Monday 18th August

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:07:09 +0200

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog. I work on a cosmetics counter and it's my career (note I said career, and not job). This blog is being written to dispell some of the pre-judgements made by those of you out there who think cosmetics girls are a) rude, b) stupid and c) desperate for a sale.

A few things you should perhaps know about me:
a) I probably have more GCSE's and A-levels than you and I was acceped to my first choice university.
b) I have no interest in football, and similarly have no aspirations to become the next Mrs WAG
c)I am ambitious and want to climb the career ladder (believe it or not there is more than one job title in my role).

I have been driven to blog because of one simple thing: the ignorance and bad attitude of some customers out there. I have had yet another soul destroying Monday where I have wanted to tear my own head off and pour nail polish remover into my veins for want of a change. Allow me to set the scene:

It's lunch time and our counter is crammed with customers. I approach a lady browsing and politely enquire if she would like some help. To which I am met with a hand approximately 5 inches from my face and short, sharp reply of: "I'm just looking, leave me alone." To which I smile cheerily and answer "Ok, madam, no problem at all."

It's now a few minutes later and another lady approaches and begins to open up boxes of stock, so again I go over and offer her a tester to look at. "I don't want to see the tester I'm just looking."
"I know you are madam, but for hygeine reasons we have to keep boxes of stock sealed, but feel free to examine the tester."
To which I am met with haughty tones of "I don't WANT to try it, I just want to LOOK." And I have to explain myself again that she can look, just not at something someone may later have to buy. To which she storms off.

Now, this happens about, oh, 40 times a day. And god is it HARD. I understand that some people perhaps have the misconception they are being 'hassled' by us, but let me explain a few things.

IT IS IN OUR CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT TO APPROACH EVERY CUSTOMER WITH A SMILE, TO ACKNOWLEDGE THEM AND OFFER HELP THAT MAY BE NEEDED. If my manager were to walk in on me ignoring customers because 'they just wanted to browse' I would be hauled in the office and put straight on disciplinary action.

Secondly, when we step out and ask you to come and try our products, it is also in our contract of employment to do this. Everything we do, we do because we are contracted to, and when we recieve a short sharp reply and a hand in the face, it isn't just rude, it's disrespectful.

When you come to my counter, you are coming into MY WORKSPACE. Think of it as my office if you like. If I came into your cushy little offics and up to your desk, and began rummaging around in your cupboards and stapling bits of paper together, do you not think you would be in the least bit curious as to what I was doing? And then if you were met with a dismissive hand in the face would you

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Secrtets of life on a cometics counter

Monday 18th August