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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think they should have moved for customers

62 replies

HermioneWeasley · 11/03/2023 16:07

Arrived a few minutes early for my hair appointment and the small sofa had a mum and daughter taking it. No problem, they were there first and it probably won’t be long. I stand around waiting for my appointment (so as not to drip feed I’ve been standing all morning and would have preferred to sit down). As I’m stood there I realise that they are there to ask about a Saturday job for the daughter. Now probably the salon owner should have asked them to stand up, but don’t you think that’s common sense - that if you’re there for a job you don’t occupy the only seats and make the paying customer stand?

OP posts:
PlateBilledDuckyPerson · 11/03/2023 16:30

I suppose the problem for the pair on the sofa might have been how to offer without possibly offending - implying OP looks incapable of standing, assuming OP is not pregnant or visibly mobility-impaired.

RedEyeBaby · 11/03/2023 16:31

Every time I've been anywhere for a job I've been asked to take a seat. The girl was probably very nervous.

ThinWomansBrain · 11/03/2023 16:31

If you are visibly disabled, pregnant or elderly, it would have been polite for them to offer a seat, but you could have asked the hairdresser if there was additional seating. If you were only a few minutes early, did it matter?

Womencanlift · 11/03/2023 16:32

Unless there is a massive drip feed coming about why you absolutely needed a seat on this sofa, you are being ridiculously precious!

You were about to sit for about an hour or more, a few minutes of standing shouldn’t have been too much of a hardship….drip feed incoming no doubt

Theo1756 · 11/03/2023 16:34

I hope you have seen the overwhelming reaction that your attitude is completely unreasonable. Use this as an opportunity to learn and change.

Hooklander · 11/03/2023 16:36

OP, if you'd have preferred to sit down, perhaps you might have asked if there was anywhere else to sit? Put the ball in the salon's court, so to speak. As pp have said, the mother & daughter outfit might have been doing what they were asked to do.

Personally, I'm surprised they didn't offer you a seat though. It would have made a better impression. (It's nothing to do with serfdom or anarcho-syndicalist economics.)

SarahAndQuack · 11/03/2023 16:40

Totally normal for them to sit down. Also, perhaps it was obvious you were a customer, but I've often been sitting in reception of places where I was interviewing, and realised half the other people were were not customers but the people coming to interview before/after. They might have thought the same?

Yoshithegreen · 11/03/2023 17:11

Yeah I think they should have made them wait in they alley, wouldn’t want the staff mixing the paying customers.

Original poster
HermioneWeasley · 11/03/2023 17:18

I suspected i would be told I WBU. I was just really surprised because if it had been me (and I always worked as a kid), well firstly I wouldn’t have taken my mum with me to help me ask for a job, but I definitely would have offered my seat to a customer. But I’m hearing my attitude is old fashioned.

OP posts:
MichelleScarn · 11/03/2023 17:21

HermioneWeasley · 11/03/2023 17:18

I suspected i would be told I WBU. I was just really surprised because if it had been me (and I always worked as a kid), well firstly I wouldn’t have taken my mum with me to help me ask for a job, but I definitely would have offered my seat to a customer. But I’m hearing my attitude is old fashioned.

Not 'old fashioned' just bonkers and amusing!

Badbudgeter · 11/03/2023 17:21

To be fair it’s the way it works in hospitality. I’ve worked in swanky hotels. At your induction you are told it’s by the last time you will come in the front door or sit in front of customers.

Tiggal · 11/03/2023 17:23

Ah you’re one of those people who thinks the customer is better than the staff.

Iwannabeacrocodilehunter · 11/03/2023 17:25

Op, you’re being completely unreasonable.

mondaytosunday · 11/03/2023 17:25

I thought you meant a child, and I would expect the child to get up for an adult. But two grown women (or teenager)? No. Unless you are elderly or infirm you have no more right than they do.

Whiteroomjoy · 11/03/2023 17:48

Most salons will have an empty chair at a station. Why didn’t you ask the staff to sit there? I always do this as at my hairdresser there is a bench seat with a stupid back support on the wall at completely the wrong ergonomic height.you end up sitting leaning forwards and have to push back to avoid sliding off. Don’t know the genius who designed it but they clearly decided the most sticky out it of spine ( ie shoulders) was where you put aback support 🤦‍♀️

excelledyourself · 11/03/2023 17:56

HermioneWeasley · 11/03/2023 17:18

I suspected i would be told I WBU. I was just really surprised because if it had been me (and I always worked as a kid), well firstly I wouldn’t have taken my mum with me to help me ask for a job, but I definitely would have offered my seat to a customer. But I’m hearing my attitude is old fashioned.

You know nothing about that kid or why her mum was with her. So what you would have done is completely irrelevant.

If you do find her working there in future, do her favour and at least try and hide your disdain for her.

ShinyMe · 11/03/2023 18:05

How old was this 'kid'?

InfluencerHag · 11/03/2023 18:16

They were probably told to take a seat!

DeborahMeadan · 11/03/2023 18:20

If I had been interviewing the teenager, I would have been impressed if she had offered you her seat when you came in.

Not impressed enough to give her a job after bringing her mum to the interview though.

DeborahMeadan · 11/03/2023 18:20

If that's what happened

HospitalitySux · 11/03/2023 18:25

Tiggal · 11/03/2023 17:23

Ah you’re one of those people who thinks the customer is better than the staff.

It's a common attitude.

SwingandaPrayer · 11/03/2023 18:35

Seriously, I clicked on this?

JudgeRudy · 11/03/2023 18:41

Wow entitled or what! You're not a paying customer, not yet. You're someone who's turned up at the wrong time. Just how early were you that you're unable to stand for a bit. If its over 15mins you've mistimed things

WindowGazers · 11/03/2023 18:45

I'm thinking about all the things I've got going on in my life that I'm anxious or down and reading your post, and can't believe you're actually upset enough to post online about this. OP, it's not a big deal. You used your legs to stand, which is essentially what they're for. Unless you're disabled or unable to stand for long periods (at which point you should have mentioned this) you are being completely unreasonable and a bit pathetic.

Anyotherdude · 12/03/2023 01:25

Wow. Just. Wow.