To find it hilarious that shop assistants in these stores look down their noses.

[bleakmidwintering]

I’m wandering about shopping in London. I’ve been into a couple of stores where the shop assistants have been off hand; one in Chanel, one in Occitaine. I certainly don’t look like I’ve got bags of money in my rain mac and trainers but I probably earn 4 times their salary. Are they trained to be off hand or is it purely their attitude? AIBU?

@FuzzyWolfnut it’s quite ridiculous isn’t it. I was interested in a £200 bottle of perfume not a new house. I just thought nah- I will buy online. I then don’t have to suffer any of the nonsense!

🤣🤣🤣.
Exactly what I was going to say.
Trouble is that even with one of Richard Gere's mega paycheques, I don't think my good manners would ever allow my to do it.

I don’t think L’Occitane is quite in the same bracket as Chanel 😁 but yes I do tend to find them snobby and unfriendly, so I buy their stuff online instead. Never been to a Chanel store, I think I would feel too intimidated to even open the door.

Ha! Get this all the time as I’m a scruffy sort, as is my other half. Oversized jeans, t-shirts and hoodies most days. When I went to join a new private dentist, the receptionist looked me up and down and asked if I needed to see their price list first. I said no, and she asked again. When I said no a second time said, “I really think you should see our price list before joining us, in case it’s out of your range.” 😂 Erm nope, going to be the same as all the other dentists round here, just sign me up woman, I’m good for it.

But, if I’m presenting myself scruffily, I expect people to make snap judgements about me and react accordingly (despite the fact that most wealthy people I know permanently look like they’re wearing thrift store bargain bucket hand-me-downs). So I don’t take it personally - if I don’t look like I care about my appearance, then I don’t expect shop assistants to fawn over me, given they promote brands that are mostly used by those who do care about their appearance.

I worked for Chanel for 15 years. I never treated anyone differently depending on what they wore. I was friendly to everyone. But I think it’s like every other shop job- you get some good assistants and some not so good ones! I used to enjoy the commission and and we used to get 65% discount which was amazing. A lot of the women I used to work with did have very high earning husbands, they often met them through working in the shop!

I’ve experienced this too but usually because of my accent. DH and I are from West Yorkshire and whilst I wouldn’t say either of our accents are particularly strong (so not Mel B style), we have a notable Yorkshire twang. I think people equate this with being a bit dopey. I have a PhD and DH an MBA. You learn to deal with it.

It was particularly noticeable when I went to research at Oxford uni for a bit. I used to love the feeling of swiping my staff card because people didn’t expect someone who looks like me to work there. Can’t really explain it. I don’t look like old money because I’m not. I think I dress quite smartly most of the time but I get looked at by genuine upper MC people like dirt sometimes.

How incredibly rude. You do realise working in any job, with any wage, deserves respect whatever it is?

I don’t think how much money someone has or earns really comes into it though when hoping for a sale. The well groomed, designer outfit person is far more likely to spend on similar goods, even if they’re whacking it on a credit card.

DFOD

Wait until you get a bit older, 55+, it gets worse. I nearly walked out of Boots (shopping for Armani makeup) because of the appalling customer services. Another, closer to my age, assistant hurried over and was a lot more pleasant. I needed and bought foundation and eye shadow. I'm buying online next time. I go into Kurt Geiger carrying a KG bag, but I'm still ignored.

How sexist. So men more ten times as much women, do they?

Did they really look down on you or did you just like to believe that though? 🤔

Oh me too! Soft accent leaning almost Lancashire (from the Pennines) and I now live down south. I work as a receptionist in publishing and I think people expect me to be a friendly pushover - I'm not!

I’m a big L’Occitane fan and have visited their shops all over the world, but never felt looked down on. Can’t comment on Chanel, not rich enough for that store

I've experienced both sides.

I have never been into a Gucci where I have not been treated brilliantly, even when I said that I browsing with no intention to buy.

At Loewe on New Bond Street we were treated like royalty even though we were only exchanging a belt. (I ended up going back and buying clothing too). I also had great service from Loewe in Harrods, Selfridges & De Bjenkorpf but the Amsterdam store was dismissive despite me knowing the exact product I wanted to buy. de Bjenkorpf got the sale.

Dh got wonderful customer service in Louis Vuitton including an offer to try on a very expensive leather jacket even when he said it was out of his budget. He ended up going back to find the same sales assistant when he bought his shoes.

Dior in Amsterdam were awful.

Given that it's basically a comedy trope (Elle - Legally Blonde, Jennifer Saunders - art gallery and the Queen of them all Julia Roberts) I think you can assume you're not alone here, OP.

Or maybe it’s the busiest time of the year for retail workers, they’ve just had a weekend from
hell and can’t be arsed to smile at yet another shopper.

😂

Try the Westfield in Shepherds Bush, the staff in The Village are really nice. We just go in for a wander.

The staff in Chanel may be a bit snooty but L'Occitane is a just a bog standard high street store. I've never had any issues in there. They have always been lovely and helpful.

Yes it's hard to describe the "rich" body language but it's a sense of feeling perfectly at ease in any location and entirely unbothered or unhurried by those around them. They also give off the vibe that money is entirely irrelevant so they never talk about prices or glance at the price labels when shopping. This implies they already know how much the different models cost.

Kids who grow up in wealthy families have the massive advantage that they're taught this from a young age and they automatically carry this aura of unbotheredness into adulthood. They can walk into a shop with jogging pants and crocs and the people there immediately know they're rich kids. This doesn't mean any person can do the same because they never had the privilege of cultivating that sort of confidence.

Many people who earn lots of money on paper (like OP maybe) still have a chip on their shoulder about why they're not being treated as nicely when they clearly have the income. It's because they haven't developed the body language to indicate they absolutely belong in wealthy spaces. There are also a few common class giveaways even if the person isn't dressed from head to toe designer. Most rich people have immaculately perfect teeth, they wear an expensive watch and (women) are almost always slimmer than usual.

Someone in a sloppy outfit, bad hair, bad teeth, no jewellery, possibly overweight and with no indication that they want to purchase something of significant (ie. not the cheapest thing in the shop just for the flex), will obviously not bring anything of value to the store. So it's totally reasonable for shop assistants to get them out, regardless of how much their own salaries are.

I think there has been a general decline in customer service (and customer behaviour) everywhere. I don’t think it’s anything to do with how you are dressed or them looking down on you. People are increasingly rude everywhere. It’s a shame.

I’m so poor I have no idea what a 2.55 is 😂

Did a couple of stints in retail (not high end) and this is far more likely to be due to forced sales pressure (seasonal) making the staff miserable.

It’s showing on their faces, they are probably unaware of how dour and miserable they look.

Worked for several different retailers and it was always the same in the run up to Christmas - managers are push, push, pushing staff harder as they are being ridden by head office to make targets. Crazy pressure. My managers, some usually sane and pleasant people became total stressed out neurotic nightmares from Nov.

Working in retail is a slog and pretty soul sapping. Christmas period retail was hell