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Why I hate retail sales weasels

For those that don’t know me, one of my pet peeves is retail sales. The whole “can I help you find something” may be well intentioned but if you don’t know anything then you can’t very well help someone. Today’s example took place at Wolf Camera, a retail photo/videography shop. Normally I would never be caught dead in a retail storefront like this but one of my co-workers told me that the prices were reasonable and the staff was quite knowledgeable so I figured I’d give it a shot.

I was in the market for a remote shutter release cable for my EOS 20D. The first thing that I noticed about this place is how EVERYTHING is locked behind glass. It reminded me of a jewelry store. I explained to the lady that I had a Canon EOS 20D and what I needed for it. She tried to sell me a wireless one but I insisted on a cable. So I get home and find out that what she sold me doesn’t fit the plug on the 20D. Oh I was livid. I really wanted to take some night shots tonight and I needed that cable to do it properly. I loaded up my camera and drove back to the store. Class was about to begin. Find out what happened next after the jump.

So I march right into the store with my camera and the wrong cable in hand. She’s sitting at a table looking all bored as I walk in. I tell her that she sold me the wrong cable and she says “are you sure? It says EOS on it...” “Alright, you plug it in then” I reply. She flips the camera this way and that and I actually saw her going for the video out plug which looks like it would accept the headphone-like plug that’s on the end of this cable. Only problem is that port is for VIDEO OUTPUT. Well she reads the directions and gives up saying it won’t work. Really? So of course they don’t have anything else there so I get her to call their larger store. They dont’ have anything. “

You know we do have the wireless one.”
“OK fine...I’ll take that one just prove to me it works before I leave.”

Now this is where it goes from funny to HILARIOUS. First, she asks me where the “camera modes” were. I just glare back at her forcing her to find them herself. Then she starts pointing the wireless remote all over the camera as if she’s painting it. After a few minutes of scratching her head she takes the camera and remote over to another sales weasel. He tells her that it won’t work with that camera and she comes back and tells me that I’m screwed.

So why is it that people suck so badly at their jobs? I mean you SELL CAMERAS FOR A LIVING! You should know just about everything about a camera. I administrate networks for a living. There is very little that I don’t know about the Windows operating system. If you called me up and asked me a Windows Server or Desktop related question there’s a greater than 80% chance that I could solve it. It’s what I do. So why is it that I keep finding people that don’t know a damn thing about what they’re selling?

Thanks Wolf Camera! I gave you a chance and you pointed me in the direction that I wanted to go in all along. Online. So I ordered the part that I needed from Amazon. It took about 5 minutes and it should be here Wednesday. See how easy things are when you don’t involve stupid people? 

Comments

Maybe it’s not that the people who work or represent who are stupid.  Perhaps, the company did not feel as though they should be providing accurate training, or time period performance ratings.  If there is an employee who does not know what he/she should regarding a product, and is still there, then perhaps “blame” should not be placed on that individual, at least not alone, but rather on those whose job it is to inform and educate the employees. 

Not to mention, you have to admit, there are people like you who do not make public jobs easy.  True, there is always a chance of getting out if they can’t handle it, but if you really wanted all this to work out the first time, perhaps you should have listened to your mind and tested it the first time before going home and finding out then it would not fit the camera.  You sounded knowledgeable about your camera, you probably could easily tell if it would work or not before going home. 

I am glad you finally got what you were looking for.  Perhaps, as a human being, you can look at this and not think all wolf camera stores are the same.  And if ever in the future you need more assistance, then try calling the place first before wasting time to drive out there.  There are plenty of ways of making it easy for yourself as well, its not all up to that one employee.  Don’t be like most people who show they have narrow minds and darker souls, just take what happened, ignore it, and move on.  One day you will die, and your life will be gone.......is it ever worth talking more about the said ‘bad’ things that happen to us all?

I hesitate to mention I used to work at wolf camera. What you experienced is very typical at most wolf camera stores. I was the only associate that would ever look into compatibility issues with equipment. At the store I worked at, the same exact issue you had happened all the time. I lost track how many customers came in with that same exact problem you had. The fricken manager even would sell the wrong remote more than once even after I would tell him wich remote would work and wich would not.

Unfortunatly most photo chain strores do not hire quality people. the best thing to do as a customer is to do research on all the stuff ya need, then go to the store and tell the associate what you need. You as a customer must know model numbers and all that stuff. For me, I order most my stuff from B&H;photo. I also like to find ma and pa photo stores… these stores tend to have very knowledgeable associates.

I’m so glad I don’t work there anymore, and I’m out of retail!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!! Got back into photography and website design and I love life once again!!!

It’s like that in almost all retail stores.  But trust me, we salespeople hate you a hell of a lot more than you hate us.  You’d understand if you worked in retail.  We don’t like pitching useless products to customers....but our bosses make us do it or they fire us.  It’s basically a lose-lose for us.  Deal with pissy customers or get fired.

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True, there is always a chance of getting out if they can’t handle it, but if you really wanted all this to work out the first time, perhaps you should have listened to your mind and tested it the first time before going home and finding out then it would not fit the camera.

Unfortunatly most photo chain strores do not hire quality people. the best thing to do as a customer is to do research on all the stuff ya need, then go to the store and tell the associate what you need. You as a customer must know model numbers and all that stuff. For me, I order most my stuff from B&H;photo. I also like to find ma and pa photo stores… these stores tend to have very knowledgeable associates.
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At the store I worked at, the same exact issue you had happened all the time. I lost track how many customers came in with that same exact problem you had. The fricken manager even would sell the wrong remote more than once even after I would tell him wich remote would work and wich would not.

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