My Browns of York experience

Mr. S and I recently took a trip to York – not, I confess, to soak up any culture that might be lying about but rather to buy things cheaply. Yep, we went to the McArthur Glen outlet.

I came out a bit shell shocked, after having found NOTHING I wanted in the Cosmetics Company outlet shop, but thankfully hubby took pity on my plight and bought me a gorgeous Paul Smith bag that I have been lemming after for ages.

Anyway, determined not to come home without some form of beauty product, we wandered into York town centre and happened across Browns, a decent-sized department store type thing, and I of course immediately gravitated towards the twinkly lighting of the cosmetic counters.

I needed some Double Wear Light, so I toddled over to the Estee Lauder counter to buy me a top-up of this fabulous not-quite-foundation. And there was where I encountered the lovely Marie.

Now if you have read my previous post about Rouge Coco Mademoiselle you will realise that I am not traditionally a big fan of makeup counter assistants. I rethought that prejudice a little in a recent Boots trip, but Marie was the icing on the cake. A petite little thing, she could not have been more lovely.

There was a Gift With Purchase promo on - I’m guessing it’s on everywhere? – and Marie pointed this out to me because she “didn’t want me to miss out” on £45 worth of free stuff. So I mooched round the counter a bit, and picked up their Double Wear liquid eyeliner in Black, so that I could qualify for the promo. Her little face dropped, as she then informed me that they had just run out of that particular product. But – and this is where I was pleasantly impressed – she took my details, let me have the GWP anyway, and said they would post out the eyeliner as soon as their next shipment came in. She then gave me a card with her contact details on, as well as those of her colleague, in case I wanted to get in touch in the meantime. Throughout the transaction she was very polite, extremely helpful, appeared knowledgeable, and also seemed to be enjoying her job.

Now I imagine quite a few of you are currently thinking, “Yeah – and?”………….. and if you are lucky enough to come from a place where this sort of customer service is the norm, then I envy you. None of the assistants I have ever spoken to before have been a patch on this lady – and I was beginning to seriously believe that good customer service on makeup counters was a myth.

But now……….. MYTH = BUSTED.

Thank you, Marie, for re-instilling me with a little bit of faith in humanity.

Jen

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