British shop assistants are incompetent

[lulie]

Dear Headington branch of Carphone Warehouse,

When I come in asking about the features of the iPhone and iPhone alternatives, I would actually like to know the features of the iPhone and iPhone alternatives. "What features would you like to know about?" does not help me, because I do not know the features. That's why I'm here. That is why I came

Comments

[trenchcoatkid]

Aww, you've just been spoiled by the shop assistants in Berkeley. XD

Yeah, it sucks when assistants are kind of like '|:/ I don't want to help you, get out of my face plz.' People would do better to hire folks what actually know what they're talking about. I agree.

[amidoh]

I like Mexicans.... si....

Germans are good, actually. Hire somes Germans and once you're past the AUCH! WIR MUSSEN DAS FENSTER OFFEN NICHT. ICH HABE KEINEN BEER GETRINKEN!!11!! you'll be flying. German is such a delicate language.

[konora]

I suggest you sack your employees and replace them with enthusiastic Americans. Americans have a work ethic: they actually try to help you find what you're looking for, and explain what's available, and help you to want the things they're selling.

Have you been to America? I'm not asking to be rude, I'm genuinely curious as to where you're getting this perception from.

While there's definitely hard-working Americans working in retail out there (naturally!) I think this is more a matter of "stop hiring idiots who don't know what they're doing", and less about nationality. XD We've got the same problems.

But omfg, that IS pretty bad service. :\ I'd take my money elsewhere.

[lulie]

Have you been to England? It's not just 'some employees are lame' here, ALL of them are like that. You'd be very lucky indeed to find one that actually tries to sell stuff to you (in the 'shows why a product is good / persuades' way).

[konora]

Hmm... but I'd say that most American workers (at least in retail jobs like the ones described, unless it was a commission-based position) are also like that. I've worked in retail (food service and product selling) and I can say that comparing the two experiences I've had, the quality of the worker comes down to two things: the individual aspects that cannot be easily influenced (personality, how much they want the job, etc.) - and also the training that goes into them. At my current job, even though we aren't working on commission and are paid minimum wage, we go through extensive, on-going training for customer service. We're encouraged to know things about the product, and if we don't know something, to ask someone who might know, or look it up in the (many) resource guides we have lying around

[konora]

ALL of them? Isn't this an error by induction?

[ockeroid]

Special interest shops can be very good for enthusiastic employees who explain why stuff is good and sell it to you.
Example: GamesWorkshop sells WarHammer and AFAIK they only hire people who play the game. They give employees a discount at the store and that's often a big insentive for fans want to work there (ontop of really enjoying the game).

I think GameStation may be similar (but for computer games). Car Salesmen are also known for 'selling it to you', but I don't know much for them other than the cliches.

[ubermammal]

"Special interest shops can be very good for enthusiastic employees who explain why stuff is good and sell it to you."

Indeed. Heh, though GameStation's a far cry from the true special interest shops for computer games - the proper oldschool independent stores, alas, now largely out of business.

The larger the shop, the harder it will be to discover the thing you want, but the more likely that they'll have it once you've discovered it.

What did you think of the assistant at the pen shop, Lulie?

[ockeroid]

"The larger the shop, the harder it will be to discover the thing you want, but the more likely that they'll have it once you've discovered it."

You can always ask one of the shop assistants and they can look it up on their cool computers they get from being such a big shop chain :)
Plus, if they don't have it they can sometimes order it from another branch.

[ubermammal]

Right, but that's only if you know what the thing that you want is called. If you know what you want, but not the name or description of it, then the shop assistants will be poorly placed to help you work out what it might be.