I Had a Strange Tiffany Experience the Other Day...

[honeypeach]

I brought a few pieces in to be cleaned and I was also looking for a new necklace for myself. I brought my pieces to customer service first, then proceeded back to fine jewellery to peruse and see what caught my eye. There were 4 SAs talking in a corner amongst themselves with no regard to the fact I was there. A greeter from the silver room came over and had to pull one of the SAs away from their conversation to let them know a customer was waiting to be helped.

I looked at 3-4 necklaces, all in YG or RG with diamonds (not that it matters but all in the $4500 range) and really liked the rose gold pave Paper Flowers necklace which I honestly didn't even consider prior to arriving at the boutique. The SA (middle aged man, around early 50s to mid 50s) proceeded to tell me the Paper Flowers collection represents that women need to stop trying to be men, and should embrace their femininity wholeheartedly because being strong should be left to the men.....um what!?

Why was this comment necessary lol!!! during the entire encounter with the SA he was distracted, aloof, and obviously didn't care to provide any level of customer service. I believe he made up his mind that I wasn't going to buy the moment I walked in that store, he solidified his opinion (my assumption of course) by providing the worst customer service experience I have ever encountered!

The conversation was weird, but I won't be offended.
I don't expect anything from a SA, other than: smile, listen to my request, bring out the item, give me some advice, take payment.
Sure this SA's comment shocked you, so go to another person. No one else available? Go to another store/ go back another day.
I don't feel that's my responsibility to "help" Tiffany to improve the quality of their sales representatives or screening their employees for their political correctness, or try to correct this man to change his view.
I have better things to do such as go to another store to keep shopping.

 

[thewildraven]

At first I believe OP you should report it. In 2019 no one should say these things to either a male female or other. Not even to themselves.
Secondly if something was up with his job or whatever he should be giving exceptional customer service and not reasons to get fired. Because this is an actually pretty good one, and if someone dared to say it to my workplace he would be fired on spot.
Now thewildraven I was not raised to tolerate this behavior from anyone and I will not raise my kids if I ever do have to accept this! If you were raised differently that’s none of our concern, but the comment is clearly offensive in 2019! If he had stopped his sentence on wholeheartedly it would have been ok but he didn’t and Tiffany doesn’t pay them to give their opinion on the position of women, just on jewelry.

Well it’s hardly the crime of the century and since you chose to cast aspirations on my upbringing then I will address you directly. It appears your tolerance level is rather low, in my opinion it is not a sacking offence .. it was just at worst perhaps thoughtless comment.
Best way of dealing is to make a lighthearted comment back and then move on.
Why are people so vicious and vindictive these days. It really is the snowflake generation.
Plus when you say “None of our concern” it sounds as though you are speaking on behalf of all, like a leader of a gang .. you are speaking from your own opinion .. just as I am speaking from mine.

 

[Candice0985]

In your opinion it is highly offensive but not in my opinion.
in my opinion it was probably a clumsy way of trying to describe the item which has got blown out of all proportion but neither of us actually know what he said, the OP has told us from her perspective.

I told you exactly what he said, not my opinion of what he said, or a brief outline of our conversation. word for word. verbatim! It's okay if you don't find it offensive ( we're all different!), to be honest I wasn't blown away completely by the comment itself as I run into mysogynistic men frequently as I'm sure we all do; but I thought it was a weird interaction and not a comment that needed to be shared within 5 minutes of meeting this man!

I'm definitely not a delicate flower and can handle my own, I just thanked him for his help today- asked for his card for when I was ready to make the purchase, which he declined and told me to just call the store or whoever is in that day can help me instead. I just laughed to myself as I walked out and said "whatever buddy" off to buy some tasty frozen yogurt and head to Van Cleef instead lol.

 

[Candice0985]

The conversation was weird, but I won't be offended.
I don't expect anything from a SA, other than: smile, listen to my request, bring out the item, give me some advice, take payment.
Sure this SA's comment shocked you, so go to another person. No one else available? Go to another store/ go back another day.
I don't feel that's my responsibility to "help" Tiffany to improve the quality of their sales representatives or screening their employees for their political correctness, or try to correct this man to change his view.
I have better things to do such as go to another store to keep shopping.

Exactly, that's literally all I expect from an SA- do your job, be nice, and share knowledgable about the product. Thats it! I don't care about your political, religious, or views on gender etc...

 

[Candice0985]

What is the SA said is inappropriate. I would send an email to Tiffany about this.

I agree, it was definitely inappropriate... I probably wont report him or complain or anything (I don't have the energy for that right now lol). It wasn't the comment on it's own that annoyed me, it was the lack of customer service, the blase attitude towards the whole interaction, and really his demeanor about having to drag himself away from whatever he was doing to help a customer!

We all have a bad day, and I'm a firm believer that we never know someone's situation or what they're going through so I'll convince myself that he was having a bad day and was over work and just wanted to get out of there. I'll be back (obviously lol) and buy my necklace from another SA

 

[honeypeach]

Exactly, that's literally all I expect from an SA- do your job, be nice, and share knowledgable about the product. Thats it! I don't care about your political, religious, or views on gender etc...

Haha, yes, he was definitely odd.
I hope you had a great day (regardless of that weird conversation).
Thanks for sharing this "interesting" interaction.

