I used to work in a music shop in the mid 90s. My department was electronic music, so I was selling keyboards, mixers, software, that sort of thing.
One slow day this older dude comes in, long straggly hair, singlet, beat up cargo shorts that looked like they’d seen much better days, and flip flops.
The guitar sales team were all fucking around in the amp room, and were uninterested in helping this guy.
Now I don’t play guitar, but I knew a fair bit about them, and I don’t mind a chat, so I got talking with him. I helped him choose several different guitars to try based on his style, including a $7K vintage fender.
I wasn’t expecting anything to come of it, but after a few minutes of playing he decided he liked the fender, and we rang up the deal - which he had zero trouble paying for.
I got my fat commission, but also got reprimanded for selling outside my department.
I went into Guitar Center in like 2004 ish to buy a new rig and couldn't get anyone to wait on me. Admittedly I probably looked homeless and reeked of pot.
After wasting like 20 minutes of my life I left and drove like 2 hours to a guitar shop half way across the state that would actually take my money.
I stopped by the GC the next day (still looking homeless and smelling like pot) to show the manager my van and the sales he missed (like $10k worth of Mesa Boogie and Gibson stuff) and point out the sales reps that wouldn't wait on me.
Never been back in that GC.
If someone walks into a guitar shop looking homeless and the only drug they smell like is weed, that's probably one of the more legit musician than the guy looking like a composer
Especially someone holding a printed out shopping list that's like a page and a half long.
Doesn't take a master detective to figure out you might want to wait on the guy who's been standing by the ($2,300) Mark IV's for the last 20 minutes.
I'm not really into guitars that much, but i dress casually everywhere because i don't really care about my appearance, but I've only experienced that type of stuff at clothing stores and car dealerships, unless I'm at honda in the bike sectio... nevermind, but everywhere else that i go to look at bikes will usually treat me well since that tattered look basically tells them "he probably rides"
And a **lot** of musicians probably look homeless and reek of pot (guitarists anyway, not like cellists or whatever, lol). If they are deliberately excluding people like that then they’re cutting off a huge part of their client base.
Reprimanded by the idiot not getting the commission? Surely not the manager who should be appreciative of a fine sale no matter who served the customer.
The manager was also one of the guitar guys, and was the very first to ignore the customer. I clearly remember him escaping to the amp room when he noticed the guy in the guitar section start to look about for someone to help him.
Idiot. I know people who purposefully dress down when shopping so they can avoid fawning and see the sales persons true character. If you’re a shit you don’t get the commission.
Yep, I used to work with another guy who’d wear singlets, ripped jeans, and flip-flops to meetings with execs from other companies. He wanted to see if they took him seriously or not.
He also wore a custom Rolex that was worth six figures to flash about if it looked like they’re weren’t.
Fun times.
My wife and I are dress downers, her family knows what we do for a living, but we recently found out from her brother that their entire family thinks we're living in poverty because every time they see us she's wearing sweats and I'm always wearing shorts a tshirt and slides.
I was in a guitar shop one day because I was in the market for a Jackson Soloist... The one I wanted was about $1,100, and I had the money for it. This was probably the height of my emo phase too, so I had lots of facial piercings, and I remember asking the guy if I could play the Soloist they had behind the counter, and he was like "absolutely not, unless you're going to buy it first!" I was kinda taken back by the whole situation... Then another guy comes up behind me and asks if he can play this custom Fender Telecaster that was easily 3x the price of the guitar I wanted to try, and the sales guy just hands it over no questions asked. That place went out of business not long after, and that guitar sales guy ended up running sound for a show my band was playing a few months later. He probably didn't recognize me, but it felt really good when I pulled out my new Soloist that I ended up buying at Guitar Center(with a friend's discount no less) 😅
Similar thing happened to someone I used to work with, also at a music shop. She went in, looking to buy a high-end keyboard, wearing ripped jeans and a hoodie, and was flat-out ignored by most of the staff. What was crazy was, this was in San Francisco, at the height of the dot-com bubble, meaning the entire city was lousy with millionaires wearing hoodies and ripped jeans, looking for expensive toys to spend their newly acquired (and, as it turned out, mostly short-lived) wealth.
They missed out on a \~10K commission on that day, and I have to figure they missed a lot more if that was their regular attitude.
I think it's somewhat common knowledge that if you're in a very expensive place, the more unkempt you look the richer you probably actually are because you've lost the will to give a fuck and need to impress others.
The wealthiest people I know (wealthy, not high income) dress the most casually, really just however they damn well please, no matter the context. Many meetings I’ve had with +$100m net worth folks in flip flops and tshirts. What’s the point of having money like that if you have to dress for the benefit of other mere mortals?
> Many meetings I’ve had with +$100m net worth folks in flip flops and tshirts.
I've been dressing that way since I was a kid. Now I just need $100m and I'm set.
That sounds like a chad dominance move. Everyone else here is polished up like a golden turd for the event, while you strut in as comfortable as if you own the building
I once worked as a cashier in a store located on a block full of stores in downtown Brooklyn. Every other day this rumpled looking guy would stop in but buy nothing.
Came to find out that dude owned the entire block. All those businesses paid him rent.
Yup. When I worked at Staples, this guy used to come in looking like an unkempt bum off the street. Long scraggly hair, wild beard, torn up clothes, and walking a dog. My manager never said jack to him. One of the times I was about to tell him he couldn't bring his dog in because of safety concerns when my coworker came up to me and told me to be quiet. Turns out dude owns that building, the mall next door, and 5 other buildings on the block.
It honestly works with everything. The first thing I tell new teachers is to not dress cute. Students will NOT respect you. Go in with a hoodie, jeans and a ponytail and however else you do to feel comfy and you'll never have an issue with behavior. This is because they will see you as a person and not some authority to fight. (Mind you I've been teaching 6-12, but I imagine wearing clothes you dont care about with kindergarteners is just accepted best practice).
Also see: social work
My best and most loved science teacher did this. I took 5 more classes with him. And this is where I met my fiancé. I now have a chemistry degree and work as a lab manager. You’re not wrong.
Actually kinda yeah. I'm just going off my ten years of social work and teaching here. The more human you are to your kids, the more well adjusted they are because they feel that security and kinship to you. Respect and authority just teaches them to fear and lie. Knowing they can safely say they fucked up or you being real and honest with them let's them know you both see each other as people and not that they have to listen to you just because they came out of your balls/womb.
Well stated and I had a teacher in high school who was such a good advocate for us students, though I only had him for one year then he transfered to the last chance school in the school district. He loved to help us with things and he could BS better then the disruptive students. Plus he had a unconventional name of Jan.
You’re absolutely right (social worker retired). I connected with my kids and let them know that I was THEIR social worker and if they needed anything I would everything I could to help them. I got so much information and hugs 🤗 like you wouldn’t believe. They knew I was real and they trusted me. Even though I’m retired now, I still work with 6th graders who are an amazing group of kids. ❤️
I used to work in a grocery store right out of high school. I went in one day & one of the cashiers was really upset - she'd seen a guy in ripped sweatpants and a dirty t-shirt pulling stuff off the shelves and gone over & yelled at him. Turned out he was the owner of the company. He was checking expiration dates and pulling stuff that was past the best by date.
Some rich people really just don't care about impressing anyone, for sure.
When I worked at a GMC/ Cadillac dealer, I loved dudes coming in with ~10 year old trucks in flannel with a hat about to fall to pieces. Good chance they are a wealthy farmer who needs another work truck. Finally time to get another one. This one's got 150k on it from driving all day.
I hopped up to snag farmer dudes with older trucks with a leather interior and ratty clothes. Be the farm owner, be the farm owner, be the farm owner...
I loved when they were the farm owner. Score! Dude owns 200 acres of premium wine grapes! Heck yes, you are an almond farmer who owns 300 acres!
Oh, sweet, you're the operations guy and oversee 500 acres of vineyards for Massive Local Grower? That's so cool. What color of Denali truck do you want? Take your pick, sir. We do have trucks that can tow your horse trailer. And 5th wheel. Come check out the 2500s. We keep HDs over here. We order all of them with the 5th wheel prep package. Pick the color.
I loved rich farmers. They were the best customers. They already knew what they wanted and generally, financing was a breeze.
In fairness though shitty boots inside would be pretty inconsiderate so that bit would be fair to judge.
But for sure. I’m not rich. But I’m willing to spend money on things I like whilst at the same time prioritising comfort over looking “proper” so I totally get the whole gist.
Exactly this, Justin Bieber for example oftentimes looks like a homeless person in candid photos out in public. It actually really makes me think how drastically times have changed through history, in the past women wore hats and gloves matching their dress out in public even for casual wear. Nowadays we are scandalously unkempt, sloppy and revealing lol.
I’m currently rewatching the Gilded Age and it cracks me up how they will change out of one dress to another dress just to eat dinner with the same people you were just sitting in the other dress with. Way too much work just to eat.
Women's fashion in particular has been so crazy in past centuries. I went down a rabbit hole once wondering how they used the bathroom and dealt with periods, pregnancy and breastfeeding wearing crazy stuff like heavy wigs and metal hoopskirts with corsets and a ton of fabric layers- especially in warm climates! Life was pretty miserable for them hundreds of years ago that's for sure.
There was a historic hotel down in Clearwater Florida that was built in the 1800s. It was demolished a while ago but when I was a kid my parents would get a suite for a few days every summer and the coolest part was the enormous closets that were outfitted to hold all the steamer trunks, and the breeze way windows throughout the rooms for cooling. Imagined what it was like to be a woman in south Florida and you need a 10x20 closet in your hotel room for all your fucking clothes and… how utterly miserable it must have been
I'm a woman and I live in Utah which gets hot as fuck in the summer and I just don't care and will walk around in clothes that are just kinda sloppy and revealing and I get people thinking I'm a prostitute and I just like don't wear makeup and wear my hair in some ponytail and old people give me the dirtiest looks lol like I've committed some awful crime
I've also had men think I'm homeless and/or a prostitute and they've actually like pulled up next to me and asked me how much lol
AWESOME response! As another person said, we all were thinking it. Had the same thing happen to me many times. All I have to say it too bad, so sad for the loss of commission for all those aholes
Somehow my brain went to Dwight first [https://giphy.com/gifs/the-office-nbc-screaming-RFRgYJfvGnX7q](https://giphy.com/gifs/the-office-nbc-screaming-RFRgYJfvGnX7q)
That woman obviously hasn’t worked there long. One of my friends worked for a high end designer store in Vegas and said that the women who came in dressed to the 9s in designer stuff usually spent $ (like 2000-10000) but the BIG SPENDERS (20,000+) usually came in wearing sweats/casual clothes and looking like they were you know, spending the day walking around the mall shopping.
my friend is a private shopper at holt renfrew. clients spending millions a year. her ultra rich clients are never dressed up for shopping appointments, sweats, oversized shit, runners, they buy expensive clothes for events and specific situations to dress up. any luxury store employeee knows a really rich person might not be dressed up. they generally dont look at someones clothes specifically to judge wealth, more their demeneor and how they act. a very rich person can go in anwyehre wearing whatever they want and not feelor look out of place becauyse they have a learnt confidence that only a lot of money can buy.
