Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 10 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 21 years, 3 months ago by
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Why is it that a well-dressed person walking in a department store or mall gets asked to try things out, like perfume or makeovers? I cannot afford the luxury of always looking like I’m on my way to a wedding, but I do like to be asked once in a while. Yet I get overlooked most of the time. Why?
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Name : Rebeca W., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Baptist, Age : 27, City : Evansville, State : IN, Country : United States, Occupation : Housewife, Education level : High School Diploma,I have the same problem, compounded by the fact that I look like a 20-year-old college kid. Salespeople often try to use clothing (and age, and unfortunately often race) to judge a potential customer’s income and buying power. Some are on commission and see casually dressed customers as a waste of time. Others have just not been trained to give proper service to all customers. Still others are just plain lazy. When I was in college, I worked at a fine women’s shoe store. I learned very quickly that a customer’s dress indicated NOTHING about income level and certainly did not indicate readiness to buy. In fact, my largest sale ever was to a woman in jeans, t-shirt, and worn sneakers. She was the wife of an oompah band leader, and she bought 800 dollars worth of shoes and bags for Oktoberfest season!
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Name : Stacee27906, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 30, City : Houston, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : TV production, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I think it’s because they earn commission and don’t want to “waste time” on someone who looks like they don’t have enough money to spend on perfume or makeup. I’ve noticed the same thing, and it drives me crazy. If I dress up to go to the mall, the workers won’t leave me alone; if I dress as I normally do, they often ignore me. However, I’m not shy about asking for the free perfume sample, and they usually smile kindly and give it to me.
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Name : SR28481, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 21, City : Austin, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : Student,When the merchants see someone who looks well-to-do, they assume they have a lot of money to spend. So they cater more to them in the hopes they’ll part with some of that cash. If they think a person doesn’t have $500 to spend on a two-ounce bottle of perfume, they won’t “waste their time.” That’s a stupid assumption. Sam Walton used to drive around in a dirty pick-up truck with overalls and work boots, and if he walked into a store, I doubt if he would be asked if he wanted to sample cologne. They would have no idea, however, that as the owner of Wal-Mart he was worth billions. Their loss.
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Name : Ken, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Catholic, Age : 32, City : Chicago, State : IL, Country : United States, Occupation : marketing, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Commission. Money. You don’t “appear” as a possible commission, so they don’t attempt to try and sell to you. I had a similar experience opening a savings account at a bank. I was dressed very casually and went to open an account. The teller stated, very clearly, that I would need at least $100 to open an account. Her tone implied that I might not have it. However, her whole attitude changed, and she presented me a lot more options, once I slapped down the amount I was opening the account with (much more than the minimum). The bottom line is, appearances get equated with money.
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Name : Me21904, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Age : 25, City : San Francisco Bay Area, State : CA, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,On behalf of all commission sales reps, I apologize to the previous responders. Everything they say is absolutely true: Don’t judge the book by its cover. Anyone who has received proper training knows he will make more money from commissions by giving good service to everyone. A lot of folks don’t bother to consider what their jobs demand, give poor service and then quit because they “can’t make any money on commissions.” Then they go to work on salary in some big corporations’ customer service department.
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Name : James-H, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Disability : post-Polio, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Episcopalian, Age : 66, City : Grand Junction, State : CO, Country : United States, Occupation : Realtor, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Wow, you brought up an old memory. About 30 years ago my friend and I went to Saks in Washington, D.C., to spend all of our tax return money. We had about $500, big money for 1969! Hippies that we were, we went in flannel shirts and torn jeans. After about 20 minutes of searching for just the right thing, we were asked to leave the store. Seems that the manager thought we were just goofing around. We went to Lord & Taylor and spent the whole $500. I have never been back to Saks, but frequently go to Lord & Taylor.
Now I have ‘real’ money to spend and still go shopping in jeans and t-shirts. I’m 48, and to this day, no one will give me a squirt of perfume when I’m dressed this way; only when I go after work do I get squirted. Appearance is everything.
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Name : D.S.J., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 48, City : West Palm Beach, State : FL, Country : United States, Occupation : Personnel Management, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,There’s an actor’s trick of walking and moving like you own the place that will sometimes cause salesfolk to flock to you even if you’re in your gruds. It works better for men than women and better for whites than non-whites, but I’ve carried the act off both when I had money and when I didn’t, and the person I know who does it best is a black woman. But it requires walking in with an absolute conviction that these people are dying to serve you, and most of us don’t have the energy or confidence to do that every time. I’ve also known people who can go in wearing $700 and somehow come across as homeless; the trick works in reverse, too, unfortunately.
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Name : John-B29411, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 42, City : Rural area, State : CO, Country : United States, Occupation : College professor, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,When I worked as a cashier, I observed those who are sloppy and obese often caused the most trouble on their end of the transaction. Customers, you should come into the store in neat condition. I make far less income than my typical customer but seem to always out-dress them. Why is this?
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Name : Christopher-D32102, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 23, City : Arlington, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : Customer Service, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class,As unfortunate as it may be, they’re targeting appearances because of demographics and sales figures. They look for well-dressed, very well-groomed people when giving out these samples because these are the kind of people who will (according to demographics) spend more money on these things. For them, it’s a matter of logic: We have a limited number of samples to give, how can we give them out so as to have the greatest impact, using the fewest samples? (Low cost, high gain.) It’s done regardless of how much you may make or have (and we all know appearances can be deceiving). They will target the people who look like they’ve spent hours on their appearance on a Thursday afternoon, because these are the people who are more likely to want to look good all the time, and therefore will buy more product. It’s essentially a form of discrimination. They feel that less-dressed people are a waste of the sample, regardless of class, etc.
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Name : Josh-S, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Presbyterian, Age : 19, City : Kitchener, State : NA, Country : Canada, Occupation : Audio Technician, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class,Sloppy and obese?? I may be a large size woman, but it is NO indication of my attitude, or my pocketbook! I think perhaps you had issues in this area because people sensed your bias.
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Name : Meredith B., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : New Thought Movement, Age : 33, City : Vancouver, State : WA, Country : United States, Occupation : small business owner, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
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