Oopps.. She isnt the saleslady!

Oops! It's ok. I'm sure it happens all the time to one person or another. I know if a person looks really confident, people will sometimes think they are someone important. It could happen to anyone! Did it bother the person? Chances are that she was flattered (unless she said something that made you think differently). Look at it this way...Will it make a difference in 100 years? If not, then don't sweat the small stuff!

I've had this many times from the other side. Nearly every week I get mistaken for someone who works there. I'm neat, I'm in uniform, I know what I want, but all I'm doing is buying heaps of vegetables, not stacking shelves. My uniform is quite different from the supermarket employees too, so I just don't get it. Usually I help them with whatever they want to know & they walk away without knowing any different. Last week a well-dressed older lady demanded to know something, addressing me from behind in a degrading sort of manner, so I thought that on behalf of all the usual employees whom she treats like rubbish, I'll not let her get away with it so easily this time. She's probably not going to shop there again for a while!

Hiya staria, One or two times I have mistaken a Person in a Shop for a Sales Person or the one who is on the Cash Register. One time I thought this Man was the one taking the Money because he was standing around that area and he took it really strange not amused. I thought how weird he was a Friend talking to the Woman who was the Sales Person but she was just chatting with him and not interested one bit in what she was doing really. Not much of a sense of humour really. I did find that in another Shop where this Girl had a load of Friends hanging around where she was supposed to be and she was not there but mixed in with her Friends talking away. I just take them with a pinch of salt and think that it´s a genuine mistake and really if their Boss were to find them just chatting away with their Friends I don´t think they would be very happy about it.

We're on the same boat. Two years ago, I was with some close friends dining in a restaurant by the garden when we decided to take some pictures before parting ways. Most of the waiter in white polo shirt were busy serving other diners till I saw one passing by in front of us. I tapped him and asked if he could take a shot of us till I saw the horrified reaction on my friends' face. There and then I took another look at the other waiters and saw the difference between the person I have asked to take picture of us. He was not wearing a sort of an apron. I must have turned beet red and started apologizing because the guy in white polo smiled and assured me that it was fine with him. He took a picture of us, handed me back my camera and smiled when I apologized endlessly while the rest of my friends wanted to shrink for such a blooper/mistake I made.

Oh It happened to me. If I do, I immediately apologize. Sometimes, people just stand in one corner, so unintentionally we mistook them for a salesman. Anyway, I too was mistakenly identified as a saleslady. I just happen to buy at a favorite store and I was waiting for my brother to come out of the fitting room. Somebody ask me if there are any sizes of a particular shirt. I said I am not one and I walked out of the store. I then realized I was wearing the same color of the shirts the salesmen were wearing.

LOL! I have done that so many times. The worst part is it has happened to me more than I've done it. I just laugh. Most times I can't stop laughing because of how ridiculus I feel either way. One time I asked someone for help that didn't work there and we both laughed so hard we couldn't stop. She is a great friend of mine now. Everyone does it at least once in their life.

No, Dear Staria, I never experienced calling another customer and getting help from him/her thinking that he/she could be the sales man/ sales girl! I am very careful about this aspect when ever I am visiting any mall or Departmental stores! I am very cautious and make my self double sure that I am approaching a right man for right job! Even after that I don't put my query directly to the man standing there to help us out! Instead I ask the person whom can I contact to have some help pertaining to a particular job! You must be really surprised about this extra cautious behaviour of mine, No? I do it consciously because till the date many of the customers they have taken me for the sales man asked for the help! LOL ! You will be amazed to know in few occasions I helped them also! I never felt any thing bad to help them out, as all I knew was they wanted some help and I was there who could help them! Thanks for this funny but interesting discussion!

Hi there Staria! That situation was really quite embarrassing on your part to mistakenly call a customer to be a saleslady....But hey, you are not alone my dear. I had the same experience too in the mall. There was this lady who was seating in a certain corner holding many stuffs. I thought, she was then fixing or arranging the merchandise. Unfortunately, she is looking for her size. Before I learned that she is not a personnel, I had asked her for assistance and she told me that she is likewise a customer. Well, it was embarrassing but I had to apologize for the wrong impression.

Hi Staria! You are right, sometimes it happens that instead of calling a saleslady or a salesman, we address our queries to another customer. Its opposite happens with many times, when someone takes me as the owner of the outlet and start asking for the price of the goods. PS - Have added you.

I've done that, too! Either it's another customer or it's a vendor that's stocking the shelves of the grocery. I used to feel embarrassed but now I just laugh and apologize. That makes the other person laugh, too. I always say something funny like "wow, if I had another brain it would be lonely". That puts them at ease and they don't feel badly that I mistook them for a salesperson.

I have been guilty of asking a shopper for assistance. Some people are so comfortable in the store that you just assume that they work there. I don't know who can be more embarrassed when this happens. I have even had this experience happen to me. I have had people ask me for customer assistance when I had never been in the store before.

I have experienced the same thing- but I was the one who they thought was the saleslady. It happened to me 3 times- it was because I matched the uniform- 3 times. Do I look old? I'm still a student too- and I was with my parents at that time.

It has happened to me. Well, it is actually an accident, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. Sometimes i get mistaken as the salesman as well. It's okay. As long as i am not selling something illegal. haha

It's sad in some ways that our early training, what we've learned as children, has such a strong effect on such minor incidences, such as embarrassment over a mistake so small as the one described. As for avoiding possible offense to others and hopefully some embarrassment, I think if you add to your apology something like this, "I'm sorry, you looked so knowledgeable out these things." You just might get away without the pink cheeks...and make someone else feel instead of insulted, just a bit pleased with themselves.

I have done this, especially at walmart where they wear the blue or red vests. Sometimes a customer will be wearing a vest with their outfit and I mistakenly think they work there. (This is why I'll never wear a vest when shopping) Plus, there are those who come directly from their job or going in and they are wearing a name tag, which is another indication they are someone who works there. So if I ever have a job where I out on a name tag, I will hopefully make sure to not put it on while shopping..

LOL! It’s happened to me before! It would be worse if you were in a restaurant and you mistook the lady for a waitress, now that would be embarrassing! I wouldn’t worry about it, someone made the same mistake with me and I didn’t take offence; I was wearing a black skirt and a white top just like the sales staff in the store...

haha I have done that before. When other customers dress clothes that is like uniform, I asked for help from her and she gave me a face without syaing anything then I realized that I asked for a wrong person! ...That was embarrassing...

LOL!!! i can relate myself to this topic! you know what? i've just got trouble with that... but in reverse~... i was the one who were often be called as a salesman on some malls and public places T^T... about at least 30 times already? the story was, i enjoy mallhopping after school, and then i am still at my uniform, and the uniform i am wearing is similar with some public sales employees on local malls! i mean.. i've really learned a lesson to change my outfit everytime i go to malls and or after classes... whew.. very very weird stuff XD~

I'm sure this often happens not only to sales people, but also to waiters and servers. Although you might feel really embarassed for making the mistake, I'm sure the other person feels embarassed too. He or she is the one wearing the same type of clothing as the saleslady in the first place.

Its a very awkward situation indeed. At first I would be guilty, but then its a really honest mistake and sometimes I myself would get mistaken as a sales lady as well. I just say sorry then run along.