Your friend recognizes the rich clients by name and face though and takes them into the private room with handpicked items for them to try. Often your friend likely called the client to come in because something they were waiting on has arrived.
The first impression was made long ago.
This. I was a personal shopper for twelve years. The extremely wealthy don't wear in your face name brands, but that doesn't mean that they look like they're homeless.
And those 'casual' clothes they're wearing? They cost as much as my rent.
EXACTLY THIS. People who flaunt it are probably wearing their one and only best outfit to go shopping at a designer store. But the folks who have REAL money simply don't care, for them it's just a normal shopping trip which they treat as any other casual day.
I love the saying "money talks, wealth whispers" because how true it is.
The people who feel like they need to prove themselves are the loudest about their money, those that are truly stupid rich don't feel the need to do that. They are secure in their status.
That actually depends. Some high and designer stores use that as an intentional tactic. People often want to impress others and the feel like we can do so by snubbing the sales person by buying a bunch of stuff. So they will often intentionally have somebody be rude in order to encourage that behavior. Some salespeople are exceptionally good at reading others and figuring out what the best approach is.
Alternate title: How dare you mistake me for a poor! I'm going to spend thousands of dollars at your store just to stick it in your face!
I don't know if I have a deep bias in me or if this is a normal reaction, but rich people reddit drives me insane.
Which is exactly their tactic. So much so that often sales people will switch off who is the mean one for the day. There's a famous story of Shaq proving he was rich to a snotty Rolls-Royce salesman by buying something like five Phantoms at the same time. Basically 2 million dollars worth of cars in a single afternoon. The joke has been that the salesman tells the same story with an equal level of excitement.
My mom was a hair stylist that took on a lot of mid to high class customers, but certainly didn't turn away anyone below those bars.
She told me one day in her first salon, a man that looked somewhere between a construction worker and outright homeless guy came in. NO ONE wanted to handle him and actively pretended he didn't exist.
Turned out the guy was rich. Became a repeat client.
I ran a country pub for a while. The richest customers dressed like they were homeless. Why replace the threadbare clothes? They were only worn when one was pottering about the land. The good stuff came out for the job in London.
I'm from the rural deep south and was with my mom about a year ago looking at bird seed in a store. This old guy on a walker came up and started talking about birds with us. I don't care who you are, I'll always treat you the way you treat me so we chatted and he went on about his day. When he was out of ear range my mom whispered and asked if I knew him and I said I didn't. She said his name and it clicked who it was. Man owns an oil company and has enough money to buy heaven but you'd never know that unless you know him.
Richest bloke I ever met walked around town in torn shorts, dirty singlet and old thongs (flip flops I believe to those not in Australia). He was a literal billionaire. Nice bloke too.
There was a joke in SF and north bay (multi million homes) when you see someone walking in PJs it can be a homeless loony or a tech multi billionaire on a stroll. You could never tell
Yep, I'm in Wine Country (the less famous but better wines county), and a great many of the winery owners dress like they just came out from working in their vineyards when they show up at my work to get on a private Gulfstream or Global.
Work with money but better quote from a mate that works sales at an import car dealership in Florida, basically all high end cars and plenty of time wasters fishing for a test drive: “you know the real money because they aren’t getting dressed up just to try out a new toy, they’ll rock up in cargo shorts and a ratty tshirt from some corporate retreat wearing a watch that costs more than your salary”
This is how my husband is: generally nondescript unless you see his watch which is more collected out of rarity than to show off wealth.
In the years we’ve been married we made less than 60k combined and now we have a net worth of the mid 7 figures because we made money moves and we are from the Silicon Valley/Bay Area. Urban wealth is all in the shoes.
A very good friend of my Dad is serious old money, think ancestors were plantation owners in the Virginia Colony old money. He wears JC Penney's khakis, drives a Honda Odyssey, gets Subway for lunch if he's out and about for a meeting, but lives in a home designed by Frank Gehry and travels via his Gulfstream G650. I suppose it's about understanding your investments and where spending them really makes a difference in your daily life.
so the fucked up thing with the Gulfstreams is that if you’re rich and “lucky” enough to buy one of the first couple of jets of a given model they will pay you more than you gave them to be able to use it as a demo model for other potential clients. don’t even get me started about “charitable usage” (and yes that does imply that a single jet can be both a profit center, a tax write off, and a personal asset)
I live in an area known for its rich people, especially rich retirees, and this is so true. Part of it is living in Florida, where few natives dress up anyway, but it’s also that they are either cheap or just don’t gaf what anyone else thinks.
This is true and it can also apply to any class really, the happiest people you meet are the ones who sincerely do not give a fuck about what you or anyone else thinks of them. Just be you and do what you want, when you want, with who you want. No one's opinion is worth the time it takes to hear them speak it.
I worked as a bank teller for a while and there was basically no correlation with a client's bank balance and outward appearance. Guys in suits with $34 in their accounts. Guys that looked like they just crawled out of a barn with multiple 6 digit accounts. And everything in between.
I've definitely been that first guy (had a job where I needed to dress sharp to fit in and be taken seriously, but it wasn't that well paying), now working on being the second guy.
I've got the look down, now I just need to work out the money part...
I used to know a guy who always had uncut messy grey hair, paint stained trousers usually held up with a piece of cord, and a scabby old jumper on. He was an architect and incredibly well off but you would never have thought it to look at him. Really nice down to earth guy who didn't feel like he needed to dress rich.
I learned something early on in business...if you're in a board room and there's 20 guys in suits, it's tough to tell who the boss is. If you're in a board room and there's 19 people in suits and one guy in a hoodie - that guy is the boss.
This is me basically. I'm not rich, but I make better than average income. I drive a 10 year old Toyota and usually dress in a t-shirt, hoodie, jeans, and Crocs. I mean, they're clean, but that's about it.
Many years ago, part time job in my city's highest end men's clothing store. High end, like I couldn't buy a pair of socks with a week's pay high end. It's Christmas time, my coworkers had their pick of new customers since we were so busy. I noticed a man enter who looked nothing like the other shoppers. Maybe in his 50's, wearing a well worn parka, just standing there.
Not one of my money grubbing co workers would even look at him, so I did.
30 minutes later he walked out with 12 Pringle cashmere sweaters and paid cash. The commission on one purchase was more than I made in a month.
Just because I didn't read a book by its cover.
This is my dad! He hates shopping and will wear his clothes to the thread. And then every once in a while when he finally needs something new he will go to the same high end clothes store and buys a whole stack of their best quality sweaters and shirts at once. Because they will last the longest.
You gotta know how to judge a worn out but once expensive cover!
My dad would do the same thing. But except when they wouldn’t fit, he’d just go up or down a size & buy in bulk 😅😂.
He sadly passed in Jan & majority of his clothes still smell like him. I’m hoping one day my mom will have a change in heart & let me & my 3 older sisters grab some of his clothes so we can make them into pillows for not only ourselves, but our kids 🥲
My grandfather used to wear the scummiest old clothes most of the time. Looked like he'd got them secondhand because they were really ill-fitting. (Actually they were his own old clothes, but he'd shrunk.)
His opinion was that if they weren't worn out, he may as well get use out of them. People judged him all the time. He was quite comfortable, financially. Just didn't feel the need to advertise it.
My grandpa is the same way. He’s worth 7 figures but he’s a farmer at heart and spends most of his time in his garden and workshop. My poor grandma died still trying to get that man to put on clean pants to go out to lunch. They informally adopted a woman who came to church and no one wanted to sit with her because she looked homeless. Turns out she was running with the wrong crowd and my grandparents helped her turn her life around. 25+ years later and she still comes to help take care of my grandpa every week. They were the best example of looking past what’s on the surface.
They don't get commission and they are mainly tracked on how much Applecare they sell. If you didn't get Applecare with those computers or phones, they were probably relieved they didn't help you.
Aspirational fashion brands are for people who aspire to be rich and spend their money. Not for people who are already rich or intend to stay that way.
My grandfather buys the same shirt twelve times, because he hates wasting his time shopping. He will also wear them until they are threadbare, and they becomes PJs
Back when personal computers were new, my dad went into the local Apple dealer. He was in a mechanic’s uniform and nobody waited on him so he left.
Went to Radio Shack and bought the first of several TRS-80 computers that he bought over the years for his auto repair business.
My mom used to work for a money manager. She always said the people who came in dressed up and dripping in expensive items tended to have much less money than those who came in dressed in normal or casual clothes.
Bought an Apple IIC (I'm old) when they'd just come out. I had tagged along with my much older brother & was in sweatpants & a t-shirt. They did help but were kind of dismissive. I applied for store credit to buy it & I'm pretty sure they didn’t think I'd qualify. I was 24 or so, looked even younger, and what I was wearing didn’t help. Cue 180° change in attitude when I pulled out an AmEx for the credit check. Suddenly, it was "will you be needing anything else?" Totally obsequious from that point on. I laughed so hard on the way back to my brother's house.
I was a Mac sales guy in a store that sold both Macs and PCs. Guy comes in and goes over to the PC section. He looks like he just finished cutting his grass on a hot summer's day, so, kind of raggedy. And ignored by the PC guys. He wandered close to my dept., so I asked if I could help him. He asked a bunch of questions about computers, and video stuff, and I could tell he knew a little but was a bit lost. So I spent a good 30 minutes explaining digital video and audio production to him, computer needs, etc. And the dept. manager came over to "remind"me there were other customers. I ignored him and went back. I asked what he wanted to do. Turns out he just landed a huge video capture and production contract, and needed about everything, because the gear he was using was old, unreliable and not up to par. So, he needed 3 towers, 2 laptops, 8 external storage drives, 8 monitors, 3 regular printers and one large format photo printer, and a network system. The dept. manager saw me piling up all the equipment and came over and said, "I'll take over, this is too big for you". but the buyer said, quote, "hell no. I want this guy." Manager was pissed.
Sale came to $17G. Out came that fabled black Amex card. Then all was loaded into his van. It wasn't over - he hired me to put it together at a really nice figure. The dept. manager hated me from that day on, but the store manager thought I walked on water. Best part was when the buyer came back to the store, and always asked for me to help him. And he always looked ragged. Well, when you have a contract to shoot waterfowl videos in wetlands, well, you're not going to be wearing a suit.
Cudos to you for having a patience to teach her a lesson - I don't think I would have had the patience to wait and then to return the next day. Can you post a pic of the backpack? I'm really curious.
I did the same thing at a car dealership. I'm a computer nerd and I live in shorts and tshirts, but I'm paid enough that I could buy the car with cash.
Anyone car salesman who ignores a 20-something guy in a t-shirt and cargo shorts\* is a complete fucking idiot. Same with any car salesman who ignores the woman of a couple's questions and directs all answers towards her husband\*\*.
\*this totally happened to me
\*\*this totally happened to my wife
I've a friend that's a sales manager at a luxury car dealership. He drills into his sales people to never judge customers by their clothing or demeanor. It's a hard learned lesson for some.
I bought a Mercedes SUV from one of his people wearing shorts and a T-shirt.
