Bad Customers! - Page 8

Totaly agree. I saw 1 girl and 2 guys at my counter the other day and they'd just smear lipstick on each other, taking stuff out of its original packaging and asking the MUA to give them a discount cause "this crap is too expensive" - uuuugh. I also cant stand mothers with kids who come in for a make over and leave their kids to mess up the whole counter and "play" (destory) with the make up... A MAC counter is not kindergarden. Get a damn baby sitter or stay at home if you cant afford one.

if they can't afford MAC, they should get a job or go to the drugstores to purchase their makeup.

Reading through this thread is like an ettiquette guide. I bought my first MAC items a while ago, and it was a really nice experience. It helped that the SA was an absolute sweetie though.

I agree - I mean I wouldn't go to a designer store and ask the sales assistant "damn these bags are waaaaay too expensive. I saw these at a supermarket for 10 bucks!!", so why do people start behaving like they're at some kind of bazar and say they've seen stuff like this in a drugstore?

at the same time I must say, you cant judge a person by the amount of money he or she makes. I used to work at a boutique for second hand designer clothes and we had customers walking in and acting like they own the damn store and treat the staff like scum- they wouldn even say thank you or goodbye, just because they had a bag or shirt with a name on it. A lady once tipped me 50 cent because she said she "knows how desperately young people need money"- I cant even tell you how I hated that. That attitude like I got 50 Dollars and therefore I am better and deserve better treatment makes me sick. I just want to scream "With your 30 dollars you bought a shirt/foundation/belt, not me or this whole store!!!"...but my manager stood there and watched the whole scene and I just said thank you. Some people need to realize: Sales assistants might sell products, but not themselves. Treat them with respect and be nice and thats what you'll get back.

I also worked as a waitress at the grand opening of a notary's office and there were (really, really rich) people who said "Get me some orange juice" with out any thank you or please and some saw me carrying a trayful of glasses and they wouldnt even step aside for me and make fun of me for whatever reason... I hate it when people are like that. I was 16 then and if you consider yourself a successful, wealthy buissnesswoman and superior to everybody else, but like showing 16 year olds that in your opinion they're less worth than you, well then I feel sorry for you.

I am sorry this turned into a rant.

and somemore proof that money does not equal class. it's good to know that you're above that.

Four personal anecdotes that I would like to share:

#1 Once I had this customer who didn't acknowledge me at all! It wasn't crowded in the store coz it was pretty early in the morning and went about my usual greeting to customers which is a simple "Hi! Could I help you anything?" (She was looking through racks of clothes) She didnt respond and I thought she was deaf coz I told her about our new arrivals and such and still didn't respond to me! Later on, she just picked a top off the rack and literally walked through me to the cashier. There I saw her make some conversation with the cashier and realised she WASN'T deaf. It was so infuriating. The least she could do is nod to acknowledge my presence. It was like she thought nothing of me as a service staff! Stupid bi-atch....

#2 Another time I had a customer to haggled over a dollar discount for an hour coz she felt the buttons weren't sewn on securely. Like WTF... So I offered to sew the buttons on tighter for her and she said "no, your apparel is badly made and I want a discount" I politely told her "Sorry m'am, it's not within our company's policy but I would gladly sew the buttons on more securely for you" I then pulled up the sewing kit from behind my counter. To my surprise, she took it and started sewing it herself! I told her, "M'am, please. Let me do it for you." She insists "No! You know you should give me a discount since I'm doing this sewing myself"

Well if that's the way she wants it, I let her do her own thang. It's annoying that people come in and demand a discount for some apparent defect.

#3 I don't know what is up with people who have to try on clothes that are ON the mannequin. If it had been the last piece in the store, I would have gladly helped but it wasn't. I had an exact identical piece in the size and color required, but this crazy woman insisted she wanted to try the pants that was on the mannequin. The mannequins in our store are pretty heavy so another coworker came forward to help me strip it. When we finally got it off, she said she didn't wanna to try it anymore. Urghhhhhhhhh Don't they find it embarrassing that they are bothering good and honest people!?

#4 This is the most recent and and I was the customer. The SA refused to let me refund for this video game that I purchased wrongly on behalf of someone else. The thing is, the game was only in my possession for an hour. He even insisted I had damaged it and refused to refund. Of course I was so angry and spoke to the supervisors for over two days before I received a refund in credit vouchers. I hate it. This can only happen in my crappy little country with crappy little retailers with crappy and ridiculous return policies.

Amen!

