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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Hamleys demo lady left dd 6 in tears.

617 replies

Bornfreebutinbiscuits · 11/08/2019 10:16

Summer hols day out, theatre and hamleys.

Having fun trying all the toys on display and v small budget to buy a toy.

Older dd goes to lady for hand tattoo. I asked younger if she wanted one she was shy and said no. However once older has one she wants one. So she gets in position and very curtly lady says 'no. Its not a freebie for all children it's a demo. I can't do another child' no smiles, no kindness and she looked as hard as nails as dd face crumpled and starts to cry.

Not a big cry! In the past they have always dine both dc, in hamleys and harrods.
And we have actually brought the set into the past but it's the fun and part of the toy shop experience to have something done there!

Not the experience I expected from hamleys of all places. Or was she right!

OP posts:
MrsKittyFane1 · 12/08/2019 07:12

This reply has been deleted

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origamiunicorn · 12/08/2019 07:16

You could have bought one for your younger DD, it's not her job to give out freebies to everyone or no one would buy. Sounds like she could have handled it better though.

Myfoolishboatisleaning · 12/08/2019 07:27

You have been to Hamleys more than once? Jesus, don’t you like your kids? There is so much fun stuff to do, but you keep taking them there. Bloody hell how fucking boring.

inboxmayhem · 12/08/2019 07:35

We had this. Also wouldn't do the demo unless a parent was there to obviously buy the product. Fucked me off and we left.

Myfoolishboatisleaning · 12/08/2019 07:49

Why would they do a demo if you are not contemplating buying? It’s a fucking shop. There are a million places you can go in London that don’t revolve around buying shit for your kids. But Hamleys is a shop.

OooErMissus · 12/08/2019 07:57

I would’ve said in a loud voice, ‘you’ve just missed out on a sale now.

Don't tell me. You need to 'speak with the manager' a lot, right? Grin

JemimaPuddlePeacock · 12/08/2019 08:01

I would’ve said in a loud voice, ‘you’ve just missed out on a sale now.

As an ex-retail worker this had me actually snort out loud 😂

JemimaPuddlePeacock · 12/08/2019 08:02

And also it’s a lie: OP already owns the product. Sales lady didn’t miss out on anything other than someone trying to grab an extra freebie with no intention of buying.

KatherineJaneway · 12/08/2019 08:40

I would’ve said in a loud voice, ‘you’ve just missed out on a sale now.

We used to laugh at people like you. Obviously no intention of buying anything but get upset when we clock that and then you say shit like the above. Makes you look so petty and very stupid.

TeddybearBaby · 12/08/2019 09:08

I agree with you op. Been to hamleys and Harrod’s a few times. They fall over themselves trying to get you to have a demo usually. I usually find it a pain in the arse tbh.

I’d complain, can’t imagine hamleys have such a rule tbh and even if they do, the sales assistant has made a child cry. I doubt that’s the look they’re going for.

BlackberryBeret · 12/08/2019 09:27

I can't believe this thread is still running. It's utterly batshit crackers.

The overwhelming majority of posters see this for what it is - a poorly paid sale person trying to maximise their commission paying opportunities by avoiding a non-purchasing parent freebie surfing after Child 2 declined the freebie first time round.

Maybe they were a bit short and could have had a more child friendly manner but there is nothing in the OP that indicates real rudeness.

From this a minority of posters have extraopolated "the sales person made the child cry" - no she didn't; the child cried because she was offered something, said no, changed her mind and was reasonably refused it. and "the sales person was rude to the child" - no she wasn't; she may have been a bit short and unsmiling and not particularly child friendly but it was a reasonable statement of fact that if you read the OP was almost certainly being directed at the parents and not the child.

Then you have the tiny minority who are calling the majority "cunts" (lovely) for basically saying the OP was being unreasonble in her attitude.

Nutty.

Kittypillar · 12/08/2019 10:13

Hit the nail on the head @BlackberryBeret, it's absolutely crackers.

Then you have the tiny minority who are calling the majority "cunts" (lovely) for basically saying the OP was being unreasonble in her attitude.

Yep, that was a nice touch. Especially since many of us who disagreed, as you say, were trying to make a point about how poorly paid the sales people are. And actually they do need to maximise the chances they have to earn money to, y'know, live instead of just dishing out multiple freebies to people who are clearly not interested in buying anything. But sure, we're the cunts Hmm

Kittypillar · 12/08/2019 10:17

I would’ve said in a loud voice, ‘you’ve just missed out on a sale now.

As an ex-retail worker this had me actually snort out loud 😂

Snap Grin

Elletine · 12/08/2019 10:19

@BlackberryBeret for PM!!!!!! Grin

Iamdobby63 · 12/08/2019 10:47

The issues is with how some people were so offensive in their options that the OP was bu.