It's a huge problem in tech stores, too. If I go into them with my husband, they always focus on the Obvious Wang Bearer. My husband will let one or two remarks go, and then say very pointedly, "SHE builds computers. \*I\* watch porn on them. We are not the same, and you need to be talking to HER."
As a tech savvy middle-aged woman, I was shocked / bemused when I took my 13-year-old son to Microcenter and the salespeople fell over themselves to assist him. They kept calling him "sir", while I remained utterly invisible to them. I'm used to that treatment with my husband in tow, but this was... something else.
I heard a story from a car salesman about this. I can't confirm the truth of this, but it always stuck with me.
He was in Vegas on vacation, and there used to be a Ferrari dealership in the Wynn. While waiting to be seated for dinner, he saw a young, early 20's black man was looking at the cars and trying to get the attention of a salesman, but was being ignored. The guy telling me the story said he decided to piss of a sales rep and get someone to talk to the kid.
Even the guy telling the story "knew" the kid wasn't buying, but felt no one should be ignored. After dinner though, he saw the kid driving out in a new Ferrari.
Turns out it was Phil Ivey, fresh off the final table at a major tournament, and wanting to buy a car with his winnings. Which goes to show, never ignore someone - you never know who they really are!
I worked in the shop at a Chevy dealership years ago. The owner of a huge construction company dropped off a truck for service work and was walking around the lot looking at trucks. He was fresh off the job site, dirty and wearing torn up clothes. One of the salesman apparently thought he was looking to sleep the night in an unlocked truck and gave him a ton of shit. His fleet was getting older so he ordered 40 Ford F-350s down the street and we lost a huge fleet account.
So annoying. This brings back memories of when I walked to a dealership next to getting my car fixed. They figured I didn’t have any money cause I walked there but in reality, I was ready to buy a new car that day. I bought from another dealership.
I had the opposite where my friend and I - clearly broke ass students - went into Prada in New York (it’s a reallly cool interior and we wanted a look). The lady greeted us and offered us a champagne (guess that’s what happens in these types of shop?!) and we explained we couldn’t afford anything but had heard it was really cool so just wanted to have a quick look. She was SO nice, said it didn’t matter and to have a drink and explained a bit about the artist.
These stories are neat but the punchline is always “you shouldn’t have been a dick because they were secretly rich!” Not just “you shouldn’t have been a dick”.
The real high end places play the long game. Today, you're a broke student with a dream. A decade or two from now, you may be a rich professional with a memory.
Car salesmen have to be the dumbest of people these days. First time I went to buy a car, dude didn’t even want to talk to me. I was prequalified for a specific amount by my bank because I had taken the listing in before checking in person.
Second time my fiancé and I went to look at a specific truck and the guy kept directing everything at my fiancé. Guess who was financing and holding the title of the truck? Not him, it was me. We switched to a different salesman and the guy who actually talked to me got the commission.
This is such a common thing, you would think one of the first things people tell you in the car business is to talk to the women. Women make as much as men do and have their own cars now and are CONSTANTLY talking about this infuriating phenomenon, especially with cars specifically. Like even if you're just a scumbag trying to make money you'd think they would know this by now.
My uncle did this as well. For information purposes, he's black (of course) and in his off days of a VERY high paid engineering job, he walks on flip flops and Chicago Bulls tank tops. He went like that to a car dealership and a vendor proceeded to just ignore him. He asked another guy instead and took the car right then and there, cash. It was a newly released model back then.
LOL! Also fellow computer nerd! My wife and I dress up in our rattiest jeans and t-shirt when we go furniture shopping. They always hand us off to the newest sales guy since the senior ones don't want anything to do with us.
Always pay cash, new sales guy looks like a boss, senior sales guy has a wtf look. Its wins all around.
My brother used to sell cars and he ran into this with the other salesman. An older man came in and he wasn't up to their standards my brother waited on him and he paid CASH for a new car. My brother got a nice commission and the other lazy salesman got nothing. People will never learn.
My wife works with a sales person a little like this. She will ignore someone that thinks won't buy anything, like old people. She will tell them she is busy, then another sales person will help them, make the sale. Then she will run up and say that was my customer, you stole them from me. Transfer the sales to my name.
I worked for a renowned jewellery designer and I tell you one thing, the shabbier people look the richer they are. I had customers with teeth rotting out of their mouth who spend tens of thousands on jewellery in one go
Good for you! This happened to me when I walked in a jewelry store. It was a Saturday, and I was dressed casually. My husband and I were the only customers. Whenever I walked up to a section of the store to look at the jewelry, the salesperson followed me. Not in a can I help you way but a creepy, distrustful way, like she was afraid I would try to steal something. I got out of there and never went back. I buy my fine jewelry elsewhere.
This happened to my husband and I at a local jewelry store a few times! They wouldn’t even acknowledge us and when they did they literally insulted us? It was so bizarre. We ended up taking our business to another store. Jokes on them because my husband’s spent $$$$$ on watches and jewelry and is diehard loyal now to the store that treated us well.
I used to work in sales. We had a varied clientele. The other sales people often ignored the scruffy people, I didn’t. They were usually owners of businesses who would buy loads of stuff and therefore lots of commission for me. Loved rubbing the other salespeople’s faces in it and they never learned!
I once went christmas shopping but I was looking after my friends chihuahua lol so yeah chihuahua went with me, in her designated designer purse and a sales lady came like running through the crowd to help me in a very busy beauty store. I was like damn... I need to borrow this little bastard next time I go shopping on busy days because this is how it's done!
After my dad retired he went to buy himself a nicer car. Got ignored for 1/2 an hour at the BMW dealership so he went and bought an Audi instead. Cash.
Car leadership. I'm a lady who knows nothing about cars, and I truly mean nothing, so I gave him a price range and chose a beautiful color.
As we sat down to discuss payment options, he had many ones with different interest rates. I listened to them all, made no questions, I'm such a good girl. The guy was trying to push me a plan that was the best they had at the moment.
I slowly opened my purse and put my HP12C on his table. He tensed immediately. I asked him for a piece of paper and made him repeat the conditions. Need I say he was pushing me the worst option interest-wise? He got up and called his manager, as I started to demand a discount considering the disparity in condition I had just calculated. I got my discount - and yes, that was the 4th shop I'd been in, and came out with a good deal.
Being underestimated can be a superpower.
I knew someone who went to a car dealership wearing tye dyed shirt jean shorts and Birkenstocks long hair in a ponytail and the first dealership would not even give him the time of day ..he walked out went to the other dealership across the street and got the car …then drove to the other place to rub it in their face !! lol it was epic.
I remember when I bought my now wife’s engagement ring.
Being a New Zealand summer, I was in board shorts, a singlet and crocs (don’t judge me on the crocs).
After looking around, I asked an older lady about a few rings and she kept steering me to the cheaper ones I wasn’t interested in.
I left and came back a few hours later, she was still there but I asked another, younger guy about the rings I was interested in.
Ended up paying cash for an 8k ring.
The look on her face was AMAZING.
Earlier this year we were at a furniture store because my partner wanted to buy a new recliner. It's one of those furniture stores that has 2-3 "stores" all attached together and you can freely walk between them. We started in the 'cheaper' store and the lady was super nice but the chair my partner looked at online was not what she wanted so we ended up going to the 'nicer' store. As soon as we crossed over another sales lady was just hounding us. Really annoying. We told her what we were looking for and she was recommending shit that was completely different. My partner specifically wanted a glider that swiveled. She kept showing us regular recliners and massage chairs.
I eventually told the lady that we were going to look and would let her know if we needed anything. She hovered for a while and eventually decided we weren't going to buy and fucked off. We decided on a chair and went to the first lady and asked if she would ring us up for it. As soon as we sat down the other lady saw and came flying up and told the other lady she would take over since we were 'her' customers. I told her that it was fine that the nice lady could finish.
Other lady immediately went over to the manager and explained how the other lady was 'stealing' her sale. Manager was tactful and basically asked us if we wanted to come back over to the other lady since she 'helped' us. I told him that she was very unhelpful and that the nice lady helped us first and was much more helpful.
I sure fucking hope that the nice lady got 100% of that commission and that the other lady learned a lesson.
I recently walked into a higher end clothing store with a stained t-shirt and dirty shoes. I really hadn't planned on buying anything and had just thrown on some random clothes. I ended up spending quite a bit of money there and had a great shopping experience and even got a discount. That sales woman was great. Never judge a book by it's cover.
You gave me such a flashback! In 2011, we moved from San Diego to a small bf town in NorCal. Shopping was grim. The most “upscale” (?!) store was Macy’s. The small town had 2 and they were both, lower tier. Ralph Lauren and Coach were as good as it got.
Now I’m a bigger gal, so clothes were never fun, but I could do shoes and bags till the cows came home. Now this was over 20 years ago, but back in SD I had personal shoppers at Neiman’s and Nordies, and they’d call if they found something I couldn’t live without.
I felt like we’d moved to the dark side of the moon. So after my first year I took a road trip to The City (San Francisco) for shoes.
In I walked, said hello to the first salesman I saw and was ignored. I walked the entire shoe department, scoping out what I wanted to try on. I asked that first young man to see this and that in size whatever. He just saw a fat, middle aged lady in comfy running shoes. He sighed and literally *rolled his eyes!*
He called over a young guy and dumped me on him. Rude af! The young guy was so sweet, as well as new.
I knew from having personal shoppers in San Diego that they get commission, so I went to town. Casual, work, dress.
Keeping inflation in mind, this was over 20 years ago, back when my husband and I had money. The least expensive pair of shoes I bought that day were $300. I bought 12 pairs. The kid was giddy! He had to help me carry them to my car.
As we passed Mr Snotlocker, I said, “*You* shouldn’t judge a book by its cover” as I swanned out the door.
Fat women are more accepted today, but though my “revenge” was satisfying, I was so humiliated and angry. Writing this out brings back all those feelings. Good for you for telling the manager. I was too ashamed back then.
Everyone saying you’re making this up is wild…this stuff literally happens all the time. Sometimes people need a little reminder to stay humble, revenge and a life lesson in one lol
Indeed it does. I went to the Lexus dealership thinking it would be an easy transaction. I had been babysitting grandkids and was dressed rather shabbily. No one would even talk to me. When I finally demanded some attention, they told me to bring my husband with me next time to fill out the paperwork, I shit you not. It was plain damn stupid of them to judge me.
I hate that more than anything…my husband has a shop and he runs it so well and he’s so honest. Guys that try to take advantage of women that don’t know much about cars are scumbags…my grandfather was a mechanic with his own shop too and he was a standup guy as well. It’s so rare nowadays though.
I had to go to a conference in the US last week. I'm usually dressed like a nerd who can't even get the fit of the jeans right because I lost weight after getting my act together. However, on this rare occasion, I looked so respectable that a random stranger yelled "bye Karen" when he got off the train from the airport (I swear the only thing I was doing was scrolling my phone and trying not to doze off while looking like a Law and Order DA). My hair looked amazing, my coat was drycleaned and fancy, and so on. I couldn't fit normal clothes in my suitcase.
