{NM Daily}

We’ve often tried to imagine life as a Neiman Marcus sales associate, and we finally did something about it. We shadowed Betty Lidgi, a top associate at the NM flagship in downdown Dallas, for a morning.

8:30 AM: Betty Lidji has yet to arrive, but her office is ready for business: Three rolling racks, two tall enough to accommodate gowns, one already hung with an array of Hanro tanks and Cosabella mesh tees. A vignette of fragrance samples and instant-tanning mousse. Candy jars loaded with the chocolates she picks up on visits to her native Paraguay. And then there’s the glossy Haynsworth portrait of Betty’s “children”: Master Sable and Madame Coco, chihuahuas.

8:50 AM: Lidji rounds the corner, a pint-sized blur of blond and black, the heels of her slingbacks soundless on the thick, cream-colored carpet. Her greeting comes with enthusiasm and an accent to rival Sofia Vergara: “Oh good morning! How are you? Can’t I get you cappuccino? We have a very busy day!”

9 AM: Lidji joins some 60 other downtown sales associates seated on folding chairs in the fine apparel department. The theme of today’s staff meeting is, as it is most mornings, service. “How many of you have upgraded your iPhone applications?” asks general manager Shelle Sills. The phones offer access to any Neiman Marcus item, anywhere. Lidji uses hers like a second assistant. (Her first assistant, Kelsey Smith, handles appointments, messages, deliveries and anything else that might come up.)

Pep-rally applause greets Sills’ announcement that the downtown store ranks first in the company in customer service. It’s the job of the department co-manager Mathew Simon to reveal the previous month’s top associate: A beaming Betty Lidji. The 16-year NM vet [March  25, 1996] also is first in sales “out of home base,” meaning she’s as likely to help you find a handbag, earrings, lipstick, or pair of shoes as a dress from her home department.

9:30 AM: Sales associates preview of the day’s Sofia Cashmere trunk show. Betty listens, legs and hands politely crossed.

10 AM: Somewhere, the great Oz flips a switch and music (Yael Naim’s Come Home) emanates from the sound system, signaling the store is open. Lidji beelines it for a nearby rack. Her only appointment this morning is with long-time client Tricia Besing, who’s being photographed the following week by a local magazine. Lidji is fast. And decisive. Dresses in ivory crepe and navy jersey make the cut. A black-and-white tweed is “not what Tricia would like.” A quick drop-off at her office/dressing room and Lidji heads one floor down to pull shoes and jewelry. Then she’ll swing up to Intimate Apparel for Spanx.

11:00 AM: “I love selling fashion, you know?” says Lidji. Indeed. Her room now resembles a small but well-edited boutique. Half a dozen pairs of size 8 shoes rest atop their pale blue boxes. Sofas hold a selection of bags and a velvet-lined tray of jewelry.

Lidji dispatches Smith to alterations to retrieve pieces that have been shortened, lengthened, taken in, let out, and variously perfected for other Lidji customers by her favorite fitter, Silvia Rodela. One dress has been transformed from sleeveless to long sleeve. Who knew that was even possible? “We got fabric from the vendor,” explains Rodela with deserved pride. “Whatever pleases the customer.”

11:30 AM: Besing arrives, fresh from a workout. Lidji knows that she just returned from Europe—she saw the family photos on Facebook. Now more are shared via Besing’s iPhone. “Oh look at Ali, she’s growing up! She looks so pretty!” The women’s relationship stretches back ten years. Besing laughs recalling the time her husband accompanied her and fell asleep on the sofa in Lidji’s office.

Though Lidji works chiefly with 500 or so regular customers, she also loves being “on the floor.” She and Smith tag-team on the story of a woman and her daughter-in-law who recently visited from Norway. The women shopped all afternoon, returned the following day for lunch at The Zodiac, and the day after that to have their makeup done at the Le Métier de Beauté counter. All arranged by Lidji. Including “the most beautiful Alaïa dress to take home for the granddaughter back in Norway.”

12 Noon: Besing and Lidji land on a black silk Lanvin blouse and creamy ivory skirt with high side slits. (Rodela is summoned to make them more modest.)  While Lidji heads back out to find more shoes, the “young and fun and beautiful” jewelry she’s requested arrives. Besing hones in on a pair of Nicholas Varney coral earrings. The right one is “a little tight.” It’s marked to be adjusted before the photo shoot. The shoe department manager arrives with an armload of boxes. Besing slips on a pair of Guccis with slender straps and gold Art Deco trim. Another associate kneels to fasten the tiny buckles and Besing breaks into a wide smile. “Cinderella.”