How do you deal with rude salespeople?

 Last winter, I shared my tale of being accosted by an overzealous salesperson at a local mall. Worse than the her aggressive, take-no-prisoners attempt to bully me into buying her handy-dandy nail-care products, was my stammering, wimpy response. She caught me off guard and I never really recovered. 

Many of you commented on my predicament with personalized tips on how to effectively deal with difficult salespeople. Now, we'd like to turn the best of those suggestions into a Consumer Reports article, in time for this holiday season, to help other shoppers avoid, defuse, or stand up to retailer rudeness.

Of course, bad behavior is a two-way street, and there are plenty of boorish customers who treat salespeople like dirt. So, we'd also like to hear from store clerks, managers, and other customer-service folks who have to interact with the public. What tactics and behaviors on the part of customers do you find inconsiderate or intolerable?

To get the ball rolling, here's a snapshot of some of the comments that readers passed along following my original blog post about my misadventures at the mall:

• You're way too polite. The very last time, I had enough of it and without much thought, I think I shocked myself and a rather unsuspecting salesman with a tirade of profanities I didn't think I even knew! It worked, though. 

• Society has changed. No one seems to know what a personal boundary is anymore. We seem to have morphed into me-first, I'm entitled, you're-in-my-way-from-making-a-buck, society. It's time to fight back.

•  When I'm shopping with my husband I let him do the "thanks, but no thanks." Somehow, some way, he developed the ability to be listened to. I think it's because he doesn't smile at all, while I smile when I'm nervous. 

• I've developed this harrowed look. It's the look of hitting the mall with a toddler in tow. A lot of parents have it. It's cool to imitate it from other people if you don't have a toddler of your own. It's a cross between exasperation and madness. I get left alone more times than not. 

• Walking faster past places where you know you will encounter pushy salespeople works, too. It makes you pick up your breathing rate and if you don't look in their direction, they won't bother you. They know you're in a hurry.

• For the truly tenacious and audacious, a capacity for non sequitur is a great help: no matter what the hook, "No thank you; excuse me; goodbye" is my response. 

• If someone really happens to annoy me despite repeated attempts on my part to maintain politeness, I stop, look them straight in the eye, and say, "I have already said no. Thank you anyway," with a very clear, serious emphasis, and walk off. If I hear so much as a mutter behind me, I head straight to the supervisor and report that one of the employees is treating customers disrepectfully and that I'm sure they will want to know since it's so bad for business.

• I tend to be polite, but pointed with people who are pushy. People who poke and grab get an immediate stomp on the foot. (My excuse is always that they upset my balance.)

• People who don't understand no are asked if they have a few minutes so I may explain how God can improve their lives. This actually makes people run.

• My favorite way to deal with pushy/rude people is to simply stare at them as if I want to kill them. Amazingly effective at checkout counters!

• I am pretty good at displaying body language that says leave me alone. In fact, I have had to search for help. I have also learned to get right to the point. I tell those salesmen, the more you talk, the less chance you are going to get a sale. Some are amused by the comment. Some are miffed.