What a rude comment by the clerk at Kohl's!!!!

[flagger]

Well as most of you know as a man I HATE SHOPPING, unless for some reason it is for clothes for Cocoa. However, I must have been in a good mood after breakfast yesterday because we were at Kohl's for over two and half hours. A shopping trip for Cocoa (during their "Lowest Price of the Season" Sale) turned out to be getting some new clothes for Ms. Flagger.

Well while wandering around the store, I found some shirts that I liked in my size. I mean if you have seen pictures, I am not exactly petite, so I am hard to shop for. PLUS, I have some golf type shirts that I have been wearing for two years. And not working outside the home, I have no need for anything fancier. Shorts, jeans and golf shirts are my wardrobe. Ms. Flagger also rarely shops for herself either, so this was a treat.

Well between the three of us, we have quite a bit of clothes. Here's is where the clerk made the rude comment. While ringing up the clothes, she actually said, "I wish I made enough money to spend this much on clothes at one time. I must be nice." I really was shocked and taken aback and for once non-confrontational. Ms. Flagger had taken Cocoa to the car to change her so we could take her from the carseat to the crib without a major disruption at home. I actually left feeling a little guilty about the clothes purchases. Of course, we didn't try on anything and have to take some back...we were approaching meltdown at this point anyway.

Thinking back, I wish I had shot back, "Yep it sure is nice not to be working in a dead-end minimum wage paying job that allows us to make enough to be waited on hand and foot by people such as YOU!!!"

(I am not dissing minimum wage workers at all, just rude as sh*t ones.)

[COElizabeth]

How rude! I think you should complain to the management of the store. The store manager would probably be at least as angry as you to know that an employee was so blatantly alienating customers and undermining the store's interests!

Elizabeth, Mom to James, 9-20-02

[Sarah1]

That is TOTALLY rude. That person knows nothing about you. I absolutely hate it when some employee is having a bad day and/or feeling sorry for themselves, and they decide to take it out on a customer. Something similar happened to me (with a Peapod delivery person, in case you were wondering), and I complained about it.

I would definitely call Kohl's and speak to a manager. Chances are, they'll give you something for your trouble (Peapod was very apologetic and mailed me two $5 off coupons).

[lmariana]

How rude! I would have been totally floored too. How do you respond to something like that? Ugh...

My hubby calls me the queen of the letter writers, because I write letters to companies with EVERY bad (sometimes good) experience. In my book, this would definitely warrant a letter!

(If you want a good complaint letter template, I always use Clark Howard's, found on www.clarkhoward.com. I've gotten excellent results with it!)

Mariana
Mother of Gabriel, 08/14/2003

[kijip]

What kills me about situations like this is that the clerk assumes that the customer has lots of money just because they are buying a lot at once. I am not rich, hell, I am still in school! But I, like you, hate shopping. So when I finally get around to it I buy a lot. My husband and I are frugal and we don't use credit. The annual shopping trip adds up but it is really just that- the annual (or every 18 months!) shopping trip. The last time I was buying a lot of running and training clothes and the clerk at the Addias outlet thought I was a spendthrift. Nope. I just was too small for maternity exercise clothes and still sporting too many stretch marks and toting extra pounds to consider my belly baring pre baby things! And my feet are a size larger (my son cost me all of my shoes) so I ended up buying shoes on the same trip. I won't be buying again till these things fall apart but the large total did raise the clerk's eyebrows. What a pain!

[aliceinwonderland]

Yea, I wish people would just keep their mouths shut sometimes...I would be upset too...And of course this type comments come when you least expect it, so one is always left without a good comeback...I hate that almost as much as the initial comment...

[jubilee]

That person was out of line! I am generally willing to extend grace to comments like that, but I do think a phone call or letter is totally in order here. You are very articulate and will write a great letter. I'm sure Kohl's will agree that the clerk was offensive.

[HoneymoonBaby]

What the clerk said to you was definitely unprofessional and out-of-line, but I don't think it was necessarily "rude." She probably DOES wish she could spend that much money on clothes at one time.

I would call and talk to a manager about it, because the clerk should know better than to make comments on the purchases of customers, but honestly, I'd just take the whole situation as a reminder to be thankful for what you've got. When someone is so badly off that they're jealous of a shopping trip to KOHL'S, IMO, that person deserves pity, not anger.