them back on the shelves as I was going that way anyway!

JessieMcJessie · 11/09/2018 18:16

Glad you don’t throw things on the floor, but hanging them on hooks will get them all misshapen so not a great idea either. I’m surprised you found a sofa in a Top Shop changing room though!

EK36 · 11/09/2018 18:16

Of course you should rehang the clothes you tried on!

DarlingNikita · 11/09/2018 18:22

IME you give the staff the clothes back. If only for the reason you give – that a customer won't/can't be trusted to hang things back up as the shop would want them displayed (not to mention you might forget where they came from and put them in totally the wrong place).

Admittedly it's an age since I went to a physical shop for clothes. Have I missed something? Is this now normal? Confused

browneyes77 · 11/09/2018 18:29

I always hang the clothes back on the hangers when I’ve finished trying them on.

You’re right in the fact that sometimes it’s really difficult to get the clothes back on the hangers in the same way, however I will always still try and hang them on there in the best way I can.

It makes it easier for the staff to sort the clothes to put them away, as for a start at least they’re on the right hangers rather than them having to find the correct hanger first!

I’m even one of those people who still try and find a member of staff to check I’m ok to try the clothes on if there’s nobody by the changing room!

ChooChooBeanz · 11/09/2018 18:33

I have worked in retail and to be honest I wouldn’t think twice about customers not putting clothes back on hangers - that was part of my job after all. But that said it was nice when customers did do it.

Also, as a boss now, I would be less than impressed if one of my staff spoke like that to a customer and remind them that it was part of their job.

SilverHairedCat · 11/09/2018 18:37

I always rehang, and generally do it properly as I worked in Littlewoods once upon a time and had piles of fancy training from them in folding and hanging! Not that you'd know it from my floordrobe.

I did commiserate loudly and rudely in Debenhams once with a staff member about the state of a changing room after a woman in her 50s left it like a hurricane had been through it - clothes on the floor, bras flung over the curtain, knickers tried on, single shoes she'd brought in somehow, hangers all over the place, rubbish form her handbag left behind, the lot l. I may have shouted after her that she was an absolute bitch to leave it in that state. Unbelievable.

Tinkobell · 11/09/2018 18:40

If you didn't put the clothes back on the hanger then they must have been

  • dumped on the floor / seat thing whilst you tried in other items
  • slung over the door whilst you tried on other items
  • forced onto the hanging hook whilst you tried on other items.
If you were a customer OP, would you like to buy clothes that another customer had dumped on the floor and generally abused? I wouldn't. Given the choice, I'd prefer to buy the clothes put back on a hanger. You sound like a right Marie Antoinette tbh.
MaisyPops · 11/09/2018 18:42

Doesnt everyone put clothes on the hanger?

Try item 1 - put on hanger
Try item 2 - put on hanger

I never do any of the fancy presentation stuff because I'm useless and make a mess (though most places I shop at don't do that) buy clothes always go back on hangers.

Like others, what do non hanger folk do with their clothes mid trying on? Why would you not use a hanger? Confused

fatimashortbread · 11/09/2018 18:47

Wow I have never hung the clothes back on the hanger - it would not have occurred to me to do it as I assumed they would be redone anyway - like all the jumpers I have unfolded and attempted to refold. You live and learn Smile

topcat2014 · 11/09/2018 18:51

I put them back on hangers and back on the rails.

Would never occur to me not to, but then I am not Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada

KurriKurri · 11/09/2018 18:57

I always put them back on the hangers - and shall continue to do so until I get my own hanger-slave to do it for me. (Will also expect said slave to carry loo paper so they can wipe my arse for me should the need arise)

SoyDora · 11/09/2018 19:06

If you give them back not on the hanger then the changing room assistant has to either deal with them at that moment (when they might be in the middle of dealing with something else) or plonk th down on a chair/the floor. If you give them back on the hanger they can hang them on their rail then rehang properly when it’s convenient to them.

MountainGoat111 · 11/09/2018 19:06

Op - I know I will be criticised here, but I am on your side ... I never hang them ... never been told otherwise.

I can see reading responses why you would, but I genuinely used to think that in some busy shops with queues that you want to get out of the changing room very quick to let others in

Maybe in future I will from now on though

GinFuzzy · 11/09/2018 19:09

I put them on the hangers and sometimes if I'm heading that way, I put them back on the rack I got them. Takes two seconds. Different if I had a personal shopper at Harvey nicks... but I feel the girls in new look have enough on their plates...

PunkrockerGirl59 · 11/09/2018 20:11

Of course yabu. What exactly did your last slave die of and what renders you incapable of putting a few clothes back on a hanger ffs Confused

ton181 · 11/09/2018 20:16

Wow who do you think you are, Royalty?

MaisyPops · 11/09/2018 20:16

but I genuinely used to think that in some busy shops with queues that you want to get out of the changing room very quick to let others in
See I think not having clothes on the hanger takes longer.
Do you end up with a pile of clothes that you then have to sort through when done? Do you hang up the ones you will be buying?

Try 1 item on, hang it up and place in a yes/no order on the hooks/back of the door.
Repeat for item 2 3 4 etc.
Then at the end the nos go to the shop assistant and the yeses come with me.

