Confusing the Computer "Experts"

[KidChameleon]

I used to be one of the munters serving beer to people at a football stadium. I came to the conclusion that customers are the biggest a***holes of society. I had so much abuse hurled at me for the stupidest things, just because I was the mong on the till.

Ever since that job, I've been much more respectful to people who work with customers. If they don't know the answer, fine. I won't push them. If something goes wrong, chances are it's not their fault and they don't know how to handle it. We were trialing computerised tills when I was at the stadium so they crashed a lot. Of course, it was entirely my fault and my inability to do anything about it other than reboot the till and wait was due to me being an idiot.

These people aren't paid to be condescended. And they are people. A lot of customers seem to think they're button pressing monkeys.

[sleepyhead]

Meh..went to PC world. Asked sales blokey about Thermal Interface Material/Artic Silver/<insert other brands here>. Guy said they don't sell any.

As I left the store the security guy overheard the conversation and said told me where the stuff was located.

Not really confusing any computer experts here, but merely found it amusing the security guard knew more about the products in the store than the sales blokey.

[Pob255]

Must say it's hard to resist the temptation to mock them on the few occasions I do go in there to try to pick something up.
I know it's not the staff's fault, they are people who are employed to sell you stuff and have sales targets to fill.
I know this, I know I shouldn't mock them, I shouldn't tell them their job, I know how much it would annoy me if someone did it to me.

The problem is all the adverts keep going on about how knowledgeable the staff are and are clearly aimed to encourage people who don't know much about pc's to buy stuff from them because they do, when it can become very quickly obvious that the staff don't know what they are talking about, or worse still do know and are still giving bad advise on what to buy just to fill there own quoter.

Most of the blame should fall not on the staff themselves but the company and the way the markets and consumer culture works.

I know all this but it's still a hard temptation to resist.
I'll admit to now giving any pc world staff who come near me asking if I "need any help?" an evil look and replying "If I need any help, I'll ask you." and turning my back on them.
Rude I know, however the muppets really do wind me up, I know if I asked about Thermal interface material I'd get the same reply that Sleephead did.
Heck, I went in to ask if they had any copies of Spore on the weekend it came out, after a blank face was all I got in reply I added it's a computer game for the pc, was released this weekend.
The Muppet in question took me to the PS3 games section took down a football game (FIFA I think) and said "This is the latest one."

If someone like Behemoth, i.e. someone who knows something about computers, actually worked in my local branch, then I might go there a bit more often and I might end up buying stuff when I do go there.

[TooNice]

Not really confusing any computer experts here, but merely found it amusing the security guard knew more about the products in the store than the sales blokey.

Well, you can be an enthusiast without even working in anything remotely related to computers. Yet being an enthusiast is not a requirement for those sales jobs. Maybe it ought to: you are not likely to get a job in cosmetic if you can't get yourself to look right, so why hire people who do not know half of what they are selling. Yet at the same time, are there really enough PC enthusiasts to fill all those sales position (keeping in mind that you do ideally need to enjoy selling too)?

[Behemoth]

The only reason I work for Curry's is because some 7 years ago now I was sacked from a job that I didn't like all that much. Not because the job was boring, not because I couldn't do the job, but it was the fact that I couldn't stand up to the pressure of three very demanding managers of the company putting about 50 different jobs and expecting them to all be completed by the end of the day, when 8 hours in a day just wasn't enough

Anyway there was a gap between June to September before I got the job @ Curry's. It was only ever meant to be a stop gap before I found something else. The problem is down here in Cornwall IT jobs don't come up very often, and when they do they usually go internally, advertised externally because by law they have to.

I'm not the worlds greatest sales person in there as previous threads about my job have indicated, but I am relied upon to give sound and honest advice about the PC equipment we have to sell to people. Part of the problem is educating members of the public, and that in itself is a right pain in the back end sometimes.

I've got lots of repeat customers that come back time and time again to see me because they know they get straight talking common sense out of me. I've heard some of my colleagues sell PC's and Laptops, and I cringe sometimes when I hear

"Yes sir, that Laptop will play Sims 3"

More often than not I'll interject and correct my colleague there and then because I know if I don't and that sale goes a head you can be a pound to a pile of poo that Laptop will be coming back 2 days later because the Intel GMA 950 card it's got isn't man enough for the job, and I'm the poor sap that has to explain to the customer why and that if they really want a system that will play game they need to spend more than £349 on their Laptop.

The looks of horror that you see when you tell someone that they've just stumped up for isn't what it's expected to be is a really really horrid look and its made worse if the customer is shouting and screaming about it.

Thats why retail outlets have such a bad name, because more often than not as many here are quick to point out the companies we all work for are happy to get someone and train them to sell a product in a certain way, but they don't give us any real training on the products we sell. Alot of the new people we have taken on are just expected to know, or they are sent to me to be trained up, thats great and everything but I'm not really paid to train everyone in my store on PC and Laptop tech (you could argue I'm not properly qualififed to do it either) thats the company's job to sort that out.

It's like someone else in this thread said, I'm sorry I can't remember who posted it now but if you come in and treat me with respect I'll do the same to you, come and treat me like an arse, I'll just find the manager and get him to deal with you because as sales colleagues (and in my case I do alot of customer service aswell) we aren't paid to stand there and take abuse, from anyone.

[razer121]

wow i totaly agree with the above statment, i would deal with it the same way aswell, im in retail which btw i hate but damn...we happen to sell pc parts but what amazes me is the amount of "boys" not men but "boys" who come in asking stuff about them and then saying well no they dont they do this bla bla bla......ive alot of respect for people who work in retail because of this and im suire EVERYONE else who works in retail can relate.....going to a shop just to belittle someone is not nice...i can assure you that one day it may be turned onto you....just think about it next you do it.....not cool man not cool.

[Cozwin]

i work for a technology store... not the one mentioned but still a big one... and i happen to be in the know on what i sell due to person interest in the subject, i read an absolute ton of websites every week and the industry magazine on how the industry is going etc etc.

And the amount of customers who tell me i am "wrong" with my information because they know everything is annoying to the point where sometimes i just say well believe what you want...

End of the day not everyone there doesn't know anything... but they still have to sell 1 2 and 3 otherwise they aren't going to be in the job long... they get monthly reviewed on how many of those hdmi cables and other stuff they sell... its a job all companies spin abit of bull on things... fact.

edit... also same as behemoth i try and correct any colleagues i hear give incorrect information.

[sleepyhead]

Well, you can be an enthusiast without even working in anything remotely related to computers. Yet being an enthusiast is not a requirement for those sales jobs. Maybe it ought to: you are not likely to get a job in cosmetic if you can't get yourself to look right, so why hire people who do not know half of what they are selling. Yet at the same time, are there really enough PC enthusiasts to fill all those sales position (keeping in mind that you do ideally need to enjoy selling too)?

That is true...still doesn't stop me from finding it amusing the sales blokey didn't know about a product in store. He didn't even attempt to guide me where that general kind of stuff was (oem HDDs etc.) and help me look. To put it in perspective, I went into tesco and looked in an aisle I thought a product was (cheap headphones for work), couldn't find any, asked the nearest tesco employee and yep, i was in the correct aisle, we both looked and there it was, hidden in a corner.

Anyhow, I've gone off topic.

Back on topic; Currys did try to "outmanouvre" me once trying to sell me their gold plated super duper HDMI cable. I told the sales guy I could buy one for £2 that'll do the same job...his reply was, but they are only good for 720p, this does 1080p. Of wich I responded, great! I only need it for the 720p TV. Thanks for clearing it up and I promptly left.