If you are not a regular customer at luxury brand stores, it may be intimidating to come in because you feel the judgment coming from the sales associates. You almost hear them thinking about what are you doing there and they might not come to consult you and even refuse if you ask.
These people earn from commission, so if they feel that a customer who came won’t buy anything, they might not bother serving them. But not all of them have a good intuition and when they judge a book by its cover instead of doing their job, they might be proven wrong.
A Reddit user shared a story about how he was ignored by a salesman when he had intention to buy some expensive items and how he made sure that the sales associate knew what a mistake he'd made. People responded with their own stories with a satisfying end of putting the salespeople in their place.
More info: Reddit
Revenge is sweet, even if it's petty, and this man was able to see the face of the sales associate realizing the commission he lost
Image credits: Phillip Pessar (not the actual photo)
The story takes place in the late '90s when the Original Poster (OP) was 18 and was just starting his new job. He was able to get a position at Macy's Herald Square through a family member as a clothing specialist for Guess Jeans.
Macy's Herald Square is considered to be "America's Largest Department Store" and within the 11 levels, you can find a variety of shops. Its target shopper is the American middle class who can afford to consider quality, so you can find some higher-end shops such as Coach or the well-known luxury brands such as Gucci or Louis Vuitton, which are the ones with a reputation of poor customer service if you don’t look the part.
This happened in the late '90s when the author of the post was 18 and was finishing his orientation week in his new job
Image credits: domcobeo
The dress code for OP’s job was to wear business attire, or he was allowed to be more casual if he was wearing clothes of the brand he was representing. So during his lunch break, when he was on orientation week, he thought to look around and invest in his appearance.
He got fitted for suits, but shoes were a bit overwhelming as there were so many to choose from. So the OP wanted help, but the sales associate rudely ignored him, although he found a manager who was happy to assist and the customer promised to come back and buy what he chose.
When the new worker was leaving, he overheard that the sales associate didn’t want to help him because he was convinced he wasn’t going to buy anything. However, when Bored Panda contacted the Redditor, he explained that the rude salesperson found out that he will actually be purchasing shoes as the manager put them aside for him.
So when the OP’s mom arrived to buy him the shoes, it was the original salesperson who greeted them. But the OP made sure that it was the manager who made the sale and not the rude salesman as he didn’t want him to get commission from his purchase.
Because the position required a certain look, he used his lunch break to look around for something and was planning on buying them with his mom
Image credits: domcobeo
The customer doesn't know for sure how big of a commission the sales associate lost but a normal amount could have been between 10 and 20 percent from the purchase amount. Also, he heard that the rude employee was written up for not acknowledging a possible customer.
The unpleasant experience happened on the last day of OP’s orientation and he would have been starting his job the next day, so he planned to visit the manager to show him how the shoes went with his suit and was suggested to show it to the salesperson as well to let him know what he lost.
This scene in the Reddit story definitely wasn’t as dramatic as the one in the movie Pretty Woman, but still quite satisfying. But the scene of the customer coming back to the store to show off how rich she actually is in Pretty Woman was so impactful that it lent its name to the Pretty Woman Effect.
While searching for shoes, he asked a salesperson for help, but didn't get any as they assumed he wouldn't buy anything
Image credits: domcobeo
The Pretty Woman Effect is explained as the desire to prove the sales associate who was rude to you because they didn’t expect a purchase from you wrong. Which means you need to spend money and make the salesperson regret treating you badly, even if you weren’t planning on it originally.
There is research that backs up the theory that snobby staff makes people spend more and they earn more commission than their polite colleagues. The authors of the research were the ones to coin the term.
Morgan K. Ward and Darren W. Dahl found that “after threat, consumers have more positive attitudes and higher willingness to pay when (1) the rejection comes from an aspirational (vs. nonaspirational) brand, (2) the consumer relates the brand to his/her ideal self-concept, (3) s/he is unable to self-affirm before rejection, (4) the salesperson delivering the threat reflects the brand, and (5) the threat occurred recently.”
That was a mistake as he came back to the store with his mom and made a pretty big purchase but didn't allow that sales associate to take the sale
Image credits: domcobeo
Darren Dahl explained what their conclusions mean: “It appears that snobbiness might actually be a qualification worth considering for luxury brands like Louis Vuitton or Gucci," because these brands are what customers aspire to and this effect wasn’t observed with lower-end retailers like Gap or American Eagle.
He also commented, "Our research indicates they can end up having a similar effect to an ‘in-group’ in high school that others aspire to join."
The manager of that store suggested coming in with the shoes on to his job and showing the rude salesperson what he lost
Image credits: Martin Stabenfeldt (not the actual photo)
Although being rude to a customer may lead to a sale because the customer is angry that anyone would assume they don’t have money, wanting to prove they are worth the time, making a customer feel bad is just wrong and unprofessional.
Most people would just rather be consulted as regular customers, as it is evident from the response the story got, as many people started sharing their own experiences highlighting the negative reaction. The OP also agreed that "as far as customer service you should always acknowledge a potential Customer and let them know you're available if they need help or not."
Do you have a similar story? Do you think this is an actual sales tactic or salespeople allow themselves to assume too much and don't even try to ignore their judgment? Let us know your opinions in the comments.
The situation reminded people of the moment in the movie Pretty Woman and many of them had actually experienced something similar
Image credits: Erik Mclean (not the actual photo)
