I was on my towards the backroom when I stopped to straighten one of my endcaps and was stopped by a "customer" and asked do you work here? I said no. He kept walking. I asked did you need something? He said no, I just found it odd that a red shirt employee would be straightening and organizing a display. I just laughed as he walked away. Then just a couple minutes later still heading towards the backroom I was stopped by a customer who asked if they carry step stools. I said I didn't work here but to look for someone with a red shirt or there's a red phone you can use. Not a minute later another gentleman came up to me and asked if the sheets and pillowcases he had in his hands were the same color because he had color deficiency (his words not mine), they were exactly the same colors. I thought this all was VERY ODD! It all happened within only a few minutes of each other. I felt like I was being tested.
This goes along with my other post. Just walking through the store I get stopped a million times. I don't mind helping out but when do you just say no more ! I have 2 stores that are busy and I'm always getting asked something. I'm ready to put a big sign on the front and back of me that reads

I DO NOT WORK HERE!! I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THIS STORE CARRIES OR WHERE THEY KEEP IT!!
PLEASE FIND SOMEONE WITH A ... COLORED SHIRT AND THEY WILL HELP YOU!!!
THANK YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY!!

Apparently I've been a merchandiser for long enough I look retail. It's nothing to get asked questions when I'm shopping! LOL!

There is a store I merchandise very regularly (couple times a week) and their employees don't wear specific "uniforms" like a red shirt or a type of vest over their regular clothes, and when I am there I am constantly asked by customers to help them. I help them if I can, but I do tell them I am not actually an employee and I do try to point them in the direction of a real employee of the store. Sometimes they do get miffed though if I cannot answer their specific questions.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2016 09:03PM by TiggerOh.

All you can do is say you don't work for the store. You can help if you want but usually saying I work for what ever brand I am there for suffices - as I am here as an Acme sock rep. I don't work for Joe's department store.

I have seriously been in a tank top that shows HUGE tattoos on my back & arms, jeans with holes ripped in them, my lip rings in, and sandals that show the fact that I have foot tattoos... and folks will still ask me questions about products and locations??? What is that? 0_o hahah. But for work, I do cover it all up and dress professionally and no one is the wiser.

And on another note, I actually asked a merchandiser a question one day, red shirt, and then realized he didn't work there. He tried to help me and I apologized to him and told him I was sorry, it wasn't a big deal, etc but nothing would do him but to make sure to help me find the wine brand I was after. He was stocking sodas.

I will try to help the sweet little old ladies. They usually just need something off a top shelf. (Hey stores, not everyone is 6 feet tall! If I need a step stool to load it, how does the average customer reach it?) Or someone who's face has that certain look that screams, where is the restroom?

In most of my stores when I'm asked where something is before I can finish saying I don't work there they're apologizing because realize I'm a merchandiser/vendor. I do try and help if I can or point them to the nearest associate. Then there's the store employees asking if I need help, as if I'm a customer, because I'm resetting an area, zoning, or stocking.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2016 05:00PM by bethmar224.

I try to be helpful, but make it clear I am a vendor so they don't think I am an idiot for not knowing where the bathroom is. It usually isn't hard to help because for some reason, nobody ever asks where anything is until they are standing right beside it. 9 times out of 10, I don't have to do any more than say, "Right there". If it isn't right there, I point them to an associate. That was what I was trained to do because we are supposed to be partnering with the store.

So, why were you wearing RED, and just HAPPEN to be a M.S.?? lol Actually, my husband is anal, so he WILL stop and Straighten displays in stores..

Welcome to the wonderful world of merchandising.

I usually wear jeans, a black t-shirt, and look nothing like store staff, but it gets so bad some days I want to hang a sign around my neck that says, "I don't work here, don't ask me for help."

For the record (and giggles) I've been talking with store managers, refused to help customers, the customer then demands I am fired, and the manager then tells the customer s/he can't fire me because I don't work there, and the customer still doesn't believe them. I swear how these people have money to shop is beyond me.

Yea, the employees that can't see that I am a vendor is the really amusing one.

Even when they have observed that I have been in a store for an hour, have the name tag on and have a cart full of back stock. Really, you think a customer just found all this inventory and is willing to put it up for you ?
I guess it is just so ingrained in them to ask (in some stores, obviously never the ones where you actually might need help) that they just can't alter their course even when it is totally obvious I am NOT shopping.