Shop girls prefer serving men

Press, 27 August 1979, Page 14

Shop girls prefer serving men

By

KEN COATES

in Lon-

don

Women are more difficult to serve in shops than men, at least in Britain, according to a survey among about 1000 female shop assistants. A total of 88 per cent of shop girls in London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Darlington gave this judgment when questioned. Not surprisingly, the firm that carried out the survey, City Industrial, deduces it has something to do with sex. Men, says Mr S. J. Morris, the company’s chairman, tend to be less aggressive towards female staff because of the malefemale attraction. But he adds: “It is interesting to note that of the 12 per cent who said men were more difficult customers than women, most were particularly unattractive.” The shop girls’ reasons for preferring men customers included: Men say thank you more often than women; men argue less than women, and are more ready to ask and accept advice; men demand to see the manager less than women; men are less impatient; men go shopping with a product in mind, while women tend to browse, with no intention

of buying; women tend to have no fixed idea of what they want, and cannot make up their minds; older women tend to be antagonist towards younger female assistants. Women, the survey deduces, seem to becoming more difficult customers than for many years, possibly because of higher prices and higher value added tax.

If anything annoys the women customers, they seem to take it out on the sales girl.