I must apologize for not having a review up today; my morning was quite hectic and I just never got the chance to sit down. I haven't decided what I'm reviewing next, but promise to have one up tomorrow. So just for the sake of something to write about, I must tell you about my experience this morning. (I mean, after all, we have to give you our war stories in our quest for perfect products, right?) I was doing some serious spring cleaning, moving my boys' room around, and just generally all sweaty and tired, and my makeup had pretty much melted off, when my mother-in-law and I decided to meet up at Ulta. She was also quite sweaty as she'd been walking around in our lovely 80 degree heat this morning. They were offering a free gift with a $40 purchase, so she was kind enough to let me help her rack up $40.
I walked into the store carting my five and two year old, and my six month old sons. One of the women there looked at me, dropped her jaw in disbelief, and shook her head as her eyes rolled so far back into her head I thought they were stuck that way. What? Mothers with young children don't buy makeup? This was kind of odd for me, as usually I am fortunate that my husband can watch the kids if I go off hounding for makeup. I've never experienced someone's
dismay that I would dare show up somewhere with children. How disgusting of me. I shrugged it off and I was looking around for some of
Sally Hansen Natural Beauty by Carmindy Face Primer. (I'm on a quest to find us an amazing face primer.) They had the signs up, but none of the product was on the shelf. I approached a salesgirl, who said, "Hmm... let me look over here." She went to some boxes of new shipments, gave it all a cursory glance and said, "No, we're out." How she could possibly know that for certain by glancing at a mountain of products is beyond me, but, you know, whatever. I wasn't too worried about it because my boys were getting antsy and we needed to head out. (For the record, they were antsy, but they were totally behaving and were quiet.) As we checked out, my mother-in-law was trying to make a little small talk to the same employee who "helped" me, and she wouldn't even respond. Then she requested her free gift with purchase, and the girl smirked and said, "Um... that's for fragrances." I swear she stuck her nose so far up into the air it looked like it was about to crawl over her head. And she just stared at us as we realized our mistake, like she couldn't wait for us to get the hell out of Dodge. Okay, so we didn't read the fine print, is that some reason to act like you caught us digging in your trash bin? We were both quite uncomfortable from being treated so distastefully (and my mother-in-law is NOT easily offended) that we were pretty glad to just get out of there.
I share all this because - isn't makeup and beauty and shopping supposed to be fun and for everyone? Don't you want people to come back to your store? If, in theory, my mother-in-law and I were some yucky, scummy people and were plain and didn't know a lipstick from a roll of toilet paper, wouldn't we be the ones who needed the most guidance? A woman and/or mother of any age, and a grandmother should be able to walk in a place like that and feel special and beautiful. It irks me because I know if I had walked in there on a day where I hadn't been working and was wearing my full face, I would have been treated like royalty.
Okay, I just wanted to vent. And if any of you readers out there are salespersons in a cosmetics store, please treat every woman who walks in there like a queen. She deserves it and she'll keep coming back!
11 comments:
I agree. The few times I have been to our Ulta in Amarillo, TX the sales women have been very rude. With kids or without them.
The Ulta near me, just outside Chicago, is the SAME way! My friend and I went in and they were so RUDE and unhelpful. I'd expect that from a snooty department store cosmetic counter, but not Ulta.
Grrrrr...I HATE it when people (employees or other shoppers) look at a woman with kids and turn their nose up or make rude comments under their breath. It's one thing if your kids are running wildly through the store, but if you are able to maintain your kids and still get your shopping done - what is it their business 1. if you have kids with you and 2. how many kids you have. I was at Nordstrom with a friend the other day (I had my son and she had her two little daughters). All 3 kids were behaving very well, but people still stared at us like we were a bunch of freaks. Are people with children not allowed to leave the house? Sorry, it just bugs and I hated hearing it happened to you too!
that is the most annoying thing ever. You guys are nice, I would have cancelled my sale and said I would take my business elsewhere. Jerks.
Kristen, just wait until strangers start giving you parenting advice. That's just swell.
Is my mom going to write a letter?
Wow I'm shocked. Our first comment from a guy and it also happens to be Kelli's husband! Welcome, Bryce. Make yourself comfortable! :)
I am still of the opinion that a letter or phone call needs to be made! A lot of times managers don't know these things happen unless their customers make them aware. (So let's just hope it wasn't one of the managers doing the eye rolling!)
this post is beautiful and so true!
For the record, I will never shop in Ulta again b/c I encountered a similarly rude saleslady. She approached me and actually said, "Are you looking for foundation? Looks like you could use a little help, and I think we have the thing for you." Talk about rude! And I maybe had 1 pimple at the time. Hello! I think you have to be rude as a rule in order to be hired there. I will never shop there again & I tell everyone and their dog about my story. I hope you do, too.
PS: found you on Mormon Mommy bloggs
Rude. I hate how customer service is no longer a priority these days. When I worked at Foleys we had to suck up to each and every person that walked through our department regardless of what they looked like! It was annoying, but it was my job, and I wanted to do it well. Great customer service is what keeps me going back to certain stores, and bad customer service makes me avoid some stores like the plague! I'm sorry you had such an awful experience! You should definitely contact the manager and make a complaint.
I'm with Missy. I would be making a phone call to the manager. Snooty McSnoot-Snoot needs to be put in her place and if it WAS the manager then customer service has gone to hell in a handbasket as a whole! Sheesh!
I was planning on heading to Ulta to shop for a set of heated rollers. After reading your post, I've changed my mind....I'm heading to Sally's instead.
Post a Comment