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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:
BunnyColvin · 11/08/2019 11:45

I'd have to see/hear exactly what that lady said before I'd believe she was curt with a child. You set her expectations OP, so she cried when they weren't met. Basically, she would have cried whether the lady was curt, she would have cried whether the lady was polite.

It's down to you at the end of the day, because a freebie wasn't on offer. It's a good life lesson for your kid, if anything, that you can't always get what you want unconditionally.

Booboostwo · 11/08/2019 11:47

Harrods and Hamleys give these out exactly as freebies! We've been every time we visit London. You can go from one stall to the other and get hair done, tattoos, try out toys, see magic tricks, etc. Both my DCs have done activities and we've only been turned away (very politely) for practical reasons, e.g. DS's hair was too short for curling.

It's a perk of the store (and you pay for it more than enough if you do buy anything as prices are extremely inflated).

Yeahnahmum · 11/08/2019 11:48

Yabu ...
Wish there was a button Grin

Yeahnahmum · 11/08/2019 11:49

*vote button

herculepoirot2 · 11/08/2019 11:49

It's a perk of the store (and you pay for it more than enough if you do buy anything as prices are extremely inflated).

It is clearly not. The woman told the OP it was a demo because it was a demo. If it was a perk, she would be paid by Hamleys and wouldn’t give a shit how many free tattoos she had to do.

lozster · 11/08/2019 11:50

^slashlover

I bet OP takes her kids to a pet shop to pet the animals instead of paying for a petting zoo.^

Pets at home offer exactly this every holiday!

CarolDanvers · 11/08/2019 11:51

@lozster

They do. We've done it. You can have a reptile session or small animal session. Dd loved it Smile

Iamdobby63 · 11/08/2019 11:55

Good god, some very harsh comments on here.

In my opinion YANBU. Yes Hamleys have loads of demos going on all the time, bit irritating sometimes as they do draw your children in. Of course siblings are most likely going to want what the other one has, not sure how the woman would have picked if she was presented with a set of eager twins.

Regarding the analogy of food tasting in supermarkets, yeah I would be pissed if on my husband was allowed to taste and I was refused.

WhoTellsYourStory · 11/08/2019 11:56

If she said it exactly as you posted then yes, she was a bit abrupt and given that she talking to a child, could’ve phrased it better. However, I do wonder whether that’s exactly what she said - given that your example of what she should’ve done involved her saying “I’m so sorry” twice in the same sentence. She didn’t need to grovel to your child, and the fact that your expectations of her were so high makes me think that she might’ve apologised but without the kind of bowing and scraping that you were after. Just a thought - I wasn’t there obviously!

Booboostwo · 11/08/2019 12:00

herculepoirot2 in 46 years of going to Harrods and Hamley's it has always been a perk of the store. Hamley's may have changed their policy but they should make this clear and explain how it applies in advance, so, say "only one tattoo per family, or only one remote control car demo per family" or similar (can't see how this would work btw as kids congregate around demos they like, then move onto the next, then go back again, etc.). After they did that, they would still need to be careful and kind in explaining the new policy to young children.

SexFarmWoman · 11/08/2019 12:00

I think this one is on you sorry, and your misunderstanding of what the demos are actually for. It's not a summer fair where they all queue up for it (and if it was, you'd pay!)

If you DO understand why the demos are there, it should have been YOU who asked the woman if you could have a cheeky 'extra' and then she wouldn't have had to talk to your little one at all, and you could have done the explaining.

WilkosWanderer · 11/08/2019 12:00

Can't wait for this to go on reddit, r/entitledparents

herculepoirot2 · 11/08/2019 12:02

herculepoirot2 in 46 years of going to Harrods and Hamley's it has always been a perk of the store.

Not when I have been. There are some things you can obviously try out for free but not consumable products like this. The OP has bought it before so she knows it’s for sale, not a free ‘experience’. Anyway, if the policy has changed the fault lies with the shop, not the woman selling.

CarolDanvers · 11/08/2019 12:05

Can't wait for this to go on reddit, r/entitledparents

Really? What a thing to get excited about.

Teddybear45 · 11/08/2019 12:06

Are you the type to crowd around the CostCo / Supermarket food demos too to get free food? If yes then yanbu. If no then I think you knew it was unreasonable to expect the lady to do both kids’ tattooes when you have no intention of buying.

