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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:
Cardiganqueen71 · 12/09/2018 10:27

It’s very, very déclassé not to hang things up. Same as not saying thank you to staff or clicking fingers at waiting staff. Something only common people do. Usually entitled ones.

DarlingNikita · 12/09/2018 10:55

Oh, hang on. Are we talking about putting clothes back on the rails in the shop? Or just putting them back on the hangers after trying on and then giving back to the assistant?

If the latter, yes, I'd generally put them back on the hanger. Although I have been known to give up if e.g. the straps are complicated and I make a pig's ear of it, in which case I'll hand the item and the hanger back to the assistant and explain/apologise about mucking it up.

But if we're talking about putting clothes back on the rails, I still maintain that that's not for a customer to do. You might not hang them nicely or correctly; the shop might have a policy on how the price label is displayed; customers might put them back on the wrong rail... How on earth would that be of benefit to the shop?

Rufustheyawningreindeer · 12/09/2018 11:46

Its the latter

Thats what the OP was talking about at any rate

And that appears to be what the majority of the posters are talking about

I dont think anyone has said that clothes should be returned from whence they came Smile

DarlingNikita · 12/09/2018 12:06

Ah, OK. Someone did say 'I go out of my way to put everything back in the correct place', which I took to mean in the shop, not correctly on the hanger. That's what confused me, I think.

Gottagetmoving · 12/09/2018 12:08

Odd how big stores wouldn't dream of expecting wealthy customers to hang the clothes but us plebs have to hang them Grin

Lweji · 12/09/2018 13:25

Odd how big stores wouldn't dream of expecting wealthy customers to hang the clothes but us plebs have to hang them

It's not the type of customer, it's how expensive the shop is.

In expensive shops you also fork out for service, not just the clothes.

It's the same everywhere you go, from hotels to restaurants and transport. Not sure why some people are surprised.

thenorthernluce · 12/09/2018 14:12

OP, are you American? I ask because when I lived in America, it was convention when trying on clothes to leave then unwanted items in the changing room for the assistant to deal with. If that’s what you’re used to, then it’s somewhat understandable that you didn’t rehang the clothing. However, that’s not the convention here in the UK, so lesson learnt!

dorisdog · 12/09/2018 14:36

I usually ask if they want me to put them back on the store rails! But that's bc I've worked in shops and it's tiring and everyone is rude to you. I'm surprised they made you do it, but not suprised that they'd prefer you to do it.

I'm not piling on though and telling you you're U. I just think there are different conventions.

JessieMcJessie · 12/09/2018 15:55

It’s simple- you’re not hanging them up so they can go straight back out on the shop floor (and definitely not putting them there yourself). You are hanging them on the hanger so that you can then carry them out to the assistant without bundling them up in a pile in your arms and so that the assistant can hang them on the changing room “returned items” rack to be tidied up and put back out on the floor when convenient.

Gottagetmoving · 12/09/2018 15:58

It's not the type of customer, it's how expensive the shop is.Not sure why some people are surprised

I wasn't surprised, hence the grin. I'm not sure others are surprised either so you don't need to wonder why.

FingerlingUnderling · 12/09/2018 16:01

I rehang everything that I can but some hangers defeat me, like those weird ones where you have to lift those tiny pieces of plastic to move hanger in and out to set them for the waistband and those ones with the weird bracket thing to slide down over the clips. Maybe I lack dexterity but I apologise if I have been a hanger biff.

MaisyPops · 12/09/2018 16:23

It's not the type of customer, it's how expensive the shop is.
In expensive shops you also fork out for service, not just the clothes.
It's the same everywhere you go, from hotels to restaurants and transport. Not sure why some people are surprised.
I would agree.
Which is why I think people who'd not bother putting clothes on hangers in a high street shop are being a bit rude and (mumsnet bingo alert) entitled. It smacks of 'but you are here to tidy up after me and I am the sort of customer who thinks using a clothes hanger is below me'.

I wonder if they're the same people who don't use the bins/clear away areas in cafes/coffee places/fast food places etc because 'there's staff employed so why should I move my tray. Someone else should tidy up after me'.
Or the type of people who complain that their local real ale and pub grub place doesn't give the same service as a 5* fine dining place.

Shopkinsdoll · 12/09/2018 16:43

Your having a laugh aren’t you? Either you don’t get out much or you are just lazy! 🙈🙈🙈🙈

ChocolateWombat · 12/09/2018 20:34

I agree that the level of service received and offered in shops and other business is partly a reflection of how expensive the goods/service offered is, not the wealthiest of the individual customer.

In an expensive hotel or shop or restaurant, people are indeed paying for extra service and the business expects to provide it. This could be that an expensive hotel turns back the bed in the evening, changes the sheets on a daily basis, offers quality room service and laundry facilities, or a shop offers a delivery service, or the staff will suggest other items to go with those tried on, or offer an adjustment service, or indeed pick the items up from the floor or seat in the changing room and put them back on hangers.

Customers receive this service and are not rude or entitled for doing so. Of course, they should respect the shop staff and treat them well and politely and not as slaves.....and the fact the staff carry out the tasks mentioned above, does not in any way mean they are belittled or demeaned - it is all part of the expectation of their job, and it should be remembered that perhaps they only deal with 5 or 6 customers a day and are t having to do all this stuff for the thousands at might go into a Primark dressing room each day - it is entirely different.

But for most shops, the high street shops, where a shop assistant might stand by perhaps 20 or 30 changing rooms which are full most of the time and where there is often a queue, of course the expectation of service is different and has to be different. Those shop staff, just like those in high end stores deserve respect and being treated decently - so putting clothes on hangers to help them out, is both polite and showing awareness of them and the difficulties of their job in dealing with hundreds of people.

Sadly, in customer facing roles, staff do face rude people. There are rude, demanding people in high end stores and rude demanding people in the cheapest of shops. The rudeness might take different forms. In the high end store it could be diva-ish behaviour, and treating staff as slaves and dirt. In your more standard store, it might be throwing massive piles of tangled clothes at staff, or rudeness, and treating staff as slaves and dirt. In either circumstance it's not okay. And in either circumstance, in most cases, the customer service response of staff needs to be to smile nicely and say nothing. The will be extreme cases where this might not be appropriate and there will be times when management should be informed and should be getting involved to support staff with difficult customers, but smiling and saying nothing is often the right response to low level customer rudeness - including not putting items on hangers in my view. Speaking rudely and sharply to customers, insisting they do things like putting clothes on hangers (very different to asking politely) isn't good customer service and rightly, isn't what stores want from their staff......even if customers haven't been as polite and respectful as they should be.

RomanyRoots · 12/09/2018 21:13

Aw, I feel so sorry for staff when they are treated badly, especially not hanging stuff up if you are capable.
I find myself taking the stuff to an assistant to help, I'm unable to put those plastic shoe hangers back. I can't help it I have learning difficulties, it's bloody embarrassing trying to puzzle it out. I must look so thick. Some are absolutely lovely when I explain and tell me something they can't do. Some stand and gawp but they aren't nasty.
Somebody has to do that job, whether they want to or not.

TimeForDinnerDinnerDinner · 13/09/2018 05:46

Just. Wow. Hmm

Chouetted · 13/09/2018 18:47

Plastic shoe hangers are the devil's work @RomanyRoots, too many bits that look the same.

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