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.

I know right?!

My friend had this with a house 20+ years ago before they were advertised on Rightmove. Saw it in the estate agents window and enquired and was told you can't afford it (based on her looks and age alone) Went back with her husband, saw the manager, viewed and bought the house and demanded that the snooty saleswoman went absolutely nowhere near the sale or them during it going through. This was 25 years ago or so, they were minted and were buying a house for just under a million! I always assumed the lady must have kicked herself!

Even if they don’t know the film, the fact OP has written Pretty Woman (proper noun) not pretty woman should let readers know its a reference to a creative work (eg film, book).

Well yes, but not recently and didn't immediately associate the OPs phrasing with scene from the film.

We had this at John Lewis last year looking at their 2K American FFs. The shop assistant was SO condscendning acting as if various models sure MUST be too expensive for us. We bought the exact same FF online for £600 less.

How can she be so crap at selling when that is literally her job. She was more interested gossiping with her college. Arse.

Stupid typos MN text editor is doing some strange things.

It's been years since I watched it and I knew instantly. That scene especially tends to stick in your head.

I have never seen it thankfully. But i knew

Well, tbf she is, its all on Richard Gere's characters dime.

I had this in a bank when enquiring about an account with a minimum salary. They took the joggers and pushchair as you can't apply for it. I was on mat leave from a fairly well paid senior role 😁

I voted YABU out of disappointment that you didn't order an eye-wateringly expensive door from the stall opposite hers whilst she watched, and then look over at her and said “Big mistake. Big. Huge!’”.

There is a scene in ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ like this. Excellent!!

Yes, nothing like a romantic comedy about a sex worker!

I don’t believe this kind of stuff happened as much as people claim. Salespeople have to be polite to even the worse customers. It sounds more like perception differences

Anyone who's done trade shows as a business will know this and just shows some naiveness from show visitors. If you sense a sales rep being weird, they're obviously looking for industry clients so just move on right away.

Loads of people here are comparing OP's experience to being in a shop (aka that Pretty Woman scene) which is totally mixing things up.

A trade show is not a shop.

You can be the richest person in the home show but a company is not going to fawn all over you because you want to buy 1 door from them. They're at the event to secure contracts worth 5, 6 or even 7 figures. Obviously there ARE exceptions. Some sellers are happy to collect smaller sales but it really depends on the business. It just means OP didn't really read the room correctly and she's not going to "win" or "spite" this company by purchasing a door from their competitor. They honestly don't care.

I've had many a moment like these lol 😆 it can be quiet annoying because she is clearly judging and it's so rude specially because they are in sales it's not the best paid job in the world ,!
It happens with retailer workers as well !
I take no notice anymore and if they do do it I will embarrass them or make them skirm when they realise that I actually do have the funds it's all because I won't dress conservatively or dress In a way the screams money or the car I drive is not huge enough !
It happened recently in car show room and I paid cash for a brand new car outright from my bank the chap looked so shocked !
Another time a guy who came to help with fitting a log burner kept going on about a basic log burner and saying things to cut the price ! He obviously didn't get the job I went with a lovely down to earth guy and it cost me more than a new boiler did lol 😁
I don't know how these people get sales!

Ive had this a few times in my life. Best one was at a dept store where i know it was commission on sales, Selfridges maybe?

I was early 20's (so a very long time ago!) looking at the Dior and Guerlain makeup counter and I was asking Qs about the foundations/blushers etc, could sense she was getting a bit pissy at helping me but fine, and i asked if there was a sample sachet of whatever foundation i was looking at, she said they only give samples out to people who will buy the products 🙄

Tbf i was just undecided between 2 foundations, so I picked out the bits Id been looking at - probably about £300 of stuff - and handed them to her colleague with an admittedly equally knobbish "they'll do for today" and paid in cash for equal measure 😂😂 the colleague gave me loads of samples and a really nice free makeup bag that I've still got.

I love thinking about that when it pops into my head 😃

I think it means attractive people get excellent service, plain people get offered cheaper stuff. So if you look uninteresting you get effectively pushed out the door.

You must complain, this person is disgraceful

“Sigh” it has nothing to do with being pretty. It’s a reference to the film Pretty Woman in which the snooty sales assistant in an expensive boutique assumes Julia Roberts’ character cannot afford to buy anything based on her appearance.

You should have gone back later and said "Remember us? We've just bought a door hand carved by blind monks in Austria, with a solid ruby handle, BIG mistake, HUGE!"

Ooh yes, I have. 2013.
We went into the sales office for a small group of new builds on the site of an old brewery. We asked about one of the plots that was being advertised and asked about Help to Buy (the scheme where you put down 5% and 20% was a government loan). We were 29 and 28.

The woman (Maureen - still remember her name) looked us up and down, said the house was too much for first time buyers, too big for 2 of us and the scheme wasn't available on new builds. A) She was wrong on all three counts and B) we were not first time buyers. We had bought a house 6 years earlier that was already SSTC.

We went back the next day and spoke to a lovely sales rep who got the commission. When we moved in she was still in the sales office and she said that we hoped we were happy with ourselves doing HTB as there's "no such thing as a free lunch". Very happy actually - we paid off the loan 5 years later and only have 7 years until we are mortgage free.

I get this a lot. Hilariously, I'm pretty well off and can usually afford the items in question, so I just inwardly sigh and think of Pretty Woman.

But I'm also a covert mystery shopper, so sometimes it's all on camera.

Best one was some snooty lady in a new homes development. She obviously clocked there may be an issue halfway through being atrocious and started looking very shifty indeed.

it has nothing to do with being pretty. Its about salespeople making assumptions about what you can afford based on how you look. It happened to me once when we were househunting. We turned up at the showhome in very casual clothes in a very muddy but brand new car. The sales lady who was sat there alone (weather had been foul hence the filthy car) said she thought we probably wouldn't be interested in the the development as the houses were "executive designed" whatever that means but as she wasn't busy she could "let us have a peep" DH had just been promoted to the London office of a multinational energy company and they were funding the move. This btw was years before Pretty Woman came out.

Yes, this would have been the full Pretty Woman experience.

Except for the hooker part, of course.

To my surprise, the owner rang me and thanked me, saying he wouldn't have known otherwise, and that he was going to have a serious talk with the salesman. They also sent me a bottle of expensive floor cleaner.

I thought you were going to say wine.