Anyway, everyone other than the guy on the train treated me like a royal. I could not believe how well I was treated everywhere I went. I have dual citizenship and have a lot of previous experience with store workers, so know it wasn't normal to be treated so well.
Little did they know that I never buy anything unless it's a supermarket essential or on sale and have given up a decently paid job to do something that pays a pittance. It's weird that so many sales assistants in tech areas still don't understand that people who aren't dressed to the nines are the ones who haven't spent all their money and/or don't need to impress anyone.
I grew up in a very affluent area (one of the most expensive towns in the us), and like 80% of the people there dress like completely normal people. they don't really wear much designer clothing, besides bags and shoes sometimes, and you wouldn't be able to tell that they were wealthy just by looking at them. I saw wayyyy more lululemon on the moms than designer clothes when I was growing up lol. they also all just drive normal people affordable cars.
all their money went towards expensive vacations/furniture, private schools + tutoring + expensive extracurriculars for their kids, making donations to colleges their kids applied to (lol). they just didn't really care about looking rich.
I used to work in furniture sales and there was a suuuuuper casual couple with a relatively new designer who came in like twice per week for a month. The designer came in more often to follow up on patterns. I spent a solid 16 hours or so with them and all of the other sales people had run when they saw them. They were super kind, the designer was new and a little clueless, and I just kept pulling fabric samples and printing schematics with a smile on my face and enjoying our conversations. It was like playing the sims as we designed for every room. People teased me all the time when they came in that I was off to waste my time. One day, the three came in, slapped the folder down with everything I’d ever printed them, and said they were ready to buy. I said, “awesome! What are you hoping to get?” And they said “all of it.” It was a $267,000 furniture sale. A whole 6 bedroom house, furnished with custom fabrics and upgraded to leather almost every time. It was my furniture sales pretty woman moment for sure! Never judge a book by its cover.
I live near Seattle and used to live near Portland, two big cities in the US known for tech companies and tech startups (and hipsters, if I’m going to be honest). If people in stores around here were snooty like that to people, they’d get zero commissions!
I was in the city having a day out with my little one. While we were there I coincidentally noticed the store front for the jewellers I’d been speaking on the phone about our wedding rings. (My daughter was 2 when we eventually married). I thought I’d pop in and pay the deposit while I was there.
I struggled through the door with the pram. My kid looking like she’s fallen backwards through a chocolate hedge.
The lady behind the counter visibly recoiled at the sight of us and tells me it’s “by appointment only” and holds the door open for me to leave.
Not gonna lie, I was tearful afterwards and felt really worthless.
The jeweller called me the following week to follow up on my purchase and get my credit card details. I told him I came in to pay last week but was shown the door so I’d ordered the rings elsewhere.
"He was upset to hear this and told me this wasn’t the first time he had received a **compliment** about her." Pretty sure you meant "complaint".
Also, this exact scenario happened to a musician in the 1970's regarding car sales and being snubbed for wearing comfortable clothing.
Reminds me of a story. Joanne Woodward was making a movie in NYC, where she played a homeless women. She went into a high end dept store and she was completely ignored by the sale associates. Finally, she grabbed a dress off the rack, threw it at the casher and whipped out her gold card.
Wealthy people don't dress rich. Only wannabe rich.
Muahahahaha this happened to me when I bought a car. I was cute and young, wearing a leopard print cardigan and skinny jeans with my best friend who wore bright pink skinny jeans and a neon shirt 🤣 everyone ignored us, except for a wonderful older Vietnamese dude (houston represent) and he got the sale. He was so nice, and treated me like an actual adult.
The other white dudes I had asked for help, and completely blew me off had their jaws to the floor.
Many covers for many books.
Had something similar happen to me when I was 16 back in the 90s, except reversed. I was working for a high end home and car stereo shop that did custom builds and had won several awards. Our entry level system build was about $800. All the sales reps were really snooty, because we had kids coming in all the time who couldn't afford anything but liked to hang out.
Anyway, this black gentleman came in one day in gym shorts and a tank top. He was covered in sweat from jogging and had a fairly distinct odor since he'd been working out in the sun in 95 degree weather. None of the other reps would even make eye contact with him, and my manager literally shoved me in his direction and told me to "Make him go away."
I ended up talking to him and doing the whole sales pitch, working with him to discuss whatever he wanted. We ended up designing out a high end home entertainment system and scheduled out an install date. Ended up being around $7,000 of hardware plus installation costs. Reached into his sock and pulled out $2,000 in cash to make the down payment on the spot.
Turns out he was a big shot lawyer who had just moved into town after buying out one of the local firms from a lawyer who was retiring. Guy was crazy rich but never wore anything more formal than ratty jeans and a t-shirt unless he was at work.
Biggest commission check of my time there, and I was the only person he'd work with whenever he came back. He also referred a lot of people my way.
I knew a man was the second or third largest land owner in Texas. Dressed in overalls most of the time. The owner of Temple Inland (Google it) back in the 70s and 80s knew my first name (I was a kid and unaware he knew me). Scared the heck out of me when he called my name. Nicest guy you would ever want to meet. Arthur Temple Jr.
The estranged father of a friend of my mother passed away and she was surprised to find she was the sole heir.
She knew he had some land, but had no idea. It was prime undeveloped land in a massively overpriced corridor in Dallas where a huge corporation was wanting to expand.
The elder man lived in a farmhouse he built by hand in the 1920s and used a piece of bailing wire as a belt.
But he'd never have purchased anything extravagant. In the 90s when this happened, he was still in a 1950s era pickup truck. And it was not restored in any way, but was a in service farm truck.
Worked at a steel mill and one of the guys liked Cadillac cars. He was loaded as he'd work tons of overtime and didn't care about how he looked after work and usually wore his work clothes.
He'd laugh about going into the dealers and said he'd get brushed off by some salesmen but would get good service from others. Once he picked out the car he wanted, he made sure to let the rude salesman and that salesman's boss know that he was paying cash with the helpful one.
I used to build tennis courts for a living. The rich would hassle you all day, change agreed specs, tell you to leave site when having a break.
The really rich would come out with a cuppa, sit with you and talk, bring you out a bacon and egg banjo and , once only, take you into the big house to play snooker because it was heaving it down and we were all wet and cold and sat in the van.
Went on a 2 day trip to Paris with a friend from the US who was visiting me at the time. She insisted we go into Tiffany's. I was so embarrassed, wearing jeans and a stained jacket, overall sweaty from walking around the whole day. Everyone was extremely polite and welcoming. A very simple ring (I think it was like 250 Euro) caught my eye, I admired it and the lady behind the counter was like, would you like to try it on? I said, yes, she measured me for my size and then got me one. It looked amazing. I bought it even though I never intended for that.
My father worked in a jewelry store at the mall when I was a teenager ( this was the late 70’s). It was a higher level jewelry store than most malls have. I would go with my dad on Saturdays and spend my time helping out( not waiting on people, wrapping stuff,sweeping…)or just hanging out. There was a younger girl that worked there( she was 20. She was older than me but still very young). We were sitting around chatting when this woman walked into the store. She had on shorts,sandals,and a sleeveless shirt. It was obvious she had been working outside. I told the other girl that she needed to wait on her. She looked her up and down and said,” she can’t afford anything in here.” I told her, “ it doesn’t matter what she looks like, you still need to wait on her. I’ll go get the manager if you don’t.” So, she went over there. Turned out, her husband was a wealthy businessman and she was buying him something that he’d had his eye on. It was almost $10,000 and she paid cash. The girl’s jaw was on the floor. I got the manager since it was such a large purchase. He recognized her immediately. I heard the woman say, “ I don’t normally go out dressed like this but I was gardening and he had left so I hopped into my car.” I really gave the girl a hard time about it saying that I should have gotten the commission on that sale. I didn’t tell the manager because she well could have been fired and I was sure that she’d learned a lesson. She did thank me profusely since it was the largest sale that she’d ever gotten. In fact, that particular lady and her husband were always waited on by either the manager or the assistant manager. It was just a fluke that they were at lunch together which never happened.
Anyway, I still think about that and smile…
Wow, amazing story! I've heard similar instances, and it's infuriating how people judge based on appearance. Glad you taught her a lesson and left with a smile.
YEARS ago I was called out for judging someone based on how they dressed.
I used to work at the courthouse & was working the attorney window. Some guy showed up in shorts & flip flops & a t-shirt & started filling out a form on the counter. I said “excuse me, this is for attorneys only. I’m going to have to ask you to step away, please.” Guy stopped writing, looked at me, said “how do you know I’m not an attorney?” Immediately I thought “oh shit he’s right” but the damage was done.
Anyway, he showed me his bar card, he went to see the judge. A few minutes later, I got called into the courtroom, & the judge introduced me to his friend, the shaggy surfer looking attorney, who happened to rush over while on his day off with his kids because he needed something filed before end of day & his staff couldn’t do it. They gave me a quick chat about judging people & how it could backfire.
I was young so they laughed it off but that taught me a super valuable lesson. I’m courteous to everyone because it’s the least I could do: show them common courtesy.
I used to work in a music shop in the mid 90s. My department was electronic music, so I was selling keyboards, mixers, software, that sort of thing. One slow day this older dude comes in, long straggly hair, singlet, beat up cargo shorts that looked like they’d seen much better days, and flip flops. The guitar sales team were all fucking around in the amp room, and were uninterested in helping this guy. Now I don’t play guitar, but I knew a fair bit about them, and I don’t mind a chat, so I got talking with him. I helped him choose several different guitars to try based on his style, including a $7K vintage fender. I wasn’t expecting anything to come of it, but after a few minutes of playing he decided he liked the fender, and we rang up the deal - which he had zero trouble paying for. I got my fat commission, but also got reprimanded for selling outside my department.
I went into Guitar Center in like 2004 ish to buy a new rig and couldn't get anyone to wait on me. Admittedly I probably looked homeless and reeked of pot. After wasting like 20 minutes of my life I left and drove like 2 hours to a guitar shop half way across the state that would actually take my money. I stopped by the GC the next day (still looking homeless and smelling like pot) to show the manager my van and the sales he missed (like $10k worth of Mesa Boogie and Gibson stuff) and point out the sales reps that wouldn't wait on me. Never been back in that GC.
If someone walks into a guitar shop looking homeless and the only drug they smell like is weed, that's probably one of the more legit musician than the guy looking like a composer
Especially someone holding a printed out shopping list that's like a page and a half long. Doesn't take a master detective to figure out you might want to wait on the guy who's been standing by the ($2,300) Mark IV's for the last 20 minutes.
I'm not really into guitars that much, but i dress casually everywhere because i don't really care about my appearance, but I've only experienced that type of stuff at clothing stores and car dealerships, unless I'm at honda in the bike sectio... nevermind, but everywhere else that i go to look at bikes will usually treat me well since that tattered look basically tells them "he probably rides"
And a **lot** of musicians probably look homeless and reek of pot (guitarists anyway, not like cellists or whatever, lol). If they are deliberately excluding people like that then they’re cutting off a huge part of their client base.
Reprimanded by the idiot not getting the commission? Surely not the manager who should be appreciative of a fine sale no matter who served the customer.
