Challenging Task №6

Hello, again!

I hope you remember that each week I try to overcome one of my little fears and share this story with you. Now it`s time for task № 6: Go to an expensive shop and try on some things or scan the items for a while. Leave the shop without buying anything. I have already completed one task connected with shops and shop assistants. If you haven`t read about it yet, here is a useful link for you: https://goldenfreckle.blogspot.ru/2018/04/challenging-task-4.html

This time the task was a bit different, because I had to go to an expensive (!) shop and be active there. Why does it seem difficult for me? I think it`s because of the Russian mentality, or, at least, the stereotypes about it. Russian shop assistants who work in expensive shops tend to be a bit arrogant and unfriendly towards those clients, who don`t look very wealthy. Maybe they think that these customers don`t have enough money to pay for goods or they don`t look good enough for such shops. It`s very unpleasant and offensive. That`s why many people try to avoid visiting shops where they can face such attitude. I also don`t want to be treated like that, to be confused and embarrassed. However, I understand that we have our rights to go to any shops we like and study the goods even for half an hour! We don`t have to pay attention to other customers or shop assistants. So, I decided to have a try and visit an expensive shop! Normally, I wouldn`t do that))

I went to "Gallery Novosibirsk" and dropped into "Guess" shop. I have never even entered this shop, being aware of high prices. So, visiting it was a challenge. I tried to behave very actively and confidently, instead of hiding and being invisible. It was difficult for me. I asked the shop assistant to show me a black evening gown. She showed me several dresses, all of them cost around 15.000 rubles) I refused all those variants and asked her to show me red gowns with long sleeves) The shop assistant seemed a bit irritated, but she smiled and tried to be friendly. Maybe she understood that I wasn`t going to buy anything at all) She brought me two beautiful red dresses for 17.000 rubles each! I said that I would like to try them on. She showed me to the fitting room, I tried on both dresses. Actually, they were nice, but definitely they could have been far cheeper! I gave the dresses back to the shop assistant and told her that I wouldn`t buy anything. She asked me what was wrong with the dresses, like the size or what? It was very embarrassing (because the reason was the price) and I just told her that I hadn`t liked them)) I saw that the shop assistant wasn`t pleased at all) I was like, "Thank you for your help" and went away. 

So, the shop assistant wasn`t rude or arrogant to me at all. But still I felt a kind of tension and uncertainty from her. I just tried to ignore it and be confident. My behaviour made things much easier for me. I understood that I had done nothing wrong! It was her problems that I hadn`t bought anything, not mine! Again I think that our own attitude to the situation is the most important thing.  Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent".  What a wise and deep quotation!