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 tend to get the opposite - I am quite well spoken and reasonably well dressed (in my high end charity shop bargains) but not well-off. I'm also middle-aged. I get people trying to flog me stuff that's embarrassingly out of my budget.

Yup - Just after I'd had twins we were looking to trade in our old car for a bigger one... We spent some time with a salesman at a Volvo dealer but decided against in the end.
A few months later he came into my clinic room in his GP surgery (I was a practice nurse in uniform) and I instantly recognised him and mentioned it....he asked why we hadn't bought the Volvo...and was it because couldn't we afford it....I simply said it wasn't that and that we had gone for a Mercedes instead!

I have done this kind of work in my youth. I would guess it’s nothing remotely related to you.

Sounds like she was really pissed off to be there for whatever reason and her revenge was to bring in as few sales as possible. She might get as little as a tenner for making a sale so 🤷‍♀️

How bizarre?! These folks are paid commission to get people like you to buy stuff. You'd think she'd be falling over herself to upsell you the most expensive one. If she really couldn't be arsed to question your budget.

Unless they are primarily used to selling directly to trade, and you didn't look enough like the owner of a construction business?! Like you weren't wearing a high Vis and work boots?!

It's a fucking door. Who needs a three thousand or whatever pound door? Maybe she was trying to be helpful in dissuading you from wasting thousands of pounds on a door.

Not helpful, I know, but I clicked on this thread hoping for a story of your ‘big mistake’ moment, OP!

I've had this happen to me. I was in the market for a new vacuum cleaner and was set on a Dyson one. Went to the store and enquired because I wanted to see if before buying, and the sales lady was very off with us while we were asking questions. "You do know it costs £300" she said condescendingly. I said we were aware but she still was not nice about it. We left went down the road to John Lewis and bought it from there. No sales commission for you love.

You'd be shocked at how often this type of snobbery is displayed.

"I have never seen it thankfully. But i knew"

😅

Exactly.

I looked like a vagabond at the airport recently and the guy at Fortnum & Mason still treated me like a Queen, and I wasn’t even buying anything, I just wanted a free carrier bag, he insisted on giving me a free tote.

Loving all these stories of similar experiences. Apologies I haven't had my 'big mistake' moment, but it's satisfying to hear other peoples.

Oh, probably way out of your price range, mine to!

What 😂

Have you never watched the film Pretty Woman with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts? That scene at the shop is famous worldwide!

Yes I would actually.

Why was my comment about not seeing it so amusing?

That's awesome. I remember being too drunk to fly so I got bumped to the night flight. The guy from McDonald's gave me a free meal. 🤣

Not quite the same as Fortnums but similar in that I looked dishevelled as fuck but they were still nice to me!

I have a great Pretty Woman story - My mum’s friend from WI was exceptionally wealthy (Sunday Times rich list had her listed wealth at approx £300 mill about 20 years ago). But she and her husband lived a very frugal, understated life and gifted huge sums to charity endeavors. She wasn’t interested in fashion or spending money and they were very private about their wealth. As most of their business was States side they pretty much went under the radar in the UK.

She was often invited to accompany her husband to balls and other occasions, and when she needed an outfit rather than trek into London would just visit the local fancy and snooty dress shop. They were always unhelpful to her and overlooked her, unaware she had money to spend.

So this one occasion my Mum offered to accompany her friend to give style advice. Mum’s friend and husband had been invited to The White House by the Bush Administration for a lunch with the President and First Lady. Aware that the snooty shop had for years overlooked her friend, Mum relished in asking her friend in front of the assistants “did The White House not specify a dress code? What did the First Lady wear last time you attended a day time function?”.

Sadly both Mum and her friend are now dead but Mum loved to recount this story in great detail. For years afterwards Mum would shop alone in that shop and she always received great service. I hope her friend did too.

This happened to us years ago in a kitchen shop (Magnet, I’m looking at you). DH and I went from work, both in our slightly scruffy work clothes, our jobs don’t require smart. The salesman was very patronising, kept asking our budget (which I was determined not to say the more he kept pushing us to the cheapest range) and despite saying we didn’t have a top budget he just wouldn’t budge. Needless to say we bought elsewhere.

A full McDonalds meal is not to be sneezed at! That was so nice of him. You must be a lovely drunk!

Thanks for posting this. You've made my day 😃

... and then next day, she comes back into the shop in an expensive outfit, loaded with designer carrier bags, they rush to serve her and she points out they refused to serve her the day before (and get paid on commission) - 'Big mistake. Big, big mistake. Huge'

Whatever you think of the rest of the film, that is a brilliant scene.

It was the use of the word "thankfully" that was amusing and topical.

https://youtube.com/shorts/WbWerd2c-F0?si=ySQWNZWv98gDo7li

Years ago a colleague went to look at a new housing estate with a genuine interest to buy a new 3 bed. She and her husband were in jeans and anoraks but could afford it. It was a big chain like Barratt homes and when they asked to look around, the sales woman would only show them the 2 bed and was rude about their ability to afford the 3. They wrote a letter of complaint and got a letter back apologising and offering them a 3 bed for the price of a 2 bed! So worth complaining!!

If this is the case then the Pretty Women moment would need to involve OP and her DH turning round and saying that they were buying for a new development of 500 houses, with similar projects in the pipeline across the UK 😂

Really? How many housing estate developers, even higher end ones, are going to be spending £3.5k per door, x 50? Surely that takes away the whole USP of bespoke doors if the whole estate has the same one? OP said the sales assistant directed them to "mass produced" doors which suggests they dont do that.

Are you posting from the US ("Mom and pop" "stores" and "real estate" aren't UK terminology) by any chance? You cant assume everything works the same.