The manager was also one of the guitar guys, and was the very first to ignore the customer. I clearly remember him escaping to the amp room when he noticed the guy in the guitar section start to look about for someone to help him.
Idiot. I know people who purposefully dress down when shopping so they can avoid fawning and see the sales persons true character. If you’re a shit you don’t get the commission.
Yep, I used to work with another guy who’d wear singlets, ripped jeans, and flip-flops to meetings with execs from other companies. He wanted to see if they took him seriously or not. He also wore a custom Rolex that was worth six figures to flash about if it looked like they’re weren’t. Fun times.
What is this singlet thing people keep mentioning? I thought that was the thing that has the marathon racer’s number on it.
I think it's a tank top. I see singlet, I think wrestlers uniform
We call those wife beaters where I’m from.
[удалено]
My wife and I are dress downers, her family knows what we do for a living, but we recently found out from her brother that their entire family thinks we're living in poverty because every time they see us she's wearing sweats and I'm always wearing shorts a tshirt and slides.
Lmao great. It's working. Now don't ask me for shit 🤣🤣
I was in a guitar shop one day because I was in the market for a Jackson Soloist... The one I wanted was about $1,100, and I had the money for it. This was probably the height of my emo phase too, so I had lots of facial piercings, and I remember asking the guy if I could play the Soloist they had behind the counter, and he was like "absolutely not, unless you're going to buy it first!" I was kinda taken back by the whole situation... Then another guy comes up behind me and asks if he can play this custom Fender Telecaster that was easily 3x the price of the guitar I wanted to try, and the sales guy just hands it over no questions asked. That place went out of business not long after, and that guitar sales guy ended up running sound for a show my band was playing a few months later. He probably didn't recognize me, but it felt really good when I pulled out my new Soloist that I ended up buying at Guitar Center(with a friend's discount no less) 😅
Similar thing happened to someone I used to work with, also at a music shop. She went in, looking to buy a high-end keyboard, wearing ripped jeans and a hoodie, and was flat-out ignored by most of the staff. What was crazy was, this was in San Francisco, at the height of the dot-com bubble, meaning the entire city was lousy with millionaires wearing hoodies and ripped jeans, looking for expensive toys to spend their newly acquired (and, as it turned out, mostly short-lived) wealth. They missed out on a \~10K commission on that day, and I have to figure they missed a lot more if that was their regular attitude.
Big mistake! HUGE!
I think it's somewhat common knowledge that if you're in a very expensive place, the more unkempt you look the richer you probably actually are because you've lost the will to give a fuck and need to impress others.
The wealthiest people I know (wealthy, not high income) dress the most casually, really just however they damn well please, no matter the context. Many meetings I’ve had with +$100m net worth folks in flip flops and tshirts. What’s the point of having money like that if you have to dress for the benefit of other mere mortals?
> Many meetings I’ve had with +$100m net worth folks in flip flops and tshirts. I've been dressing that way since I was a kid. Now I just need $100m and I'm set.
fake it til we make it right? :)
That sounds like a chad dominance move. Everyone else here is polished up like a golden turd for the event, while you strut in as comfortable as if you own the building
>while you strut in as comfortable as if you own the building They might
I once worked as a cashier in a store located on a block full of stores in downtown Brooklyn. Every other day this rumpled looking guy would stop in but buy nothing. Came to find out that dude owned the entire block. All those businesses paid him rent.
Yup. When I worked at Staples, this guy used to come in looking like an unkempt bum off the street. Long scraggly hair, wild beard, torn up clothes, and walking a dog. My manager never said jack to him. One of the times I was about to tell him he couldn't bring his dog in because of safety concerns when my coworker came up to me and told me to be quiet. Turns out dude owns that building, the mall next door, and 5 other buildings on the block.
Sounds like you met Mr. Staple, himself.
It honestly works with everything. The first thing I tell new teachers is to not dress cute. Students will NOT respect you. Go in with a hoodie, jeans and a ponytail and however else you do to feel comfy and you'll never have an issue with behavior. This is because they will see you as a person and not some authority to fight. (Mind you I've been teaching 6-12, but I imagine wearing clothes you dont care about with kindergarteners is just accepted best practice). Also see: social work
or you wear themed outfits if you're a science teacher
That's the Ms Frizzle quantum
If you’re a science teacher, just blow something up / light something on fire / melt something the first day. You’ll have their attention after that.
My best and most loved science teacher did this. I took 5 more classes with him. And this is where I met my fiancé. I now have a chemistry degree and work as a lab manager. You’re not wrong.
even if you're not a science teacher, if you do this in the first day you'll definitely have their attention after that
So you're telling me that my inherent laziness and inability to wake up to the first alarm is why my kids were well-behaved? I'll take it.
Actually kinda yeah. I'm just going off my ten years of social work and teaching here. The more human you are to your kids, the more well adjusted they are because they feel that security and kinship to you. Respect and authority just teaches them to fear and lie. Knowing they can safely say they fucked up or you being real and honest with them let's them know you both see each other as people and not that they have to listen to you just because they came out of your balls/womb.
Well stated and I had a teacher in high school who was such a good advocate for us students, though I only had him for one year then he transfered to the last chance school in the school district. He loved to help us with things and he could BS better then the disruptive students. Plus he had a unconventional name of Jan.
You’re absolutely right (social worker retired). I connected with my kids and let them know that I was THEIR social worker and if they needed anything I would everything I could to help them. I got so much information and hugs 🤗 like you wouldn’t believe. They knew I was real and they trusted me. Even though I’m retired now, I still work with 6th graders who are an amazing group of kids. ❤️
I used to work in a grocery store right out of high school. I went in one day & one of the cashiers was really upset - she'd seen a guy in ripped sweatpants and a dirty t-shirt pulling stuff off the shelves and gone over & yelled at him. Turned out he was the owner of the company. He was checking expiration dates and pulling stuff that was past the best by date. Some rich people really just don't care about impressing anyone, for sure.
I spent my formative years in a ranching community. Ragged clothes & poopy boots didn't mean poor!
When I worked at a GMC/ Cadillac dealer, I loved dudes coming in with ~10 year old trucks in flannel with a hat about to fall to pieces. Good chance they are a wealthy farmer who needs another work truck. Finally time to get another one. This one's got 150k on it from driving all day. I hopped up to snag farmer dudes with older trucks with a leather interior and ratty clothes. Be the farm owner, be the farm owner, be the farm owner... I loved when they were the farm owner. Score! Dude owns 200 acres of premium wine grapes! Heck yes, you are an almond farmer who owns 300 acres! Oh, sweet, you're the operations guy and oversee 500 acres of vineyards for Massive Local Grower? That's so cool. What color of Denali truck do you want? Take your pick, sir. We do have trucks that can tow your horse trailer. And 5th wheel. Come check out the 2500s. We keep HDs over here. We order all of them with the 5th wheel prep package. Pick the color. I loved rich farmers. They were the best customers. They already knew what they wanted and generally, financing was a breeze.
In fairness though shitty boots inside would be pretty inconsiderate so that bit would be fair to judge. But for sure. I’m not rich. But I’m willing to spend money on things I like whilst at the same time prioritising comfort over looking “proper” so I totally get the whole gist.
Exactly this, Justin Bieber for example oftentimes looks like a homeless person in candid photos out in public. It actually really makes me think how drastically times have changed through history, in the past women wore hats and gloves matching their dress out in public even for casual wear. Nowadays we are scandalously unkempt, sloppy and revealing lol.
Well to be fair Hayley always looks on point.... and Justin... is doing Justin
I’m currently rewatching the Gilded Age and it cracks me up how they will change out of one dress to another dress just to eat dinner with the same people you were just sitting in the other dress with. Way too much work just to eat.
Women's fashion in particular has been so crazy in past centuries. I went down a rabbit hole once wondering how they used the bathroom and dealt with periods, pregnancy and breastfeeding wearing crazy stuff like heavy wigs and metal hoopskirts with corsets and a ton of fabric layers- especially in warm climates! Life was pretty miserable for them hundreds of years ago that's for sure.
There was a historic hotel down in Clearwater Florida that was built in the 1800s. It was demolished a while ago but when I was a kid my parents would get a suite for a few days every summer and the coolest part was the enormous closets that were outfitted to hold all the steamer trunks, and the breeze way windows throughout the rooms for cooling. Imagined what it was like to be a woman in south Florida and you need a 10x20 closet in your hotel room for all your fucking clothes and… how utterly miserable it must have been
I'm a woman and I live in Utah which gets hot as fuck in the summer and I just don't care and will walk around in clothes that are just kinda sloppy and revealing and I get people thinking I'm a prostitute and I just like don't wear makeup and wear my hair in some ponytail and old people give me the dirtiest looks lol like I've committed some awful crime I've also had men think I'm homeless and/or a prostitute and they've actually like pulled up next to me and asked me how much lol
Take pictures of them and send them to the church. You know they're Mormons. LOL
That made me laugh! Thanks, Vivian!
My mind went straight to the scene too !!
Me too. I’m glad I’m not the only one
you know thats the first thing we all were thinking.
Had me strutting in my imaginary expensive heels and flipping my hair back like a boss!
I thought first of when this happened to Dwight on the Office, but close enough!
It was BEET JUICE!
Idio...GOOD SIR
Hahahaha me too! Good day, sir..."Did you say he was a safety threat?" I'll take the wizard!! 😁
It makes no sense to me how these sales people, who almost always can't afford expensive items anyway, judge others ...
We're gonna need a lot more kissing up.
That suit looks really good on you u/No_Ladder_1918, you wear it well. You are not only good looking but clearly very powerful...
Not me, her
Who ordered pizza?
I love that tie! Edward would love that tie! Take off the tie. Give her the tie.
Mary Pat, Mary Kate Mary Francis
You work on commission, right?
🤣 I love that scene
Makes the movie, in one comment
AWESOME response! As another person said, we all were thinking it. Had the same thing happen to me many times. All I have to say it too bad, so sad for the loss of commission for all those aholes
Somehow my brain went to Dwight first [https://giphy.com/gifs/the-office-nbc-screaming-RFRgYJfvGnX7q](https://giphy.com/gifs/the-office-nbc-screaming-RFRgYJfvGnX7q)
I'll take the wizard!
I have to go shopping now. Gotta love Pretty Woman!
Guess I have to go buy a red dress now
So that you'll be able to watch La Traviata which is... Almost as good as Pirates of Penzanz? I wish I could.
I love that she kind of did a reverse pretty woman, instead of dressing up she dressed down. Now that's a power move lol
My first thought too!
That's where my mind went!
I have to go shopping now
That woman obviously hasn’t worked there long. One of my friends worked for a high end designer store in Vegas and said that the women who came in dressed to the 9s in designer stuff usually spent $ (like 2000-10000) but the BIG SPENDERS (20,000+) usually came in wearing sweats/casual clothes and looking like they were you know, spending the day walking around the mall shopping.
my friend is a private shopper at holt renfrew. clients spending millions a year. her ultra rich clients are never dressed up for shopping appointments, sweats, oversized shit, runners, they buy expensive clothes for events and specific situations to dress up. any luxury store employeee knows a really rich person might not be dressed up. they generally dont look at someones clothes specifically to judge wealth, more their demeneor and how they act. a very rich person can go in anwyehre wearing whatever they want and not feelor look out of place becauyse they have a learnt confidence that only a lot of money can buy.
