etiquette on giving gifts to SAs?

[Carrierae]

My gift to my SA is building my Sales History with non-handbag purchases. She is spectacular but gifting someone that should be going through hoops to get your business hence commission on her sales just seems a bit out there and setting unattainably high standards for people who are looking tonbecome part of the Hermes family and alre already intimidated. more so, i ve bought several other high end items such as VCA, Cartier, Chanel etc and they are the ones giving me gifts for being a loyal customer. I think this should be discouraged especially when some people already have to spend hefty $$$ on frivolities just to score a K or B.

I think it just depends on the person. ‍♀️ People give gifts to their hair stylists, doorman, etc. I think it just depends on the relationship you have with them. In my case, I treat my SA like a friend....we get along well...so much, I’m sure we would be friends if in a different setting under different circumstances. I give treats all the time to people I have great relationships with so it is just a natural thing for me to do. Am I bribing my hairstylist because I brought her cookies in for no particular reason other than I was was just thinking she would like them? No.

I took my SA from another store to the H private sale this year. Why? Because I thought she would give me the best stuff and amazing deals in her store? No. Because our relationship has developed into a friendship and I knew she would be over the moon. (This particular non-H store encourages relationships outside of the store.) I don’t see employees simply like the ‘help.’ There are so many complexities to relationships in professional settings. You can develop a friendship over time with a client from work (who is paying you for services) the same way you could with an SA from any type of store.

I still believe if your intentions are true, keep being yourself. If you are doing it because you are in hopes of getting something, that may not play out how you’d like. If you are intimidated about approaching a store, remember that ‘no one can make your inferior without your consent.’

 

[Carrierae]

This mindset really bugs me because I know plenty of people, for example, who lay out cold drinks for UPS/FedEx employees on hot days (myself included) or set out treats for postal workers during the crazy holidays. Aren’t they just doing their job and supposed to fetch me stuff? [emoji849] people can give things to others without a motive. I guess let’s not give teachers appreciation gifts either because they are just doing what they are being paid to do. My gift to my children’s teachers is their everyday presence and my annual tax dollars [emoji849][emoji849][emoji849].

 

[Luvbolide]

My gift to my SA is building my Sales History with non-handbag purchases. She is spectacular but gifting someone that should be going through hoops to get your business hence commission on her sales just seems a bit out there and setting unattainably high standards for people who are looking tonbecome part of the Hermes family and alre already intimidated. more so, i ve bought several other high end items such as VCA, Cartier, Chanel etc and they are the ones giving me gifts for being a loyal customer. I think this should be discouraged especially when some people already have to spend hefty $$$ on frivolities just to score a K or B.

You are certainly entitled to do as you please, just as others are.

I have been working with my SA for many years and I like her very much. I am very loyal to her. She is from Paris and when I make my annual trek to Paris, I bring chocolates back for her, along with several other friends and relatives. She and her colleagues enjoy receiving them and I enjoy giving them. I look at it as a nice gesture, same as I do for others. I don't think it will "get" me anything other than a thank you note. It works fine for us.

 

[Gigllee]

You are certainly entitled to do as you please, just as others are.

I have been working with my SA for many years and I like her very much. I am very loyal to her. She is from Paris and when I make my annual trek to Paris, I bring chocolates back for her, along with several other friends and relatives. She and her colleagues enjoy receiving them and I enjoy giving them. I look at it as a nice gesture, same as I do for others. I don't think it will "get" me anything other than a thank you note. It works fine for us.

Because you quoted me directly, I will indulge you, albeit casually and ask why you seemed bothered by me stating my stance on NOT gifting people for doing their Jobs? If you are confident that you are doing the right thing, you wouldn't feel the need to reply me with such xxx. Let me rephrase- kindness needs no permission. Therefore if you adding a gift on top of a $15K+ purchase (yeah that sounds very normal) is a conventional thing to do, why do you need to defend it? The way consumers' minds work will always remain a myth i guess. - xxx - not permitted

 

[SugarHazard]

Personally, speaking solely for myself, I like to gift people either whom I really like or I think have gone above and beyond their job duties. I’m referring to non-family members and friends, of course.

I gift my kids’ teachers, well only the ones that do a great job. My son’s teacher is terrible to his students so he’s lucky I haven’t yet reported him let alone give him any gifts. He just isn’t yet bad enough to make any official complaints but definitely not a good teacher. My daughter’s teacher is great! She is relatively new so maybe she still has the passion for teaching while the other teacher has been teaching for 20 something years so maybe he’s just waiting for retirement. Who knows?

