Annoyed with the question "Can I help you?"

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Yes, very much so.
If they just ask once, then leave and let me browse in peace, then it's okay (although I strongly prefer that they don't ask at all).
But if they keep asking, I'll sigh impatiently and leave. That's not customer service, that's pushiness. There is very little that annoys me as much as pushiness.
Thankfully, you are allowed to browse in peace in most stores.

When I was a teenager my mother and I visited a an antique's store where the old bat who was there followed us a few steps behind and kept an eye on us. I felt about as welcome as a bank robber and I wanted to GTFO of there. Unfortunately they had a couple of small items there that were nice and my mother bought them. To this day it annoys me that we left money in that shop.

When we were in NYC we also came to two stores where we couldn't be left alone. This time, thankfully, we just left.

It is amazing how it always works out that way.

^ Yeah, that's true.

As someone that's done that sort of job before, I can tell you what some of the reasons are:

1. The obvious one: They have to. It's not a choice, they HAVE to. You dont do it, you get in trouble. Get in trouble too much, you get fired.... end of story.

2. There's lots of customers that sorta automatically assume that the employees know JUST what they want and that they need help, despite the customer NOT SAYING A WORD. Because, you know, CLEARLY all of existence is centered around that one customer. So if you dont get to them fast enough, you get to hear a litany of whiny complaints about how you didnt come to help when they OBVIOUSLY needed/deserved some.

3. It makes the customers aware that, yes, you noticed them, and yes, you're watching the floor. This works towards theft prevention, as people are dramatically less likely to steal if they think there's at all a chance that they might be seen. An observant employee, who makes it obvious that they notice stuff, works well as a deterrent.

4. The politeness as well as the fact that you appear to care (even if you dont) when you ask someone that gives an impression of a friendly place to shop. This makes them more likely to come back (and this is the core reason why the employers make their people do it).

5. Work is really boring and it's something to do.

Also, this nearly never has anything to do with commission. Most employees at stores of any sort do not get any.


On the other hand though, get rude with them and there's plenty that will go out of their way to make your shopping experience alot LESS pleasant. They'll do this in subtle ways that wont get them in trouble. If you want them to keep pestering and annoying you, or if you want them to ring your stuff up really slowly and make mistakes, this is a superb way to make it happen, though obviously it depends on the employee.

It's really, really annoying, yes. I actually prefer to be left completely alone when I walk into a store and just want to look around. Even when i'm looking to buy, I still like to make my own search and investigation and find the thing by myself. If I do need help, I ask. I hate it when the first thing that happens when I walk into a store is that an assistant pounces on me and asks that "Can I help you?" question or anything similar.

The trouble is, I've been on the other side of the equation as I used to work in retail myself, and the managers told us we MUST approach customers and ask if we can be of help. If we didn't greet customers with the offer of help, we actually got into trouble and were instructed to shape up and follow orders. To leave a customer alone until they asked for help was thought to be not doing our job properly. I don't remember a job where we were not pressured to do it.

So, it's a huge drag -- it was a drag to be that assistant and it's a drag to be the customer who doesn't like it. I wish more stores just felt a simple greeting of "Hello" was all that's needed to give to a customer.

I find this very irritating when browsing. If its an electronics store, I'm probably not going to actually buy anything since its very expensive, but its if if you are expected to be mindful to come out with a much lighter wallet. I once said "I'll probably not actually going to make a purchase today". The lady didn't seem pleased by that response seeming to respond in a notably disappointed tone.

I have worked retail as well and I have also been the one to approach customers which I, ironically, enjoyed doing. But I still hate it when they approach me. If they think I am going to steal and they focus on watching me they might miss the person who really is stealing. But I don't care. One of the reasons I get so irritated when shopping now is because all the stores insist on playing music that I can't tolerate. Even the grocery stores do it. What happened to the days when you could enjoy shopping in silence? And when I worked in retail, if a sensitive customer came in, we were allowed to turn the music off while that person was in the store. And we played soft music not bass filled stuff that makes my head explode. So if you are not willing to turn off the music for me or to play something soft, don't expect me to be able converse with you if you are already making my shopping experience a sensory nightmare. I know what I want, I need to get in, get it, and get out out quickly as possible. If you want me to enjoy shopping and sit around and chat with you, turn the music off.