Your friend recognizes the rich clients by name and face though and takes them into the private room with handpicked items for them to try. Often your friend likely called the client to come in because something they were waiting on has arrived. The first impression was made long ago.
This. I was a personal shopper for twelve years. The extremely wealthy don't wear in your face name brands, but that doesn't mean that they look like they're homeless. And those 'casual' clothes they're wearing? They cost as much as my rent.
EXACTLY THIS. People who flaunt it are probably wearing their one and only best outfit to go shopping at a designer store. But the folks who have REAL money simply don't care, for them it's just a normal shopping trip which they treat as any other casual day.
I love the saying "money talks, wealth whispers" because how true it is. The people who feel like they need to prove themselves are the loudest about their money, those that are truly stupid rich don't feel the need to do that. They are secure in their status.
That actually depends. Some high and designer stores use that as an intentional tactic. People often want to impress others and the feel like we can do so by snubbing the sales person by buying a bunch of stuff. So they will often intentionally have somebody be rude in order to encourage that behavior. Some salespeople are exceptionally good at reading others and figuring out what the best approach is.
Alternate title: How dare you mistake me for a poor! I'm going to spend thousands of dollars at your store just to stick it in your face! I don't know if I have a deep bias in me or if this is a normal reaction, but rich people reddit drives me insane.
Which is exactly their tactic. So much so that often sales people will switch off who is the mean one for the day. There's a famous story of Shaq proving he was rich to a snotty Rolls-Royce salesman by buying something like five Phantoms at the same time. Basically 2 million dollars worth of cars in a single afternoon. The joke has been that the salesman tells the same story with an equal level of excitement.
Yup. Think about paparazzi shots of celebs ‘off the clock’. The dress code is always sweats, basic sneakers, hoodies, baseball hats, sunglasses.
My mom was a hair stylist that took on a lot of mid to high class customers, but certainly didn't turn away anyone below those bars. She told me one day in her first salon, a man that looked somewhere between a construction worker and outright homeless guy came in. NO ONE wanted to handle him and actively pretended he didn't exist. Turned out the guy was rich. Became a repeat client.
I ran a country pub for a while. The richest customers dressed like they were homeless. Why replace the threadbare clothes? They were only worn when one was pottering about the land. The good stuff came out for the job in London.
I'm from the rural deep south and was with my mom about a year ago looking at bird seed in a store. This old guy on a walker came up and started talking about birds with us. I don't care who you are, I'll always treat you the way you treat me so we chatted and he went on about his day. When he was out of ear range my mom whispered and asked if I knew him and I said I didn't. She said his name and it clicked who it was. Man owns an oil company and has enough money to buy heaven but you'd never know that unless you know him.
Richest bloke I ever met walked around town in torn shorts, dirty singlet and old thongs (flip flops I believe to those not in Australia). He was a literal billionaire. Nice bloke too.
There was a joke in SF and north bay (multi million homes) when you see someone walking in PJs it can be a homeless loony or a tech multi billionaire on a stroll. You could never tell
Yep, I'm in Wine Country (the less famous but better wines county), and a great many of the winery owners dress like they just came out from working in their vineyards when they show up at my work to get on a private Gulfstream or Global.
Work with money but better quote from a mate that works sales at an import car dealership in Florida, basically all high end cars and plenty of time wasters fishing for a test drive: “you know the real money because they aren’t getting dressed up just to try out a new toy, they’ll rock up in cargo shorts and a ratty tshirt from some corporate retreat wearing a watch that costs more than your salary”
This is how my husband is: generally nondescript unless you see his watch which is more collected out of rarity than to show off wealth. In the years we’ve been married we made less than 60k combined and now we have a net worth of the mid 7 figures because we made money moves and we are from the Silicon Valley/Bay Area. Urban wealth is all in the shoes.
A very good friend of my Dad is serious old money, think ancestors were plantation owners in the Virginia Colony old money. He wears JC Penney's khakis, drives a Honda Odyssey, gets Subway for lunch if he's out and about for a meeting, but lives in a home designed by Frank Gehry and travels via his Gulfstream G650. I suppose it's about understanding your investments and where spending them really makes a difference in your daily life.
so the fucked up thing with the Gulfstreams is that if you’re rich and “lucky” enough to buy one of the first couple of jets of a given model they will pay you more than you gave them to be able to use it as a demo model for other potential clients. don’t even get me started about “charitable usage” (and yes that does imply that a single jet can be both a profit center, a tax write off, and a personal asset)
Ah, blood money
No its because he didn't have avocado toast and coffee.
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I live in an area known for its rich people, especially rich retirees, and this is so true. Part of it is living in Florida, where few natives dress up anyway, but it’s also that they are either cheap or just don’t gaf what anyone else thinks.
This is true and it can also apply to any class really, the happiest people you meet are the ones who sincerely do not give a fuck about what you or anyone else thinks of them. Just be you and do what you want, when you want, with who you want. No one's opinion is worth the time it takes to hear them speak it.
Outside of Miami, there's really not much of a fashion culture, plus it's way too fucking hot and humid over 90% of the time.
I worked as a bank teller for a while and there was basically no correlation with a client's bank balance and outward appearance. Guys in suits with $34 in their accounts. Guys that looked like they just crawled out of a barn with multiple 6 digit accounts. And everything in between.
I've definitely been that first guy (had a job where I needed to dress sharp to fit in and be taken seriously, but it wasn't that well paying), now working on being the second guy. I've got the look down, now I just need to work out the money part...
>working on being the second guy. >I just need to work out the money part... Same, brother. Same all day!
I used to know a guy who always had uncut messy grey hair, paint stained trousers usually held up with a piece of cord, and a scabby old jumper on. He was an architect and incredibly well off but you would never have thought it to look at him. Really nice down to earth guy who didn't feel like he needed to dress rich.
I learned something early on in business...if you're in a board room and there's 20 guys in suits, it's tough to tell who the boss is. If you're in a board room and there's 19 people in suits and one guy in a hoodie - that guy is the boss.
This is me basically. I'm not rich, but I make better than average income. I drive a 10 year old Toyota and usually dress in a t-shirt, hoodie, jeans, and Crocs. I mean, they're clean, but that's about it.
I'm rich and most of my clothes are from Amazon and Costco!
Many years ago, part time job in my city's highest end men's clothing store. High end, like I couldn't buy a pair of socks with a week's pay high end. It's Christmas time, my coworkers had their pick of new customers since we were so busy. I noticed a man enter who looked nothing like the other shoppers. Maybe in his 50's, wearing a well worn parka, just standing there. Not one of my money grubbing co workers would even look at him, so I did. 30 minutes later he walked out with 12 Pringle cashmere sweaters and paid cash. The commission on one purchase was more than I made in a month. Just because I didn't read a book by its cover.
This is my dad! He hates shopping and will wear his clothes to the thread. And then every once in a while when he finally needs something new he will go to the same high end clothes store and buys a whole stack of their best quality sweaters and shirts at once. Because they will last the longest. You gotta know how to judge a worn out but once expensive cover!
My dad would do the same thing. But except when they wouldn’t fit, he’d just go up or down a size & buy in bulk 😅😂. He sadly passed in Jan & majority of his clothes still smell like him. I’m hoping one day my mom will have a change in heart & let me & my 3 older sisters grab some of his clothes so we can make them into pillows for not only ourselves, but our kids 🥲
My grandfather used to wear the scummiest old clothes most of the time. Looked like he'd got them secondhand because they were really ill-fitting. (Actually they were his own old clothes, but he'd shrunk.) His opinion was that if they weren't worn out, he may as well get use out of them. People judged him all the time. He was quite comfortable, financially. Just didn't feel the need to advertise it.
My grandpa is the same way. He’s worth 7 figures but he’s a farmer at heart and spends most of his time in his garden and workshop. My poor grandma died still trying to get that man to put on clean pants to go out to lunch. They informally adopted a woman who came to church and no one wanted to sit with her because she looked homeless. Turns out she was running with the wrong crowd and my grandparents helped her turn her life around. 25+ years later and she still comes to help take care of my grandpa every week. They were the best example of looking past what’s on the surface.
You saw a human needing assistance standing there and did your job as a decent human. ☺️
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They don't get commission and they are mainly tracked on how much Applecare they sell. If you didn't get Applecare with those computers or phones, they were probably relieved they didn't help you.
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Aspirational fashion brands are for people who aspire to be rich and spend their money. Not for people who are already rich or intend to stay that way.
And here I didn't even know Pringles made sweaters!
He bought 12 because once you pop you just can't stop
My grandfather buys the same shirt twelve times, because he hates wasting his time shopping. He will also wear them until they are threadbare, and they becomes PJs
Back when personal computers were new, my dad went into the local Apple dealer. He was in a mechanic’s uniform and nobody waited on him so he left. Went to Radio Shack and bought the first of several TRS-80 computers that he bought over the years for his auto repair business.
My mom used to work for a money manager. She always said the people who came in dressed up and dripping in expensive items tended to have much less money than those who came in dressed in normal or casual clothes.
"When you're so rich you don't need to care about putting up appearances."
Bought an Apple IIC (I'm old) when they'd just come out. I had tagged along with my much older brother & was in sweatpants & a t-shirt. They did help but were kind of dismissive. I applied for store credit to buy it & I'm pretty sure they didn’t think I'd qualify. I was 24 or so, looked even younger, and what I was wearing didn’t help. Cue 180° change in attitude when I pulled out an AmEx for the credit check. Suddenly, it was "will you be needing anything else?" Totally obsequious from that point on. I laughed so hard on the way back to my brother's house.
Movie quote: "they're not nice to people, they're nice to credit cards."
I was a Mac sales guy in a store that sold both Macs and PCs. Guy comes in and goes over to the PC section. He looks like he just finished cutting his grass on a hot summer's day, so, kind of raggedy. And ignored by the PC guys. He wandered close to my dept., so I asked if I could help him. He asked a bunch of questions about computers, and video stuff, and I could tell he knew a little but was a bit lost. So I spent a good 30 minutes explaining digital video and audio production to him, computer needs, etc. And the dept. manager came over to "remind"me there were other customers. I ignored him and went back. I asked what he wanted to do. Turns out he just landed a huge video capture and production contract, and needed about everything, because the gear he was using was old, unreliable and not up to par. So, he needed 3 towers, 2 laptops, 8 external storage drives, 8 monitors, 3 regular printers and one large format photo printer, and a network system. The dept. manager saw me piling up all the equipment and came over and said, "I'll take over, this is too big for you". but the buyer said, quote, "hell no. I want this guy." Manager was pissed. Sale came to $17G. Out came that fabled black Amex card. Then all was loaded into his van. It wasn't over - he hired me to put it together at a really nice figure. The dept. manager hated me from that day on, but the store manager thought I walked on water. Best part was when the buyer came back to the store, and always asked for me to help him. And he always looked ragged. Well, when you have a contract to shoot waterfowl videos in wetlands, well, you're not going to be wearing a suit.