Regarding SAs, I haven’t found any good ones (Hermes or otherwise) except for my new Hermes SA. I’ve been on my H journey since 2009. Never loyal to any SAs because I’ve never found one I’ve clicked with. Then after a few years away and moving to a new state, I stopped in to the local H boutique one day. Met the SA of my dreams! She is respectful, non-judging, kind, and an incredibly hard-worker! She stayed after hours when I accidentally came in close to closing time one time without even mentioning it. I only realized that it was after closing time when I got to my car after my purchases.

I tell her about my life, she’s a great listener. She has met my kids and they love her. No, we’re not best friends but we are as friends as client and sales associates can be without actually really being friends outside of our professional relationship.

I bring her treats some times whenever I feel like it for no particular reason such as macarons and cookies (like if I’m already at the bakery getting stuff for myself on the way to see her). Sometimes I don’t bring anything but myself. She never ever expects anything from me and is always gracious and grateful when I bring her treats.

This Christmas I sent her a gift basket with chocolates. None of my gifts cost very much. I believe it’s the thought that counts.

I remember taking a survey once regarding what my love languages are. It’s no surprise that mine are attention and gift-giving so I guess the inclination to give little gifts and treats is just something I enjoy doing. But only people who I think deserve it, of course.

Any way, sorry for the long novel! Just wanted to add my two cents that we’re all different and relate to people we have professional relationships with differently.

Some prefer to use their continued buying loyalty as a way to reward good sales associates, others like me love giving little gifts. From what I’ve seen, no one I know or know about has given extravagant gifts to bribe or coerce a sales associate into giving them preferential treatment. That sounds so icky to me and I’m glad I’ve never heard of such incidents.

So Hakuna Matata and Live and Let Live. Happy holidays everyone! May all your Hermes dreams come true! You get a Birkin, and you get a Birkin and you get a Birkin!

 

[QuelleFromage]

Because you quoted me directly, I will indulge you, albeit casually and ask why you seemed bothered by me stating my stance on NOT gifting people for doing their Jobs? If you are confident that you are doing the right thing, you wouldn't feel the need to reply me with such chippiness. Let me rephrase- kindness needs no permission. Therefore if you adding a gift on top of a $15K+ purchase (yeah that sounds very normal) is a conventional thing to do, why do you need to defend it? The way consumers' minds work will always remain a myth i guess. Do you honey...

Just FYI, Hermès SAs, at least in my home stores, do not get commission on all purchases, specifically the most desired bags.

 

[rainnebeauxday]

Because you quoted me directly, I will indulge you, albeit casually and ask why you seemed bothered by me stating my stance on NOT gifting people for doing their Jobs? If you are confident that you are doing the right thing, you wouldn't feel the need to reply me with such xxx. Let me rephrase- kindness needs no permission. Therefore if you adding a gift on top of a $15K+ purchase (yeah that sounds very normal) is a conventional thing to do, why do you need to defend it? The way consumers' minds work will always remain a myth i guess. - xxx - not permitted

Some of us have become friends with our SAs, and some of us also have SAs who go out of their way to help us find coveted (and difficult to obtain) items. We like to show our appreciation with a small token of affection. I hope this simplifies it for you!

 

[rainnebeauxday]

Personally, speaking solely for myself, I like to gift people either whom I really like or I think have gone above and beyond their job duties. I’m referring to non-family members and friends, of course.

I gift my kids’ teachers, well only the ones that do a great job. My son’s teacher is terrible to his students so he’s lucky I haven’t yet reported him let alone give him any gifts. He just isn’t yet bad enough to make any official complaints but definitely not a good teacher. My daughter’s teacher is great! She is relatively new so maybe she still has the passion for teaching while the other teacher has been teaching for 20 something years so maybe he’s just waiting for retirement. Who knows?

Regarding SAs, I haven’t found any good ones (Hermes or otherwise) except for my new Hermes SA. I’ve been on my H journey since 2009. Never loyal to any SAs because I’ve never found one I’ve clicked with. Then after a few years away and moving to a new state, I stopped in to the local H boutique one day. Met the SA of my dreams! She is respectful, non-judging, kind, and an incredibly hard-worker! She stayed after hours when I accidentally came in close to closing time one time without even mentioning it. I only realized that it was after closing time when I got to my car after my purchases.

I tell her about my life, she’s a great listener. She has met my kids and they love her. No, we’re not best friends but we are as friends as client and sales associates can be without actually really being friends outside of our professional relationship.

I bring her treats some times whenever I feel like it for no particular reason such as macarons and cookies (like if I’m already at the bakery getting stuff for myself on the way to see her). Sometimes I don’t bring anything but myself. She never ever expects anything from me and is always gracious and grateful when I bring her treats.

This Christmas I sent her a gift basket with chocolates. None of my gifts cost very much. I believe it’s the thought that counts.

