An Irate Customer

I worked in retail sales for a number of years, both in a bookstore and for a fine jeweler. In both places, I was taught to be patient with customers, help them with whatever they need, no matter how silly I may think it is, and yes, that old chestnut, "the customer is always right." More and more I find myself appalled at the customer service I receive. This not only goes for the supermarket or convenience store, where I have come to expect cashiers to talk over my head to each other rather than pay attention to me, the customer, but also in fine department stores like Nordstrom.

I got my hair cut at the mall the other day and thought that while I was there, I may as well do some shopping. I went to Nordie's to check out the latest fragrance releases, and was pleasantly surprised to find a salesperson who seemed happy to help me. She was a petite older woman with too-dark dyed hair. She seemed to know a lot about the fragrances, or at least played off my snooty perfumista comments well enough to fool me. I tested the new Valentino Rock and Rose (meh), and Hanae Mori Magical Moon (interesting, worth a sample), as well as Jean Patou Sira Des Indes (definitely worth a sample) and Paul Smith Floral (promising). She even offered to make me samples of the ones I like.

Before I got to that point, I walked to the other side of the counter, where another tray of perfume bottles awaited me. She followed, but then suddenly allowed the taller platinum blonde salesperson to muscle in and take over. Platinum Blonde I had encountered before. She seems pre-programmed to spritz a few Bvlgari fragrances, and when she doesn't get an immediate, "yes, I'll take it!" from the customer...she walks away. Yes, you read that right - SHE WALKS AWAY. As if the customer is completely worthless when her wallet doesn't magically open. So this time, when PB reached for the pre-programmed bottle of Omnia (that she had already spritzed on me on two separate occasions in the past), I stopped her. I know the drill. She quickly switched to spritz Bvlgari's rose scent for me, and then the white tea one, and before I could say, "no, these aren't quite what I'm looking for..." she left me. Rude bitch! Who the #*@(#)*@ does she think she is? And wow, I guess, should I think "who am I for wasting her precious time?"

I spent another few minutes sniffing the wares and wondering where my original helper had gone. Another salesperson came my way and held out a sample of the Juicy Couture fragrance. I knew I didn't like it, but I sniffed anyway, "Ugh, that's awful!" I couldn't help but exclaim. "That's a new one," the salesperson said, huffily, "never had that reaction before." "Everyone else lied. It stinks," I retorted before stalking away from the fragrance department to find solace at the Chanel counter. My favorite rep of all time, Terry, still toils for Chanel, and she immediately made me feel welcome and appreciated. She's got a comfortably familiar way about her, calling me "hon" and "sweetie" and acting as if we'd known each other for years. (Well, we sorta have. I bought products from her in the mid-90s.) I told her I needed foundation and something different as far as eye shadow is concerned and let her sell me an eye-shadow quad and liner pencil. I could easily have spent that money on a bottle of perfume, given the opportunity.

I think the next time I have to deal with PB, I'm going to call her out. "Look, you, I don't appreciate the way you treat me, dropping me like a hot potato when I don't take the plunge on a bottle within the first five minutes. An old fart like you should know the value of good customer service, since there's so little of it out there these days. Instead, you contribute to the mediocrity of it all. You're not getting my money today, nor ever!"

Well, it's a fantasy anyway. I usually spend my perfume money online, where customer service has been impeccable. And I do need to save up for Sniffapalooza!

tags: everything else