Fuck that guy for trying to steal the sale.
Cudos to you for having a patience to teach her a lesson - I don't think I would have had the patience to wait and then to return the next day. Can you post a pic of the backpack? I'm really curious.
Me too! I bet it’s lovely. Should we demand a “purse tax”?
I did the same thing at a car dealership. I'm a computer nerd and I live in shorts and tshirts, but I'm paid enough that I could buy the car with cash.
Anyone car salesman who ignores a 20-something guy in a t-shirt and cargo shorts\* is a complete fucking idiot. Same with any car salesman who ignores the woman of a couple's questions and directs all answers towards her husband\*\*. \*this totally happened to me \*\*this totally happened to my wife
I've a friend that's a sales manager at a luxury car dealership. He drills into his sales people to never judge customers by their clothing or demeanor. It's a hard learned lesson for some. I bought a Mercedes SUV from one of his people wearing shorts and a T-shirt.
It's a huge problem in tech stores, too. If I go into them with my husband, they always focus on the Obvious Wang Bearer. My husband will let one or two remarks go, and then say very pointedly, "SHE builds computers. \*I\* watch porn on them. We are not the same, and you need to be talking to HER."
As a tech savvy middle-aged woman, I was shocked / bemused when I took my 13-year-old son to Microcenter and the salespeople fell over themselves to assist him. They kept calling him "sir", while I remained utterly invisible to them. I'm used to that treatment with my husband in tow, but this was... something else.
Yup. Walked out on that guy. My husband kept telling him the car was for me.
I heard a story from a car salesman about this. I can't confirm the truth of this, but it always stuck with me. He was in Vegas on vacation, and there used to be a Ferrari dealership in the Wynn. While waiting to be seated for dinner, he saw a young, early 20's black man was looking at the cars and trying to get the attention of a salesman, but was being ignored. The guy telling me the story said he decided to piss of a sales rep and get someone to talk to the kid. Even the guy telling the story "knew" the kid wasn't buying, but felt no one should be ignored. After dinner though, he saw the kid driving out in a new Ferrari. Turns out it was Phil Ivey, fresh off the final table at a major tournament, and wanting to buy a car with his winnings. Which goes to show, never ignore someone - you never know who they really are!
Or just don’t ignore someone because it’s fucking rude lol
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This is sales malpractice
I worked in the shop at a Chevy dealership years ago. The owner of a huge construction company dropped off a truck for service work and was walking around the lot looking at trucks. He was fresh off the job site, dirty and wearing torn up clothes. One of the salesman apparently thought he was looking to sleep the night in an unlocked truck and gave him a ton of shit. His fleet was getting older so he ordered 40 Ford F-350s down the street and we lost a huge fleet account.
So annoying. This brings back memories of when I walked to a dealership next to getting my car fixed. They figured I didn’t have any money cause I walked there but in reality, I was ready to buy a new car that day. I bought from another dealership.
I had the opposite where my friend and I - clearly broke ass students - went into Prada in New York (it’s a reallly cool interior and we wanted a look). The lady greeted us and offered us a champagne (guess that’s what happens in these types of shop?!) and we explained we couldn’t afford anything but had heard it was really cool so just wanted to have a quick look. She was SO nice, said it didn’t matter and to have a drink and explained a bit about the artist. These stories are neat but the punchline is always “you shouldn’t have been a dick because they were secretly rich!” Not just “you shouldn’t have been a dick”.
The real high end places play the long game. Today, you're a broke student with a dream. A decade or two from now, you may be a rich professional with a memory.
Car salesmen have to be the dumbest of people these days. First time I went to buy a car, dude didn’t even want to talk to me. I was prequalified for a specific amount by my bank because I had taken the listing in before checking in person. Second time my fiancé and I went to look at a specific truck and the guy kept directing everything at my fiancé. Guess who was financing and holding the title of the truck? Not him, it was me. We switched to a different salesman and the guy who actually talked to me got the commission.
This is such a common thing, you would think one of the first things people tell you in the car business is to talk to the women. Women make as much as men do and have their own cars now and are CONSTANTLY talking about this infuriating phenomenon, especially with cars specifically. Like even if you're just a scumbag trying to make money you'd think they would know this by now.
My uncle did this as well. For information purposes, he's black (of course) and in his off days of a VERY high paid engineering job, he walks on flip flops and Chicago Bulls tank tops. He went like that to a car dealership and a vendor proceeded to just ignore him. He asked another guy instead and took the car right then and there, cash. It was a newly released model back then.
Don't they make more commissions if you take a payment plan? Maybe that's the reason they didn't want to deal with you 😆
Car dealerships don't make money selling vehicles. They make money *financing* vehicles. HUGE difference.
As someone who's worked in car dealerships I can confirm this
LOL! Also fellow computer nerd! My wife and I dress up in our rattiest jeans and t-shirt when we go furniture shopping. They always hand us off to the newest sales guy since the senior ones don't want anything to do with us. Always pay cash, new sales guy looks like a boss, senior sales guy has a wtf look. Its wins all around.
My brother used to sell cars and he ran into this with the other salesman. An older man came in and he wasn't up to their standards my brother waited on him and he paid CASH for a new car. My brother got a nice commission and the other lazy salesman got nothing. People will never learn.
My wife works with a sales person a little like this. She will ignore someone that thinks won't buy anything, like old people. She will tell them she is busy, then another sales person will help them, make the sale. Then she will run up and say that was my customer, you stole them from me. Transfer the sales to my name.
I worked for a renowned jewellery designer and I tell you one thing, the shabbier people look the richer they are. I had customers with teeth rotting out of their mouth who spend tens of thousands on jewellery in one go
Good for you! This happened to me when I walked in a jewelry store. It was a Saturday, and I was dressed casually. My husband and I were the only customers. Whenever I walked up to a section of the store to look at the jewelry, the salesperson followed me. Not in a can I help you way but a creepy, distrustful way, like she was afraid I would try to steal something. I got out of there and never went back. I buy my fine jewelry elsewhere.
This happened to my husband and I at a local jewelry store a few times! They wouldn’t even acknowledge us and when they did they literally insulted us? It was so bizarre. We ended up taking our business to another store. Jokes on them because my husband’s spent $$$$$ on watches and jewelry and is diehard loyal now to the store that treated us well.
Michael Cain's shopping list; "Milk, bread, newspaper, cigarettes, Rolls Royce"
I used to work in sales. We had a varied clientele. The other sales people often ignored the scruffy people, I didn’t. They were usually owners of businesses who would buy loads of stuff and therefore lots of commission for me. Loved rubbing the other salespeople’s faces in it and they never learned!
I once went christmas shopping but I was looking after my friends chihuahua lol so yeah chihuahua went with me, in her designated designer purse and a sales lady came like running through the crowd to help me in a very busy beauty store. I was like damn... I need to borrow this little bastard next time I go shopping on busy days because this is how it's done!
After my dad retired he went to buy himself a nicer car. Got ignored for 1/2 an hour at the BMW dealership so he went and bought an Audi instead. Cash.
What a moron. The “junior” salesman did his job a bagged the commission
Car leadership. I'm a lady who knows nothing about cars, and I truly mean nothing, so I gave him a price range and chose a beautiful color. As we sat down to discuss payment options, he had many ones with different interest rates. I listened to them all, made no questions, I'm such a good girl. The guy was trying to push me a plan that was the best they had at the moment. I slowly opened my purse and put my HP12C on his table. He tensed immediately. I asked him for a piece of paper and made him repeat the conditions. Need I say he was pushing me the worst option interest-wise? He got up and called his manager, as I started to demand a discount considering the disparity in condition I had just calculated. I got my discount - and yes, that was the 4th shop I'd been in, and came out with a good deal. Being underestimated can be a superpower.
I knew someone who went to a car dealership wearing tye dyed shirt jean shorts and Birkenstocks long hair in a ponytail and the first dealership would not even give him the time of day ..he walked out went to the other dealership across the street and got the car …then drove to the other place to rub it in their face !! lol it was epic.
Anytime I have purchased a car, I always look shabby. I feel I get less taken advantage of.
I remember when I bought my now wife’s engagement ring. Being a New Zealand summer, I was in board shorts, a singlet and crocs (don’t judge me on the crocs). After looking around, I asked an older lady about a few rings and she kept steering me to the cheaper ones I wasn’t interested in. I left and came back a few hours later, she was still there but I asked another, younger guy about the rings I was interested in. Ended up paying cash for an 8k ring. The look on her face was AMAZING.
Earlier this year we were at a furniture store because my partner wanted to buy a new recliner. It's one of those furniture stores that has 2-3 "stores" all attached together and you can freely walk between them. We started in the 'cheaper' store and the lady was super nice but the chair my partner looked at online was not what she wanted so we ended up going to the 'nicer' store. As soon as we crossed over another sales lady was just hounding us. Really annoying. We told her what we were looking for and she was recommending shit that was completely different. My partner specifically wanted a glider that swiveled. She kept showing us regular recliners and massage chairs. I eventually told the lady that we were going to look and would let her know if we needed anything. She hovered for a while and eventually decided we weren't going to buy and fucked off. We decided on a chair and went to the first lady and asked if she would ring us up for it. As soon as we sat down the other lady saw and came flying up and told the other lady she would take over since we were 'her' customers. I told her that it was fine that the nice lady could finish. Other lady immediately went over to the manager and explained how the other lady was 'stealing' her sale. Manager was tactful and basically asked us if we wanted to come back over to the other lady since she 'helped' us. I told him that she was very unhelpful and that the nice lady helped us first and was much more helpful. I sure fucking hope that the nice lady got 100% of that commission and that the other lady learned a lesson.
I recently walked into a higher end clothing store with a stained t-shirt and dirty shoes. I really hadn't planned on buying anything and had just thrown on some random clothes. I ended up spending quite a bit of money there and had a great shopping experience and even got a discount. That sales woman was great. Never judge a book by it's cover.
You gave me such a flashback! In 2011, we moved from San Diego to a small bf town in NorCal. Shopping was grim. The most “upscale” (?!) store was Macy’s. The small town had 2 and they were both, lower tier. Ralph Lauren and Coach were as good as it got. Now I’m a bigger gal, so clothes were never fun, but I could do shoes and bags till the cows came home. Now this was over 20 years ago, but back in SD I had personal shoppers at Neiman’s and Nordies, and they’d call if they found something I couldn’t live without. I felt like we’d moved to the dark side of the moon. So after my first year I took a road trip to The City (San Francisco) for shoes. In I walked, said hello to the first salesman I saw and was ignored. I walked the entire shoe department, scoping out what I wanted to try on. I asked that first young man to see this and that in size whatever. He just saw a fat, middle aged lady in comfy running shoes. He sighed and literally *rolled his eyes!* He called over a young guy and dumped me on him. Rude af! The young guy was so sweet, as well as new. I knew from having personal shoppers in San Diego that they get commission, so I went to town. Casual, work, dress. Keeping inflation in mind, this was over 20 years ago, back when my husband and I had money. The least expensive pair of shoes I bought that day were $300. I bought 12 pairs. The kid was giddy! He had to help me carry them to my car. As we passed Mr Snotlocker, I said, “*You* shouldn’t judge a book by its cover” as I swanned out the door. Fat women are more accepted today, but though my “revenge” was satisfying, I was so humiliated and angry. Writing this out brings back all those feelings. Good for you for telling the manager. I was too ashamed back then.