Think many are going off on a tangent rather than focusing on the whole reason the OP started the thread. The sales girl was curt and harsh towards her 6 yr old. End of.

They were in London and went to Hamleys, doesn’t make her a bad Mum who does nothing else with her children.

I really think some have just used this thread to take a swipe at someone.

HeadintheiClouds · 12/08/2019 10:50

I don’t recall anyone suggesting op is a bad mum who does nothing else with her children, Iamdobby
Let’s not introduce straw men because you have nothing to add to the actual debate.

Iamdobby63 · 12/08/2019 10:57

Then I suggest you RTFT

HeadintheiClouds · 12/08/2019 11:04

🤣

Notwiththeseknees · 12/08/2019 11:09

OP, YADNBU! Saleswoman sounds mental to me - impulse sales are a numbers game - more demos, more sales.

Go back today with DC1 scratching furiously at her bandaged tattoo, while telling her how much it itches & burns - put in some strawberry jam for fake blood to leak round the edges 🤣

InkyToesies · 12/08/2019 12:25

It's a shop. They sell things to make money. The demos / promotions are there to sell stuff / get kids to nag their parents into buying stuff. They're not freebies and the shop's not a theme park where stuff is included in the admission fee (clue = there's no admission fee, it's a shop). I repeat, the sole purpose of the demos and the people staffing them, and the associated costs is not to entertain or provide give-aways, but to sell stuff and / or create pester-power so that kids' parents buy stuff.

I'm sure you're not daft OP: you must know this. But you do appear to have allowed your visit to Hamleys with your children to have caused a common sense failure. I'm sure you're not as grabby / entitled as you come over in your post, but seriously? Hamleys made your child cry? No they didn't. The woman was doing her job. She wasn't being nasty, or hard, or cold. You just didn't get what you wanted, i.e. a freebie for both your children. And your child cried because you told / encouraged her to believe that she would, and she was therefore disappointed. So your values / behaviour / (unreasonable) expectations made her cry.

Harrods, Hamleys, Liberty etc are treated by many - and actually advertised (not by the stores themselves!) to tourists / visitors to London - as free-admission attractions. They're dry when it's wet, cool when it's hot, and warm when it's cold. They're visually wonderful! And totally free to enter.

The huge majority of 'shoppers' just go to look. The merchandise is nearly always way more expensive than the same things online. Most purchases tend to be branded sweets / stationery / teddies etc with the store's logo. So far, so good.

But some 'customers' take the piss. Some don't even think they're taking the piss...they're affronted when they don't get freebies! Some even ask for, or try to take large glossy carrier bags - just the bag - as a souvenir! Free of course.

Please get a grip. You are BVU.

BTW, I don't work in retail - just observations over the years.

Original poster
Bornfreebutinbiscuits · 12/08/2019 12:39

It's hard to believe that some posts are not written without sole intention of being rude.

Some posters above have said... You hate your dc you don't take them anywhere else when the op clearly says.... Theatre and hamleys. With other stuff in between. Bizzare!

Hamleys is a destination toy store, what marks it out above other toy shops is the demo, the buzzy atmosphere, the hands on try before buy of the toys.

In the past demo people reel the dc in and do both. This is the first time someone has refused to do both. It's not any expectation I have set at all.

With dc you can't do one and not the other. If the demo people have changed policy that's fine but It needs to be conveyed very clearly FIRST before dc are reeled in.

OP posts:
Original poster
Bornfreebutinbiscuits · 12/08/2019 12:43

Katherine what a delightful attitude! Is it any wonder the high street is dying off!
It's supposed to be a pleasurable experience, not derided and sneered at by unpleasant staff.

OP posts:
QualCheckBot · 12/08/2019 12:55

Sorry OP, I got from it that you should have managed the situation with your children better, rather than putting your youngest in that situation of being so disappointed she cried.

No-one can say exactly what it was like as they don't know how busy it was, how long you had been in there, how long the queue was, etc.. Its horrible to be embarrassed as a child by being told curtly "no" but it is first and foremost a shop, not a theme park, so I have to say YABU for not being prepared for this happening.

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 12/08/2019 13:09

I'm beginning to wonder if the OP had a bet with someone
5 quid for every page of frothing she could get
Bonus tenner for a full 1000 posts

C0untDucku1a · 12/08/2019 13:26

Going into a toy shop is not an experience. It is shopping. Shopping is not an experience.

My mother was the same. Every saturday she would take us into town shopping. It was the only thing she could think of. It is boring for children tombe taken around shops. It is not an ‘experience’ as you keep repeating.