Thursday, February 19, 2009

Snooty sales clerks be gone!










We've all experienced it. You're out looking for something really special to wear and although you're mindful of your budget, you think, "What the hell, I'll give Neimans a shot." You walk into Neimans (or a store its equal) and you spot a few sales clerks. They spot you too. And then they ignore you.

You look down at your outfit and begin to wonder, "Did I wear the wrong thing? Do I not look 'the part'?" The second-guessing starts and sends you into a downward emotional spiral, that is, until you snap out of it and say to yourself "Screw them! If I want to shop here, I can. And I deserve to be treated with basic decency!"

There's nothing like the snooty sales clerk attitude that has seemingly been the mantra of high-end boutiques and department stores. Forget trying to venture out of your monetary comfort zone just for a look at the pretty things in stores like Reiss or Ralph Lauren in Georgetown. Unless you look like a million dollars, often times, I've found that sales clerks don't want anything to do with me.

According to the New York Times, the state of our sour economy may effectively have ended this dour attitude (at least for the time being). Check out Eric Wilson's article Economy Adjusts Store Relations on Madison Avenue. If what he says is true, I'm delighted with this news!

I'm interested to hear if you've run into the same situation yourself in the past and if you've noticed any changes since things went south last November.

1 comment:

  1. YES!!!!!....finally, the unsaid is being talked about out loud. Always seem to run into this. I find it also be true in high end furniture shops. A look up and down and they immediately decide that there's no way you will be purchasing the picture frame for $300, so...what's the point!? My recent story was from a boutique shop on 14th street. It just leaves an "eghhh"taste with you. I've often wondered about the inside jokes the sales people might have for "us"!

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