I was in visual merchandising for quite some time and have been lucky enough to be highly respected by my coworkers for this art form. The same could not be said for the custys...
Everyday I look over to see someone risking life and limb to get into the windows for something that is just out of reach only to find that it exists in the store. Why would I put something in the window that is not also in the store, somewhere?
And NO lady, the mannequin is not wearing an XL. And NO, I'm not gonna check "for sure" because I'm the one who put it on her!!
If it weren't for the intricacy and detail (not to mention the hours) I wouldn't mind at all! But the point is: do you go to a museum and mess with the art work!? Below are a few stories of custys who went above and beyond my level of tolerance for craziness:
I walk out of the stockroom to find a crazy in her 40's jumping like a Jack Russell Tarrier to get a hat off the top of a display. We keep step stools in the store so we can get things down. I go to reach for the stool to help her only to find she had placed her shopping bags on the stool so she could get a better "jump" on things. Maybe she thought the hat she was reaching for was her "thinking cap"?
We had a very large light-peg display (about 8'X9') near the entrance of the store with mannequins in front. Imagine a giant teetering light-brite... I know... asking for it! This bitch decided that she needed something on the display and helped herself to it despite our attempts to help her find it.
Well of course this monster of a display fell over, broke in half, broke several fixtures and 2 mannequins on the way down. Little 2" pegs went EVERYWHERE! All of us (employees) went into a frenzy to pick these little fuckers up and she-bitch:
1. Pushes through us to pick up the item she was trying to reach and
2. Walks over to the cash-wrap and asks the then-stunned cashier, "I think this might be too small. What do you think?"
And finally: A lady let her little dog loose in the store. He went into our "winter wonderland" windows and not only made the snow yellow but left two little bite-sized surprises next to our display. Shame on "Poopy"!
-Honey RHU RHU Child
Don't blame the poor dog! He thought he was just doing what all dogs do :(
Posted by: PedanticTwit | Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 03:25 PM
Dogs should not go shopping unless they are anthropomorphic children's book characters.
Posted by: CoG | Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 05:09 PM
I've never knocked over an entire display like that. But on those occasions where I knock something over accidentally, I'm immediately apologetic and unless I'm shooed away by the employees I do my best to fix it immediately.
Posted by: The Last Archimedean | Friday, January 18, 2013 at 06:38 AM
The "lady" who knocked over your giant lite brite: You should have "accidentally" tripped her.
Posted by: NC Tony | Friday, January 18, 2013 at 12:51 PM
CoG: Exactly! They shouldn't be allowed in stores (and here they are not) but blame the woman, not the dog.. :p
Posted by: PedanticTwit | Friday, January 18, 2013 at 02:19 PM
I feel your pain! I was a visual merchandiser for 30 years and saw my share of people trashing my hard work.
The biggest eye roller for me was one day a family of four came in shopping and their kids ran around tearing the store apart. One of the children climbed up a display which was basically a 6X6 pole 12 feet tall with a metal base and shelving attached. The child pulled the pole down on his mother which dropped her to the slate floor. She had a goose egg on her head and a bruise about a foot square on her side. If they had been watching their rugrats, it never would have happened.
Also I used to secretly booby-trap some displays so if someone messed with them they would get poked by pins.
Posted by: ttp | Friday, January 18, 2013 at 09:33 PM