I've never seen anyone hand items back not on hangers other than folded jumpers which didn't have hangers.

ChocolateWombat · 11/09/2018 20:26

The thing is, context is everything......and most posters on this thread have assumed all contexts are the same and so all behaviours should be the same. Whilst having manners and showing respect for shop staff are always important, exactly what is and isn't the right behaviour regarding things like hangers does differ according to country, type of shop etc.

As has been said, in many countries, customers have the hangers taken off them before they go into the dressing room, and in some countries, it is usual for sales staff to put things back on hangers, collect the items from changing rooms, or various other patterns which might not be seen regularly here.

Likewise, not all items of clothing are bought and tried on in mass chain stores where there are huge numbers of customers trying on vast numbers of things, in changing rooms manned by a stressed teenage girl. In many middle and high end shops it isn't just about the clothes, but staff providing a very personal service - so taking items from customers as they gather them in the shop floor and taking them to the fitting room and hanging them up there,mperhaps undoing zips etc, to ease the customers trying them on, perhaps hovering an differing to get other sizes, giving advice on how items look/suggesting other items to go with it, taking the chosen items to the check out desk, gathering unwanted items from the fitting room and putting on hangers and returning to the shop floor. This personal service might also involve offering drinks or other services such as delivery/holding items for the day and certainly won't involve the staff insisting the customer does anything, never mind putting clothes on hangers. Whilst this might be the more high end luxury shops, the idea that everyone in all shops re-hangs unwanted items, or that it is the height of rudeness not to is simply daft. Context is everything. Yes, in your chain store, it seems dual to make some attempt at re-assembling the items for return to the store, but often button won't be re-done up and a customers attempt at hanging might still need a bit of work from shop staff to make the items as attractive as the shop would wish them to be on display.

And again, Op wasn't especially bothered about hanging the items, it was being told in a rather insisting tone to do it, that really gor her attention. I would think that even in the most basic shop, rudeness from shop staff isn't what people want. It's one thing to hope customers will re-hang the clothes, perhaps have a sign up to politely request it, or to politely ask if someone could do it, but to insist is rude. If the customer doesn't do it through choice or after a polite request, it really is part of the shop assistants job to do it.......and shop assistants need to be trained to know there are some things which it is hoped a customer will/won't do, but it isn't good customer service to insist on, and some things have to be the choice of the customer. I would say re-hanging the clothes is one of those. So yes, it is helpful to do it and yes it is isn't good to thrust a tangled pile of clothes at someone already holding lots of stuff, but if those things happen to you in the service sector, you smile and just get on with sorting it, or ask politely...you don't insist.

When you are working in a shop, you are providing an experience for the customer, not just the clothes. In a sense, you are the host and you are required by your company to be a good host. You hope the customers will behave like polite guests, but if they don't, you still behave as a great host and don't point out their failings to them.

An equivalent might be having lots of friends to stay for a weekend. You'd hope that they might offer to help clear up a meal, or bring some wine or a gift, or they would help in some other way......but if they didn't, you'd just keep smiling and clearing up etc etc. Of course, with friends, you don't need to invite them again if they are a bit rude. With customers though, as a shop assistant, you are being paid to offer a service to those who are helpful and also to those who are less helpful.

Rufustheyawningreindeer · 11/09/2018 20:32

e, but often button won't be re-done up and a customers attempt at hanging might still need a bit of work from shop staff to make the items as attractive as the shop would wish them to be on display

There is a world of difference between not putting it on the hanger the way the shop does and just grabbing an armful of clothes and a handful of hangers and dumping them on the nearest sales assistant which is generally what people are referring to here

MaisyPops · 11/09/2018 20:34

ChocolateWombat
My guess is proportionately most people aren't going to be shopping in high end boutiques where you get the zips taken down for you and nibbles provided which is why most people seem to be 'team hanger'.

I wouldn't leave a cafe table looking like a bomb had exploded on it. I wouldn't hand clothes back having had them thrown on the floor/stool. Both those situations to me say 'I am the customer and that makes me king'.

When i see/hear customers acting like sales staff owe them something I feel quite sorry for the shop staff. They aren't there to be people's servants.

Rufustheyawningreindeer · 11/09/2018 20:34

And what you describe in your third paragraph is what we do

But i have never (only worked there 3 years so its not like im an expert) had a customer not put stuff back on a hanger (without explaining/apologising)

Rufustheyawningreindeer · 11/09/2018 20:37

I had a woman leaving the changing room and come out to the floor and thrust her armful of (hung on hangers) clothes at me

She didnt look at me or speak to me

I looked at her and then at her arm...nothing....i looked at her and then at her arm and debated walking off

And then i realised that another customer was watching and was cracked up laughing...so i thought i ought to take them Grin

AndhowcouldIeverrefuse · 11/09/2018 20:42

I always try to hang things but I am clumsy with my hands and do a very poor job despite my best efforts.

Going against the grain here but I am shocked at the way the OP was spoken to by the shop worker. Not everyone is suited for customer-facing roles but that was rude no matter how you look at it. Do we know which shop it was?

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