JanewaysBun · 11/08/2019 12:11

I take DNiece to hamleys, it's not something to be jealous of - after fighting your way off the tube you get to wander round a jam packed shop that is the same price as other places just crazy busy!

I always let dniece get one of the demo things so we do test them all but she is genuinely shopping.

The testers are "employed" by an outside company not hamleys themselves and from what i can remember (interviewed there when i was 20) the pay is basically all commision so yabu to waste her time tbh.

It seems like you did buy one of the demo products in which case you could have been more clear but she doesn't sound curt just said "no" 🤷‍♀️

Ginmel · 11/08/2019 12:13

@teddybear45

Quote from the OP

It's like any supermarket having little tasting stall.... For the public to try.

Inmyownlittlecorner · 11/08/2019 12:13

Hamleys have free events in the holidays & at weekends, as do lots of shops in Central London. We were at Boden yesterday specifically so DD1 could make a pair of Harry Potter glasses. She got a free gift as well. We didn’t buy anything as full price it’s out of our budget. They were lovely though & that has prompted me to make an effort to look for a code & buy her a something from the new HP range for Christmas. Job done Boden!
We often pop to Harrods or Hamleys in the holidays or weekends (we live on The Piccadilly line), we sometimes buy sweets or something i the sale, (I got my maclaren XLR fro Harrods a whim 8 years ago for £80 as it was ex display). We also needed to keep our Harrods card going so we could see Father Christmas, although now you need to spend something like 10 grand a year to get in & our £10-£50 spend doesn’t cut it. The toy demonstrators always call you over to offer nails, hair etc & happily ask siblings if they want a go & the same happens in Hamleys. We don’t tend to go to Hamleys often as it’s too busy etc, although we get forces/NHS/Emergency services discount & they do a big 25% or possibly 30% in November & they price match so we managed to get HP Lego at a amazing price for last Christmas.

FrancisCrawford · 11/08/2019 12:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GrouchoMrx · 11/08/2019 12:20

When I read the first post I was quite sympathetic to OP.

However, this thread has descended into a fascinating insight into the thought processes of CFs.

BlackberryBeret · 11/08/2019 12:21

herculepoirot2 in 46 years of going to Harrods and Hamley's it has always been a perk of the store.

It's always to sell products. It's not "a perk" in the sense of an entitlement to free entertainment.

I've been to Hamleys loads of times.

I have never seen pure entertainment there. If there's a magician demostrating, it's to sell magic tricks. If there is make up, it's to sell face paints. If there are bubbles, it's to sell a bubble product. A juggler to sell juggling balls.

I have never been in and seen - say a magician just wandering round entertaining for the sake of entertaining.

Honeyroar · 11/08/2019 12:22

I think that her curt reply was directed at you. She'd already done a demo for your family/group on your other daughter. It was a demo not a free tattoo stall.

browzingss · 11/08/2019 12:23

You sound cheap. Who plans a ‘summer day out’ and places visiting a theatre on the same level as visiting a shop that they don’t plan on buying anything at? ‘Theatre and walking around Hamleys’😂 weird!

You had a ‘very small’ budget ‘for a bag of sweets’ - so why bother taking them? Your kids will see all kinds of exciting things that you can’t afford, you’re the one getting their hopes up aimlessly as you weren’t planning to buy them anything substantial enough to be demonstrated. It’s a shop, not a party tattoo stall. The demos are for paying customers, your family had already seen the product in action so a 2nd demo was redundant.

No one made your child cry, that’s a result of you having a sensitive/shy child who hasn’t been taught by you to deal with feeling upset in a better way. You also need to work on your child wanting everything the other child has, as it’s only breeding bad character traits long-term.

henpartystress · 11/08/2019 12:23

I actually don't think YABU at all. I'd be really annoyed. She's there to do that and if she dosent like it she should get a new job.

ChicCroissant · 11/08/2019 12:25

It's impossible to walk around and at some point not be dragged into one. It's very much part of the experience.

Rubbish! It is all voluntary, my DD hasn't had her hair curled there no matter how much the demo lady pleaded. It is a shop, not an experience - you have your own view of Hamleys and it's not as a toy store. Neither are you interested in anyone who says you were wrong. This will be another thread that disappears due to something suddenly being very identifying when it's just that the OP hasn't got the responses she wants Grin