Tip: If you decide to shop at Target, do NOT wear a red polo shirt and khakis.
I was strolling (if you could call it that) through there yesterday after work to see if I could get inspiration for a last minute gift for my wife. Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), it was packed. Each and every time I turned down an aisle, I would be approached by at least one person – sometimes two or three – for information about some product or its location. I felt like there was a beacon over my head or something.
Apparently, I was wearing what was perceived to be the Official Target Employee Uniform. After a while I got tired of saying, “Sorry, I don’t work here”, and left.
They need to hire more people. And I still haven’t got that present.
That happens to me a lot at Lowe’s! I don’t know if I look like I know what I’m doing or if guys are being subtle and are hitting on me. No women ever ask me any questions there though so I’m going with option B.
I used to get that in any store I was in. This was in the days before uniforms, but people would always come up to me and ask for help. I guess I looked like a store clerk.
I worked at Target for a while. I think they chose that as their “uniform” because most people own it, or can easily get it. And they don’t have to buy uniforms, then. But it means I am conscious of what I am wearing whenever I go in there.
I visited the Waterford plant in Ireland and waited for my wife to get out of the bathroom. Since I was wearing a suit, and not typical American Tourist garb, everyone came over and asked me where they could buy things. I looked too much like a company rep.
I used to get this a lot, too. Even funnier, on my trips to Vegas I was always getting stopped by people in the casinos who were trying to find the nearest bathroom, or the buffet, or which entrance the shuttle bus was at. Of course, I usually knew the answer anyway; I used to go there often enough that I started muttering to myself about the damn tourists blocking traffic.
I lived in Paris in the area of the Gare due Nord/Gare de l’Est railway stations. I seemed to get a lot questions in the stations about train routes and such, although I’m pretty sure I didn’t look anything like an SNCF employee. The funniest was the time I was asked where Gare du Nord was. We were standing in front of it.
When I used to work at Target, we’d have to occasionally go “undercover” during this time and wear anything but the red shirt/khakis just so we could get work done without being interrupted every 5 minutes…
A couple weeks ago, an “angry looking” woman approached me in the grocery store. She asked me where the large cans of tomatoes were. I told her I didn’t work there. She scowled at me and said, “I never said you did, did I?”.
It’s been nearly 8 years since I last worked a retail job, but I still get asked for help whenever I’m in a clothing store (well, the ones that don’t require name badges or uniforms, anyway).
It probably doesn’t help that I can still fold a shirt perfectly in 10 seconds flat, and can’t help but re-fold things before putting them back where I found them.
When I’m perceived as an employee and asked where something is, I like to direct them to the other end of the store. Americans don’t get enough exercise.
I have received questions from people who weren’t assuming I was an employee. People who are new to a store tend to think other shoppers know where things are.
I’ve never worked retail, and I always get assumed to be an employee, too. The last time it happened, last week, I was wearing my outside jacket and iPod. That caused me a certain amount of - summer is worse for this, because I don’t usually have a jacket on. Those of us who have this happen regularly, we must have a certain demeanour while shopping - I enjoy shopping, so I don’t think I’m scowling like a retail drone, but maybe I am. Maybe I should get a t-shirt made up that has a big, white, block letter “NOT STAFF” on the back.
When I was a teenager, I read an article on “How to Pick Up Women” (hey, I was desperate). One of the sure-fire suggestions it gave was to ask a woman at a supermarket where the aspirin was. The reasoning is that this would force the woman’s mothering instincts to kick in, and she would automatically want to take care of you.
- summer is worse for this, because I don’t usually have a jacket on. Those of us who have this happen regularly, we must have a certain demeanour while shopping - I enjoy shopping, so I don’t think I’m scowling like a retail drone, but maybe I am. Maybe I should get a t-shirt made up that has a big, white, block letter “NOT STAFF” on the back.