Apparently, you need to dress up for the occasion of visiting a retail store nowadays, or you’ll be mistaken for an employee and scolded for not being a good one.

In this case, a woman talking to a Ryobi rep about a tool was called out for not helping a customer.

Let’s read the whole story.

Mistaken for a Home Depot employee

This happens to me so often that I’ve come to expect it, but it was a first for me at a Home Depot…

I work at a financial institution. That day, I was out of work early and stopped in to grab some lightbulbs and happened to see a Ryobi rep.

I stopped to talk to her about a tool my wife was interested in.

We walk over to the tool in question and if you’ve never been in a Home Depot, sometimes in the front of the store they’ll make narrow, shallow aisles of stacked boxes and products.

A cart could fit, but not two.

Soon, someone showed up behind them.

So, the rep and I are standing in this aisle and discussing the tool and this woman comes up and pauses her cart at the end of it.

I wonder if we’re in the way, but the woman is looking around like she’s waiting for someone, so I continue my conversation with the rep.

About three minutes pass, and the woman is looking irritated now, glancing at me and the rep impatiently.

Now, the Ryobi rep is in all black, with only a little green “Ryobi” symbol on her zip up, and I’m in jeans, a cream sweater, and my work heels.

No nametag on either of us, and certainly no orange apron.

That didn’t stop the lady from making assumptions.

Feeling like we MUST be in her way, I say, “I’m sorry ma’am, do you need this aisle?”

She throws her hands up like she’s finally being given her due attention and snaps, “No, I could just really use some help finding [insert unknown item here]!”

The rep and I look at each other in confusion.

The rep says, “I’m sorry, I don’t work for Home Depot, I represent Ryobi and I’m not familiar with this store.“

But the woman isn’t looking at her, she’s looking at me.

After a couple awkward seconds, it dawns on me she’s expecting an answer from ME.

She’s the one who looks like she works there, because of a very specific reason.

A little dumbfounded, I say, “I… I don’t work here.”

The woman is mad. Clearly, I gave her the wrong answer.

Scoffing, rolling her eyes, she grabs the handles of her cart like she can’t believe we’ve wasted her time (amazing what body language tells us).

She thrusts a finger at my hip and snaps, “Well you have KEYS,” before she stalks off.

The rep and I look down at the keys I have dangling from my hip. She’s not wrong, I do have keys. Two, in fact. They hang from my pocket like the little villains they are.

So, it’s my fault, I suppose. I had KEYS after all.

How dare she!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this.

It’s her fault, really.

She should’ve known better.

Something to consider.

 

Very Machiavellian.

Another reader chimes in.

You have to hide your keys before going into retail stores.

She’s the bearer of keys…

You shall pass!

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.