It is always a good idea to step into a fitting room and try on any potential new clothes before purchasing.
Maybe you just got a new job and you’re looking for the ideal outfit for the first day. Maybe you’re looking for the best dress for a promising date. Or maybe you’re just treating yourself to a new pair of jeans because you deserve it. Whatever the case, you want to make sure the fit is perfect.
Yet, despite how often everyone uses fitting rooms, many of us are still doing things wrong. And yes, there is a wrong way to use a dressing room — many wrong ways, in fact.
Fitting room etiquette is extremely important, for the sake of the retail worker, your fellow customer, and yourself.
These 12 changing room behaviors should be avoided at all costs. I know I’m guilty of at least a handful of them. Some are so gross though that it’s hard to believe they’ve happened before — sadly, they have, and more often than you’d think.
1. Leave The Room A Mess
Believe it or not, the dressing room is not a trash can, and the folks who work in them are not your maids. Take your garbage with you and toss them in the garbage can.
2. Toss The Clothes In A Heap
Always hang the clothes back on the hanger, even if you do it sloppily. It makes it so much easier for the staff to clean up the room for the next person. If you want to leave your clothes in a pile at home, feel free, just not in the dressing room.
3. Try To Get The Perfect Selfie
If you’re taking pictures in the dressing room, it better be to get a crucial opinion from your mother or best friend, and not to get a shot of yourself in a fancy dress that you have no intention of purchasing. Also, people are waiting, so don’t be rude by having a lengthy photo shoot.
4. Spread Your Workout Sweat
Be sure to have consideration for the people who could end up with the clothes you tried on while sweaty from a workout. Only try on clothes if your hygiene is up to par.
5. Waltz In Five Minutes Before Closing
Employees have lives to get to once their shifts are over. Be considerate and plan to get to the store with enough time to try on the clothes before they close.
6. Stroll Around In Your Undergarments
It seems like a given, but retail workers have witnessed people coming out to search for a differently sized garment while wearing just bras and underwear, all too many times. Ask for help, or wear the outfit you were trying on instead.
7. Skip The Hand Sanitizer
Those rooms can get pretty full of germs and dust, so make sure you use your hand sanitizer before and after using the fitting room.
8. Try On A Bathing Suit Without Underwear
Wear underwear during this fitting, if not for your own health, then for the health of the person after you.
9. Come In Without Counting
Always know how many items you have when you walk into the fitting room, especially when there is a long line. It speeds up the process exponentially.
10. Pretend You Didn’t Get Makeup On The Garment
We’ve all seen clothes smeared with foundation and lipstick in stores… it’s not pretty. Tell the employee if you got your makeup on a garment so they can bring it to the dry cleaner or, at least, to avoid them putting it back on the rack looking like trash.
11. Bring Your Partner In With You
If you are shopping with someone of the opposite sex, leave them outside the fitting room area to wait. Even if there is enough space for both of you in there, don’t do it out of consideration for the others in the dressing room who may be peeking out their doors half-naked.
12. Use It For Personal Primping
The fitting room is not the place to put on makeup or style your hair. Primp at home, and let someone else hop in to try on clothes.
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