Love bombing in shops

[PlateSpinningQueen]

When did this become a thing.
just been in an Me+Em, Jigsaw and Hobbs- just browsing.
Every other customer gets a:
”I love your jacket”
”Your jumper is beautiful, where did you get it?”
”Your shoes are amazing”.

so insincere, had to leave it’s so nauseating!

feeling old and grumpy!!!!

😆😆😆😆😆

and true 🤢

If they’re still in business I’d seriously think of making a special trip to visit them

"My father was a clown and my mother was a Doc Marten boot"

I lived in California in the 00's and remember one day being a bit frazzled and going into a shop and being greeted 'How are you M'am ? how are you feeling today " .I was so annoyed by it that I said to the sales assistant that I only wanted to buy a T-shirt not pour my heart out to someone I don't know and to please leave me browse in peace .He was rather shocked to say the least . I was allowed to shop in peace and quiet .

Your reaction was OTT. "How are you" is nothing more than a polite acknowledgement you're in the shop. The second question is just the same. It's not intended to elicit anything more than "fine"

I don’t mind it, it passes the time, i really don’t care if they’ve been paid to say it, or don’t actually mean it or whatever, it’s just a pleasantry.

All I like is someone who is polite, when I go into a store. If I want help, I'll ask for it. I don't need following around a store, it's unnerving and makes me feel like I'm a criminal. I don't want faux flattery or asking for my life story, that's nauseating!

I have avoided clothes shops since I was a teenager , for this and many other reasons.

I think it's just people trying to make conversation. I get compliments like this from people other than shop assistants.

I love it. I felt like Julia Roberts when she goes shopping WITH RG in J Crew in East Hampton.

The shop assistant sized me up and we left having spent $300 between me and DH! They even kept the DC occupied while we browsed 😁

I hate shops for this reason. Shop online

I do a bit of volunteering and experienced similar.
If I can make a difference to someone's day then it makes it all the more worthwhile

Totally right. It’s a culture thing. People
kore inclined to engage with sales assistants and for sales assistants to engage with customer across the pond.

I actually think it’s nice in the right context but understand that Brits see it as fake and insincere rather than engagement.

Some years ago there was a very chatty male cashier in my local supermarket. He absolutely loved stunning all the women with his wit and charm and humour. What a performance. My father had recently died so I didn’t have the capacity to deal with it. I started actively avoiding his till and noticed other women doing the same.

One day his till was empty and there were queues at the other tills, people obviously choosing to join the queues, walking past his till. A supervisor noticed and started encouraging people in the queues to go to his till. Several of us ignored this. I explained to her that I could not deal with the chat and about my father. She said that staff were encouraged to interact with customers and express their personalities. I said something about I just want to get through my shopping not be an audience for his self expression. I got the impression she understood the problem.

i never saw him again. No idea what happened to him.

It isn’t a binary between gushing insincerity and rudeness. A smile, an offer to help if needed and a few words (even a compliment!) that has not mandated by senior management are always appreciated.

There is also such a thing as being genuinely charming with knowingly overblown flattery like the guy on a market in Italy recently who was apparently flabbergasted at how old my partner and I were compared to our youthful looks - not reality at all but done with humour, kindness and a bit of theatrics.

What I absolutely do not want is any kind of genuine-sounding-but-fake flattery with respect to my appearance. I’m self-conscious - as many people are - and I find it uncomfortable.

As for being addressed as ‘my lovely’…