Sadly, There’s Always Room For Entitlement

I am out dress shopping with my mother and grandmother, as grade-eight graduation is approaching. After picking out a few dresses to try on, I line up outside the change room while my mom and grandmother are browsing the store. It comes to the point when I am the only one left in line.

While I am waiting, a woman and her daughter — about my age — come up to me. The woman points to the changing rooms.

Woman: “Are they all full?”

Me: “Yeah, I’m just waiting.”

I assume that she will just line up behind me, but instead, she takes the ten or so items that she has and puts them on a nearby rack. They’re mostly dresses; I am guessing they are for her daughter as they are obviously too small for her.

She then tells her daughter to stay put as she goes around and starts knocking on the doors of all of the changing rooms. At this point, my mom and grandma have returned and I inform them of the situation. It appears that the woman has found what appears to be an empty changing room and calls her daughter over to wait by the door while she receives the clothes that she had set on the rack and proceeds to get an employee. The changing rooms are always locked from the outside and you need an employee to open them, even if they are empty.

The employee comes over and, since we are now sure of what is about to happen, my mother speaks up.

Mom: “Excuse me? I think that my daughter was first.”

Woman: *To the employee* “I have been putting all of the work in to check all of these rooms and I have found one that I can use, so I have the right to use it!”

Employee: “Sorry, but we must let her go first—” *gestures to me* “—because she was waiting in line.”

Woman: “No! I found this room and therefore I am entitled to it!”

The employee gives us an apologetic look.

Employee: “Okay, but just for next time, remember that you must wait in line.”

While this is happening, the woman’s daughter is looking uncomfortable and I don’t think that she is very happy about her mother’s actions. I myself am in shock, as nothing like this has ever really happened to me until now. I read a lot of Not Always Right stories, so I am able to recognize this as one of THOSE situations, if you know what I mean. As they enter the change room, the employee comes over to us.

Employee: “I’m so sorry about that. Come with me; I’ll see if I can find you a room.”

We thanked her and she led us to an empty change room where I tried on my dresses. I decided on the perfect one and we went out to pay for it. We were checked out by the same employee who had helped us in the change rooms and she apologized again. We thanked her and told her how we appreciated how calmly she handled the situation.

The dress ended up being about 40% off! I was very happy with my purchase, and it made everything worth it. A huge thanks to that employee for being so helpful.