As soon as you enter a shop in India, you experience that what is considered “service” is a cultural issue too. We in the West like to be received friendly, but left alone. If the salesperson asks us whether she/he can help and assures us that she/he is there in case we need them, we’re good. In India the second you walk inside, you have a tail. As long as you’re in a shop – and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a grocery store or a fashion boutique – your personal shadow is right there with you. Without as much as a single word (greeting’s not a very popular way of making first contact in India) the salesperson will follow you around, sometimes so close that you will feel them breathing down your neck. They generally will not say anything, not ask you whether they can help you. I’ve had girls follow me watching me clearly looking for sizes or clothes I wanted to try on literally falling off my arm- without offering any assistance. They just stand there and pick their noses and sometimes grabbing a shirt almost out of my hand, folding it neatly and putting it back. When I ask them for help, it’s generally useless. “Do you have these pants in red?” may produce a series of black pants. “Can I see a medium?” may result in a random pulling out of whatever sizes. In a grocery shop the simple questions “Do you have…” or “Where is….” has a fifty fifty chance of being answered (correctly), so it is definitely worth asking.
(assumed) reasons behind it. The most frequent answer to “Why are you following me?” is a shaking of the head – and uninterrupted breathing down my neck. I have got two theories to what’s behind it: 1/ in grocery stores it’s to avoid shoplifting. 2/ in any other store it is some sort of “service”. I’m supposed to ask, or better order and tell my shadow what to do for me. I’m expected to dump my selected merchandise on her,- maybe briskily shouting “Basket!” – not wait for her to offer to take it.
India being a strictly hierarchical and authoritarian country I’m assuming that their order is to follow customers, not to provide any kind of assistance. So whether or not they do depends on the level of initiative (and motivation?) of the salesperson, not on their job description. As annoying as the whole thing is, as interesting are the
It’s on of the behaviors I find very hard to impossible to adapt to. When I’m in a good mood and relaxed, I still make eye contact and greet them. As they start following me, I politely say: “Do not worry, I will not steal anything”- showing her/him my empty hands and that I have got nowhere to bag stolen goods. A variation to this is “Please do not follow me around.” Usually this produces a faint “Ok, madame” or “Sorry, madame” (in shops with high frequencies of foreigners where they know that having a tail makes us nervous). It usually works 100%, and I can shop in peace.
