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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:
soveryconfused1 · 11/08/2019 12:28

*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.i

It’s not the same thing at all. You don’t know how something tastes just by looking at it and everyone has different tastes! Your husband might hate it but you might love it.

In this case, it’s a visual thing. The demo was to show how the tattoo works and the older dd got a freebie. It’s completely understandable that the sales person got pissed off with a parent’s attitude that both her daughters were entitled to a freebie with no intention of buying. She’s a salesperson not a servant.

herculepoirot2 · 11/08/2019 12:28

She's there to do that and if she dosent like it she should get a new job.

No. She is there to sell.

BrokenWing · 11/08/2019 12:30

YABU, It is clearly and primarily a sales technique, you see the demo and buy the product at Hamleys that day. The demo was done but you wanted to advantage and go for a freebie instead.

You had no intention of buying the product, it was obvious to the sales woman you wanted a complete freebie and your actions resulted in your dd getting upset.

Did you explain to your dd what a demo means, you were wrong to expect freebies throughout the store for both your children when you had no intention of buying and apologise for you putting her in a position to get upset? Or did you tell your dd the lady in Hamleys was horrible and she should have received a free tattoo too, teaching her a sense of entitlement?

ChocolateCroissants · 11/08/2019 12:30

I can sort of understand going to these places for a wonder and to play with the toys on display, what I don’t understand is your entitlement to free stuff. Sounds like you are treating it as a stall at the school summer faire, not a shop! All this “part of the experience crap”, nope you went into a shop expecting free stuff (which isn’t normal), they weren’t offering free tattoos, it’s a demonstration in the hope you’ll buy. Had you bought 1 and she had refused well fair enough, but you’d wasted her time once already, she was right to refuse as you clearly had zero intention of buying the product.

WorraLiberty · 11/08/2019 12:30

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.

She did her job.

She demonstrated to a potential customer, how the tattoo kit works.

browzingss · 11/08/2019 12:31

She's there to do that and if she dosent like it she should get a new job.

Right. You are aware that retailers and their employees can refuse service to whoever they like? (Bar protected characteristics.) If they don’t want to, they don’t have to darling.

Chickychoccyegg · 11/08/2019 12:37

i was in hamleys a couple of weeks ago and there's so many demos going on: hair straightening,curling, hair chalk, nail polish, toys, they invite the kids over, so yes its a demo but also part of the fun i guess, the demonstrators offered all 3 of my kids but 1 didnt want anything , and in others 1 or 2 of my girls took part (very long hair good for curling/straightening) some were pushy others not at all pushy, but all were polite, and happy to incude all 3 dc ,its a shame she didnt just do a quick tattoo for your dd, after all these kids are expensive you night have bought one if both dd's liked it

Ginmel · 11/08/2019 12:44

Waiting for this thread to be deleted for identifying reasons. No op, you are just another cf

Durgasarrow · 11/08/2019 12:45

Since your first daughter got a hand tattoo, you knew that the product worked and that your children liked it. That means the product had been demonstrated to work. Which means that now you, as a potential customer, had been shown an excellent reason why to buy the product. You had just been given a free product. All stores have to do is turn on the lights and put products out for sale. So yes, I think YABU.

Witchend · 11/08/2019 12:49

If I was in charge of training I would be saying... Whatever you do never make dc cry.
So when the next child picks up six packets and puts them in their bag you can't tell them to take them out if they cry?
Great. Children do cry when told they're not allowed toys. I would argue that if she'd wanted it, you should be paying. So by not buying her a packet you made her cry having first raised her expectation.

Vasya · 11/08/2019 13:00

Sounds like she wasn't very nice. Even if she genuinely couldn't do the second child, she didn't need to be curt about it. In a place like Hamleys where they're extravagantly ripping off every customer anyway the least they can do is be generous with the demos.

herculepoirot2 · 11/08/2019 13:05

In a place like Hamleys where they're extravagantly ripping off every customer anyway the least they can do is be generous with the demos.

Nobody is getting ripped off. It’s expensive because of the location and the brand. You know this when you purchase. If you don’t like it, go to a normal toy shop.

CarolDanvers · 11/08/2019 13:10

Agree @Vasya.

KarmaStar · 11/08/2019 13:10

Aibu?
Yes
No I'm not!

Booboostwo · 11/08/2019 13:15

There is no expectation to buy. You are not offered the product if you say you are interested in buying. As I said my DD has had her hair curled, both DCs have had tattoos. On one occasion my DS was very excited by a remote control drone. The man doing the display showed it to him, but when DS wanted to try he explained it would be too difficult for DS to manage as he was too young - not a problem. But then another assistant stepped in and handed DS a controller...it was a dud, the second assistant controlled the drone with the controller hidden behind his back, while 3yo DS was delighted thinking he had managed! In this example we were never going to buy the product, the assistant recommended that we do NOT buy it, and yet they went out of their way to help DS play with it. That is the spirit of these demos.

