Terraterra

This was a truly stupefying experience. .dating from June 2015
I went in there to buy gear for a family member who was out of the country. There was a promotion on, so it couldn’t wait.
I walked in and went to the counter. And waited. Five minutes went by (Five true minutes, stopwatch in hand) without so much as a look or a hello from the staff. And five minutes standing is a long time when you’re in a shop.
There’s an almost universal rule when you work in sales which is not to have two salespeople on the same client. Why because it is simply unproductive. Not to mention rude for the other clients who are waiting.
In this case the two salespeople were indeed on the same client, attending to his order.
This rudeness decided me to leave. When one of the two salespeople saw me pick up my bag to leave he said in French using the familiar «tu»: «Si t’es pressé je peux te servir» to which I answered ironically «Ah, vous m’avez vu?!»
(If you’re in a rush I can serve you. Oh so you’ve seen me? I answered)
I was starting to strongly doubt whether I was visible to them, seeing as they had walked past me time and time again for 5 minutes without the slightest acknowledgement.
When they did attend to my order, the conversation we had was at several meters’ distance as the young man walked about the shop still busying himself with that other client’s order. He was talking to me over his shoulder at several meters’ distance. The message I clearly perceived was that he had better things to do with his time than talk to me.
He then offered me some damaged goods, which I asked him to change and on top of it all he answers the telephone during the transaction for a personal phone call to tell the caller that there were «plenty of people in the shop» — a state of affairs which quite evidently did not please him. As a client it’s a very strange impression to have your bank card debited and at the same time be told that you count as the many troublesome people in the shop.
As for the second salesman on duty that day, not a word. Not hello or good bye.
I don’t know if it’s the shop’s policy to say «tu «to adult customers of over 40 but in my opinion it is not appropriate to the business relationship in which we are engaged. Tropical atmosphere or not, I think it is elementary politeness.
If the purchase had been for myself, I would have walked out of the shop and never come back.