So, I love Sephora; I drop A LOT of cash with their company. I usually shop online, but I decided I would stop in because I was at the mall doing a couple of other things. The last time I was in I had a great experience, but after yesterday I am considering taking my money elsewhere--I mean it is a convenient place, but not the only place where you can buy good beauty products.
Unlike many of the other reviewers, I had to constantly tell people that, "I was doing fine" and "I'm just looking." I could not make it from one section to another without being asked if I needed anything. It got to the point where I literally felt like I was being followed through the store. I hope they were doing that to everyone, and I wasn't a target.
When my masculine presenting partner came into the store and we began to sample colognes they had at least one employee next to us the entire time. At one point this one sales person looked at me and said, "You've just been all over, haven't you? You started on one side (women's perfumes/colognes) and now are on this side (masculine-cologne side.)" Um, isn't that how shopping works? You walk around and look at stuff often times on multiple sides of a store? I don't go to the mall a lot, but the few times I have been no one has commented on my movement patterns through a store.
Then, as my partner is sampling masculine colognes, because we were going to buy one, and we were trying to find the right one, she was like, "You've sampled all of these and you don't know on any of them?" What do you usually wear?" "Lacoste-sport," I replied and pointed to the bottle. It was seriously like she didn't know what to do. A female-bodied person wearing masculine cologne...oh no! Call the Gender-police, this lady doesn't know how to handle androgyny or non-conformity. I thought after us telling what she usually wears, maybe she would offer some new and different suggestions. Instead, she goes, "Yeah sometimes it isn't the right day [for a girl to buy men's cologne]" Um...again, I am not super familiar with the whole mall/shopping process, but wouldn't a sales person, who has been tailing me around the store, feel like it was always the right day to buy/sell something? Because I believe this to be true, it was just plain rude and bad customer service.
We were both like, "Ok." I was going to buy something and get my birthday gift, but I felt like we should just get out of the store. If Sephora is that worried about things getting stolen, maybe they need a new set up, instead of just tailing people through a store. This is why I shop online, but after that experience, Sephora you have left a bitter, bitter taste in my mouth. I'm thinking I will take my business back to MAC because I know there are guys working who wear makeup, so they are cool with the gender-bending. And we can by cologne at any department store. So, your loss, Sephora. I should probably file a formal complaint. read more