Shop Assistants and street hustlers smooching up to me (again)

 Hi there

You know by now that I adore it when shop assistants go into raptures about something I'm wearing.  They learn to do it in shop assistant school, I'm sure of it.  Find something to admire on a customer and you could make a sale - 

Remember my favourite?  It was the street hustler trying to sell me a raffle ticket :  "I like your ..."   There was a long pause while he frantically looked me over.  "I like your ... TAN!" he shouted triumphantly.

I'm not ashamed in the least that shop assistants and street hustlers take quite a while to find something about me that they like.  The whole experience for me is fun.

Last week I had two cute occasions.  One young shop assistant in a boutique came up to me -

"I like your watch strap," she said.  "It's red."

Like, I didn't know that...

The next day, a street hustler called out at me from way over the other side of the pavement.  He was selling raffle tickets.  "I like your pendant", he shouted. 

My pendant was of a tiny silver cow jumping over a crescent moon.

I hid it with my hand.  "What's on my pendant?" I asked.

He didn't have a clue....

I love the little Asian dragon on my watch.  and the gold bars, with sparkles, top and bottom. The red strap is not too bad either...

Shop Assistants. Again

 Hi there

A few weeks ago I was in historical gold-mining Arrowtown, South Island.  Leaning heavily on my hiking stick, I hobbled into a shop that was aimed at high-end tourists, especially those searching for merino and possum products.

 "And how has your morning been?" asked the shop  assistant dutifully.

 " Terrible, " I said.

 "That's good," she said.

 Huh...?

... I promise shop assistants in New Zealand aren't all robots.

Shop Assistants

 Hi there

I know I've gone on before about being annoyingly greeted by shop assistants, but it  still irks me.

Forget about them calling me 'Sweetie", "Dear", "love" which I detest, but at a very small itty-bitty tiny pinch, I can live with that.  What really riles me up is assistants who have obviously all been schooled on how to feel at one with a customer by pointing out that they love a piece of your jewellery, or clothing, or accessory.   Anything to get you onto their side, to cement that bond so that you'll buy out the entire shop.

"Oh, I just luuuurve that skirt.  It really suits you...."

... but sometimes the assistant just can't find anything you're wearing that they could even consider putting on their Top Ten.  Last week, a young male shop assistant said to me, "I like your, er, um...tan?"..

Lots have liked my watch.  My sandals.  My winter woollie beanie.  The actual colour I'm wearing actually sets many assistants on a lovefest:  "What a beautiful green!  Blue!  Red!

Once, I wandered into a clothing shop directly after a long hike when I'd been sweaty and tired, wearing rumpled clothes that even charity shops would turn their noses up at.  The assistant went into raptures over my hiking stick.

Another time, in an exclusively posh dress shop on Waiheke Island, when I wasn't clad in the most-ironed of blouses. the plum-in-her-mouth assistant exclaimed rapturously over my wonderful choice of top.

Triumphantly, she ended up on "You'll never guess....?  I have the exact same blouse!"

Now, my top was colourful and it had pretty-patterned birds all over it, but I knew something that this desperate-for-a-sale expensively-dressed woman would never have known in a month of Sundays -

"Yeah, I bought it at The Warehouse, " I said.

The look on her face was priceless...  

"