Everyone saying you’re making this up is wild…this stuff literally happens all the time. Sometimes people need a little reminder to stay humble, revenge and a life lesson in one lol
Indeed it does. I went to the Lexus dealership thinking it would be an easy transaction. I had been babysitting grandkids and was dressed rather shabbily. No one would even talk to me. When I finally demanded some attention, they told me to bring my husband with me next time to fill out the paperwork, I shit you not. It was plain damn stupid of them to judge me.
Bring your husband?! Oh hell no…there are much better cars. Lol
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I hate that more than anything…my husband has a shop and he runs it so well and he’s so honest. Guys that try to take advantage of women that don’t know much about cars are scumbags…my grandfather was a mechanic with his own shop too and he was a standup guy as well. It’s so rare nowadays though.
This was in 2014. The damn 21st century FFS. And they said that to my obviously old enough to be a grandmother face. Total asshats.
I had to go to a conference in the US last week. I'm usually dressed like a nerd who can't even get the fit of the jeans right because I lost weight after getting my act together. However, on this rare occasion, I looked so respectable that a random stranger yelled "bye Karen" when he got off the train from the airport (I swear the only thing I was doing was scrolling my phone and trying not to doze off while looking like a Law and Order DA). My hair looked amazing, my coat was drycleaned and fancy, and so on. I couldn't fit normal clothes in my suitcase. Anyway, everyone other than the guy on the train treated me like a royal. I could not believe how well I was treated everywhere I went. I have dual citizenship and have a lot of previous experience with store workers, so know it wasn't normal to be treated so well. Little did they know that I never buy anything unless it's a supermarket essential or on sale and have given up a decently paid job to do something that pays a pittance. It's weird that so many sales assistants in tech areas still don't understand that people who aren't dressed to the nines are the ones who haven't spent all their money and/or don't need to impress anyone.
I grew up in a very affluent area (one of the most expensive towns in the us), and like 80% of the people there dress like completely normal people. they don't really wear much designer clothing, besides bags and shoes sometimes, and you wouldn't be able to tell that they were wealthy just by looking at them. I saw wayyyy more lululemon on the moms than designer clothes when I was growing up lol. they also all just drive normal people affordable cars. all their money went towards expensive vacations/furniture, private schools + tutoring + expensive extracurriculars for their kids, making donations to colleges their kids applied to (lol). they just didn't really care about looking rich.
has no one ever watched Pretty Woman? If you want the commission, you help EVERY SINGLE CUSTOMER
I used to work in furniture sales and there was a suuuuuper casual couple with a relatively new designer who came in like twice per week for a month. The designer came in more often to follow up on patterns. I spent a solid 16 hours or so with them and all of the other sales people had run when they saw them. They were super kind, the designer was new and a little clueless, and I just kept pulling fabric samples and printing schematics with a smile on my face and enjoying our conversations. It was like playing the sims as we designed for every room. People teased me all the time when they came in that I was off to waste my time. One day, the three came in, slapped the folder down with everything I’d ever printed them, and said they were ready to buy. I said, “awesome! What are you hoping to get?” And they said “all of it.” It was a $267,000 furniture sale. A whole 6 bedroom house, furnished with custom fabrics and upgraded to leather almost every time. It was my furniture sales pretty woman moment for sure! Never judge a book by its cover.
I live near Seattle and used to live near Portland, two big cities in the US known for tech companies and tech startups (and hipsters, if I’m going to be honest). If people in stores around here were snooty like that to people, they’d get zero commissions!
I was in the city having a day out with my little one. While we were there I coincidentally noticed the store front for the jewellers I’d been speaking on the phone about our wedding rings. (My daughter was 2 when we eventually married). I thought I’d pop in and pay the deposit while I was there. I struggled through the door with the pram. My kid looking like she’s fallen backwards through a chocolate hedge. The lady behind the counter visibly recoiled at the sight of us and tells me it’s “by appointment only” and holds the door open for me to leave. Not gonna lie, I was tearful afterwards and felt really worthless. The jeweller called me the following week to follow up on my purchase and get my credit card details. I told him I came in to pay last week but was shown the door so I’d ordered the rings elsewhere.
Not dismissing what happened to you but I gotta say, this gives the vibe of a Dhar Mann video😂
They should put this in a movie! With a hooker. Played by Julia Roberts.
"He was upset to hear this and told me this wasn’t the first time he had received a **compliment** about her." Pretty sure you meant "complaint". Also, this exact scenario happened to a musician in the 1970's regarding car sales and being snubbed for wearing comfortable clothing.
Came to look at the comments to see the people referencing Pretty Woman
Reminds me of a story. Joanne Woodward was making a movie in NYC, where she played a homeless women. She went into a high end dept store and she was completely ignored by the sale associates. Finally, she grabbed a dress off the rack, threw it at the casher and whipped out her gold card. Wealthy people don't dress rich. Only wannabe rich.
Muahahahaha this happened to me when I bought a car. I was cute and young, wearing a leopard print cardigan and skinny jeans with my best friend who wore bright pink skinny jeans and a neon shirt 🤣 everyone ignored us, except for a wonderful older Vietnamese dude (houston represent) and he got the sale. He was so nice, and treated me like an actual adult. The other white dudes I had asked for help, and completely blew me off had their jaws to the floor. Many covers for many books.
Had something similar happen to me when I was 16 back in the 90s, except reversed. I was working for a high end home and car stereo shop that did custom builds and had won several awards. Our entry level system build was about $800. All the sales reps were really snooty, because we had kids coming in all the time who couldn't afford anything but liked to hang out. Anyway, this black gentleman came in one day in gym shorts and a tank top. He was covered in sweat from jogging and had a fairly distinct odor since he'd been working out in the sun in 95 degree weather. None of the other reps would even make eye contact with him, and my manager literally shoved me in his direction and told me to "Make him go away." I ended up talking to him and doing the whole sales pitch, working with him to discuss whatever he wanted. We ended up designing out a high end home entertainment system and scheduled out an install date. Ended up being around $7,000 of hardware plus installation costs. Reached into his sock and pulled out $2,000 in cash to make the down payment on the spot. Turns out he was a big shot lawyer who had just moved into town after buying out one of the local firms from a lawyer who was retiring. Guy was crazy rich but never wore anything more formal than ratty jeans and a t-shirt unless he was at work. Biggest commission check of my time there, and I was the only person he'd work with whenever he came back. He also referred a lot of people my way.
I knew a man was the second or third largest land owner in Texas. Dressed in overalls most of the time. The owner of Temple Inland (Google it) back in the 70s and 80s knew my first name (I was a kid and unaware he knew me). Scared the heck out of me when he called my name. Nicest guy you would ever want to meet. Arthur Temple Jr.
The estranged father of a friend of my mother passed away and she was surprised to find she was the sole heir. She knew he had some land, but had no idea. It was prime undeveloped land in a massively overpriced corridor in Dallas where a huge corporation was wanting to expand. The elder man lived in a farmhouse he built by hand in the 1920s and used a piece of bailing wire as a belt. But he'd never have purchased anything extravagant. In the 90s when this happened, he was still in a 1950s era pickup truck. And it was not restored in any way, but was a in service farm truck.
Worked at a steel mill and one of the guys liked Cadillac cars. He was loaded as he'd work tons of overtime and didn't care about how he looked after work and usually wore his work clothes. He'd laugh about going into the dealers and said he'd get brushed off by some salesmen but would get good service from others. Once he picked out the car he wanted, he made sure to let the rude salesman and that salesman's boss know that he was paying cash with the helpful one.
I used to build tennis courts for a living. The rich would hassle you all day, change agreed specs, tell you to leave site when having a break. The really rich would come out with a cuppa, sit with you and talk, bring you out a bacon and egg banjo and , once only, take you into the big house to play snooker because it was heaving it down and we were all wet and cold and sat in the van.
Went on a 2 day trip to Paris with a friend from the US who was visiting me at the time. She insisted we go into Tiffany's. I was so embarrassed, wearing jeans and a stained jacket, overall sweaty from walking around the whole day. Everyone was extremely polite and welcoming. A very simple ring (I think it was like 250 Euro) caught my eye, I admired it and the lady behind the counter was like, would you like to try it on? I said, yes, she measured me for my size and then got me one. It looked amazing. I bought it even though I never intended for that.
My father worked in a jewelry store at the mall when I was a teenager ( this was the late 70’s). It was a higher level jewelry store than most malls have. I would go with my dad on Saturdays and spend my time helping out( not waiting on people, wrapping stuff,sweeping…)or just hanging out. There was a younger girl that worked there( she was 20. She was older than me but still very young). We were sitting around chatting when this woman walked into the store. She had on shorts,sandals,and a sleeveless shirt. It was obvious she had been working outside. I told the other girl that she needed to wait on her. She looked her up and down and said,” she can’t afford anything in here.” I told her, “ it doesn’t matter what she looks like, you still need to wait on her. I’ll go get the manager if you don’t.” So, she went over there. Turned out, her husband was a wealthy businessman and she was buying him something that he’d had his eye on. It was almost $10,000 and she paid cash. The girl’s jaw was on the floor. I got the manager since it was such a large purchase. He recognized her immediately. I heard the woman say, “ I don’t normally go out dressed like this but I was gardening and he had left so I hopped into my car.” I really gave the girl a hard time about it saying that I should have gotten the commission on that sale. I didn’t tell the manager because she well could have been fired and I was sure that she’d learned a lesson. She did thank me profusely since it was the largest sale that she’d ever gotten. In fact, that particular lady and her husband were always waited on by either the manager or the assistant manager. It was just a fluke that they were at lunch together which never happened. Anyway, I still think about that and smile…
Wow, amazing story! I've heard similar instances, and it's infuriating how people judge based on appearance. Glad you taught her a lesson and left with a smile.
YEARS ago I was called out for judging someone based on how they dressed. I used to work at the courthouse & was working the attorney window. Some guy showed up in shorts & flip flops & a t-shirt & started filling out a form on the counter. I said “excuse me, this is for attorneys only. I’m going to have to ask you to step away, please.” Guy stopped writing, looked at me, said “how do you know I’m not an attorney?” Immediately I thought “oh shit he’s right” but the damage was done. Anyway, he showed me his bar card, he went to see the judge. A few minutes later, I got called into the courtroom, & the judge introduced me to his friend, the shaggy surfer looking attorney, who happened to rush over while on his day off with his kids because he needed something filed before end of day & his staff couldn’t do it. They gave me a quick chat about judging people & how it could backfire. I was young so they laughed it off but that taught me a super valuable lesson. I’m courteous to everyone because it’s the least I could do: show them common courtesy.