Regards previous posts
You know I have worked in shops like that, and I can guarantee that "most" shop assistants don't really want to hassle the customers.... Blame the Big-Wigs at Head Office, it's nearly always their Idea for their staff to jump on customers when you walk in the shop.
The Store I worked in wasn't that bad and also took Head Office advice with a pinch of Salt so we just used to smile and say "Need any help, just grab one of us." and leave it at that. (We usually had a tone of other things that needed to be dealt with anyway)
Didn't matter to Head Office how many staff members told them that Customers didn't like being Harassed by staff.
We would actually get "Marked Down" like Naughty School Children, if the mystery shopper
caught us not using the Script that HO had devised.
Trust me shop staff most of the time can't win. Don't hassle customers and their bosses get crabby, do hassle customers and the customers get the same way.
What ever happened to the old style shops where you could browse at leisure!?