Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Tail-gating woes


One of my biggest pet peeves is when a salesperson at a department store (or any stores for that matter) decided that the only way to make him/herself helpful is by tailgating right behind me, a few inches away from my butt, as I browse the product aisles.

What I don’t understand is that why can’t they just stay put at one place and pay attention to me in the event that I need help  instead of following me around callously while paying attention ELSEWHERE.  And usually, when I really do need help, most often than not, they were not able to.
That, I tell you, is.just.so.bloody.annoying. So annoying that I would like to smack the crap out of their heads, especially when they start answering “Yes!, yes, yes” to ALL my questions when I know for certain that the answer to some were clearly nothing but no!

Perhaps it was a case of miscommunication, and perhaps it was a case of language barrier, and the only desire they may have had is just to sell crap to me without me asking questions.

But whatever that reason is, I still don’t see the need for them to tail-gate me at a fart’s away. It is absolutely unnecessary, and really, please just let me browse the aisle peacefully. I don’t need you to follow me around when I’m just browsing and I will let you know when I need help.

This happened the other day when I wanted to buy a non-slip bathtub mat at a nearby department store. I have already had a few things in my hand, and jolly well intended to purchase it as I continue browsing somewhat similar stuff at a different aisle. Lo! And behold! This guy suddenly just popped up and followed me every frigging where. Not only that, he also went on to give me a sales pitch in Thai for every product I happened to pick out from the aisle. 

Thinking that he may be knowledgeable, I then asked him in my pidgin Thai on the stuff which I had in my hands. All he could do was stared blankly at me, and went on with “yes, yes, yes”, and then started to bring out more stuff from the aisle. I regretted opening my mouth. I should just have shooed him away and grab a fly swat nearby! 

He really was more of a hindrance than a help. And right there and then, I decided to not purchase anything. I promptly gave him back what I had, thanked him and walked away.

So yeah, I was royally annoyed. For me, just following me at my tail the moment I walk into a store is enough make me flee. And it makes me wonder if these moronic salesperson, wherever they are in the world, actually realize that. Or perhaps, that was their main intention anyway – to just annoy the crap out of their customers.

In any case though, I got to pat myself on the back for being able to save a few thousand baht from not making such a purchase.

End.of.rant.

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