SA's on this site

[Tara D. Rose]

HI all, I don't know if this has been posted on here before. It may have been at some point somewhere on here .So with not remembering if it has ever been covered or not, I will give it a go one more time.

I was just reading another thread on here about first purchases of feminine clothes. I was reading another thread a few weeks ago about sharing out stories with SA's while making purchases of female items,etc.
So I was wondering is there any members on here that do work in stores that sell female clothes, and what would be your experiences when men bring their feminine items to your register. So have you seen first hand of the nervousness and jitters from men buying these items? It would be interesting to hear true stories from the SA's perspective. Some may be even funny?

[Jodi]

Hi Tara, About 10 years ago, I worked for 2 years as an SA at New York & Co and a year at the Limited. I was winding down my career before retirement and did it for something different to do. I should have kept a diary and written a book on it. All the staff in the store knew that I was a cd--no problem.

When dealing with cd's shopping for themselves, you can use all the excuses in the book, but you are not fooling anyone in the store. The SA's will not laugh at a guy buying women's clothing. They will laugh at the stupid excuses that are used for buying. I saw more guys sneak around the store showing extreme fear. Store staff labeled them as a possible shoplifter and never took their eyes off of them.

The guys were scared to death to have me wait on them. I'm the one they should have waiting on them.

It was a real trip for 3 years. I learned a lot about women's fashion.

Jodi

[connie23]

Tara,
Thanks for the question and the thread. I went shopping today and admitted to a SA that I was buying skinny jeans for me. At the same time I noticed a guy looking scared looking at skirts and tops. Once I asked for help (in Nordstrom's Rack) the SAs were really nice and relaxed. It was a really positive experience. I would love to hear if there are any GGs who know if most SAs are cool about CDs buying clothes for themselves.
Connie

[CorsetAngel]

I work for a very short while (approx 6 months) at Victoria's Secret back at the beginning of 2000. I have all kinds of interesting little stories from there, but I never worked as a SA on the sale floor. I mostly did all of the store's shipping and receiving back in the stock room. I had to steam all the items coming into stock, put the little security anti-theft devices on them, and sort everything out by style, color, and size. After hours, I had to go out on the sales floor, and help re-stock merchandise, and tidy up the place. Back then too, VS was lunching new products left and right, and each time they came out with something new, they would hold a mandatory meeting with all employees. They would show all of us the new product, then teach selling tips and strategies to everybody. They even would hold "mock sales situations" where we would role play somebody shopping, and a SA would have to sell them the product. Being a guy, I got chosen to play the role of a shopper a lot, and would have to pretend I was shopping for a wife, or girlfriend, etc... Anyways, at the end of the meetings, since VS believes the best way to sell a product period is via word of mouth, they would give all employees "Free Samples" of the new product. I was constantly getting free bras and panties. I just had to tell them my Size, and would say it was for my GF or my sister, but I'm sure they knew.

God I miss that job sometimes. To bad VS has nothing that would fit me nowadays, and I made absolutely NO money working there.

[Allison Chaynes]

I just applied to be a store manager at a Catherine's. Lane Bryant didn't have any openings :)

[StephanieJ]

I've never been an SA, but about a year ago we had a yard sale and some guy came and bought a bunch of my wife's clothes. He was confident and straight forward and I didn't give a second thought to whether they were for him or someone else.

[TxKimberly]

. .. The SA's will not laugh at a guy buying women's clothing. They will laugh at the stupid excuses that are used for buying. I saw more guys sneak around the store showing extreme fear. Store staff labeled them as a possible shoplifter and never took their eyes off of them. . .

Wow - I couldn't agree more! You walk in scared and timid and blurting out absurd excuses and you are going to be doing yourself no favors. I've never been an SA but have seen this situation from the other side a LOT over the last ten years and I have always been treated remarkably well everywhere that I have shopped. (And yes, I do mean shopping in drab and telling them that it is for me)

[ArleneRaquel]

Almost all of the Sa's that I've encountered while enfemme or in drab have been respectful & helpful.