Bad experience in M&S fitting rooms

[TwinTantrums]

I’ve recently lost a lot of weight and so need a lot of new summer and holiday clothes.

I came over to M&S this morning and had a trolley full of clothes and other such items, walking up to the fitting rooms and the woman looks me up and down and then asks how much I have, as “8 items is the maximum, to stop some types” from stealing. I offer to split it up and she rolls her eyes and says “I suppose you can”

I go in, try on my eight items, split them into what I do and don’t want and come back out, she then huffs and asks if I really need to go again? I said yes, as I’ve lost a lot of weight and don’t know what size I am. She looked me up and down and then asked how big I had been before if this is the after!! I just took the number from her and went back in.

AIBU or was she totally out of line?

I worked in clothes retail for many years. Incredibly rude (and bitchy/mean?!), you should have complained, and if it’s bothering you I’d suggest you go back in and still do so. Your only risk you may not want to return to that branch again. I have no idea why anyone above is saying what she said is fine due to the heat. And people bring in tonnes of clothes to changing rooms all the time.

Not funny, but the audacity of her.

OP you did nothing wrong by wanting to try on everything you were interested in buying, that's literally why shops provide changing rooms. It's one of the few advantages that retail has over online sales, which is important when you consider the decline of the high street. My city has recently had our M&S closed in the city centre, as they didn't think it was worth keeping open anymore. You spent a substantial amount of money so they were very lucky that the rude assistant didn't put you off, I'd have probably left the clothes and walked out without buying anything.

I'm also bemused at people blaming you for not confronting the shop assistant. Nobody should have to go around doing that in a shop or any other business (although it would have been understandable if you wanted to), it's up to the shop management to deal with it and they need to know if someone is repeatedly being rude to customers. What she said to you was really rude and some people would have been extremely upset.

Congratulations on your weight loss and I hope you're feeling fab in your new clothes.

She was disgustingly out of order. I would make a written complaint being very precise about times so the store manager can work out which staff member it was. I’d include a copy of your receipt for the time stamp and so they can see you are a genuine customer and not someone looking for a bit of compo-face voucher action! You are entirely correct that if she gets reprimanded it’s down to her own horrible behaviour and frankly a reprimand is long overdue. You don’t get to swan around speaking to people like this, I don’t care how hot it is. I cannot believe anyone would suggest there is an any reasonable excuse to do so.

I wear anything from a 6 to a 14. Sizing is bonkers everywhere these days.

I have no idea why anyone is complaining that retail staff have to put the clothes back. They do. It’s the job. You do it then go home. If you don’t finish someone else does it later.

No she wasn't silly/thoughtless. She had a range of items she wanted to buy, she's allowed to try them on before she buys. She did nothing wrong. And some changing rooms, the staff don't even bother to check how many items you have. Different shops have different rules. Most changing rooms also have more than one cubicle, so no "poor person" would have to wait ages because of her.

Fucking hell, that’s quite the projection 😂.

You do understand that huge companies like M&S have complaints processes and performance management procedures and that a single complaint is vanishingly unlikely to lead to someone being summarily dismissed, don’t you?

By your logic we should all just put up with every stripe of shitty attitude and general twattery from people in retail because saying anything at all will inevitably result in their whole family living on a park bench. Mental.

Some of the comments on here are ridiculous. I’ve worked in retail and I’ve manned many a fitting room. And yes it’s tiring and frustrating at times, but I would never have spoken to a customer like that.
If I was the OP I would email customer services and explain what happened. M&S pride themselves on their customer service, this needs addressing.

They should be grateful you're spending money with them.

Being generally 'off' with customers is one thing, but her final remark about your weight (congrats, btw) is something else.

Extremely rude her job is to allow customers to try on clothes. She really was rude to you

She works in a shop and her goal should be to sell clothes. Surely it's great if someone wants to buy a lot of clothes? She could easily have helped you sort it into two lots and told you which ones particularly suited you. Instead she insulted your weight. That's really awful and honestly, if someone had said that to me I would have left the store immediately. For a lot of women weight is a really sensitive issue. She knew you'd feel bad about yourself as a result of what she said to you. I think you should make a complaint in writing to the manager.

If you made a purchase and have a Sparks card/account - they will likely e-mail you today to ask “how was your experience today” - and you can give your feedback there.

Similar for me, London Colney superstore, layout keeps changing at every visit, not local to me - it’s 100 miles distant.
Staff seemed no longer identifiable in uniforms, wearing their own leisure type wear is how it briefly appeared, busy chatting among themselves, hard to identify staff on the shop-floor, and after reluctantly interrupting to ask if there were changing rooms, the response I got (in non heatwave conditions) was decidedly passive-aggressive.

Mumsnet is hilarious sometimes. Imagine arguing that OP is inconveniencing the staff by wanting to buy more than 8 items of clothing, the store manager is I'm sure well chuffed to make such a bit single transaction. It's a shop, they want you to buy as much as you can.

OP she was very rude but not much you can do, enjoy your clothes!

No, alexalisten is most definitely NOT OK, he/she posts bizarre, contrary replies on every thread which sounds like they're coming from a sulky 13 year old most of the time.

Couldn’t give a crap how hot and what a thankless task it is, that’s appalling customer service. I’d have been horrified. She should never had made the comment re your weightloss! Incredibly rude of her and completely unnecessary.

Why? 🙄Are you a people pleaser?

What a horrible comment. I'm quick to complement and slower to complain but I'd got nuclear on this. I would have said something to her and depending on her response, reported her to the manager.

Wow, that was rude. I would have said - actually, no, I’ll go to (competitive company) instead.

Cut her some slack? Fuck that, I’d be complaining about her. I hope you got her name. I don’t care how hot it is or how crap your job is, if anyone spoke to me like that, I’d be making an official complaint.

They are a shop that sells clothes. They will happily sell you lots and lots of clothes. It isn’t thoughtless buying lots of clothes from a clothes shop anymore than filling a trolley instead of a basket at the supermarket is thoughtless. In what world do you think we are living in? One where shops go out of business by the sound of it.

Huh?? Are you on glue?

That

@EveryKneeShallBow

sorry I don’t give a fuck how hot it is, that women was exceptionally rude. Absolutely not ok. OP needs to make a complaint about it her. M&S is a decent quality brand and no way would they want a member of staff talking to a customer like that.

Well done! That’s something to be proud of, don’t let her mar your achievement.

Before congratulating someone about their weight loss consider if it’s something they actually want congratulating for