A few days ago I was in a shopping centre near to Syndey Aquarium. I walked into a clothes shop there and started to look at the sunglasses they had on sale. A female member of sales staff walked past me, smiled and said the obligatory "hi, how are you. Want to try any sunnies on?".
Standard reply of "oh,...no,...no thanks, I'm just looking thanks".
Nothing unusual.
I looked at the sunglasses a bit longer then slowly started to wander round the shop looking at other things.
About 5 minutes had elapsed since I had entered the shop and spoken to the girl. I was now looking through their extensive collection of board shorts. Admiring the price, fabric, etc.
This girl walked over and started folding clothes or doing something with clothes and hangers. I didn't pay any attention. Suddenly she exclaimed in an overfriendly way "what are you up to tonight?".
I almost jumped with surprise, looked up at her, looked around to see if the question was directed at me - it was, then back to stare at her. Her out-of-the-blue question had confused me, i wasn't prepared for it. 5 full seconds passed before I replied "errrm...I'm....errr...nothing....not doing anything tonight." It was a Wednesday afternoon. I had no idea what I was going to eat for dinner, let alone what i was doing that evening.
She seem perturbed by my shock too but more questions continued like "where is your accent from?". These followed by stammered, garbeled, half-arsed explanations while I tried to figure out if she was just being friendly, or flirting with me, or mistaken me for someone else, another member of staff perhaps, or just figuring out if I was a shoplifter . Just as I decided to ignore whatever I was thinking that was preventing me from talking normally to the pretty shopassistant the questions stopped just abruptly as they started and she walked away. Uhoh. What had I said. Did she think I was up to no good. Did she think I had mental problems stopping me speaking in understandable sentences. This bothered me a lot. I should have asked her a question to show this random girl that I am capable of reasoning and comprehension.
I continued to walk round the shop, towards the exit, via an aisle of coloured shirts, sandals and hats. I looked at the coloured shirts. I want to buy a red shirt, so I looked at the red shirts. I then looked round and realised I was in the children's section. The shirt I was looking at was tiny, so I put it down and walked to the exit. Something else caught my eye as I was walking to the exit, so I veered to the left, looked at it and realised it was also in the children's section, just a bigger size. I then headed towards the exit but realised I had just walked a figure of 8 through the children's section and was back at the starting point of the questions from the girl. Sometimes I hate shopping.
I don't really know what is worse now.....the shop assistant constantly hanging around you like an annoying fly entering your field of vision just as you try to relax and think about what you are going to buy, waiting for you to choose something to buy and persistently asking you "is everything ok? Can i help you?", or a chatty shop assistant that only asks if you need any help once, but then asks random questions disturbing your choosing and subsequent purchase. Sometimes I can be quite easily distracted. I didn't buy anything either in that shop, although I did see a nice pair of sunglasses that I may return to buy. Not a complete fail then.
Standard reply of "oh,...no,...no thanks, I'm just looking thanks".
Nothing unusual.
I looked at the sunglasses a bit longer then slowly started to wander round the shop looking at other things.
About 5 minutes had elapsed since I had entered the shop and spoken to the girl. I was now looking through their extensive collection of board shorts. Admiring the price, fabric, etc.
This girl walked over and started folding clothes or doing something with clothes and hangers. I didn't pay any attention. Suddenly she exclaimed in an overfriendly way "what are you up to tonight?".
I almost jumped with surprise, looked up at her, looked around to see if the question was directed at me - it was, then back to stare at her. Her out-of-the-blue question had confused me, i wasn't prepared for it. 5 full seconds passed before I replied "errrm...I'm....errr...nothing....not doing anything tonight." It was a Wednesday afternoon. I had no idea what I was going to eat for dinner, let alone what i was doing that evening.
She seem perturbed by my shock too but more questions continued like "where is your accent from?". These followed by stammered, garbeled, half-arsed explanations while I tried to figure out if she was just being friendly, or flirting with me, or mistaken me for someone else, another member of staff perhaps, or just figuring out if I was a shoplifter . Just as I decided to ignore whatever I was thinking that was preventing me from talking normally to the pretty shopassistant the questions stopped just abruptly as they started and she walked away. Uhoh. What had I said. Did she think I was up to no good. Did she think I had mental problems stopping me speaking in understandable sentences. This bothered me a lot. I should have asked her a question to show this random girl that I am capable of reasoning and comprehension.
I continued to walk round the shop, towards the exit, via an aisle of coloured shirts, sandals and hats. I looked at the coloured shirts. I want to buy a red shirt, so I looked at the red shirts. I then looked round and realised I was in the children's section. The shirt I was looking at was tiny, so I put it down and walked to the exit. Something else caught my eye as I was walking to the exit, so I veered to the left, looked at it and realised it was also in the children's section, just a bigger size. I then headed towards the exit but realised I had just walked a figure of 8 through the children's section and was back at the starting point of the questions from the girl. Sometimes I hate shopping.
I don't really know what is worse now.....the shop assistant constantly hanging around you like an annoying fly entering your field of vision just as you try to relax and think about what you are going to buy, waiting for you to choose something to buy and persistently asking you "is everything ok? Can i help you?", or a chatty shop assistant that only asks if you need any help once, but then asks random questions disturbing your choosing and subsequent purchase. Sometimes I can be quite easily distracted. I didn't buy anything either in that shop, although I did see a nice pair of sunglasses that I may return to buy. Not a complete fail then.
Oh man, I wanted you to go out for dinner with her!
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