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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:
Rufustheyawningreindeer · 11/09/2018 20:42

Topshop

Bluesrunthegame · 11/09/2018 20:42

I've never rehung clothes, and no shop assistant has ever asked me. I have, however, had to look very closely at labels in M&S as the clothes on the rails are not the sizes on the hangers, possibly because other shoppers have rehung them and got them mixed up.

I did once try to rehang a bra on a little tiny hanger, I now remember, and the assistant took it off me and looked annoyed.

Rufustheyawningreindeer · 11/09/2018 20:43

I agree that it was rude

I dont know if its policy

It was policy in our store to not tell the customer we were about to close...it didnt stop one of the members of staff doing it.

Racecardriver · 11/09/2018 20:47

YANBU. British staff are just lazy. Now I know why I end up finding so much stuff poorly hung. In nice s all shops it's normal to hand your selections to staff so that they can put it in the dressing room for you and then leave what you don't like behind only giving the items you want to purchase to the assistant.

AndhowcouldIeverrefuse · 11/09/2018 20:50

Ah topshop. I'm surprised there was anyone by the changing rooms to be honest. It doesn't sound like this particular member of staff was overwhelmed with work either but hey a pile on is so much fun! Hmm

Racecardriver · 11/09/2018 20:50

@AmandaGWilliamson you do realise that someone had to do it right? The employees are paid to do this kind of thing. Why should OP be making her life harder to make theirs easier when it is their job to do it? Why do you want to create a world where people expect help doing what they are employed to do. It's not like she made a huge mess on purpose and left them to clean it up. Someone would have done the hanging one way or another. It's natural to assume that the person who is responsible for keeping the shop would do it.

MaisyPops · 11/09/2018 21:06

Why should OP be making her life harder to make theirs easier when it is their job to do it?
This seems the adult variation of what I hear some students say when I tell them to clear their mess up: but that's the cleaners' job/ the cleaners will do it.
The cleaners are there to clean. They are not there to tidy up your shit because you're too lazy to put rubbish in the bin.

Same with shops. Its never crossed my mind that shop assistants are there to pick up after me because I'm too lazy to put a hanger in a top.

Pinkprincess1978 · 11/09/2018 21:22

Having previously worked in a clothes shop I almost always return my unwanted clothes back to the rails too as I remember how long it would take me to do that for masses of clothes (especially if a large store and you couldn't find where the item came from). But hanging up is the minimum you should do.

SiliconHeaven · 11/09/2018 21:39

I’m with you OP.
What exactly are they going to do if you Just hand them over and walk out?

WickedWitchOfTheWest83 · 11/09/2018 21:54

I don’t bother either but I do know I’m being lazy and unreasonable - however usually I have my 3yr old with me, who gets bored, tries to copy me taking my clothes off... I just try stuff on and eat out of there ASAP. If I have time I hang them back up but often can’t be arsed. Plus they are being paid to do it so I figure 🤷🏻‍♀️ Oh well! At least that’s how I justify it to myself anyway...

MinesaPinot · 11/09/2018 22:11

If I have time I hang them back up but often can't be arsed. Plus they are paid to do it

Well that just about says it all. What did your last slave die of?

Rufustheyawningreindeer · 11/09/2018 22:25

Asking too many questions

Boom boom!

weetafix · 11/09/2018 22:44

@carbuncleonapigsposterior "My son had a retail job during A levels and briefly after university before he gained meaningful employment." ????!!!! WTF?!

My whole working life hasn't had any meaning to it then has it?
That has to be one of the most stupid, nasty and thoughtless comments I have seen in a long time! Angry

cherish123 · 11/09/2018 22:46

I put them back on hanger. However, often I am hanging them back on the hanger a a shop assistant says that they will do it. I think the shop assistant was a bit rude to OP.

JessieMcJessie · 11/09/2018 23:12

Racecardeiver and WickedWitch we’ve already discussed and explained upthread (confirmed by an actual retail worker) why putting clothes back on hangers isn’t part of the standard job of staff in shops like Topshop.

onegiftedgal · 11/09/2018 23:23

Yes YABU and very pretentious! They are not your slaves. You took the clothes off of the hangers and messed them up so you should put them back.
You must be one of those people who dump random groceries at the till when you decide that you no longer require them. Instead of PUTTING THEM BACK ON THE SHELF!

Happpydayz · 12/09/2018 00:05

I can’t believe how nasty some of you have been on this thread. There’s opinion and advice, fair enough, but some of you have been down right rude to op. Why would anyone want to post a question, ask advice, knowing what nastiness is hiding behind the keyboards.