I remember taking a survey once regarding what my love languages are. It’s no surprise that mine are attention and gift-giving so I guess the inclination to give little gifts and treats is just something I enjoy doing. But only people who I think deserve it, of course.

Any way, sorry for the long novel! Just wanted to add my two cents that we’re all different and relate to people we have professional relationships with differently.

Some prefer to use their continued buying loyalty as a way to reward good sales associates, others like me love giving little gifts. From what I’ve seen, no one I know or know about has given extravagant gifts to bribe or coerce a sales associate into giving them preferential treatment. That sounds so icky to me and I’m glad I’ve never heard of such incidents.

So Hakuna Matata and Live and Let Live. Happy holidays everyone! May all your Hermes dreams come true! You get a Birkin, and you get a Birkin and you get a Birkin!

Love this post, especially the bolded part.

 

[Gigllee]

xxx - rude

 

[rainnebeauxday]

I was trying to simplify it for you (specifically why this is normal behavior in the context of shopping at H), sorry that it somehow offended you.

. Therefore if you adding a gift on top of a $15K+ purchase (yeah that sounds very normal) is a conventional thing to do, why do you need to defend it? The way consumers' minds work will always remain a myth i guess. - xxx - not permitted

 

[Gigllee]

Just FYI, Hermès SAs, at least in my home stores, do not get commission on all purchases, specifically the most desired bags.

I'm aware of that. Lol It still doesn't overturn my "personal" stance on gifts. I look at this fundamentally that No matter how rare anything is, the client/buyer singularly creates the demand that makes supply scare and sacred. I love Hermes and would go as far as buying other stuff to score a B , C or K because Hermes' quality truly epitomizes luxury. They remain unrivaled when it comes to timeless luxury design. However That's about as far as my principle would let me go to acquire anything to which I ascribe some sort of intrinsic value. I undoubtedly understand that's just me and everyones willingness to pay for a given item of value is going to vary across a wide spectrum of options.

In actuality, i can rationalize spending a certain incremental amount to score a B, K or C as a 'normal' business strategy for Hermes to mitigate the risk of cannibalizing its other product offering. Hence my willingness to play that game to the extent that it's reasonable for "ME". Quite honestly, That spend $15knto buy a $12k bag model is almost a necessary policy otherwise Hermes won't be an able to grow its business via product offering expansion. However, adding a gifting gesture to an already exquisite, extensive and rather cumbersome courting process is where I draw the line and most likely will be willing to walk away thinking it was never meant to be and live happily ever after with my Chanel bags. Again that's just me and it's perhaps because my willpower to walk away is configured a bit differently from others' who may view the acquisition of Hermes' elusive work of art as a do or die endeavor or are more attached to the brand than I am. Trust me, I am quite attachedb Above all, I am glad that the corporate policy prohibits individualized gifts cos I can see some folks trading Chanel flap bags to score a B, C or K all in the name of appreciating the SA turned friend. For the last time - it's serious for me but not that serious to me lol.

 

[Luvbolide]

Because you quoted me directly, I will indulge you, albeit casually and ask why you seemed bothered by me stating my stance on NOT gifting people for doing their Jobs? If you are confident that you are doing the right thing, you wouldn't feel the need to reply me with such xxx. Let me rephrase- kindness needs no permission. Therefore if you adding a gift on top of a $15K+ purchase (yeah that sounds very normal) is a conventional thing to do, why do you need to defend it? The way consumers' minds work will always remain a myth i guess. - xxx - not permitted

I guess I wasn't as direct as I should have been on my last post. And please don't "indulge me" as frankly, I'm not particularly interested in your views. And I am not defending anything, I have no problem with doing small acts of kindness for people. Quite the contrary, it gives me pleasure. There are many like me and you should know that your view that kindness should be discouraged strikes me as both petty and rude. There is no need for you to respond to me, your views are clear and I have no interest in trying to discuss or debate them further.

 

[Gigllee]

I guess I wasn't as direct as I should have been on my last post. And please don't "indulge me" as frankly, I'm not particularly interested in your views. And I am not defending anything, I have no problem with doing small acts of kindness for people. Quite the contrary, it gives me pleasure. There are many like me and you should know that your view that kindness should be discouraged strikes me as both petty and rude. There is no need for you to respond to me, your views are clear and I have no interest in trying to discuss or debate them further.

Good for you and sorry this is all rubbing you the wrong way even though it was all your volition to troll me just cos I dare Share a view ton which you disagree. For future reference - Don't quote people if you don't want to debate or discuss anything. That's Public forum etiquette 101. Funny how you want to reply to me and by the same token control and dictate to me not to reply to you. Hun you are the one who comes off as Petty, rude, intolerant to views other yours and seemingly controlling here. its like dialing someone and getting mad that they answered their phone. How about you stop dialing them altogether and save yourself some anger, stress and irritability?

