Do I look like everybody's idea of a shop assistant?
I know most people, at some point in their life, have been approached while browsing in a shop by someone and asked if they work there. To most it's happened, once, maybe twice, rarely three times. Less than the fingers on one hand for sure. But to me, IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME!!! I can count them on one hand -- about four times over!
Just in the past two weeks, I've been approached by two people in two different stores, and asked if I work there -- and both times, it was in stores that even have uniforms. Ok, so I was wearing a blue top the second time, the same colour as the uniform. But it was a distinctly different shade of blue, and a different kind of top!
Now I know I'm not the sharpest dresser out there, and I don't always look like the elegant, sophisticated journo that I am. But still. . . that's no excuse! If you see someone wearing a handbag, clutching a box of cat food, and seriously contemplating the choice of cereals in the food section of a drug store, you DO NOT go up to them and ask if they work there!
Now I don't mean any disrespect to sales assistants, though I have my own beef with many of them; at least those in the unfriendly New York City anyway. But, if I'm unsure of whether or not someone works at a store where I'm shopping, I at least surreptitiously observe them for a few minutes before approaching them cautiously. When I get to within speaking distance, I usually stand there, staring at them, to see if they respond. If they don't, or if they look at me suspiciously and hold their shopping and their money closer, I slink away.
Why doesn't everyone do that? Surely it beats barging into someone's serious shopping experience and demanding that they help you instead!
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7 comments:
I can sympathise. Having worked in a shop and experienced unpleasant customers, usually women with too much time on their hands and too much money to spend, I was more than relieved when I gave up my highly lucrative retail career. However, I have been so well trained in the art of dusting shelves and arranging items just so,I now find it impossible to enter a shop without adjusting merchandise if the display looks wonky. I also pick up stray items of clothing that customers have carelessly tossed aside and hang them up with a sigh, thinking oh what a wonderful customer I am. I know, it is so sad, but that is the fatal consequence of having had a tyrant for a shop manager. Anyway, I think it is this annoying tic and my permanent black attire which seems to lead customers to approach me freely with their shopping queries. Only the other day I was mindlessly looking at some funky electric blue shoes that I would never dream of wearing, when I was accosted by an elderly lady who asked me to help her find some suitable shoes!I curtly informed her that I was NOT a shop assistant and directed her to the lady at the opposite end of the shop,who may or may not have been a shop assistant, and then hotfooted it !!
Mxxx
Inihtar... I love the amusing side of you that's peeking out here, from between the shelves and the bottom of your purse. You have a great sense of humor!
And, apparently, an approachable face. Not a bad quality, all in all.
Haha! I guess I look somewhat approachable, and have even been known to flash the occasional smile at random strangers - until, that is, I start barking at some poor shopper for assuming that I work there!
M,
Atta girl! Next time someone approaches me, I'm going to point them in the direction of the nearest $200K investment banker in a $2,000 suit, hide behind a pillar, and watch what happens.
Do you think our resemblance to shop assistants worldwide runs in our family?!?!?
Barkat:
Being approachable isn't necessarily a good quality. It just means people take you for granted all the time.
Being intimidating is more desirable!!
You have a point, but I think looking approachable is a very useful trait for a journalist!
Baby, i get it too..and I always thought I was a sharp dresser..so, it happens to the best of us
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