Why Do You Care What I Think?

Today I had a "high maintenance" customer. She first approached me with an armload of merchandise, and asked if I could help her. I figured she wanted help finding something, but instead she wanted to "go through these things with you and get your opinion". Oy.

She showed me one item and asked, "What is this?" I read the label aloud. (Yeah, ok, that's probably not what she was looking for, but that's what she asked!) I continued by saying that it seemed pretty cool to me. She showed me two more items and asked which was better. They were from the same company, so I explained that it would depend on the personal preference of the person she was buying it for. Then she asked me about something else. This item was something I liked a lot, and I told her that.

She said: "That's the kind of information I wanted!"

In other words, she wanted me to have a strong opinion about every item she showed me!

For her finale, she asked me to help her pick out something for herself!! It was something she had bought before, and she was trying to decide if she wanted a different version of it. She asked me, "Do you like this?" I told her no, I liked the original version better. Then she explained why the new version would be better for her. Her reasons were valid; buying the new version was a good choice for her. So why did she care what I thought?? My opinion was completely irrelevant.

Basically, she didn't want to make any decisions without me telling her it was ok. No, wait, not "ok". Wonderful! Fabulous! Amazing! You must own this!

Like Tofutti Cutie, I can't lie about the products. My honest opinion was non-committal. This customer didn't want my honest opinion. She wanted me to lie.