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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Was this retail assistant a bit U?

131 replies

AlleyOop · 18/12/2019 14:07

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 Blush

What would you have done?

OP posts:
NotSorry · 18/12/2019 16:09

bloody ridiculous - well done OP for standing your ground

Notnownotneverever · 18/12/2019 16:11

I work in customer service and I think this is awful customer service. I would ring or email (sometimes better as you can be more concise and reread what you write before you send it) the store manager and say how disappointed you were with the service you received and could that pair of shoes be reserved for you to buy.

Lunafortheloveogod · 18/12/2019 16:13

Poor mannequins feet are freezing now though! Grin

I worked somewhere we couldn’t sell window display items.. but that was because some of the shoes were stuck on with duct tape on the inside, bent to old mannies stupid foot shape and clothes had possibly been “altered” to fit over the daftly posed characters.. but I’d have checked and showed you the issue and explained that I can’t sell you shoes we’ve half wrecked already.

RufusthebewiIderedreindeer · 18/12/2019 16:14

I would have pushed as you did, politely of course

Not sure if i would have given up....i suppose it would depend on hoe th debate went Grin

Dh never gives up, he is like a dog with a Bone

(Worked in a dress shop til the summer of this year...would always, always strip a mannequin for a customer. But every shop is different I suppose )

TopOftheNaughtyList · 18/12/2019 16:14

Because how many of us walk past a display window and say "tsk tsk, that manequin has bare feet!" Why would anyone give a monkeys if the manequin had no shoes on for a while? Can't believe they refused a sale for this. The shoes are probably the easiest item to remove from the window model.

user1497207191 · 18/12/2019 16:25

Wasn't Clarks was it? I've found their in store customer service has fallen off a cliff lately.

Yummymummy2020 · 18/12/2019 16:29

I used to work in a shop and I would have been shot for losing a sale in this situation, we would just have put the smaller shoes in the window instead? Sounds like they were just being difficult to be honest. I would be annoyed too, but I guess there isn’t much to be done about it.

NorthernLightsInWinter · 18/12/2019 16:37

FFS. Of course YANBU. The shoes are in the sale and they'll want them sold ... they can put another pair of shoes on the mannequin.

dayswithaY · 18/12/2019 16:40

It's hard to tell because it totally depends on your attitude, rudeness, manner etc. Some customers just have a way of being arsey and entitled. If you were polite I would have done it for you.

Original poster
AlleyOop · 18/12/2019 16:49

@PremierNaps that’s hilarious - nobody was in the shop at the time

Thank you , that really made me laugh and I really do fanny about

OP posts:
coconuttelegraph · 18/12/2019 16:49

I've never worked I'm a shop where you only had to sell things to polite customers! Why would the rules be different depending on the attitude? The ma,ages I've worked for wouldn't be very happy if you said you'd lost a sale because someone was a bit arsey. Not saying the OP was as it sounds like if anything she was too Meek.

Equanimitas · 18/12/2019 16:50

@OneDay10 I told them I wouldn’t be returning them and they could write that on the receipt and they did

I don't get this? What receipt? I thought they hadn't sold you anything?

keepingbees · 18/12/2019 16:52

Yanbu. Annoying that they had the only pair available in your size and wouldn't let you have them. I'm guessing if they were in the sale then they were end of line anyway so you'd honk they'd want them off display soon and sold.
Taking a pair of shoes off a mannequin isn't exactly leaving it half dressed. All they needed to do was put another pair on!

Ragwort · 18/12/2019 16:52

I work in retail and this is shocking customer service, and I would assume any Head Office would be appalled that a sale was potentially lost.

Ragwort · 18/12/2019 16:54

days what, you only sell to polite customers? Hmm. What a bizarre attitude, people often complain that customers can be rude but clear so can some sales assistants.

nancy75 · 18/12/2019 17:06

I’ve been a shop manager for a few large retail chains, in some it is fine to take stock from the display, in others it is absolutely not allowed as the window stock is not part of your store stock (not on the till system) and is just for display until you are told otherwise by head office.
I did have a smile at a previous poster saying
YANBU, I would have refused to leave the shop without them!
Shops are private property, they do not have to sell anyone anything - a customer refusing to leave unless they get their own way is likely to be shown the door by the manager or a security guard, so I suggest you don’t try that tactic!

