Was this retail assistant a bit U?

[AlleyOop]

Bit of background
My mum usually comes with me on the last day of the kids school term and we have a day out and she buys me some shoes in the early sale for my birthday- it’s a tradition we’ve done for years and I always wear those shoes on Xmas day

Sadly she’s very poorly (cancer) and not mobile at the moment

I drove to the shopping centre and found something perfect (I’d actually had my eye on them for months not able to buy them myself when they were full price in September )

I find that they don’t have any nationwide in my size (and annoyingly they’re in the sale) in store they only have small sizes

As I leave I notice there’s a pair of the mannequin next to the till and I ask if they’re my size she says no and says those shoes are huge.

Disappointed I leave and call mum (who’s ringing a lot asking where I’m going so she can “be with me”) and I mention the shoes

She persuades me to go in ask if they can check the shoes on display and they refuse saying that they cannot sell them as they will then have a half dressed mannequin - and that she knows that they are my size but she won’t give them to me.

What would you have done?

I know this is an incredibly pathetic first world problem but because I was in my own and channeling my very feisty mum I pushed them a bit more- in the end 3 sales assistants got involved- giving their reasons why I shouldn’t have the shoes

What would you have done?

It does. If we’d done that and the manager had been called by the customer then we’d have been in shit for not complying to a reasonable request and stopping money going into the tills. Her job is to sell items and assist customers. She did neither. Definitely worthy of a complaint as she also didn’t need to give you an attitude about it.

But then I worked somewhere where someone got a refund for a four year old jumper. 🤷🏻‍♀️ So I accept that I may be wrong. If you got the shoes then that’s fine.

Maybe she was saving the shoes for herself (hence how she knew they were your size!!)

Very commercially unaware, but as has been said, wages in front line retail are not high and there can ften be independent thought alarms for the most pedantic iof actions by staff. Certainly by speaking to a manager they should have had the authority to either say we cannot or can. The shop is presumably in businesss sto sell items and not disbplay items which cannot be sold.

In the bad old days it could have been a demarcation that sales staff were not permitted to dress/undress mannequins under the National Amalgamated Union of Cap Twisters, Ferret Fanciers and Organ Grinders regulations.

Is the purpose of a shop to sell things, or to have pretty displays?

Surely they should sell the item and then redress the mannequin?

You got them in the end then, with Mum’s support? Good!

In the bad old days it could have been a demarcation that sales staff were not permitted to dress/undress mannequins under the National Amalgamated Union of Cap Twisters, Ferret Fanciers and Organ Grinders regulations

That probably answers my question

It's not like wanting to buy something on display in a museum. The shop is showing things they want people to buy, so since you did want to buy those shoes and no others were available, what is to stop the assistant from taking the ones off the mannequin for you and putting different shoes on it? That would seem the logical thing to do.

You wear those shoes and let them remind you of your Mum's determined nature and use it to keep on channelling that. x

Julianne she got them!

I’ve never known this be an issue before, a few times I’ve had the clothes off a mannequin. Sales assistant’s involved have barely batted an eye lid never mind refused outright.

But I suppose different shops have different rules.

I do think this was poor service. Maybe not a head office complaint at this stage, but the assistant caused you delay, you didn't get what you wanted to purchase, and they had the product in the shop - the shop assistant failed to provide good customer service.

She was being lazy/dismissive and it shouldn't be accepted. I would have insisted she remove the shoes from the mannequin.

You are not being unreasonable. It sounds like they were being difficult.
I work in a large clothing retail store & we are forever taking things off mannequins for people. It is a bit of a faff but it delivers good customer service. If we don't have the same item to replace onto the mannequin we just put something else of a similar style or colour on instead.
I'm sorry you didn't end up with the shoes you really wanted. Might be worth going in a different day & asking someone else who might be more helpful.
Regardless, I hope you find some you like just as much & you spend a lovely Christmas with your mum.

I don’t think you were unreasonable at all, I’ve had loads of stuff off display before. Sure you would t have ruined anyone’s day either! Did you get them in the end then?

Sorry just RTFT & realised you've got them in the end anyway?

Blimey.
Middle ground.
If they are busy/shortstaffed/need to take mannequin down to get shoes I can see where they are coming from.

I think they were out of order. I work in a well known shop and it wouldn’t have been a problem. Anything to keep the customer happy and make a sale!

I work in sales and I know what I can authorise and what I can't. As you've worked in sales yourself, you're probably aware Managers are often asked by customers to try and sort out problems that sales assistants don't have the authority to do, so to be honest I'd have asked for a chat with the manager.

If you still really like the shoes, I'd still be tempted to phone the Manager at the shop and ask if you'd be able to try them on, ie don't loose out on something you really like.

I've RTFT and can't see where you've said you got them? I must be going blind.

If you have them, fair play, and I think you were right to have pushed them. YANBU.

I also wonder if you are feeling upset more about your mum being ill and not able to have the usual day out that you both have; I'm sure you're worried about her.

If you have the shoes, fair play to you AND mum, and enjoy your day together now!

YANBU. Two sales assistants once spent half an hour in the Adidas shop in Manchester wrestling the arms and head of a mannequin so DH could buy the last of a particular t shirt in his size.

Love what @BillHadersNewWife said, that’s perfect!

Something similar for me today.

Need an Xmas tree stand for a fake tree. You cannot buy one in a shop unless you buy the whole bloody tree as well! They only come as part of a pack.

So...B&Q selling their trees off cheap now. Got a display one for £5. I offered to leave them the tree but they weren’t interested.

When I worked in retail we would have pulled a pair of shoes same (or similar) from stockroom in a size least likely to sell and sell you display she's and replace them with shoes fro stockroom. Voila!

I would probably ring their head office and tell them the sales assistants were refusing to make a sale, and trying to do the company out of money.

Ridiculous. No reason why they couldn’t put different shoes on the mannequin apart from sheer laziness. I’d have asked for the manager.