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Original poster

To find these retail practices annoying

338 replies

Mistlewoeandwhine · 03/12/2019 15:54

  1. Having to pay 10% service charge added to the bill (with no pre mention of the fact) in Yo Sushi - which is expensive enough for what it is anyway. I only noticed when I read it on the receipt afterwards. I always tip waiting staff 10% anyway but I give it in cash to the actual server so I know they get it. If Yo Sushi want to pay their staff higher wages, they can do it themselves.

  2. Lush - I know some people hate it but I don’t. I like their products but I can assure you that I buy FAR LESS when some stranger is standing beside me, disturbing my rare moments of peace and making me smell stuff I’ve no interest in.
    Stop it Lush!

OP posts:
Autumntoowet · 03/12/2019 18:02

There is a small toy shop I don’t visit anymore because

  • “can I help you?”
No thanks I am just looking
  • “were you looking for anything in particular?”
No, just looking
  • [stares the entire time]
😒😒😒😒

Also the “high end” beauty area in Boots of Debenhams. The moment you approach a counter you can’t just browse.
Yet when I have asked for help to match a foundation or find a particular lipstick they look at me as if
a) they have no clue
b ) I can’t afford it
C) they can’t be bothered plus b)

Autumntoowet · 03/12/2019 18:03

Boots or Debenhams

IveGotBillsTheyreMultiplying · 03/12/2019 18:05

AutumnTooWet

Sadly they are staring because shoplifting is rife and in a small ?independent shop it can break a business.

MoaningMinniee · 03/12/2019 18:06

Is there some sort of training camp where lush dispatch there staff from

Yes, it's in Sweden and they feed them surströmming three times a day, until they mentally and psychologically break them. Only once they burst into actual verifiable tears of pure joy and proclaim it the most delicious food ever - denying on oath that it stinks now, ever did stink or will ever stink in the future - are they allowed to leave and go to work in a randomly-allocated branch somewhere in the world.

At the slightest sign of potential dissent and the mind-control wearing off, they get a putrid herring left in their locker with a gift tag that says "With love to you from Big Brother - stay lucky" and they somehow manage to find their new happy and carry on in a state of automatic ecstasy.

Unlike other companies, they don't have a Personnel or HR department - if disciplined, they have to report to a terrifying elderly lady known only as 'Perfume Pam' and their official job title is 'Broken Chattel in Perpetuity'.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll Grin!!

SlightlyStaleCocoPops · 03/12/2019 18:06

"In Debenhams buying underwear for my wedding and I ask for a bag and she looks me up and says in a you-can’t-afford-it voice “it 5pm’s you know” errr yes, I’ve just spend £60 on knickers, I don’t think 5p is going to tip me over the edge!"

You'd be surprised at how indignant some people get when they're expected to pay for a carrier bag.

rhubarbcrumbles · 03/12/2019 18:08

You'd be surprised at how indignant some people get when they're expected to pay for a carrier bag.

DD used to work in a high street clothes shop, people would return clothes and ask for a refund for the carrier bag as well.

HowlsMovingBungalow · 03/12/2019 18:12

You can't win when you work in retail!

I have had people wanting 5p bag refunds too.

MrsMoastyToasty · 03/12/2019 18:13

God forbid that you need a refund.

  1. If I buy something then as long as the pin number matches the card I am paying with they don't care a toss who I am.
  2. Getting a refund the retailer wants my name, address, signature (who knows why because it's never checked against anything). It then needs countersigning by a manager and stapling to my original receipt.
Chunkers · 03/12/2019 18:13

Lush is on Trustpilot with 87% ‘bad’ reviews.

Enko · 03/12/2019 18:16

I love the emailed receipts much better than printed ones that fades or gets lost. Just make a gmail account specifically for receipts then you do t have to look at them.

Doobigetta · 03/12/2019 18:18

MrsMoasty that’s because processing fake refunds is a common way for staff to steal from the till. They save up receipts customers don’t take with them, then put a cash refund through for the items on the receipt and keep the money. The till balances at the end of the day so it’s harder to spot than if they were just helping themselves to the odd tenner. So refunds have to be witnessed etc as a precaution against that.

