You're in the minority
I too hate being bothered by the work monkeys in shops but I can sympathise due to the fact I used to be a work monkey. You're in the minority of consumers who can actually work it out themselves.

When I was working at an electrical store, well, if you're not going around asking customers if they need a hand (and 95% of the time, my help was actually needed/requested) then either your manager gets shirty that you're not 'generating sales' or you're sent to do a task even more menial than asking walking purses if they need advice on choosing a Dyson Vacuum Cleaner.

There are as many customers like you and me (who want to be left alone and look at the products in peace and my own time) as there are customers who wait by the product they are interested in and wait until they are asked. I've seen more than one grown adult throw a hissy-fit when during busy periods a salesperson hasn't been able to go ask them if they need help within 2 minutes of them entering a shop. I've never seen someone who was considering a purchase leave explicitly because someone was doing their job and being polite and asking if they needed anything.

For the record, I would approach most people in a store within 2 minutes of them standing looking at digital radios with a digit up their arse (provided I wasn't something else), and if they declined, I'd politely leave and mention either myself or someone else would be happy to assist if they were free. I didn't do it because I got some sick satisfaction of pissing off customers, I did it because I was being paid to do it.
(kingh0 is grating the cheese of life, Tue 1 Jun 2010, 16:55, Reply)