First of all, Colour Me Beautiful! Wow that is a blast from the past! You had me rolling with that one! Remember that whole seasons thing? I had an "expert" match me up when I was a young teenager and she gave me this whorish, vampire burgandy-purple. Just what an NW25 15 year old needs, eh?

I love the indifferent "do whatever you want to me" customer. Sometimes it seems like the act of picking out makeup for them is like forcing them at gunpoint to endure a root canal without anesthesia. I mean, you really wonder why they are there. Sure there is the person that needs a lot of guidance and that's fine, but the people who don't give any directions to you or aren't receptive to anything you kindly suggest....I don't get it.

Then there is the customer who isn't happy with their looks to begin with and are looking for a product that will miracle them into Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce or Jessica Simpson. When that doesn't happen, they are disappointed.

Speaking of customers who can't be pleased: I had one customer in particular who picked out every single product that she wanted in her application. Totally subtle stuff. Tinted moisturizer, Girlie eyeshadow, Strada blush and VG5 lipstick. I put it on her and she was like, "These colours you picked make me look like a hooker!" Ummm, first of all, you picked them. Second of all, I don't think I could make a person look like a hooker with tinted moisturizer, Strada, Girlie and VG5 if I tried. How is that possible? I should have been tipped off by the fact that she bitched throughout the whole application process about how she just caught her fiance cheating on her the day before. She was just pissed at the world. This was a customer that no one could please. Ahhhh...good times.

Oh and another customer who was shopping on Christmas eve. It was Like 6:45 and the store had closed at 6:30. The lights were dimmed for pete's sake! This lady comes up to the counter and asks us to get her a mascara. Here's the dialogue that went on in my head:

Ummmm...it's Christmas eve, we closed 15 minutes ago. It's dark in here. Every MA here is either counting a til or cleaning something. You may have an emergency because you procratinated. You may not want to be at home with your family on Christmas eve,but I sure as hell want to be with mine, so uhhh... no. BIIIOOOOTCH! Of course it came out as:

"I'm sorry, maam. We have closed the registers at this time."

Or the lady who wants her makeup done whilst she is holding her fidgety toddler on her lap.

Or the lady who comes in to get her makeup done, only to stop you every 1-2 minutes to round up devil-toddler child who runs off, or plays in the trash can and who eventually, with one swoop, wiped all of the shadows off of the shelf onto the floor, cuz he thought it was funny.

Or the lady who kept hitting on me during the application.

Or the lady who called me and yelled at me once a day for at least a week and a half straight because we were out of her lipstick.

Her: "Well sure I can get it at another counter or online, but I shouldn't have to."

Me to myself: Since we are playing the "shouldn't have tos" game, I shouldn't have to listen to your crap. Don't you have anything else to do???

Or the lady who wasn't watching her son who got into the lipstick testers. When she realized that he had gotten lipstick on his coat, she asked me, "Why weren't you watching him?"

Me to myself: Well, he didn't drop out of my uterus.

I used to pride myself on keeping a good attitude with customers when I was an MA. I was usually the one that other MAs would turn to when they had a doozy of a customer. But damn, some people really made it hard to be nice to them. I always was, but damn.

Yeah, all the good memories are flooding back. Yep....definitely remember why I left now.

Customer: I want a foundation. A foundation to cover my wrinkles.
Me: Foundations don't do that. They even out the skintone. Customer: But they must make one that covers wrinkles.
Me: Nope. It doesn't exist.
Customer: But I need something to deal with my wrinkles. Just because MAC doesn't make one doesn't mean there isn't one. You tell me what to do about my wrinkles! (yelling at this point...)
Me: (deadpanned) Maybe try Botox injections?

Yeah, I loved that. When you get bitched at by a customer because you are the only counter in the store that was honest to them.

Her: " I need a cream to get rid of my dark eye circles."

Me: '"We dont' have anything that gets rid of them, but this eye cream and concealer will help reduce the appearance of the dark circles."

Her: "They told me over at counter X (fill in random counter name here) that they have something that gets rid of them."

Me to self: Well, they are lying to you.

If you want to get rid of those dark undereye circles you have to get rid of your DNA. You're born with them.

I had the wrinkle conversation before. I tried to pleasantly reason with a woman for quite awhile that I can help her reduce the appearance of her wrinkles and puffy undereyes, but not eliminate them. And believe me, I would always approach these delicate conversations with the utmost diplomacy. But dang......

I mean, if MAC could do that, don't you think the world would be lined up out the door to get that product? There are some things that only surgery can accomplish. Some people only will believe what they want to hear, I guess. It just always irked me that some customers would get frustrated with honesty, yet they're happy when another counter lies to them and tells them what they want to hear. I dunno...???

