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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:
RufusthebewiIderedreindeer · 18/12/2019 18:22

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

Well exactly

PosiePie · 18/12/2019 18:34

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

Well exactly

In reality it's not though is it, the louder you shout, threaten negative reviews and generally stamp your feet, the more likely you are to get what you want, an apology and free stuff to boot. Companies would rather throw their replaceable staff under the bus than risk any sort of negative feedback or even defend the policy they made up in the first place, and thus their staff for upholding it.

I totally agree that civil and nice customers should be the ones who get the best service, but in reality it's just not like that, it's the arseholes that get it through demands and threats.

RufusthebewiIderedreindeer · 18/12/2019 18:38

posie

Not where i worked thank fuck Grin (though head office could be a pain and reverse everything)

One of our managers would go completely the opposite way, she was polite always but upheld every rule...when you know she would go out of her way to help a ‘nice’ customer

I was very part time though...so probably dodged most VERY unpleasant customers

Ragwort · 18/12/2019 18:58

I am so grateful that the retail company I work in just leaves me to use my discretion, I am judged on my sales results not adhering to petty rules Smile.

PosiePie · 18/12/2019 18:59

@RufusthebewiIderedreindeer

I found it was the big companies that had the rules and then gave away free shit in a bribe for not giving negative feedback or creating more issues. And the stock line of 'staff will be given more training' - bollocks staff will be moaned at for upholding the rules, and accused of rudeness even when they weren't, after putting up with someone being rude to them, or even abusive. That's in retail and hospitality, done both. Once told to apologise to a customer for refusing him alcohol after time - so illegal - and this was after he threatened me personally, called me a fat c*, got in my face and told me that he would be waiting for me after my shift. My manager was appalled and wanted him barred, head office decided that his version that I was rude was obviously the truth based solely on the fact he was a customer therefore I must be lying, and ordered me to apologise. For not breaking the law. For not putting their license at risk. For getting a load of abuse. He also got a voucher! I had to serve him after that or face a disciplinary. I tried not to. I quit.
Work for a small independent place now and it's much better in terms of staff support and not actually encouraging and rewarding customers abusing the staff.

Sunflower20 · 18/12/2019 19:03

Why would you feel bad? I’m sure they got over it. In this day and age physical stores are barely surviving, they’re absolute idiots for turning down a sale.

Igotthemheavyboobs · 18/12/2019 19:04

With high street shops closing left and right ,I'm surprised a shop would turn down any sale. Yanbu OP

Nandocushion · 18/12/2019 19:22

Yet another thread where I am baffled at the pisspoor standards of customer service people put up with in the UK. Sounds like nothing has changed from the days when I lived there and used to get sales assistants huffing if I was in their way while I was looking (without any help) for a size/colour to try on. More businesses soon to close then, if Head Office apparently is going to be more concerned about a barefoot mannequin than a sale.

RufusthebewiIderedreindeer · 18/12/2019 19:26

Work for a small independent place now and it's much better in terms of staff support and not actually encouraging and rewarding customers abusing the staff

Oh im glad you are somewhere better now

I worked for a high street shop but like anything i think its down to the individual...individual managers, i do know of one in another town who permanently pushed her staff under the bus. Or so i heard...from the staff

HowDoYouLikeThoseSuedeApples · 18/12/2019 19:29

Every days a school day. I would be ‘half undressed’ by my general non shoe wearing - who knew. FGS, a bit of a dramatic description imo.

doublecheeseburgermediumfries · 18/12/2019 19:34

I work in a head office for a small retailer, honestly, if it meant getting a sale, even if they're marked down, I would have hoped they'd sell them.

If they had them in smaller sizes, they could have popped them in the window still and placed a different appropriate looking pair of shoes on the mannequin.

To be honest, unless it's a full sale window, I would have thought they would have only had full price items in the window.

AlrightyyThen · 18/12/2019 19:35

I think someone specifically put those shoes on the mannequin so they would still be there at the end of the sale and they could take them for themselves 🤷🏻‍♀️

paranoidmum2 · 18/12/2019 19:42

YANBU for trying, if you don’t ask you don’t get, but I can see the assistants’ pointy too, maybe only that size fits the mannequin out of the remaining shoes? They should not have lied to you though.

Elliemayclampett · 18/12/2019 19:42

A lovely assistant in Superdry last week offered to order me a new hoody in the size I required but was equally happy to undress the mannequin and sell me the one he was wearing.

sweeneytoddsrazor · 18/12/2019 19:49

Where I work display items are not allowed to be sold until they are a discontinued line. We also have to follow display instructions from our head office so couldn't just choose to put a different pair of shoes on the mannequin.

Ragwort · 18/12/2019 20:05

Care to name the retailer sweeny? They must be performing exceptionally well in the current economic climate to have such strict rules.

AlexaAmbidextra · 18/12/2019 20:12

She was being a difficult bitch and I would 100% complain to head office and name her.

Ikeakia. You sound like a nasty piece of work. Poor woman is probably on minimum wage and not authorised to make decisions like this. Still, you have a field day reporting the poor cow. Hmm

sweeneytoddsrazor · 18/12/2019 20:22

Its a major supermarket @Ragwort.

MilkLady02 · 18/12/2019 20:36

I wonder what happens to the shoes when all the other stock is sold so no longer required for display purposes? Does the mannequin get to keep them?!
This reminds me of Rhod Gilbert’s egg sandwich sketch!

Original poster
AlleyOop · 19/12/2019 00:56

@MilkLady02 that’s brilliant!

OP posts:
Rombocious · 19/12/2019 01:21

So many people in this thread want these poor women punished! It's gross.

They have shit jobs and get paid fuck all.

They are not your servants and you are not better than them.

MAFIL · 19/12/2019 02:54

I've never worked in retail so don't know much about it, but if this is store policy it does seem a bit short sighted. What happens to the ex display stuff then? Presumably it has to be sold at some point? Does it get put back on the shelves in the shop, or get sent to an outlet store or something? Either way, if the shoes are already in the sale and there is not much stock left I would imagine that ultimately they are going to get sold for a lower price than currently. I appreciate that the sales' assisants were probably just following protocol but it seems daft to lose a sale.
I probably wouldn't have made a big fuss over it, but after the initial refusal I would probably have asked the assistant whether there was anyone more senior who might be able to make an exception, but not in a "You're terrible and I demand to speak to the Manager" kind of way.

Mediumred · 19/12/2019 03:21

Dd, then probably about 9, had seen a backpack online from m&s that she really liked. When we got to the store the only one was on the mannequin, it wasn’t in the window but one of those in-store displays. We discreetly wrestled it off the dummy like we were ninjas. I would never have done it for something I wanted but it seemed much more important cos it was for her.

Boxerbinky · 19/12/2019 03:50

Omg former retail manager of many years here - yes of course they should have sold you the ones off the mannequin without all the fuss. It's a sale for the company - you were happy to take them with no return it's a no brainer! I once had a SA in a dept store go on a mission to find a pair of shoes for me that their computer said was in stock - but was not in their stock room, she climbed into the window display without me asking!