IS the customer always right, even when he or she is dripping with sweat?

The New Paper decided to find out if sales assistants would mind perspiring customers trying on their merchandise.

Surely, the sight of two sweaty and smelly girls would turn them off, we thought.

On Tuesday, we went undercover and visited 10 outlets in town.

To look the part, we worked out at the gym in the morning and wore the same clothes - T-shirts, shorts and sneakers - when we hit town.

We even sprayed some water on our hair, face and clothes, and pinched our cheeks to look flushed.

First stop, Far East Plaza.

We stepped into Stream on the first floor and complained loudly about the hot weather and how sweaty we were.

As we walked past the sales assistant, we mopped the perspiration off our foreheads in front of her.

We each picked out a dress and headed towards the fitting room.

The sales assistant stopped us. We froze. 'Oh no!' we thought.

But she said with a big smile to one of us: 'That dress is too big for you. I think you should try a smaller one.'

Phew!

When we identified ourselves as reporters, the sales assistant, Ms Duan Bin Bin, 25, a Thai national, said: 'If customers really want to try the clothes, we will let them.'

At our next stop, Purpur, it was also a breeze.

The sales assistant, Miss Baby Choo, 25, was friendly and did not mind our sloppy appearance one bit.

'I did notice that you girls were sweating, but it's quite normal since many of our customers are students who come here after their PE lessons,' she said, after we revealed who we were.

Over at Na Na Rêve De La - which sells imported Korean clothing - we thought we would finally be stopped from trying on clothes.

After all, their pretty lacy dresses do look delicate.

We did get stares from two sales assistants but they quickly turned into wide smiles as one of us picked out a cream dress - that looked like it could be dirtied easily - and headed towards the fitting room.

After we identified ourselves, shop assistant Yau Nga Kwan, 19, said: 'I noticed the two of you were sweaty, but I did not stop you from trying the dress because you did not smell.'

But her Taiwanese boss, Ms Christina Qin, 26, said she would have stopped us from trying on the dress if she had noticed us earlier.

'We will tell the customers that our clothes are unique as we have only one piece per item,' she explained.

We tried our luck at three more shops at Far East Plaza. Again, no sweat.

We decided to check out the bigger stores.

But first, we 'touched up' by spraying ourselves with water again.

At the ladies' department in Tangs Orchard, we went to the fitting rooms with clothes we had picked out.

The sales assistant, Madam Julia Tan, did not stop us as the store does not discriminate against any customer.

Her sentiment was echoed by Madam Sok Lan Sim, 58, a promoter at Isetan Orchard.

'I don't think I have the power to deny customers the right to try on the clothes,' she said.

The Giordano and G2000 Ladies outlets at Wisma Atria were crowded when we were there around 5pm.

The sales assistants were obliging, seemingly oblivious to our sweaty appearance.

Giordano's outlet manager, Ms Shidah, 25, said she did not notice how sweaty we were as there were many other customers.

But even if she did, it would not have been an issue, she added.

'We will send all dirty clothing, such as those with make-up stains on them, to our company's laundry every week,' she said.

At G2000, none of the sales assistants gave us a second glance even when we made a big show of wiping away our perspiration.

Manager Serene Koh, 45, said 'the company allows everyone to try everything, even the items which are white.'

So we left, convinced that sales assistants do believe that the customer, sweaty or not, is always right.

Geraldine Yeo and Audrey Tan Ruiping, newsroom interns

This article was first published in The New Paper.