Something that comes out of my mouth quite often.

As much as I love Fast Response, it's not going to "cure" you. People just don't get that we can only cover up COLOR problems, not texture or mental ones.




Anyone have any Christmas Eve horror stories?
Nothing really bad happened directly at my counter, except that both our freelancers took makeovers 30 minutes before we closed...no big deal on that one, they honsetly were unaware that we can't be doing that. I had a girl curse me out because she had to wait to get her concealer while we helped the 50 other people in front of her & then we didn't have a full selection of pigments (hello, we're a COUNTER!). She said she was going to go over to a store then. To which I said to her "Go ahead. I'm sure that they're closed already, but feel free to waste your own time instead of mine." Probably a little bitchy, but COME ON!
Other than that, we were dead all day. Barely making goal & if we were selling anything, it was $15 at a time. But starting at 5:30 & until at least 6:20 (we closed at 6) the store was still PACKED. The lights were flickering on & off, people were scurrying everywhere, there was a Macy's guy on a bull horn, and they had employees blocking the escalators cause people were still trying to shop. It was unlike everything I've ever seen before. I had sooooo many people coming up & asking me to ring out their random purcases (none of which were MAC).

Oh yeah, and it took me a hour just to get out of the parking lot!

Our X-Mas Eve was very similar, but fortunately all of the customers were patient and nice. We were DEAD most of the day. The folks that did come in just needed gift cards and stocking stuffers.

The people that want a miracle can be frustrating. You want to help them, but you can only do so much. I get a lot of people that want to smooth out texture. I can only put so much primer and foundation before it looks worse. I just tell them "this is what I can do...". If they get too rude, I just smile and hand them the brush or sponge.

BTW, did anyone read the article in Allure about the Allure staffers getting makeovers? It was interesting to read what their expectations were and how they felt about the outcome. I read so many comments on MUA where people were disgusted with their makeovers. Do you think a lot of people just want to see a version of what they normally do themselves instead of "a whole new look"? Does it go back to the idea that a lot of people are not comfortable with change? Hmmm...cosmetic counter psychology.

I think it's that a lot of people are so set in their make up ways (eg - they like bright colours, or they like neutrals only) that when an MA does something different they immediately don't like it. I've seen it on here, on MUA and in real life where people don't like their makeovers. a lot of the time the makeup is gorgeous, but it's just not what that person is used to wearing.

hahahha that's my favorite

i also love when people will pick up a clearly brown lipstick and say THIS IS TOO ORANGE,i'm like uhhhh where do you see orange

Alot of african american women who come to our counter who assume that because i'm white and a male i don't know what i'm doing
but as soon as they see ken (the only other guy at the counter who happens to african american) they run to him,
I hate having to explain that I'm trained and can basically match anyone

Honey It's just the same for me and I'm a Black woman - all of a sudden they only want the white girl to help them or they want their makeup to look like the NW25 girls even though it's a theme day and we all have on the exact same makeup. (just grab the 'black girl pack' and call it a day NW45 Studio Fix, Chestnut lipliner and Oh Baby - since I can't seem to convince anyone to look at ANYTHING else!) And I'm sure we all have stories like this - we see it all, everyday. It sucks even harder when it's someone who looks like you that won't let you help them.



X-MAS day fun - Our system went down - so... you could not paywith a gift card, you could no buy a gift card, you had to call the 800 number to manually authorize every check and credit card payment as we had a line out the door of people waiting. Fun

That cracked me up! It was always my mission to encourage women of colour to branch out and try something new, but that Studio Fix/Chesnut/Oh Baby was a hard habit to break for some.

I had some comments about ethnicity when I worked for MAC as well. Like people who walked up to the counter and said that they needed help so I offer it and they say, "Oh, can she do my makeup" and point to a black MA. Or some would even just flat out ask. At first it bugged me and I would try to persuade them, but then I realized their issue, not mine. Or I would match up a woman of colour with foundation and they wouldn't believe it was the right shade until a women with the same shade of skin as hers agreed that it was OK.

One day I had a lady walk up who wanted a smokey eye demo and let me brag for a moment: I rock the smokey eye on women of colour. So, I start to gather everything up and she is just looking uncomfortable. Then she says, "Can she do my makeup? I would prefer a black woman to do this." and points to a black MA. I said, "Sure." I wasn't going to force her. Well, that MA was not so skilled at smokey eyes. She absolutely demolished this poor lady's eyes. It was Carbon shadow from lash to brow, smudged wide around the outer corner of the eye and all smudged underneath. Smokey not so much, it was more like she rubbed her eyes in a pile of campfire ashes. I felt bad her demo turned out like that, but then I remembered that she made that choice.