Drabarni · 18/12/2019 17:07

I'd have left it after the first time being told no, tbh.
It sounds like you have more important things to be concentrating on, like your mum. So sorry she is so ill Thanks

Disfordarkchocolate · 18/12/2019 17:11

Surely a shop only exists to sell stuff?

nancy75 · 18/12/2019 17:13

Surely a shop only exists to sell stuff? yes but they have the right to decide what they sell & who they sell it to

littleduckeggblue · 18/12/2019 17:13

One of my retail jobs we were 100% NOT allowed to sell anything off a maniquin!
Another retail job I worked, we were.
Just depends what the stores policies are

Hwory · 18/12/2019 17:15

I’ve worked in retail before.

At Topshop I was allowed to strip & redress but at River Island I would have gotten a written warning for even taking an accessory off a display.

I’m of the opinion that shops should tell the stock but I wouldn’t have risked my job.

dayswithaY · 18/12/2019 17:39

My point is, in life, politeness goes a long way and people are more inclined to go the extra mile for you if you are pleasant to deal with and not an arse. I'm absolutely not commenting on the OP's attitude as I have no idea about that.

I assumed that everyone knows being nice is a quicker way to get what you want.

PosiePie · 18/12/2019 17:40

Hmmm, me personally I'd have given up when they said no the first time, because that's just who I am, but good on you getting the shoes though.

I work in a customer facing job and have worked for big companies where they put the fear of God into their employees about breaking the often ridiculous rules they impose. Often introduced by someone who's never actually served or dealt with a customer in their lives, and don't listen to front line staff (shop managers included) about what customers tell us they want - just bulldoze through and carry on regardless - and then if you stick to the rules and don't use discretion or common sense and a customer complains, you're bollocked for that too.
You're pretty much in a no win situation as the person dealing with customers because you're going to end up in the shit one way or the other - and as they'll often remind you, there's plenty more willing to do your job if you don't. Employers don't want you using your common sense, but they also want to blame you when you don't and the customer is unhappy about it. That said some customers just cannot abide being told no, for any reason at all, ever, (because I strongly suspect they think service staff are beneath them and somehow being cheeky and undermining their 'authority' by saying no) and will turn it back to the staff being rude (often not the case and you haven't said that here so just a general observation really) I think that 3 sales assistants didn't want to sell you the shoes tells you it's not just one jobsworth being awkward about it, but likely a confusion over if they actually can do it and not get into trouble. And I know you said that they said they wouldn't get into trouble - but I've been told off for telling a customer that I have to upsell the shite products at the till or get into trouble, because it doesn't fit their 'caring image' - no shit Sherlock! They don't want customers to know how they treat their staff.

Having said all that, I can't see the sense in not selling you the shoes (you didn't say what the reasons were that the 3 sales assistants gave about you not having the shoes, just the first one) but then I wouldn't be at all surprised if it were some pathetic policy and the assistant you finally got the shoes from is more able to argue their case for breaking a rule. I'm the latter - very popular with customers because I use my common sense, not so with management because I use my common sense 🤷

And maybe if shops did only sell to people who were at least civil to the other human beings serving them there'd be less hassle all round (from your OP I don't think you were rude) I think it's appalling that people get to speak to others in any way they like, abuse them and it's seen as all part of the job. It bloody shouldn't be.

Original poster
AlleyOop · 18/12/2019 17:50

@Drabarni thank you - it was a good distraction but alas she lives in another country and wasn’t able to see me this year and I’m not able to visit her until the new year x

OP posts:
Ffsseriously · 18/12/2019 18:16

@PosiePie I couldn't agree more, you really are in a no win situation in retail, its why I don't work in shops anymore. Managers unrealistic and unfair, most customers lovely some such massive and rude arse holes it beggers belief.