Pretty Woman Moment

[JuliaRobHurts]

DH and I were at a homebuilding and renovation show yesterday as we're in the middle of an extension project. Specifically we 're on the hunt for a new front door and while looking around one of the vendors we had a "pretty women" moment.

We had a look at the various products on show before trying to get the attention of one of the representatives who appeared to be avoiding our gaze. Eventually she approached and I said 'hi, we're interested in bespoke front doors and quite like this one on show'.

Without asking our budget or any of our requirements she went into a spiel about how the doors were very expensive, how they were imported from Lithuania and the import charge was also expensive, all the while wincing as she was saying it. She then said we might be better off with a more mass manufactured door. I was absolutely stunned at her condescending tone. She hadn't asked a single question about what we were looking for.

I was so close to confronting her about her approach, but held back. DH calmly told her her sales pitch needs some work and we walked away, but I was fuming. We were both dressed smart/casually so the only thing I can think is she guaged our age (late thirties) and made an assumption we couldn't afford it (even though we can).

WWYD in that situation? I'm half inclined to email the company and provide feedback on our experience but I also don't know if it's worth the energy.

Would love to hear if anyone that's had a similar experience but DID confront the rude person as I'm still annoyed I didn't give her a piece of my mind.

You know that the film is fiction though, right ? 😬

I got plenty of those stories. My mum went with me to buy my wedding dress. I had told her to dress well, so that we'd get good service but instead she showed up in flip flops, a faded t-shirt, and faded leggings. The sales assistants in every shop we went to only showed us dresses that looked like they came from Toys 'R' Us. So I took my mum up on her offer to sew my dress. In her mind it was going to be a spencer but jokes on her: I made her sew a ball gown. She found it to be very satisfying to sew something that complicated, though.

I had to go buy something rather expensive for a celebrity visiting the company I temped for when I was quite young. The clerk first let me wait despite there being no other customers and then only showed me the cheapest stuff. So after politely having let the clerk show me several cheap items instead of the ones I had asked for, I said that I really needed to buy the specific expensive items and I didn't have much time as ___would arrive shortly. Then he looked as if something finally clicked, and I was graciously allowed to buy the items. If it had been up to me and there had been time, I would definitely have gone somewhere else. The shop is still there, sorry. The Danish Royal family shops there and has done that for a couple of generations.

Slightly related to this topic:
There was a clothes "boutique" called "Nørgaard på Strøget" in Copenhagen for several decades. The sales assistants were snobbish to all the customers and just crap in general. (I only ever went in there to quietly laugh at their clothes to myself as they all tended to look like something Willy Wonka and The Mad Hatter might wear so I never interacted with the sales assistants.) Recently there has been a "MeToo" moment where a some of the former sales assistants have claimed that Nørgaard groomed and/or sexually harassed them. It made so much sense to me. After all, if you sleep with the boss you can't be expected to actually do your job too.

I was going to say this about BtoB. Out of interest, care to share the name? I work in the construction sector.

Of course it was fiction, but like all film media, it’s based on a (sometimes very distorted) version of reality and psychology experienced by the screenwriter.

We completed on our house while he was wearing an 'I can't adult' tshirt during our home demonstration haha 😅

Same thing has happened on school visits, viewing wedding venues, ultrasound scans etc. All good fun!

Yep , this happened to me. I went into a local, independent travel agents and requested brochures on travel to Lapland/ Iceland. She kept trying to give me the budget brochures and simply would not hand over the high end brochures I had asked for. Her loss as I went on to spend 20k on the family trip of a lifetime with a different company.
Probably didn’t help that I went in after mucking out the horses , no makeup and hair in a ponytail( my usual look in fact).
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover……unless you want to miss out on a hefty commission !

Lol. Straight up and down with a nose like a door knob.

She might have had twelve people so far that day respond, "it's bloody how much?!"
And be trying to preempt it!

