So, I've been on a quest for dresses to wear to a wedding.. and a brunch the next day. I've been to SO many stores and hadn't found anything.

I remembered there's this cute store in town that has TONS of dresses (granted, very expensive, designer dresses...) and they're open late on Thursdays. So I go last night and I'm the only customer in the store. The two salespeople were chitchatting at the counter when I first walked in, stopped to ask me if I needed help, I said I was just looking for now and started to look at every dress I could find.

They asked me again, "Is there something particular you're looking for?"

So I bit the bullet and told them I was looking for a dress for a wedding... and then we commiserated a bit about how difficult it was... And THEN... The saleswoman said --

"Well, it's tough because you're busty too"

Wait, waaaaahhh???

1) I am NOT busty. I was, however, I suuuppoosee wearing a sweater dress and a VERY helpful bra that makes me appear bustier than I am.

Then she says, "Well.. you should try going to..." and lists off a bunch of stores.... OTHER than theirs.

Wait, waaahhh???

I tell them I tried on a dress (that I LOVED) at Bloomingdales, that they had also... and they asked what size I tried on. I tell them, it was a 12. (This was a DESIGNER 12... so it was TINY... but it fit) and they kind of made a face, and one of the salespeople says, "Oh, let me see if we have ANYTHING in a 12." and guess what? She came back with NOTHING.

What's amazing is I'm in between sizes right now -- fitting into a COUPLE 10s and MANY 12s... and was feeling pretty good... considering three months ago I was a (tight)14 or 16.

I left that store, feeling like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, when the salespeople say, "We don't have anything for you here." And even though they didn't outright SAY IT -- I felt like they basically said, "You're too fat to shop here."

UGH.

I ended up going to Banana Republic, trying on 15+ dresses (NOT KIDDING) and finding what I needed -- and the salespeople were super nice. And I saved myself HUNDREDS of dollars by not buying a designer dress.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced this type of rudeness... I just didn't expect to have it AFTER I've lost a good amount of weight...

Anyone else want to vent??

Ku- I'm sorry that happened to you. While you were telling your story, I was thinking of Pretty Woman. That's so funny. I'm actually getting treated rudely in a plus size store. Imagine that. I'm not a little person, never have been. I still can fit in plus size clothes. 14/16 shirts and 14-18 pants. The woman that was waiting on me was probably a 32 easily. I told her that my clothes are getting big and she looked at me with the most sarcastic tone and "good for you" I don't know if she thought I was making fun of her or something, but it made me mad. I didn't say anything, but when I asked for a smaller size of jeans she said that she'd be surprised if they fit. I was like what? So I tried on the smaller size, they fit and I bought them. I've always loved plus size stores b/c they make me feel good..... so strange that they would start to hate on me as I get smaller. I'm looking forward to the day that I can't wear anything in there!

Nothing more than a 10? How weird. Sounds like a very unpleasant place, at any size.

You would think given the economy that they'd be nice to anyone so they could get a sale.

Do you remember the sales person's name? I'd call and complain to their manager and make it clear you were willing to drop some cash.

Ku and Here- How awful for both of you! Please don't let their rude and mean behavior discourage you. I've never felt uneasy in plus size stores, as they usually hire plus size associates. When people are rude to me, I try very hard to let things roll of my back, but sometimes it stings... and won't seem to go away. I try to remember that you never know what kind of day a person has had, and they just may be stressed or upset. Then again.. they could just be a B****. Either way, don't let those kind of people take up space in your head!! Positive thoughts!!!

I agree with zenor. Manager/store owner should be aware how thier salespeople are driving business away.

Unfortunately, I think the rudest one was the OWNER.

And she was bigger than me.

You all can borrow my line when someone is rude to me!

I ask them, "Are you always rude to people or is it just to me?".

People usually sputter and stammer and I walk away!

It sounds like they paid for their foolish rudeness with a lost sale, hurting themselves. Maybe drop by one day when you've reached your goal, remind them of what happened, and tell them you'll never shop there because of how you were treated when you wore a larger size. But, then, holding a grudge isn't really healthy.

From your description, I think the plus size clerk may have thought you were saying something rude to her and reacted accordingly. Some people can be very sensitive about their weight, and you don't know what kind of a day she was having. It doesn't excuse the way she acted, but maybe it makes it a little easier to forgive. I think it was more about her than it was about you.

If you have to make a customer feel bad, you probably don't feel too good about yourself deep down. In either of these cases.

I knew this one guy, he went into moores and asked for a shirt in a certain size and what not and the salesperson says "I dont think we would have anything here that you would be able to afford" I know its not in the right category, btu it was still unbelievably rude.

Oh yeah. I can't remember just what it was for - maybe a holiday party - so I was browsing through the mall looking for a dress. I went into one boutique store where neither of the two sales clerks ever even came out from behind the counter. They spent the whole time I was in their store whispering to each other behind their hands. Once in a while, if I pulled something out to look at the tag, they would titter and giggle. As I was leaving, I heard the giggles turn into guffaws.

Granted, at the time, I was wearing my usual dumpy *uniform* of men's jeans and men's 3X T-shirt, carrying a super cheap handbag, and wearing worn out no-name tennis shoes - didn't exactly reek with class - so they could have been assuming that not only would I not fit into anything they carried but couldn't afford it either.

If I thought it would matter to them, I'd go back this year dressed to the nines - now that I can fit into the sizes they sell - and do the pretty woman "remember me?" scene. May do it anyway

Doo it.
Thumbs up

I've found that the quality of customer service pretty much across the board has declined.

I can't remember the last time that I was impressed with a store's customer service and frankly, most of the time I'm appalled.

I realize that sometimes we're not aware of the situation that the cashier is in...but honestly, it isn't that hard to put on a smile and pretend like you care.

I often leave stores feeling like I've completely wasted my money on a company who could care less about the consumer's shopping experience.

Needless to say, I've done a lot of online shopping recently.

As for the Pretty Woman-esque comeback? Do it. I would personally go in and try on a bunch of things, make as if you're going to buy them..and then tell the manager that because of the horrible way that you were treated in the past..you're planning to purchase those items elsewhere.

I no longer shop at Dillards because of how I was treated once. I went in to buy prom shoes, and I'm a size 11 shoe. I asked the girl for help, and she told me that they only made shoes for normal people!
I left without complaining because I was so embarrassed.
I went in with a friend years later to help her shop (but I wasn't going to buy anything from them) and a saleslady asked if I needed anything. I told her no, and explained why. She was mortified....

I had a great shopping experience (non-clothes) today so I thought I'd share to offset some of these horror stories. I was shopping in a Linens & Things for a gift registry item. Since I had clearly made up my mind what I was buying, it would have been easy to leave me on my own and direct me in a general area. Instead an employee interrupted what he was doing to print a current version of the registry (I wanted to make sure the item hadn't been bought since I printed the list on Monday). Then he found the item and researched an issue where the UPC number had changed since the item was listed. He carried it up to the register for me while I shopped for an additional item. All of this was accompanied by polite conversation to me while including other employees in climbing ladders, etc, to research the UPC code on other boxes. Now that I think about it, I've had multiple good experiences in this store with several employees. I'll have to keep that in mind!