At my store we have a pretty simple rewards program; customers present their cards each time they shop to earn points, and each quarter reward certificates are mailed out. Each points "level" has different products the customer can choose from; the higher the level, the better the stuff (for example, level one has stuff like cheap nail polish and eye liner; level 6 gets you stuff like a haircut in the salon or a $45 fragrance).
I had a customer today with a level 2 or 3 certificate, and one of the things she could redeem it for was a salon brand nail polish (the better, more expensive ones). You'd think this would be simple...pick a color you like, present certificate, done. Should have taken 5 minutes. But not for this woman. You would've thought that choosing a nail polish color was like naming her firstborn child. Not that I really care if someone wants to spend 90 minutes choosing, but she quickly narrowed it down to three colors (which were all ugly as hell) and then repeatedly tried each them on one at a time, bitched that they didn't look like they did in the bottle or didn't match her skin tone, then wiped them off with a tissue and bitched that I didn't have polish remover for her to use. Lather, rinse, repeat for over an hour. I showed her the swatches we have of the colors that show what they look like once 2 coats have been applied and dried, and that the reason why they looked different when she tried them on was because she was only applying one coat (and quite sloppily, I might add). I gave her advice on which color I thought looked best. I did not, though I desperately wanted to, tell her that the nail polishes are NOT testers and that it's really rude and gross to keep trying them on repeatedly, expecially since swatches are available. Honestly, what makes people think it's okay to try out cosmetics (stuff from the shelves, not testers) in the store? IT'S NOT YOURS YET, DON'T USE IT UP AND GET YOUR GERMS IN IT PLEASE. But of course I'd get in trouble for saying that, despite the fact that we're constantly being told to help avoid shrink from theft and damages. So anyway, after this went on long enough for me to get a headache from the fumes, she finally decided on a color (the one I had been suggesting all along as it was slightly less hideous than the other two). But as soon as I started to ring her up, she said, "You know what, I don't think I'll get that after all. I'll redeem my coupon for a hairbrush instead. I just know that if I get that polish, I'll be unhappy with it when I get home and I'll really regret it."
For the love of god, how much buyer's remorse can you have over a FREE nail polish? Even if she had to pay full price for it, it was a whopping $7, and we have one of those return policies that's just designed to be abused..."if you don't like it for any reason, bring it back!" I guess I kind of feel sorry for her though...how do you make it through the day if things like picking the wrong nail polish color keep you up at night?
I had a customer today with a level 2 or 3 certificate, and one of the things she could redeem it for was a salon brand nail polish (the better, more expensive ones). You'd think this would be simple...pick a color you like, present certificate, done. Should have taken 5 minutes. But not for this woman. You would've thought that choosing a nail polish color was like naming her firstborn child. Not that I really care if someone wants to spend 90 minutes choosing, but she quickly narrowed it down to three colors (which were all ugly as hell) and then repeatedly tried each them on one at a time, bitched that they didn't look like they did in the bottle or didn't match her skin tone, then wiped them off with a tissue and bitched that I didn't have polish remover for her to use. Lather, rinse, repeat for over an hour. I showed her the swatches we have of the colors that show what they look like once 2 coats have been applied and dried, and that the reason why they looked different when she tried them on was because she was only applying one coat (and quite sloppily, I might add). I gave her advice on which color I thought looked best. I did not, though I desperately wanted to, tell her that the nail polishes are NOT testers and that it's really rude and gross to keep trying them on repeatedly, expecially since swatches are available. Honestly, what makes people think it's okay to try out cosmetics (stuff from the shelves, not testers) in the store? IT'S NOT YOURS YET, DON'T USE IT UP AND GET YOUR GERMS IN IT PLEASE. But of course I'd get in trouble for saying that, despite the fact that we're constantly being told to help avoid shrink from theft and damages. So anyway, after this went on long enough for me to get a headache from the fumes, she finally decided on a color (the one I had been suggesting all along as it was slightly less hideous than the other two). But as soon as I started to ring her up, she said, "You know what, I don't think I'll get that after all. I'll redeem my coupon for a hairbrush instead. I just know that if I get that polish, I'll be unhappy with it when I get home and I'll really regret it."
For the love of god, how much buyer's remorse can you have over a FREE nail polish? Even if she had to pay full price for it, it was a whopping $7, and we have one of those return policies that's just designed to be abused..."if you don't like it for any reason, bring it back!" I guess I kind of feel sorry for her though...how do you make it through the day if things like picking the wrong nail polish color keep you up at night?
Comment