The Make Up Counter Rant

If there one’s thing I hate about make up its high end make up counters. I’ve lost count as to how many counters I’ve approached only to either be ignored completely or be helped by someone with an awful attitude. I’ve started to give up on make up counters completely and now rely on instinct and blogger reviews to choose my items online.

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand how annoying it can be to work in customer service. I work in a customer focused environment and sometimes I just want to tear my hair out, scream profanities and run all the way home but you just can’t do that. If you work in retail you have to be polite, positive and helpful at all times and as I do my best to maintain a happy image, I expect the same from other retail workers.

Let’s be real here though, not all of us are lucky enough to experience great (or even good) customer service at make up counters. I can count how many good experiences I’ve had at make up counters/stores on one hand and that’s over the course of 5 years. My first ever experience at MAC was a great one, my first time at Urban Decay was also a delightful one and my time in Sephora in New York was incredible.

That’s really it though. Every other time at a high end make up counter has been about as enjoyable as a leg wax.

I won’t bore you with every negative experience I’ve had at high end make up counters as that would just turn into a 10 page make up rant. I will say though that the main culprit tends to be MAC and I really don’t know why. The only good experience I’ve had at MAC was on a busy Saturday afternoon while the negative experiences occurred when the counter was completely deserted.

The bad customer service is also not exclusive to one counter. I’ve been to 2 MAC stores and 7 different MAC counters in 3 different countries and I was either ignored or assisted by someone who really couldn’t be bothered and didn’t even attempt to listen.

What really gets me though is how much money I’m usually willing to spend at make up counters and how little the sales advisors I’m met with care. If I’m at a make up counter it’s usually because I want to see one product in person and buy a whole bunch of other items but I’m never allowed to do that. I tend to leave a counter annoyed and buy just one or two items online. I don’t know if this is high end make up companies business strategy or not but if it is, they’re really good at executing it.

Like I said earlier I do my best to give good customer service and expect the same as a result but if I don’t get it, I just move my shopping online. I’d much rather buy my items right there and then rather than wait for them to arrive through the mail but if I’m going to get better service from a faceless website then that’s where I’m going to go.

It probably sounds like I hate all make up counters and sales advisers but I really don’t. I’m just bored of always wandering over to a high end make up stand when the wrong people are working. All I want is a nice, happy person (even if the happiness is fake) to assist me with my purchases and let me buy the frigging lipstick I want! Is that too much to ask?

Tell me about your make up counter experiences. Are they good, bad or just downright annoying?