 

[Candice0985]

Haha, yes, he was definitely odd.
I hope you had a great day (regardless of that weird conversation).
Thanks for sharing this "interesting" interaction.

I did! I purchased a HG item from an auction house that I have been eyeing for years at a significant discount from retail, met some friends for dinner and called it a day

 

[Candice0985]

Excellent thread, my wife asking me for a neckless for a long time but I have no time. I think it will be better if I ordered it online.

I'm sure you'll receive excellent customer service when you do visit Tiffany, I usually do as well- which was why this was so weird! Good luck with your purchase and I'm sure your wife will love whatever you pick out!

 

[bellebellebelle19]

Well it’s hardly the crime of the century and since you chose to cast aspirations on my upbringing then I will address you directly. It appears your tolerance level is rather low, in my opinion it is not a sacking offence .. it was just at worst perhaps thoughtless comment.
Best way of dealing is to make a lighthearted comment back and then move on.
Why are people so vicious and vindictive these days. It really is the snowflake generation.
Plus when you say “None of our concern” it sounds as though you are speaking on behalf of all, like a leader of a gang .. you are speaking from your own opinion .. just as I am speaking from mine.

Lol "snowflake generation". You're the one who is writing an entire block of text because of two sentences. It's really quite laughable every time I see someone rudely call people snowflakes when you look at the context of the speaker's situation. You seem to have a low tolerance level for people thinking your opinion is wrong.

 

[thewildraven]

Lol "snowflake generation". You're the one who is writing an entire block of text because of two sentences. It's really quite laughable every time I see someone rudely call people snowflakes when you look at the context of the speaker's situation. You seem to have a low tolerance level for people thinking your opinion is wrong.

I was directly replying to another poster who had written an equally long block of text ..
And you are wrong .. I am more than happy to debate a point and I will always respect another’s opinion.
I just am not a fan of the “we all must think this, because we are women” type of mentality.

 

[eunaddict]

Well it’s hardly the crime of the century and since you chose to cast aspirations on my upbringing then I will address you directly. It appears your tolerance level is rather low, in my opinion it is not a sacking offence .. it was just at worst perhaps thoughtless comment.
Best way of dealing is to make a lighthearted comment back and then move on.
Why are people so vicious and vindictive these days. It really is the snowflake generation.
Plus when you say “None of our concern” it sounds as though you are speaking on behalf of all, like a leader of a gang .. you are speaking from your own opinion .. just as I am speaking from mine.

I love this. Just because the new, young generation of women refuse to take sexist comments sitting down...we're now "snowflakes". Commenting on someone's subpar standard of service is neither "vindictive" nor "vicious", no one should make sexist comments in their workplace, whether to colleagues or clients. I personally wouldn't send in a complaint but I don't see it as particularly "wrong" if someone else does.

So, sure. If that's the case, if I believe in standing up for feminism, women's rights and fair treatment from SAs makes me a snowflake, then so be it.

As to OP's issue, I've never had an issue with Tiffany SAs, they have always been the most consistently kind and professional SAs of all the designer brands. So yeah, this is clearly abnormal customer service. I will say, in his defence though, that the Paper Flowers series is described as "refined femininity", so it could just be someone from the older generation () using some awkward sounding phrasing.

 

[thewildraven]

I love this. Just because the new, young generation of women refuse to take sexist comments sitting down...we're now "snowflakes". Commenting on someone's subpar standard of service is neither "vindictive" nor "vicious", no one should make sexist comments in their workplace, whether to colleagues or clients. I personally wouldn't send in a complaint but I don't see it as particularly "wrong" if someone else does.

So, sure. If that's the case, if I believe in standing up for feminism, women's rights and fair treatment from SAs makes me a snowflake, then so be it.

As to OP's issue, I've never had an issue with Tiffany SAs, they have always been the most consistently kind and professional SAs of all the designer brands. So yeah, this is clearly abnormal customer service. I will say, in his defence though, that the Paper Flowers series is described as "refined femininity", so it could just be someone from the older generation () using some awkward sounding phrasing.[/QUOTE

I was not calling the OP’s complaint about bad service, vindictive.. I was calling the general feeling of “OMG sack him vindictive. In fact OP ..I apologise the thread has turned into something quite different and I certainly wasn’t having a pop at you .. I was more dismayed at the general intolerance.
A true feminist is definitely not a snowflake, the perpetually offended, which in these strange times seems to have been mixed together with the original feminism certainly is.
A true feminist back in the day of my past female relatives who fought for women’s rights, women’s equal pay, fought for the right to vote would have laughed at reporting someone for a perceived slight. They would be dismayed at the current feminism which ironically is doing more to damage feminism than help it

 

[leechiyong]

I'd be tempted to respond with, “I do miss the good old days when people had manners and if you didn’t have anything nice to say, you didn’t say anything at all,” given a terse smile, and walked away.

 

[Candice0985]

I'd be tempted to respond with, “I do miss the good old days when people had manners and if you didn’t have anything nice to say, you didn’t say anything at all,” given a terse smile, and walked away.

love it!

 

[Candice0985]

That is some serious douche behavior, report him. Ugh, I am so annoyed by his comment..

I was as well, it required frozen yogurt therapy afterwards