Have You Ever Been Chastised at Sephora for Going Through the Drawers?

Ahhh, the forbidden drawers! We all know about them, but we’re not really supposed to open them! What forbidden treasure lay in those drawers that get snapped closed by a sales rep if you dare sneak a peek?

In all seriousness, sometimes you’ll walk into Sephora looking for something, but it isn’t there. The irony is that a sales associate isn’t around when you need them to see if the item might be available in those forbidden drawers. They’ll ask you one hundred times, “Can I help you?” when you first enter the store and follow you around the entire time you’re in the store. But when you finally do need something, they all disappear, and you can’t find anyone to help you! It’s fascinating how that happens to me ALL the damn time. That’s when the drawers beckon…! Sometimes, you just aren’t finding your shade or the product you want, and the drawer is just begging to be opened to see if it might be in there. Do you open it? Do you leave and decide you’ll order it online? Or do you try to find that sales associate who disappeared into the great Sephora vortex?

I’ve opened it once or twice, and this is how things went.

So, I’ve expressed how much I dislike aggressive sales associates. I think Bath and Body Works and Lush are probably the worst. They won’t leave you alone. Lush is worse than ever before. You can’t walk into that store and give a shower gel the side eye before you have an SA down your throat telling you every detail about it. And the “I’m good, thanks, but if I need anything, I’ll find you” doesn’t work with them. Nope, they aren’t taking that as an excuse. They’ll start recommending every item in the store to you while you’re just trying to relax and browse casually. I stopped going to Lush stores because of that (and because I was just grossed out by everyone sniffing and handling items and putting them back on the shelf for someone else to buy). I haven’t purchased anything in Lush for at least four years (maybe longer!) and don’t regret it.

Sephora sales reps aren’t nearly as bad, but they can be overwhelming if they think you’re about to whip out a big garbage bag and rob the store of all its inventory. Be for real right now, if I did decide to do that, we all know no one is going to do a damn thing to stop me. You got to love the society we live in right now, right?

But THE irony, as I said above, is you can’t find them when you need them. And that’s always when the item or shade you want isn’t on the shelf. So yes, I have helped myself a time or two from the drawers at the bottom of the displays. And hey, sometimes I get lucky, and the item is in there, and I don’t get caught. And sometimes, I don’t get lucky, and the item isn’t there, and I’m caught. What happens when you’re caught? It’s never a pretty situation! Or at least it hasn’t been for me. Seriously, don’t go in the drawers. They HATE when you go in the drawers. I’ve gotten some severe attitude the two times I’ve done it, and worse, the item I wanted wasn’t even in the drawer. So, I had to be chastised for doing it, plus not getting the item I needed anyway. It’s def embarrassing being sort of yelled at in the middle of a crowded store. The story’s moral is to wait for the SA or look for it or ask because they don’t want you in those drawers. I’m starting to think Sephora has some National Treasure hidden in there.

Have you ever been yelled at for going through the drawers? What happened? Do share your experience!