I can't believe this

Upon registration and creation of my virtual wardrobe I wrote 17 reviews non-stop in one night, and I haven't even starting buying decants!!(and that's about the only reason I'd have registered for after having lurked here for months)

I've been more of a store sampling kind of person but sometimes sales do get annoying enough that I want to drop this habit. It's not to say that all sales are bad but it always seemed as if I am being "interviewed" one way or another to see if I could become a potential buyer, and that's just plain frustrating. Personally I'd even be preferred left alone spraying blotters as opposed being surrounded and bombarded at the fragrance counter, even if that meant no sample vials for me. Maybe I am the odd one here?

Anyhow it is my pleasure to be part of this knowledgeable body of intellectuals, and I do look forward to taking part here in a more interactive way. Cheers!

Many thanks to your kind welcomes.

I guess on some days it is quite fun playing this sort of game w/ SAs, especially when they blatantly tell me lies about something, and all I had to do is read the printed labels and tell them otherwise.(this being a general case w/ SAs I've met, not focusing on frag. SAs here)

And oh yes, I really should start keeping notes on what SAs have said to me. I always carry a book of post-its to shops, one to write driving directions on, things I find interest in based on note descriptions, and for occastions when there are testers but no blotters. I guess I look like some sort of survey person from the marketing department once I start writing at counters, and I've even once seen a SA run from me when I randomly scanned his name-tag.lol

As with the talking knowledgeable w/ SA method, I found this to be a lot less effective at boutiques as opposed to the head-turner at department stores. But again boutique SAs usually gives me less BS.

I guess there must be some sort of customer survey result that drove large companies into training SAs this way. Perhaps this makes the common customer feel they are more "valued"? it really beats me.

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I can feel your pain Dennard. As far as I could tell, scents marketed for a certain sex doesn't always smell the same way on the opposite sex, and from my personal experience there were numerous occasions that I've encountered this phenomenon. I've even worn aldehylic Chanel No. 5 for that matter, where it smelled drastically different from the person next to me after the first 2 minutes. I'd even go as far as to say that some heady white florals can worn by both genders. I think women encounter a similar issue trying to sample male fragrances at the counter, but are treated with much less of an attitude.

Let the user decide what he or she shall wear, not the producer, not even the perfumer for that matter. And yes real men eat quiche, especially when you have a nice bottle of Alsatian Riesling. So have fun spraying thru the female counter.