 

[QuelleFromage]

I'm aware of that. Lol It still doesn't overturn my "personal" stance on gifts. I look at this fundamentally that No matter how rare anything is, the client/buyer singularly creates the demand that makes supply scare and sacred. I love Hermes and would go as far as buying other stuff to score a B , C or K because Hermes' quality truly epitomizes luxury. They remain unrivaled when it comes to timeless luxury design. However That's about as far as my principle would let me go to acquire anything to which I ascribe some sort of intrinsic value. I undoubtedly understand that's just me and everyones willingness to pay for a given item of value is going to vary across a wide spectrum of options.

In actuality, i can rationalize spending a certain incremental amount to score a B, K or C as a 'normal' business strategy for Hermes to mitigate the risk of cannibalizing its other product offering. Hence my willingness to play that game to the extent that it's reasonable for "ME". Quite honestly, That spend $15knto buy a $12k bag model is almost a necessary policy otherwise Hermes won't be an able to grow its business via product offering expansion. However, adding a gifting gesture to an already exquisite, extensive and rather cumbersome courting process is where I draw the line and most likely will be willing to walk away thinking it was never meant to be and live happily ever after with my Chanel bags. Again that's just me and it's perhaps because my willpower to walk away is configured a bit differently from others' who may view the acquisition of Hermes' elusive work of art as a do or die endeavor or are more attached to the brand than I am. Trust me, I am quite attachedb Above all, I am glad that the corporate policy prohibits individualized gifts cos I can see some folks trading Chanel flap bags to score a B, C or K all in the name of appreciating the SA turned friend. For the last time - it's serious for me but not that serious to me lol.

I've never spent $15K to get a $12K bag. That's probably why I like my SAs so much.

 

[Gigllee]

Personally, speaking solely for myself, I like to gift people either whom I really like or I think have gone above and beyond their job duties. I’m referring to non-family members and friends, of course.

I gift my kids’ teachers, well only the ones that do a great job. My son’s teacher is terrible to his students so he’s lucky I haven’t yet reported him let alone give him any gifts. He just isn’t yet bad enough to make any official complaints but definitely not a good teacher. My daughter’s teacher is great! She is relatively new so maybe she still has the passion for teaching while the other teacher has been teaching for 20 something years so maybe he’s just waiting for retirement. Who knows?

Regarding SAs, I haven’t found any good ones (Hermes or otherwise) except for my new Hermes SA. I’ve been on my H journey since 2009. Never loyal to any SAs because I’ve never found one I’ve clicked with. Then after a few years away and moving to a new state, I stopped in to the local H boutique one day. Met the SA of my dreams! She is respectful, non-judging, kind, and an incredibly hard-worker! She stayed after hours when I accidentally came in close to closing time one time without even mentioning it. I only realized that it was after closing time when I got to my car after my purchases.

I tell her about my life, she’s a great listener. She has met my kids and they love her. No, we’re not best friends but we are as friends as client and sales associates can be without actually really being friends outside of our professional relationship.

I bring her treats some times whenever I feel like it for no particular reason such as macarons and cookies (like if I’m already at the bakery getting stuff for myself on the way to see her). Sometimes I don’t bring anything but myself. She never ever expects anything from me and is always gracious and grateful when I bring her treats.

This Christmas I sent her a gift basket with chocolates. None of my gifts cost very much. I believe it’s the thought that counts.

I remember taking a survey once regarding what my love languages are. It’s no surprise that mine are attention and gift-giving so I guess the inclination to give little gifts and treats is just something I enjoy doing. But only people who I think deserve it, of course.

Any way, sorry for the long novel! Just wanted to add my two cents that we’re all different and relate to people we have professional relationships with differently.

Some prefer to use their continued buying loyalty as a way to reward good sales associates, others like me love giving little gifts. From what I’ve seen, no one I know or know about has given extravagant gifts to bribe or coerce a sales associate into giving them preferential treatment. That sounds so icky to me and I’m glad I’ve never heard of such incidents.

So Hakuna Matata and Live and Let Live. Happy holidays everyone! May all your Hermes dreams come true! You get a Birkin, and you get a Birkin and you get a Birkin!

Your post is very refreshing. Its like after reading your logic for gifting I can finally say I get it and can see myself doing that . You made your point in a non-trolling /defensive way which I find somewhat persuading. More so, the genuineness in your described gesture around gifts in general is not forced which makes me get it more. Thanks for sharing Your logically reasoned perspectives on this topic and I commend your non-self serving act of kindness to the people around you.