I noticed this on our recent trip to Sheffield. It seemed ubiquitous.
The worst example was in L'occitane en Provence in Meadowhall. Now I've seen these shops a few times on trips south and thought they looked nice but I remain mainly loyal to Orkney Soap when it comes to buying shower gel and so on so I've never been inside one.
However I was looking for a birthday present for my sister and she loves bath stuff so that seemed like a good excuse to storm the hallowed portals and have a good look round. Ha! Fat chance of a leisurely browse. We were pounced on as soon as we got through the door.
'Can I help you with anything today?'
'Not just at the moment thanks, I'd just like a look around to see what you have'.
'Well OK, but if there's anything I can help you with, just give me a shout'
(Thinks - how big do you think this shop is? If I need help, asking for it in a normal tone of voice will suffice, we are not talking the cavernous halls of Harrods here)
We'd got as far as shelving unit number two on the right hand side when there she was again, waving one of those bits of paper at us, those ones designed to help you smell stuff, they look like post-its made out of blotting paper.
'I thought you might like to try our brand new fragrance Neroli. It's beautiful'.
OK what made you think that? what part of I'd just like to look around for now is so difficult to understand?
But being a polite sort of person I responded politely.
'Do you do it in a body wash?'
'No, but we do have a lovely shower gel.'
Now colour me unusual if you will, but if I want a shower gel that's what I'll ask for, assuming I am being hounded by a shop assistant I feel obliged to talk to when really I just want to get on and find my own stuff.
'I'm looking for a birthday present for my sister. She doesn't like shower gel, prefers bubble bath or body wash'.
'Oh well, I'm afraid we don't do many body washes. Mainly shower gel'
'I'd noticed' - this through gritted teeth.
To cut a long story short she fetched the two body washes they did have and given that one smelled like Johnsons Baby Lotion I bought the other one. I did think, considering how relatively expensive it was, that it might have come in a box, but no, all I got for handing over a large denomination note was the stuff in a bottle.
Now here's the thing. They had some lovely looking stuff in that shop and given that when I'm on holiday I buy the sort of frivolous stuff I can't get here, I'm sure that left to myself I would have had a good mooch and then spent quite a lot of money on both my sister's present plus things for myself. But I never got the chance to browse, because the assistant wouldn't leave me alone. So really all she did was shoot herself in the foot.
My elder son says that it's all down to the recession and that assistants are really pushed to make their daily sales targets. I can understand that. But along with a large proportion of the women I know, I have spent some time doing shop work. You don't have to be a genius to differentiate between the people who want immediate help, the people who will come to you when they want help, and the people who want to be left alone to do their own selecting in peace.
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