The other day, I went to Express to buy some clothes. As it turns out, clothing retailers are still engaged in pretty heavy discounting, even after the holiday season – not entirely unexpected. However, while I was shopping, I was asked if I needed help by no less than five different salespeople – multiple times by two of them. I was in the store perhaps 15 or 20 minutes, and I’ve never had that level of attention while shopping. The cherry on top was the cashier asking who it was who helped me with my purchase – I simply said that I didn’t really need help to pick out what I wanted. I’m guessing I disappointed some, or all, of the salespeople with that one.
The whole experience had a very strong Glengarry Glen Ross vibe to it – I wonder if there was something similar going on, or if it was just that all of the salespeople were highly motivated to keep their jobs (or earn a commission) in these lean times.