Original poster
Bornfreebutinbiscuits · 11/08/2019 13:16

Is the demo lady there to sell the product or there to also enhance the hamleys experience? Because when she is curt and rude to my dd it leaves me feeling negative about the whole store. Although we did buy small stuff total £26 between the two, dd did see some other items and we said she could go back for her bday. I'm not going to do that now because the over all experience was slightly disappointing. I must stress this lady was a one off.

I would have to thought its all part and part of the general experience?
Fun glitter demos, kids having fun, staying longer, lingering and browsing.

Relaxing and then buying? I'm genuinely surprised that so many posters do not see it as part of the overall experience.

OP posts:
TheRLodger · 11/08/2019 13:17

Yabu it’s Hamleys - those things are their way of selling things. You weren’t going to buy it so why bother selling it to you.

Crafting1Queen · 11/08/2019 13:18
Biscuit
Original poster
Bornfreebutinbiscuits · 11/08/2019 13:18

If you the stripped out all the demos and put signs everywhere, one demo per family only, only try if your going to buy... I don't think they would be in business very long.

OP posts:
Badcat666 · 11/08/2019 13:20

If your DD was so upset then why didn't you BUY THE PRODUCT?

You know, the product she was there to sell and do "demos" on every now and then to showcase what she was selling?

Or do you think everything is for free? As others have pointed out, it was a demo.

Maybe she was curt because she had reached her breaking point.

Maybe she has been dealing with parents like you all morning and you were the thousand parent thinking that because one of their DC had one done as a demo their entire family should automatically get one as well.

So if someone was doing make up demos would you demand a make up demo as well because they did it to someone else? No you wouldn't, because it was a "demo".

herculepoirot2 · 11/08/2019 13:22

Fun glitter demos, kids having fun, staying longer, lingering and browsing.

And - shocking though it might seem - buying things.

BenWillbondsPants · 11/08/2019 13:22

'hard as nails', 'DD face crumpled'.

Such drama!

Why the fuss over such a non event? Yes, if she was rude she shouldn't have been, but I can't imagine she was having much fun. If you felt she was rude to your DD, presumably you said so?

lollipopguild · 11/08/2019 13:23

'Enhance the Hamley's experience ' - you were trying to get free stuff in a toy shop

BlackberryBeret · 11/08/2019 13:25

You really aren't listening are you OP?

Is the demo lady there to sell the product or there to also enhance the hamleys experience?

TO SELL AND VERY PROBABLY ON A COMMISSION

I would have to thought its all part and part of the general experience?Fun glitter demos, kids having fun, staying longer, lingering and browsing.

IT'S A SHOP - A COMMERCIAL ENTITY. ITS AIM IS TO SELL ITS PRODUCTS.

THERE IS NO "GENERAL EXPERIENCE". THEY GENERATE NO MONEY FROM PEOPLE LINGERING OR HANGING AROUND FOR AN EXPERIENCE BECAUSE .... A SHOP DOES NOT CHARGE AN ENTRANCE FEE.

It maybe fair to say that they always have a few of these as a way to pull in parents and children - but it's totally unfair to view Hamleys as a free entertainment centre that you visit like a theme park.

Kittypillar · 11/08/2019 13:26

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.

Can back this up OP - my flatmate when I first moved to London used to work as a demonstrator there. The pay is absolute peanuts and she relied on commission to be able to pay her rent, buy her food shopping etc. Funnily enough she used to feel quite frustrated by certain parents (who should know better! Not the kids) who expected lots of freebies for multiple children of theirs when they quite clearly had no intention of buying anything...

There's nothing wrong with trying these things if offered and/or if you didn't then like them, no big deal. But, after one child trying the product, you clearly had no intention of buying it and you knew that. She knew that. Yet you wanted another one. You were wasting her time and potentially preventing her from finding someone who would actually buy the product so she could try to earn her damn rent...

I'm sorry your DD cried but seriously, that is the reality. Her curt reply (although the more I've read your responses I'm questioning just how "curt" it really was) could have been from a really rough day of making absolutely naff all when she needed to. You making out like it's a free-for-all "experience" to your children and not a shop (?!) is really not the reality and that's on you. I know I sound like a killjoy but Jesus, for some demonstrators whether they make sales or not in that day is the difference between being able to pay bills. You're not responsible for that BUT you should be sensitive to it if you're expecting a (second) freebie and taking up their time.

Seriously, echoing what so many people here have said - Y A B U !