Fitting room etiquette is a real thing, and it’s one that some people definitely don’t abide by. Whether you realize it or not, your habits in the dressing room could be making you the annoying customer who no one wants to deal with.
Much to our dismay, we all find ourselves in a fitting room from time to time, and it rarely tends to be a pleasant experience. Most often, it’s because the shirt we really wanted doesn’t fit quite right, but sometimes it’s because we’re unintentionally sabotaging our own experiences—that, or we’re dealing with the bad dressing room habits of others. Whether you’re making mistakes when picking things out or your shopping etiquette needs a little work, here are the things everyone needs to stop doing while they’re in the fitting room.
Leaving Trash Behind
We get that the fitting room can be a good place to quickly clean out or organize your purse, but it’s not the place to dispose of anything you don’t want to bring along.
The fitting room attendant is there to help you out when it comes to trying things on or getting different sizes, but they’re not there to clean up after you personally.
The Solution?
It’s a simple one—just don’t be a jerk!
Whether you’re cleaning out your bag or finished your soda while you were in the fitting room, make sure any trash that came in with you leaves with you, too.
Leaving Clothes Everywhere
We’ve all walked into a fitting room, only to be greeted with a giant mound of clothes that one or multiple shoppers rudely decided to leave behind. Not only is this an inconvenience for anyone who uses the room after you, but it’s a major pain for employees who work in the fitting room.
If you’re fortunate enough never to have worked in a retail clothing store, let us tell you that it can be a frustrating job on its own—one that’s made harder when customers choose to treat the dressing room like their own personal fashion studio.
The Solution?
Even if you can’t fold the clothes the exact way the employees did or you don’t have the time to make sure they’re perfectly centered on the hanger, just do your best. It really is the decent thing to do.
Besides, how would you feel if you knew all of the clothes you tried on spent a hefty amount of time on a dirty store floor because of someone’s laziness? Don’t be the person who does that to others.
Having Miniature Photo Shoots
Sometimes when you’re trying on clothes, it makes sense to snap a few pictures of yourself, either to see the clothes from another angle or to send to someone who’s not there so you can get their opinion. But what’s not cool is to spend half an hour in the fitting room so you can try to take perfect selfies or pretend you’re going to buy some super expensive piece of luxury clothing.
Not only is that just kind of dumb, but it’s also super inconsiderate to the store’s staff and other customers, especially if you’re doing it on a busy day.
The Solution?
If you know ahead of time that you’re going on a massive shopping spree or you plan on staging some pictures, try to schedule your trip for a time that the store won’t be busy.
Do us all a favor and don’t make it on a weekend or Friday night.
Working out Before You Shop
If you know that you’re going shopping one day, make sure you’re not scheduling a trip the the gym anytime beforehand. Not only will you being sweaty make it harder to get your clothes off and other clothes on, but it’s just plain gross.
If you try on clothes after your workout, your sweat, oils, and odor will soak into anything you put on your body, and that’s extremely unhygienic for anyone else who tries that garment on after you.
The Solution?
If you have to work out before you head out to shop—maybe because you’re heading to a fitness class after work and you can’t squeeze in the shopping before—try to shower before you leave.
If there’s not enough time, at least take the time to wipe yourself down and change out of your sweat-soaked clothes.
Shopping Right Before Close
If it’s 15 minutes before a store closes and you know exactly what you want and where it is in the store, don’t feel too bad about running in to grab it. However, if you walk in expecting to take a leisurely stroll around the store while the employees are trying to tidy it up so they can go home, you should reconsider.
This is especially true if your plan is to try on some new clothes. Making the racks and shelves of clothes look good takes a lot of time and effort, and it doesn’t help when customers come in later on in the night and mess things up.
The Solution?
Avoid trying on clothes during your late-night shopping trip, or at the very least don’t try on a lot of different things.
Do your best to make sure you’re trying on things quickly, and if you can’t make a decision on something, ask the store to hold it for you so you can try it on again the next day when you have more time.
Grabbing Only One Size
If you tend to always wear a small, your first instinct won’t be to grab clothes in any other sizes. But not every store sizes their clothing in the same way; what might be labeled as a small in one store might fit more like a medium at another. Even items from the same brand might fit differently sometimes.
Although a fitting room attendant is technically there to help you with this kind of thing, it can be difficult for them to run out and find the exact spot where you found a certain thing and to make it quick.
The Solution?
To keep yourself from having to go in and out of the fitting room multiple times in one shopping trip, bring in items in multiple sizes.
If you sense something is going to fit snugly, bring your normal size and the next size up. If it’s supposed to have a slouchier fit, bring in what you normally wear along with the next size down.
Bringing Too Many People
Shopping with friends can be a blast, and we’re not at all suggesting that you have to shop solo from here on out. But bring too many people on a shopping trip and you could walk away with nothing more than frustration. Let’s say you’re trying something on and you step out to get the opinions of your shopping companions—that’s one of the perks of having them there, after all.
Depending on how many people there are, though, you might not even get a good idea of how something actually looks on you, either because of the differing opinions or because all you hear is your friends talking over each other.
The Solution?
If you feel like you need a second opinion, you can always have one specific friend come to your fitting room to give you some feedback.
If you don’t want to leave anyone out, try asking questions that specifically relate to what you’re unsure about, like if something looks too long or it seems too baggy. That way, they’re not unleashing their opinions on the garment as a whole.
Putting Stained Clothing Back on the Rack
At some point in time, all of us have either gotten our makeup on something we were trying on or been dismayed to find that a piece of clothing we wanted to buy had a dreaded stain left behind by another customer.
If you’re confident in your stain-removing skills, you may have decided to buy it anyway, but many people choose to just put it back where they found it. Regardless of whether it’s you who stained the piece or you just found it that way, putting it back out for another person to find isn’t the way to go.
The Solution?
If you see a stain on something and you no longer want it, just tell the employee so it doesn’t go back out on the floor in that condition.
If you’re too embarrassed to admit that it’s your makeup that got on it, you can tell them you found it that way to avoid any questions. The store may try to clean the piece or just offer it at a discount.