Did you go in your hooker outfit? 😂

Charlotte tilbury stand at a department store- I asked about mini products and the lady scoffed and said Charlotte tilbury don’t do minis (they actually do online and that department store sells them online!) I said oh ok, thanks. Mac lady was standing near them and I said sorry Mac do minis don’t they? Can I buy a few please? and bought three and a full size just loud enough for the two to start looking over. I then smiled at them (genuine smile, not catty) and then (cattily) said loudly ‘ this is even better than I’d hoped, thanks so much!!’

Nothing to do with looks. Julia Roberts is playing a prostitute who meets a rich guy who gives her a credit card to buy something from an upmarket shop. They treat her badly because she's dressed like a cheap prostitute....hence petty woman moment.

🙄

Lots of people are still confusing customer service in a shop with a trade show. OP was at a TRADE SHOW for building and renovations. These are typically extremely long days with the goal of finding new partners and business contracts. The goal is not selling single items and there is usually zero incentive or commission to do so.

Anyone who has done trade shows knows that the main objective is to filter out visitors based on their magnitude. There are big fish, small fish and time wasters. The big ones are international retailers, developers, investors and people who can bring 6-7 figures to the business. The smaller ones are maybe distributors or smaller retailers who want to purchase 5-6 figures worth of products. The very small ones are just private individuals having a mosey around the event for their own enjoyment. These are very low down on the priority rung.

The selling dynamic at a show is also very different to a shop or showroom. There are 10 hour days standing on your feet and talking non-stop for 3-5 days. It's not like a shop floor where you come in fresh, finish you shift in a few hours and get to go home. Trade shows are more brutal and at some point people need to conserve their energy. If they can tell that a potential visitor is not a big fish, there is honestly no point giving the whole pitch. OP was clearly fobbed off because they weren't interested in just selling one single door.

So far 27 people have responded with the same thing. I think that poster gets the message now.

Indeed. Really annoying sonetimes that mumsnet don't offer a block option...

Then these 'trade shows' need to make it obvious to customers before they think of attending these trade shows so they aren't wasting customers time!

If it's any consolation op I often get the opposite. I dress really well often wearing a suit etc because I like to look smart. But I am the tightest person in Christendom and begrudge spending a penny. If I go into a shop often the assistant steers me towards the expensive items! When I want the cheapest!

We had this when we were looking to buy a house once (25 years or more ago, so a lot easier). We were quite young but we were well able to afford said house. Estate agent took one look at us, made her mind up and suggested we look for something more suitable. Twat.

I used to work in a bank and back then staff got loans on a lower interest rate. (It was the 80s and interest rates were about double what they are now so it was a good perk).

My manager had to approve the loan. He knew we had the money for the deposit, knew what my DH earned and what I earned and could see on our joint account statements what our outgoings were.

He turned me down because I mentioned we were looking to buy a Volvo (from a friend of my parents). He drove one and suggested a Ford Fiesta would be more appropriate and even got a newspaper out to show me secondhand Fiesta ads at local garages.

I wish I’d been able to have a Pretty Woman moment at that time, but I do enjoy a wry smile every time I buy a new (to me) car.

Watch the film.

Eh? You were all trying on shoes, but it was “obvious” that you meant business while they’d clearly just come inside to get out of the rain… 🤔

Try buying a motorbike. You'll see.

It's less about being pretty, and more about an assumption on your socio-economic position.

This happens to me from time to time. I tend to be fairly scruffy outside of work (lots of dog-walking), so when I stop by expensive clothes shops to get stuff for work, they ignore me or try to get rid. I just go somewhere where they are nicer. Of if I really want the item, then I insist they serve me properly.

The guy who came to fit a window told me I couldn't afford to have a different type of window out in in another room. I wish I could remember what I said back to him but karma. As he was very rude to me when he thought I couldn't hear, I told a neighbour who was thinking of using him and then didn't.

If you want the door I would email the company, they might give you a discount.