WickedWitchOfTheWest83 · 12/09/2018 03:39

MinesaPinot

He actually died of putting clothes on hangers... it’s extremely dangerous and therefore only a professional should do it - hence why I leave it to the pros!

I worked in the Vestry and M&S many moons ago, when I was a student, and it was so annoying when people would put the wrong clothes on the wrong hangers, inside out, back to front... it WAS part of my job, when I was manning the changing room, to rehang the clothes. I WAS paid to do that. Maybe in topshop they do things differently or maybe things are just different nearly 20yrs later, but I even remember being trained to do it a specific way in M&S. especially the bras... ugh, that was horrible. I still can’t do it very well! I was crap at those jobs coz I rush everything, so it’s easier, if everything is folded and the right way round at least, to just let them do it correctly the first time round. That way they don’t have to detangle my poor attempt!

The one and only time I made a point of giving them a massive ball of tangled up clothes, was when I could hear them tutting every time a new customer would come over because they were in the middle of having a serious conversation about whether or not one of them should keep their baby. One was saying that her boyfriend would “have to stay” with her if she did and the other was saying “yeah but then you’ll end up with a free house and money from the council and not have to work in this shitting place with fat naked customers all day!” They thought they were being quiet but because of the chewing of gum and the music the shop was playing, they had to talk over it... needless to say I enjoyed giving them about 20items back all mixed up and leaving all the hangers in the cubicle. I often wonder about that baby and whether or not he/she was used as a pawn to trap some boy...... 🤔

inquiquotiokixul · 12/09/2018 05:39

Of course you need to hanger them. If you don't they will get creased and become unsellable, losing the shop money. Obviously the staff will rehang them before they return them to the shop floor (or in lower-budget stores they expect customers to return clothes to racks and expect staff to neaten the racks in quiet times) but it is unreasonable to leave unbought clothes in any state other than on a hanger.

ChocolateWombat · 12/09/2018 07:21

MaisyPops, but I did start my post by saying that regardless of store type, customers should show manners and treat shop staff politely and with respect. There should definitely be no sense of the staff as a customers slave, to put up with rudeness and poor behaviour.

Customers in middle and high end shops might not out the clothes on hangers, because it is very much part of the job expectation that the shop assistants do it - and sometimes the shop really does want the clothes to be re-hung in a very specific way, and customers doing it actually creates more work for the staff. At the same time, customers can let the staff do this task and be absolutely charming and polite. There doesn't have to be a correspondence between not putting clothes on hangers, or letting the staff being the items into the changing room and behaving in a rude or ungrateful manner.

In all kinds of stores and with all types of customers, there will be some rude and unpleasant ones, but also polite and respectful ones.

Regarding putting things on hangers, again, context is everything. In some stores, you really are treading on the toes of the toes if the shop staff to start trying to do things which are very clearly part of their remit and which they feel a bit uncomfortable about the customer doing (think of it as akin to a house guest getting too involved in helping out with the tidying and cleaning and making the Hist feel uncomfortable) but I agree that in most high street stores, it is polite and helpful to put things back on hangers - I am absolutely not saying it is always okay not to do this, just that things have more shades of grey than just black and white.

MaisyPops · 12/09/2018 07:53

ChocolateWombat
The shop assistant shouldn't have been rude.

But equally I don't think it's unreasonable to expect customers to hang clothes on the hanger after trying them on, especially in a high street store.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone just dump unwanted clothes back on sales staff and if I go into a changing room wjere there's loads of items left then I do find myself wondering what lazy bugger would do that.

Rufustheyawningreindeer · 12/09/2018 07:57

I agree maisy

I have never seen it either

The vast vast majority of our able bodied customers put the clothes on the hanger

And yes, they put it on the wrong way round or put those fabric tie thigs over the hook in the handle...but my job is to take the HUNG clothes, tidy them and put them back out

We do not have staff in the changing rooms

Hushhush89 · 12/09/2018 08:54

I hate people that do this, really annoys me when trying clothes on and changing rooms are always covered in clothes people changed their minds about. Whatever I take in, it all comes back out with me and taken back to where I got it from.

manicmij · 12/09/2018 09:14

YABU. Who just hands an assistant a jumble of clothes and empty hangers? Think of the state some clothes would be in if 2 or 3 folk did the same when leaving the changing rooms. Have some consideration.

JessieMcJessie · 12/09/2018 09:16

Most places count the clothes in and out again anyway- how can that be done easily if clothes are not on the hangers. I don’t see how people can actually get away with leaving the clothes in the changing room unless the changing room entrance is unmanned.