Shopping Etiquette
Coming from my own personal experience from working at Banana Republic…
Don’t
1. Ignore me when I greet you into the store (it’s rude. I know you see me. I know you hear me. All you really have to do is make eye contact and even a slight nod, that’s it)
2. Roll your eyes at me when I can’t find the one particular item in your particular size and particular color amidst the thousands of other products we already have on the floor and in the back. EVEN MORE… don’t let me catch you asking another one of my coworkers the same question because I couldn’t find it for you. (It’s like… hello I can still see you and just because I couldn’t get it for you, doesn’t mean someone else can. It just irks me because it makes me feel like my word isn’t trustworthy. I really do try. Appreciate it.)
3. Give me attitude if I make you wait at most a minute. I’m sorry that there are 3 other customers ahead of you that already asked for my help. Please understand that you are NOT the only person shopping in the store. You just make me more inclined to not try as hard to find the things you’re looking for.
4. Ask me for a price check (which in our store is the same room as the sale room), wait to find out that the price is “too expensive”, and then just walk away when I try to hand you back the item. ESPECIALLY IF YOU”RE ALREADY IN THE SALE ROOM. There is this thing called, “putting it back where you found it.”
Do
1. Remember my name. You should try to remember any person that helped you, even if all they did was point you in the right direction. A lot of people work hard and spend time trying to cater to their customer. The idea is that once you get to the register, you can give back to them by simply saying “So and So helped me.” Stores keep track of that.
2. Ask me questions. I’m a resource. Utilize me. I’d rather have you ask me right off the bat and spend 5 minutes in the store as opposed to having you try on everything for 20 minutes and then ask. Why? Because that means that I have to go back and clean the mess you made during those 20 minutes of you trying things on. Not cool.
3. Have patience. Sometimes we are busy, yes. But understand that I am only one person and there are usually 10-15 of you that I have to deal with at any one time.
Pet Peeves
1. Pulling from the bottom of a stack for your size. (REALLY? REALLY?!?!? You can take 20 minutes to walk around the store, 15 minutes to try on clothes, but you can’t take 2 seconds to lift up a pile with one hand and grab your size with the other?!? And then you complain that we can’t find your size because the time we took to organize this pile is screwed up with you turning over all the other items on top. Ridiculous. We size from smallest on top to largest on bottom. Figure it out.)
2. More so for the ladies… if you can take the time to pull something off a rack, lay it out on a different table where it doesn’t belong and covers other items, and decide if you want it or not, then I’m pretty sure you have enough energy to take that same item and put it back where you got it. Don’t just leave it there please.
3. People who come into the store who are looking to get even more of a discount on already marked down items. First of all… you’re shopping at Banana Republic. If you were looking for something cheap, what are you doing here in this store? Second of all, we rarely have promotions where we discount things that are already on sale. So don’t expect anything when all I can suggest is opening a Banana Card. Third, if it’s in the sale room, usually we put out all of the product we have somewhere in the room. I will not go through racks and racks of stuff to find the one size you are looking for. You can do that yourself. I’d rather help someone who’s shopping the regular priced items because personally, I’d rather get credited a $150 sale than a $15 dollar sale from someone shopping through the sales rack. (I don’t mind checking to see if we have the size available somewhere in the store, but it’s up to you at that point to find it)
4. People who pull out the tags to see the sizes. I mean really? It’s right there at the back of the neck or pants. I can understand the top one being pulled out to check the price… but really you have to pull out ALL the tags?
5. People (but more so the ladies) who try on 30 items and only end up taking 3 things. SERIOUSLY? If I could somehow enforce a “you try, you buy” policy, I would. I don’t understand how you will spend an hour in a fitting room trying on clothes and then only get like one thing. ESPECIALLY if that one thing is on sale. Waste of time.
I’m definitely not done with this list… I’ll probably update it more later. I’m sure I’ll think of more stuff to add. But for now, this rant is done.
