New York woman goes to Sephora. Then a salesperson allegedly pitched her an eye cream by saying her under-eyes ‘need a lot of help’

A New York woman says a Sephora employee made her feel targeted over her appearance during a recent shopping trip. She shared her experience in a TikTok video that has since drawn reactions from viewers online.

The woman, who posts under the username @abbythebadassmom, said an employee approached her while she was shopping and commented on her under-eye area before offering a product recommendation.

Abby said the comment caught her off guard and left her unwilling to hear any further suggestions from the employee.

Employee reportedly commented on shopper’s under-eyes before offering a product

According to Abby, the employee walked up to her and said, “Your under eyes need a lot of help. Can I show you something for them?” Abby said she replied, “I know what’s underneath my eyes but thank you.”

In her video, Abby asked her viewers, “Are you freaking serious?” while describing the exchange. Customer service run-ins like this tend to draw strong reactions online, similar to a case where a woman filmed herself confronting a Domino’s worker.

Abby said the interaction did not stop there. She said the employee then asked, “Can I show you a moisturizer then?” Abby said the comment about her under-eyes had already put her off, and she did not want to see any products after that.

She said she believed the employee could have approached her differently, suggesting a simple, “Can I help you find something?” would have worked better. Abby also questioned whether the employee used similar tactics with other customers, asking if the employee tells people with acne, “Wow, your skin is really bad with all that acne. Can I show you something for it?”

Abby said she hopes Sephora employees will “think twice” before making comments about a customer’s appearance while trying to recommend products. She said she felt the approach was a poor way to handle a product recommendation. Disputes over how staff treat customers have surfaced elsewhere too, including a dispute over restroom access at a gas station.

Several viewers responded to Abby’s video with their own experiences. One commenter, who said they worked in cosmetics for years, wrote, “I’ve worked in cosmetics for 15+ years across multiple brands and unfortunately MANY are quite literally trained to be very aggressive with their sales ‘pitches.’ If ANYONE on my team were to ever say anything like that, I’d let them go in a heartbeat.”

Another commenter, who identified as a current Sephora employee, wrote, “That is not how we’re trained to treat employees and training aside, it should be common sense not to talk to people like that. I would never approach a customer that way.”

One person shared a similar experience involving their hair, writing, “This happened to me once, an employee told me my hair looked really thin and flat so I should try volumizing products. I was like… yeah… I have alopecia… a sales pitch shouldn’t involve insults fr.”

Another commenter described being told her skin looked older than her age, writing, “I had someone tell me for my ‘aging’ skin. im 38.” One viewer said a similar comment was made about their child, writing, “One of the brand reps in Sephora told me my daughter that she will need Botox (she was 11 at the time).”