Make my shopping experience less pleasant, subtle or not, and my debit card & I will go shopping elsewhere.

It's my prerogative to change my mind up until I press OK on that pinpad.

I've been in a dollar store where I was followed around just because I had a backpack on. Yeah, it's real easy to stuff items into a backpack that's on your back, while wearing 4 sweaters and a thick winter parka I was in my late 20's at the time, so to lump me in with highschoolers who may or may not be thieves was offensive.

Even though I really needed an item there, I walked out.

I don't like getting that question either; if I need help, I'll ask for it, but having random strangers approach and ask if I need anything throws me off and unnerves me. I'm obligated to say it to customers as I work in retail, and I hate asking it as much as I hate being asked, because I hate the people aspect of my job!

Yes, it annoys me. Especially when I say "no", and they ask "are you sure?", because apparently I have a tendency to look like I'm lost and sound unsure.
That's the number one reason I don't shop at Best Buy anymore. Any time I'd go in there I'd have at least half the employees there ask me if I needed help.

I go to the same few stores most of the time, and I know them as well as my own house. I usually know where items are better than many of the employees.

It used to bother me if I wanted to browse. Now it doesn't bother me at all since I no longer browse. I go in with a shopping list and if anyone asks I say yes, I'm looking for this and that. Quite a lot of the time the salespeople don't seem to know their stock anyway. Last time I went to a home decor store and asked for candles, and the girl couldn't find any. Finally I found a whole bunch myself, near the check-out.

I agree completely, and I have left stores or stopped using them due to the employees. I am selective when it comes to where I spend my cash.


There is one book store I boycott because one employee there started talking to me like I had dropped 100 in IQ when he heard me mention my diagnosis to someone else. That moron was someone I had dealt with there before without problems. I never went back and I'm never buying anything at Norli again.


Yeah, putting stuff into a backpack is so easy when you're alone.

I'm 37 and I use rucksack a lot. It's so much easier to carry it that way, and it keeps my hands free.

Yes, when clerks come up to me in stores and ask to help me, that can bother me too. I don't like to feel bombarded when I enter a store. If I want help, I will ask for it. If the clerks won't leave me alone, I have a tendency to leave. I try not to be rude as I know it's their job, but as a customer, I have a right to shop in a manner that is comforting to me.

I prefer to shop in peace too, but I'm not sure we have a right to do so. It is their store after all - we are entering their premises. Of course we have every right to take our business elsewhere, but the environment of the store is up to the owner.

Said it perfectly. The way I see it, if I want help, I will come find you and ask for help. Otherwise, don't bug me!

By holding the shopping dollar, I feel I have a right to shop in the manner that makes me most comfortable, especially after telling a pestery clerk how I feel. When I worked as a sales clerk at a prestigious multi-floored department store years ago, I would often greet customers with the typical, "May I help you?" If the customer wanted to browse on their own, I would follow up with, "Don't hesitate to let me know if I can be of assistance to you later." Then I would leave the customer alone. In this manner, it was up to the customer to initiate the assistance from me. It worked great. And I did very well in sales.

I refuse to be pestered by clerks. And for the most part, clerks do leave me alone after I politely tell them I wish to shop in private. And if they don't, I leave and find the environment I like. And in this day and age of the internet, there are plenty of places to shop in private.

I will relate an incident that happened to me with a doctor. Although not a store, it is a similar situation. I was considering changing doctors. And I made it clear to the new doctor's office that I had not made my decision yet. So I went to an initial appointment at the new doctor, and he wanted to change my medication and perform a whole series of tests on me. I didn't feel comfortable with the doctor. And I was strongly thinking I didn't want to go through with changing over to him. As I was checking out of the office, the receptionist was pressuring me to sign the new patient papers. I said I wanted a few days to think it over before changing doctors. She applied more pressure and said I needed to make the decision now. I told her I had autism and that I did not feel comfortable making the decision now. Wow, did she back off. She told me to take all the time I needed. I went home and called her back and said, "I've decided to stay with my old doctor."