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?

When I worked for a pricy jewellery brand, we knew when the tradesmen came in just before Xmas we were getting good sales (and commission!)

I'm embarrassed for you.

🤣🤣 I was literally thinking, how pretty woman of you!

Here's the thing - a great many "ultra luxury" brick and mortar stores run at cost, or at a loss. Although they will attract wealthy clientele who make large purchases, the big-ticket items sold there barely, if ever, pay for the cost of having them on display there. Even the wealthy clients mainly only go there to look through the collections in-person and will then make custom orders.

A lot of the time they're there so that people who can't afford a coat or a gown are encouraged to connect with the brand identity, so that they then go on to buy a wallet, t-shirt, lipstick or perfume bottle from one of their cheaper diffusional lines.

If you can't afford the stuff on the rails at Dior, then, believe it or not, you ARE the main target audience. It makes sense to dazzle you, sure, but alienate you? No.

I've been a shop assistant in these kinds of places, then trained and managed them. The first thing you learn is that you can never tell how much money someone has until they've handed their credit card over the counter. Snobbery was never a part of what we did because it wouldn't have made any sense. I'm not saying it never happens, but it would certainly never happen for long if a store wanted to survive for long. Nobody got "subtly chased away". The more feet through the door, the better.

Besides, the people who wear their fancy clothes, heels and makeup while out shopping are usually self-conscious middle class people. Perfectly lovely, but are usually, like me, only there for small gifts.

If you "experience" snobbery from sales assistants often, I suggest you watch too many movies and have an underdog complex.

That bit of the movie always confused me because, in my experience, sex workers were always adored in high-end store because of their habit of offloading very large stacks of banknotes!!!

Why are you hanging out in Chanel and the like if you don't care about appearances and are happily a bit scruffy?

Rubbish! Imagine feeling the need to create a post like this to brag about your salary and tear down people you think you’re better than. Such a shame for you OP.

I recently treated myself to a beautiful Burberry leather car holder. Probably one of the cheapest items they sell. I had some questions before buying (takes me ages to make a pricey decision like this 😁) so I had my first “human” interaction via WhatsApp. Advisor was lovely and helpful. Offered to make an appointment in a store which I would have loved to have done as the boutiques are beautiful but sadly logistics meant I wasn’t able to do that. I also joked that I didn’t want to take up their time for a humble card holder and they must have bigger fish to fry. The sweet lady told me nonsense, no fish is too small and they would love to look after me and if I changed my mind to get in touch to book and there would be nice refreshments waiting for me ☺️

I got my belt online and its gorgeous however my impressions of the brand now are extremely high.

This can certainly be true. I used to work in a shop with a woman who was married to a consultant at Bupa. People often assume if you work in retail you must be on the bones of your arse but it's quite often not the case.

Some of the wealthiest people we’ve known looked like worzel gummidge 😁

My aunt was once in a shop looking at wrapping paper. The assistant said to her, “Excuse me madam, do you realise that that item is very expensive?” Quick as a flash my aunt retorted, “Yes, and if it’s expensive on my salary it must seem an absolute fortune on yours.”

I thought everyone knew that billionaires are the scruffiest of all these days. They should have to watch Pretty Woman as part of training.

There's an acronym for this:

WEBCOC
Was Expecting a Better Class Of Customer

FARTS
Follows you Around Recommending The Stock

(Sorry, I read "car holder" and pictured a custom Burberry leather garage for a second, can you imagine?)

'Small fish' customers are the reason these brands stay afloat at all, as they're the biggest source of income. That means you're actually one of their most valuable clientele who they'll be keen to keep hold of. Glad you had a good experience :)

They shouldn’t be rude to you, but earning four times someone’s salary doesn’t make you better than them.

This kind of disdain is the reason why service-related employment is looked down on (for some reason) and part of the reason why levels of service are so piss poor at times.

I often think this.

You're a shop assistant. Lovely brand maybe. But a shop assistant.

No shame in being one. It's a job like any other. But certainly no reason to be arrogant.

This reminds me of when I went into a Fairfax and Favor store to look at some shoes I’d had my eye on but wanted to see/try them on.

Admittedly I’d just finished a dog walk so wasn’t dressed in my finest of gear…I was completely ignored…by all 3 sales staff who stood doing very little, another customer came in and they all jumped but little old me was completely ignored not even an hello.

Safe to say after waiting for 10 mins I left and have never shopped with them again.

By contrast I took my teen to Holland Cooper and I literally could not fault the service (and yes I was in my scruffy clothes) yet we were warmly welcomed and the staff member who served us was amazing.

i am choosy of where I spend my money now, shit attitudes means no sales.

Men have the 'real job' ? Right okay, say hi to 1950's for me. 🙄

Well, in the early 90's I got about 10 steps into Harrords, thrown out because of wearing an 'alien sex fiend' t-shirt. For those who don't know, they were an awful post-punk band. Turns out getting thrown out of Harrods was probably a good thing, being a young woman at the time..

They know well who is shopping and who is touristing, thats why. And why should they waste their time in an actual shop playing shops with people who have no intention of buying everything. I have an associate in Hermes, Gucci and Dior and can arrange to go anytime of the day when they are closed, usually I go very early in the morning when im browsing to avoid the time wasters. Not because they are poorer than me but they are often so bloody rude to the people who work there and wreck the samples.

I'm Australian and people in the UK think its hilarious to poke fun of my accent. And they assume I am uncultured and ignorant, and probably racist to boot. I have 5 degrees, two of which I got here in the UK. But I have lived here 20 years and when I last went to Melbourne I was in a fancy shop and the assistant asked where i was from. I said Melbourne, but i live in the UK now and he said 'Get the bloody plum out of your mouth then'.

I walked out.

The worst experience I have ever had shopping was in a lower price range store and I really was treated appallingly over a return.

That, or I am completely oblivious to the scathing waves of judgement when I go in a more expensive place 😂

I probably look like a complete bottom of the barrel after shopping a couple of hours-no matter how coiffred my hair when I leave the house I look 100% scarecrow after 10 minutes.

To be honest, I'm surprised they let me in the supermarket.

You wouldn't be buying much without the plebs sering you though would you?
God the snobbery on here makes me think of my dear old nan's favourite expression "Fur coat, no knickers and no class."
It doesn't matter what someone does for a living, they are earning a wage. Shop assistants in majority of shops probably get fed up with the customers messing up displays, knocking things on the floor and dumping stuff they no longer want in their basket /trolley in random places. Then there is the abuse many have to endure.

That is not what she said or implied.
The shop assistants were snooty to her because she wasn't dressed to impress. They wrongly assumed she didn't have enough money to buy the products they are selling and so made no effort to be pleasant as a result. They would be fawning over someone who was obviously wealthy, that's the issue.

They were rude but this is commonplace in luxury stores in the UK.

The opposite happens in the USA.

My husband and I went into stores on Rodeo Drive in Beverley Hills once dressed in shorts and sneakers but the staff in every store treated us like royalty. This is because very wealthy people in the US often dress very casually as they don't need to impress anyone.

Like that scene in Pretty Woman.😂😂😂