I heard this story from a friend. This friend always
accompanies his grandma on most of her shopping sprees. One time, they went to
a tiangge (bazaar) and were happily
examining the different products displayed in one stall. The staff, thinking
that the grandma was poor, muttered to herself, “I don’t think they’d buy
anything.” I have seen this grandma and there is no way she looks close to a beggar.
The comment is loud enough for the duo to hear. Offended, the grandma angrily
told the owner of the store that she would buy everything in that stall on one condition – the owner had to sack
that impolite staff.
I’ve also experienced this kind of unfair treatment in some
stores. I’m always in t-shirt and jeans, but when I enter a more “high-end”
store, some staffs would cross their arms and look at me with a huge frown on
their faces. But when I did buy something, they would totally transform into friendly,
respectful staffs that they were expected to be. In some occasions that I did dress up, these
staffs would always greet me even without my buying anything.
I think staffs are supposed to “serve” their customers. They
shouldn’t judge their customers based on their appearance. More importantly,
they shouldn’t offend them.
I agree with you. It's their job to be friendly and to entertain customers, regardless of how these people dress. I hope that the staff you mentioned would learn his/her lesson.
ReplyDeleteYeah. Besides, that grandma wasn't doing anything wrong. She was mistreated merely because of her clothes. That is so unfair.
ReplyDelete*sigh* This is really rampant. I dunno if sales people were trained to do this, but it's just wrong. The clothes wouldn't exactly tell you one's buying capacity. I hope sales people learn to treat customers equally.
ReplyDeleteI agree, one's clothing doesn't equate to one's buying capacity. Sadly, we can't really do anything about what these people think... But they should at least keep their negative opinions to themselves.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes feel embarrassed walking into high-end stores... but then I remind myself I am that one that's able to buy there while they have a low-paying job working there.
ReplyDeleteHello Tanya. I used to feel embarrassed, too. But clothes are just clothes. Some of the richest people I know wear very simple clothes. And some of the people with the nicest clothes aren't rich. It's foolish for some of these sales people to think that clothes determine one's wealth.
ReplyDeleteSpot on cheerfulnuts! Every customer should be treated with respect. It is good to be in touch again. Take care and all the best to you.
ReplyDeleteHello Judy! Nice to see you again.:)
ReplyDelete