It went both ways too. I saw a lot of white customers seek me out instead of black MAs at our counter. Their loss. One of the most talented makeup artists I have EVER seen was beautiful NW45. She could make ANYONE look amazing. Some women would pass up an opportunity to get their makeup done by her, so that a white MA could do it. I would always think...fine...whatever. Your loss, dumbass.

I've heard the arguement that customers want someone who looks like them and can identify, but I think that is a silly arguement. You end up missing out on some great opportunities. MAC is one of the few lines out there that really focuses on every skin colour.

Hahahahahaha!!!
You just listed the #1, 2 & 3 sellers at my store. UGH!! I try to get them to at least switch them to Beaux so it doesn't look like they have a disco ball on their lips.

I would much rather do someone's makeup that is different than me. I ca do my own face every day & play all that I want. And besides, so many more colors show up with so much less work on an NW45 skin than my NW15.

Naked Lunch, Shroom, Grain, Orb & about 15 other colors all look exactly the same on me.

Boxing Day - we ended up dragging our counters around to create barricades to stop our bay from being completely swamped, and ended up desperately ringing for security to come and guard us because we were being verbally assaulted constantly (number of times called a cunt in a single day = 12, and that's a new record) and a few guys took a swing at one or two of us because we were forced to block side access to the escalators for security and safety reasons.
Never, never again. I sure as hell hope that I got a double time-and-a-half wage for that day.

I'm the go-to gal for make-up for women of colour at my counter, so I always get a little giggle when people blanch when they see that their MA is someone with a hardcore case of moon-tan. I take pride in understanding and/or furthering my knowledge of the particular needs of various skin colours, so it's always nice to get a thumbs-up afterwards. Breaking down the make-up stereotypes!

That's it. When are they going to give MAs a makeup brush that doubles as a taser?

One request, please brush your teeth and wash your face before coming to any counter to have make up done.

I agree with all of the post. Before working as a MA, I didnt realize that alot of women are clueless about makeup. They want to know what color looks good on them. I think by the time you are in your 20's you have tried different colors and know what works and doesnt. I will pick out three or four colors. if they dont like my suggestions I ask another MA for a suggestion. It is there final decision and sometimes they dont like anything. There are customers who want you to devote all of your time to them and not step away to help other people, those are the ones that piss me off. But for the most part most customers are nice its the not so nice ones that make it bad for the rest.

Amen! I had one woman look in the mirror at what I had applied so far and she happened to check her teeth. She then proceeded to pick a piece of vegetable out of her teeth with her 2" long nails. It literally made me sick to my stomach to finish the application.

sorry for the t: , but

lol ok I totally went to get my make-up done during Ramadan and I was fasting all day and didn't eat and I kept apologizing tot he MA cuz my breath was probably horrible. She was soo sweet about it and as soon as the sun went down I grabbed a piece of gum and I'm sure it probably made her day haha.

Holy sh**. Just.... Holy Sh**.
Is this a MAC counter? Because your MRO should know about that. We have excellent security where I work.
Permission to start using MoonTan? That's GREAT.

I didn't. I didn't even start experimenting with make-up until I was well into my 30s, and I'm still always amazed and delighted when the MA suggests a new colour or a combination of colours that looks great.

Demanding that the MA share exactly your skin shade is quite pathetic and if I may say so, verging on the racist.

Not among my friends. The majority of them don't know anything about makeup. A good majority asked me during our senior year asked me about makeup so that they looked professional.

The few who do play with makeup are decent except one. She refuses to see the problems with her makeup. *shrugs

OMG, people can be so rude.

I have had that happen to me. I got a little offended, but I purposely didnt do my best work on her.

no-one can do much about it.

Boxing Day = MAYHEM in australian stores. it's the start of the stocktake sales, and all the freaks come out of the woodwork. these people come from all over the city, line up all night to be first in the store in the morning. as soon as the store opens, it's like the running of the bulls. people madly sprinting to the department they want to go to to start grabbing.

if you fell over in a shop on boxing day, people would just walk over you and pull any items you were holding out of your hands to have for themselves. these women (and men) fight over items on the shelves. it's scary.

I'm sorry, but WHAT!?!?

You had throngs of people there and you were getting screamed at and insulted and called "the c-word"????

For the love of Pete, WHY!?

That's just insane.