PenguinsOnParade · 03/12/2019 18:19

Our closest Lush is about 20 miles away but I purposely go to one 50 miles away which is much smaller because the staff don't hound me there like they do in the closer larger one. They also happily give me free samples of new things I'm considering (my skin reacts to a lot so I have to be careful with some things) but the larger store told me they don't do free samples at all, worth the journey for me to have a nicer shopping experience.

I worked in a clothing shop when I was a student (many years ago now) and we had to ask every single person if they wanted to apply for a store card. I hated doing it but head office would regularly send people around the stores to make sure we were all asking with every purchase and we were promised a bonus if we got a certain number of successful applications so the managers all pushed us to do it too. I was so relieved every time people said no. We had to learn the NATO phonetic alphabet as we had to phone in the applications there and then, even if we had a queue and were alone on the tills and guaranteed all the ones who would apply would have the longest names and addresses for me to spell out on the phone.

Aridane · 03/12/2019 18:20

Is Yo Sushi the self service sushi place?

Sarcelle · 03/12/2019 18:21

Last week there was a massive queue at Superdrug, only one server. To each person the SA did the loyalty card spiel, asking if you wanted one if you didn't have one, would you like some perfume, are you sure, some good offers on. Each transaction took so long, the queue getting longer but the customers getting short with her when it was time to get served. I know they have to push these in case there is a mystery shopper but when the queue is 20 deep you would expect nouse to be used and just speed up the serving. If somebody did want a loyalty card or to spritz a tester there would have been an even longer wait. Everybody was tutting and saying ffs. Cross selling makes me criss!

Sarcelle · 03/12/2019 18:21

Cross!

MrsFoxPlus4Again · 03/12/2019 18:22

Lush upsets my vulva

The80sweregreat · 03/12/2019 18:23

Our savers is a fab shop , but they do the coins on top of the note thing and it's so awkward! They then look annoyed as I struggle to put things away and get my bag and move away : it makes me even more hot and bothered then I drop the coins on the floor! It is very off putting.

Aridane · 03/12/2019 18:23

@Thedonkeyhouse

Actually I am very appreciative when they do that!

f00k · 03/12/2019 18:23

I know this is about retail rather than hairdressers but I hate the way hairdressers are now retail also and they try and sell you products because a lot of the time it involves insulting the condition of your hair

This is why I haven't returned to Rush in over a year. The stylist made conversation while washing my hair which was actually the start of a sales pitch for a conditioning treatment which I declined. Then we went to the chair and she tries selling me some box of haircare products and I said no. Sat there with wet hair and she went and got them anyway and crouched down next to me so we were eye level and talked me through the box of products. I felt like saying, "Just cut my bloody hair!" Never went back and now go to a local independent place who hasn't tried to up-sell me anything and she makes genuine conversation that isn't a ploy to sell me something.

Aridane · 03/12/2019 18:24

I have never been in Lush - the smell alone walking past it makes me wheeze, niece tells me it's an age thing Grin

Serin · 03/12/2019 18:30

Our H and M is appallingly slow at the till with the assistants needing your email, postcode, bloodtype and date of LMP before you can buy anything.

CoraPirbright · 03/12/2019 18:30

Benefit! They are a nightmare for pushy sales people. Urrgh!!

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 03/12/2019 18:34

Body Shop - can't go in without someone hovering and offering 'help'.

I don't get it t anywhere else so can't look too much like a shoplifter. (Don't go into Lush, can't stand the smell.)

Asking for email address. And/or postcode so they can pigeonhole you for marketing purposes. Bugger off! (Said rather more politely)

Saying, 'Thank you for waiting,' when there's been a queue, however short. I know they're told to do it but it really irks me - wouldn't mind if they said, 'Sorry to keep you waiting', instead.

I always want to say, 'Well, I didn't exactly have much choice, did I - unless I wanted to abandon my shopping, come back later and do it all over again.'
But I never do.

Lulufluff · 03/12/2019 18:34

@MrsFoxPlus4Again and mine 😂😂

Ohyesiam · 03/12/2019 18:34

For years the smell was enough bc to keep me out of Lush but When DD was in primary she developed a love for it, so I went in a few times to get her stuff.
I spent far far less due to the hovering and prompting than I would if they had LEFT ME ALONE .

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