I don't even look like I work there!

[Aressel]

Not entirely sucky, but definitely odd.

Background:
I have an olive green fleece vest, the kind for hiking, boating, etc. It has many big pockets, and I quite like it.

Employees at big chain of Thrift Stores wear bright red vests, with store name on the front, and I think on the back as well. Regardless, bright red.

I regularly browse said chain of stores for cheap computer equipment that is in good shape.

The story:
I am in town about an hour away from home, while running an errand. I'm in one of these stores which I hadn't been in before, browsing the electronics section.

Me: Your friendly neighbourhood Technomancer
CL: Confused lady

CL: (To me) Do you have any breadmakers?
Me: *Pause* (Caught off guard) Um, I don't work here.
CL: (Takes this in) Whats that logo in your vest then?
Me: (Showing it to her) Tofino Sea Kayaking Company
CL: Oh. (Wanders off further down the section) I guess if there are any, they'd be over here
Me: *Smile, Shrug, Noncommittal grunt*

The really odd thing is that the same thing had happened to me before at the local store, wearing the same vest. That time I had been carrying a computer back from testing a monitor before I bought it, and she asked me a question about computers. So, I automatically went into tech mode. Only later in the conversation did I figure out that she thought that I worked there...

Incidentally, both were older ladies. I wonder if thats a coincidence? Regardless, how did they possibly figure that I worked there? I can't fathom the leap of logic.

[tollbaby]

I got that at the grocery store the other day. I've never worked "store" type retail (well, I once worked at a convenience store, but meh), so I can't possibly have "the look"... I was dressed in my normal work clothes (office casual), didn't have a name tag or a polo shirt, was carrying my purse and was HOLDING MY FIVE YEAR OLD'S HAND! The lady came up to me and asked me a few questions and I sort of laughed and said I didn't work there. Her head snapped up with a look of shock and she looked like she was on her way to a tirade until my five year old started tugging on my hand to show me which apples she wanted

[rerant]

Customers are always getting stopped at my store, since we have several different uniform options.
You can wear either:
a yellow polo
a yellow button-up
a yellow and blue sweatshirt
a blue sweatshirt
a white polo
jeans
company cargos
company cargo skirt
The last two shirt options are usually managers, people that work in the back warehouse, or those working in the resturant/bistro, but still, customers are ALWAYS getting stopped. Especially since we can wear jeans (and most of us do), therefore leaving us looking like any other customer from the back.

[Sofar]

I've been asked questions like that even when I'm in full eccentric regalia. Never happened before I took a job in customer service.

[Boozy]

I was HOLDING MY FIVE YEAR OLD'S HAND!

That's hardly the SC's fault, Tollbaby. I mean, who hasn't heard of "Take Your Toddler To Work Day"?

[FenigDurak]

That's hardly the SC's fault, Tollbaby. I mean, who hasn't heard of "Take Your Toddler To Work Day"?

That would be an interesting day at work...

[Tria]

Not entirely sucky, but definitely odd.

Background:
I have an olive green fleece vest, the kind for hiking, boating, etc. It has many big pockets, and I quite like it.

Employees at big chain of Thrift Stores wear bright red vests, with store name on the front, and I think on the back as well. Regardless, bright red.

Colorblindness might explain it....

[BookstoreEscapee]

Possible...though colorblindness is an almost exclusively male thing...

[Becks]

Women can have it. (One of my great aunts was colorblind.) They're usually just carriers, though.

[Shironu-Akaineko]

My bakery manager has it. She has me testing the cleaning supplies because it requires a PH test and she can't see greens at all.

As for "I don't work here and I'm wearing something oppositely different from this store", it happened to me twice.

Twice I wore the new charcoal/red uniform with 4 of my store's logos on.

Once I was mistaken for an employee at the snack bar on the second floor. They wore all white.

Once I was mistaken for an employee at the Dollarstore. They wear light grey and bright green uniforms, with a giant yellow dollar logo. No hats. I have a hat.

The cut and look of the uniforms are also very very different.

And when I'm at work in uniform, some people ask if I work there.

[siead_lietrathua]

one thing i love about the town i am in, is people don't expect you to dress odd. so when i am wandering the town wearing my patched up trench, people ask if i am a cop (resident evil stars badge), a bounty hunter (fugitive recovery agent one) or in the army (sniper patches).

half the time while i have my shoppers uniform on underneath. and it's usually little old ladies or kids who think it's for real.

[tollbaby]

That would be an interesting day at work...

I think that would be the day where tollbaby commits seppuku to escape the chibi world that is my five-year-old's

[Becks]

Therefore, if you are a Non-Sucky Customer making a beeline for the celery 'cause you actually looked around for the produce sign, you MUST work there! Customers don't read SIGNS!!

Makes sense to me.

[Aressel]

Colorblindness might explain it....

Possible, although I should note that it is actually a two tone vest, with the back being black, so it seems a bit unlikely. But then again I'm not colourblind, so I don't know how difficult it would be to distingush the two colors...

Also, completely different cut, etc. But I doubt that most customers pay that close attention. Personally, I like to consider myself particularly observant. I even read signs.

[Noelegy]

Argh, I can't find the link for it now, but there is a performance art group in NYC that puts on flash demonstrations, and they did a Best Buy event in which about 80 of them got together wearing blue polos, khaki pants, and descended upon a BB superstore. I read about it on Neatorama and think they eventually ended up getting asked quite firmly to leave. Their mission was to simply wander around the store, NOT represent themselves as employees, to be polite and helpful if possible when stopped by customers, and to note people's reactions. I think the security people even thought they might be some sort of terrorists....