Sexist salespeople can kiss my ass.

[LeftyMom]

Ignoring me and then leaping to help guys who are my age and no better dressed than me as soon as they walk into your department is fucking rude. It's also stupid, because I buy good quality stuff and I'll be back for more if you take care of me. I know your store pays commission, so ignoring me cost you money. Stupid sexist asshole.

[NC_Nurse]

1. What I love...

is when they talk to my husband as if I'm not there, even if the purchase is for ME!

[skygazer]

2. I ran into the same thing when I bought my digital camera

I could not get a salesperson to give me the time of day yet they fawned all over the young men at the counter. Very irritating. I finally went to the counter and asked one of them, "Excuse me, are you a salesperson?" He said yes. I said, "Well, you just missed an opportunity to make a sale by ignoring me."

He tried to apologize but it was too damn late. I bought it somewhere else.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. So you're saying that if we want to kiss your ass, we have to be a sexist

salesperson?

That's a rather specific fetish, there, LeftyMom.

[China_cat]

4. Try it in a wheelchair

It like I'm not capable of hearing them or talking to them. I'm not even there. They talk to my computer illiterate husband instead. I'm just lucky that he looks at them and says 'talk to her, I haven't got any idea what you're babbling about'. A few times it's helped. Most of the time it doesn't.

[BlueIris]

15. Dear Lord. That is awful.

Blech.

[flvegan]

5. What store?

Stupid? Yes. Ignorant? No doubt. Common? Sadly, most likely.

[LeftyMom]

7. Fry's Electronics

They're pretty notorious for bad service anyhow. I was there to get LK a new mouse and just wanted to look into what a new car stereo and speakers are going to run me, though if I'd got a great deal I could have bought something today.

[Oeditpus Rex]

21. You shopping for car stereo gear?

Check here: www.crutchfield.com

I love these guys. FABulous customer support, even if you just have questions about what to buy — hell, especially for that. And a hell of a selection. :thumbsup:

[KyndCulture]

6. Oh oh was it circuit city or best buy???

I got treated like the dogs dinner at both.

[LeftyMom]

9. I used to work for both of them, oddly enough.

Retail being what it is though, anybody I knew at either is long gone or I'd go get a friend to help me out.

[KyndCulture]

11. Circuit City was the worst...

I had a company check authorized to 3000.00 to buy a laptop, scanner and digital camera. I couldn't get the barf bag salesguy (10 yrs younger than me) to even give me the time of day he was busy fawning over some surfer dudes checking out the rad cellphones...

I was red in the face and slamming shit around by the time I gotta out of there. I did give the manager a piece of my mind - which he completely thought was an insane overreacting woman, I'm sure.

I ended up at Computer City (back when they existed) and got a FEMALE sales person to help me.

It really is a gender thing.. high tech electronics, ANYTHING to do with a car, and on and on.

[LeftyMom]

12. We always had really good luck with female salespeople at my store

Because of the location we had a lot of female shoppers but also a lot of older people. They respond much better to questions about what they want and then advice about what will do that than to technical jargon and upselling.

[WCGreen]

18. You should make a copy of that reciept and send it to

the Sales Manager at Circuit City and explain that you were willing to purchase the same stuff from them, but a caveman sales "associate" was too busy with all the men in the store to notice me...

[China_cat]

22. Sounds almost like my last run in with CC

Except that I was looking for a laptop, knew exactly what I wanted...and found it...but the sales person refused to consider selling it to me. Kept telling me that, no, that wasn't REALLY what I wanted. It wasn't like he was trying to sell me something more expensive, either. He kept pointing me toward cheaper products. And, no matter what I said he just refused to say anything more than "no, you don't want that".

I finally found a manager and told him I'd be going elsewhere for my laptop and why. And then emailed corporate when I got home.

From what I understand, that clerk is now manager of the electronics department. I buy a lot off the web now.

[L A Woman]

23. that's why i walk right past the male salespeople...

and ask for a woman. i can't be bothered and i'd much rather contribute to a woman's commission.

[RedCappedBandit]

25. Is that not also sexist?

:shrug:

[CanuckAmok]

8. Why do you assume it's a gender thing? Maybe they just don't like you.

Just sayin'.

[LeftyMom]

10. They'd have to say hello to figure out if they liked me or not

and really it doesn't matter. As long as I'm not abusive (and I used to work in retail, so I treat salespeople well) than they need to do thier job and answer my questions.

[flvegan]

13. Hmmm...yes.

Considering the lines in the sand on this, the only difference being the gender (or hair color, etc) then it seems to be a valid point, all things considered.

Oh, and "just don't like you" doesn't float in the customer service world, at all. It's kind of like saying that maybe some folks are just assholes and will respond in kind with their type. Doesn't really get to the bottom of anything, does it?

Just sayin'

[CanuckAmok]

27. Well, yeah....

Of course it doesn't float in the customer service world, but I think it's pretty obvious that we're talking about clerks who suck, in this situation. Poor clerks seldom last very long.

[arwalden]

24. Back In My Retail Days I Developed A 6th Sense About Customers...

... and which ones would be troublesome. It wasn't so easy to predict which ones would spend money, or how much money... but it was easy enough to tell which ones would be demanding and difficult to please.

[Gormy Cuss]

14. Absolutely right. Flag down a manager on the way out too

I love to splain to management why I'm spending XXX dollars somewhere else. I also tell managers when I've had exceptionally good service too.

[noshenanigans]

16. Fry's can barely say they have "employees"

I think they run their business based on "let's have a wacky theme!" and don't care about having anybody work there that knows anything.

I can't stand going into a store and getting ignored. A weird problem is also having sales people that won't leave you alone. I get that in Nordstrom's something awful.. everything I turn there's someone trying to sell me on a new Kate Spade something. Pff.

[suzbaby]

17. My mother,

tried to buy a car at a used sales lot.....the salesman refused to sell her a car and told her to, "Come on back when you have your husband with you." I'll never forget that. :mad:

[EFerrari]

19. You can tip that to advantage. I took my 5 ft mom in a shawl

with me on a rainy day to buy the loss leader on a car lot. She has a thick accent, too.

After about 30 minutes, we said we were going for coffee and would be back. The sales team went back to sitting on plastic chairs in their awful cold, coffeeless office.

Mom walked out of there with the car I wanted BELOW the advertised already low price.

They never saw her coming. :hi:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. Years ago I was test-driving a car at a dealership with the salesman.

The car had manual transmission, which I was quite familiar with. The salesman, a young guy (about my age, at the time), said, "You handle that stick shift pretty well, for a girl." Without a word, I turned the car around and drove back to the dealership, handed the guy the keys, and told him his sexist remark just cost him a sale.

[bleedingheart]

26. I loved the time I was looking for a new mountain bike and

the salesman wanted to explain why one bike was better...and he literally told me that it was a bit complicated because you would have to understand physics to appreciate the design...and that he didn't want to "bore me"...

I then informed him that I was an engineer...he got red faced and basically lost the sale.

[RandomKoolzip]

28. It's also a class thing.

You'll get the same reaction from salespeople if you look like a poor slob (which I do).

The solution for women is to just be more aggressive and "in your face" - of course, that seems to be cogent advice for women in just about any situation.