Catching up on a couple topics in the past couple pages, sorry this got into a looong wall of text
I’m sure different pay structures in different countries cause differences in SA sales techniques. And then cultural differences. Then on top of all that an SA’s personal preferences.
I and one of my friends shop the same store but different SAs, and have different experiences. My SA would tell me about bags that I may be interested in then try to get it for me, and can end up not being able to. They know by now that I don’t get upset when that happens (which now that I think about it, probably isn't something they feel comfortable doing with all their clients; so even with the same SA one's experience can vary). My friend’s SA, on the other hand, never says a word till the bag has been approved by the SM and ready to be sold to them. My friend has had “surprises” that she didn't know beforehand when she goes to the store, while I always knew the specific bag that’s ready for me if there is one.
Our SAs also have slightly different opinions re: ordering stuff online, both though advise to avoid it if possible because my SM prefers clients who concentrate on in store shopping (of course there’s difference between getting something small vs big ticket, something impossible to get at our store vs something they have in stock or can easily order etc.). Similarly, getting things in another store within the same country (which means they show up on your profile), versus getting stuff overseas (not linked to your profile; although there's been mumbling re: global linking for a bit now esp. for Paris), would be treated different by our SM.
Generally speaking, I too get the sense that the straight-up numbers approach (more commonly seen in Asia) is slowly spreading - in this day and age, with global mobility and the Internet, it feels kinda inevitable. Whether that's good or bad probably depends on one's own preference.
Tangent on complaints - at least officially, the upper (corporate) level H adamantly denies the existence of “pre-spend”, “ratio”, “points” etc. So if an SA is very open, and their client is unhappy for whatever reason, they can (and apparently many, many do) write complaints to accuse the SA of doing something wrong. It’s why SAs (even in Asia) may avoid writing certain things down, which can be used as “evidence”. So discussions surrounding quota bags are best had in person. Also yet another reason why SAs may seem distant in the beginning when you are new / take some time to warm up to you.
On how things (bags or otherwise) can be decided differently for different countries / stores: definitely! I know that once in the past my store SAs played rock paper scissors to decide who got a couple rodeos that just came in haha. My understanding is how a store works can have parts set by a higher level (e.g. some policies will apply to all stores in a country) but also parts that are more individual, up to and decided by the SM. Like any other workplace with org charts basically.
Things also change from time to time. For example, back when the to go wallets first came out, my SM apparently underestimated their popularity and didn’t require SAs getting approvals; my SA snatched one for me without needing to ask. Quite immediately afterwards SM realized the supply (they did not order a lot) vs demand and changed it so SM sign-off was needed (no idea if things have changed again later on).
I feel very comfortable saying no to things my SA suggests (sometimes I accidentally leave them on read for a bit because I get busy / miss getting back to their text), it really should be a totally fine thing to do, any reasonable SA will understand. Please don't ever feel bad or worse get pressured into buying something you don't want!
