My experience at a hardware store

[Nallown]

So I went to the local hardware warehouse store and some very bad stuff happened.
Let's just say that it was horrible.
 

> Green Text version thanks to @Mooshi http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/224006-my-experience-at-a-hardware-store/?p=3068574

 

 

 

Here it goes.

 

---

So I've been planning on getting a new triple monitor setup for a while now and since I saw a few monitors on a huge
sale I was considering on buying them but then I found a few better available choices on sale. When it came to placing
the order it went successfully but then after I proceeded with the payment I received a email stating that they went
out of stock so I chose to get a refund and instead look for some other choices.

 

When I found a few other options I considered on getting one of the choices that I discovered but the one that I was
planning on getting had a silver bezel which would have stand out because of my furniture and gadgets being black.
So I thought let's go and look in store what they had, and this is where the fun happened.

 

So I went to the closest big warehouse stores that specify in computer hardware and luckily there were 3 of them near
each other so I thought that I would have walked away with something useful at least, not specifically a monitor but
some information or tips to look out for.

 

Well...... I was wrong.

 

So I chose to go to the nearest one first which I knew would have had something good in stock and so I entered the shop.
From the first look it seemed like a bad choice but I thought let's look deeper and maybe I'd be able to find
something at the back which I did. There were a few pretty good looking monitors in stock but non of them met my
requirements of at least having DVI input, 23-24" in size, and having a IPS or PLS panel so I went and asked one of the
sales assistants for whether they had any suggestions or they'd recommend something else over these requirements well
they had nothing to say.

 

First person I walked up to seemed like a good listener so I expected him to at least know what I was talking about well
I was wrong, again.

 

Right after I finished explaining to him what my requirements were he said "have you looked on the website?"
and I said "Yes I did but I thought I'd come and have a look in store my self and see what you guys would have have in
stock and what you'd recommend."

So he ended up showing me the available monitors and specifically pointed out one of the out standing monitors
from Samsung. So I mentioned that the Samsung monitor did seem to look good but it neither supports DVI or Displayport
and also doesn't have a VESA mount so he mentioned that to find out whether it does or doesn't support those things I
should have a look at the back of the monitors. So he turned around the monitor and the Alarm went on. The people in
store looked at me as if I did something wrong so I looked away with my face down since I don't tend to like attention.

 

The sales assistant finally went and got the key to turn off the alarm so it stopped. I said "don't worry about it, it's
fine accidents do tend to happen." and he said "That's true let's just leave that alone." So I had enough of his
bullshit since he was no help and also he didn't seem to know a thing about monitors, not even the basics of panel
types so I chose to walk up to another sales assistant and hoping that he'd know what I was talking about.

 

Well that person seemed to try and avoid me by going up to other people and asking them whether they'd need any help
while I was following him so I had enough of him and stepped right in front of him and said "O, hey there would you mind
quickly helping me out" since luckily the person he tried to walk up to said that he's willing to wait and that he should
help me out first he finally chose to listen to me.

 

I explained to him my situation and what I'm looking for and he kept on asking me the same questions over and over
again. These questions included things such as what screen size are you looking at, what manufacturer (which I said I
didn't care about as long as they meet my requirements) and also what I was going to be using it for.

 

After finally answering those questions over and over again and he finally got it he went to the warehouse computer and
typed in the following on their website 'monitor 24" in black'.

 

I'm not so sure but I don't think that their site allows you to sort by colour or even recognizes what colour the product
is but I didn't say anything. As expected the results were empty and he said that they don't have anything in stock...

 

WTF!!!!!!!

 

Right behind me at that time there were soo many black 24" monitors and he chose to accept the results available on the
site!? What is he!!?? Stupid!?
I'm going to be honest and I think that the only reason he did that was to try and get rid of me because I don't
think that anyone would be this stupid and especially if they would be working in retail.

So I thought alright I've had enough let's try another store and chose to "accept" what he said so I said thank you
anyway.

 

The second big hardware warehouse that I tried was only 100ft away so I ended up walking to it.

When I entered, it looked pretty much the same, everything was in the same format only at different positions.

 

I walked up to the monitor section and asked the person standing there the same question. He ended up admitting that
he had no clue what I was talking about and that he only got hired externally on behalf of Asus to advertise their
products so he told me to go and see a specific person who probably knew the most in that category but the person was
busy at that time so I ended up waiting. While I was waiting I had a talk with the guy and he seemed like a really nice
person, he told me what his original job role is, what he specializes in and even showed me some of the stuff that he
created. Of which most were pretty cool. He turned out to be a industrial manufacturer for Asus and also does photography
in his free time which I thought to be really cool.

 

The person he recommended to go and see finally was free so I went up to her. I explained to her what I needed what I was
looking for and she just seemed confusd aswell. I'm not joking but I think I started to see tears coming out of her
eyes.

 

She told me that they had nothing in stock under my requirements and walked away up to somebody else.

 

I had enough and chose to leave it out and just order my monitors online instead. I find it redicolous that such
people get employed as sales assistants to recommend products to people. No wonder why people end up blaming the
manufactures for distributing bad products probably because they get recommended the wrong products under their
requirements.

 

I don't exactly blame the sales assistants as they don't know what's coming up but I would blame the reqruitment
department as they get the wrong people for the wrong role.

 

You should not be hiring somebody who doesn't know the basics of a search engine to recommend products to other people and
neither should you be hiring somebody who would tell you to   twist the monitor and look at the back of it to see whether
they support the features.

[Excon]

Why is the format so weird.... and in a quote? 

[Sonefiler]

tl:dr; hardware stores suck

[A.D.A.M]

-snip-

thats your average salesmen assistance in a nutshell

[Nallown]

Why is the format so weird.... and in a quote? 

my style of writing . I'll try to clean it up and make it better

[askmax]

This... Story of our lives.

[Frankie]

I would say this happens because these jobs are often not very well paid and they just need somebody to work here. I suppose it's hard to find someone who knows this stuff to be working in this kind of place. Dunno just a thought

[Excon]

Yet I cant get any jobs at a electronics store and retards like this get hired. Im not the best with customer service but I atleast understand the shit

[Frankie]

Yet I cant get any jobs at a electronics store and retards like this get hired. Im not the best with customer service but I atleast understand the shit

 

Thing is a lot of people who are hiring others often doesn't understand this stuff either, so they just pick someone who seems likable to them. 

I heard this from my friends, hopefully it's not like this everywhere but... you know how it goes.

[A.D.A.M]

Things is a lot of people who are hiring others often doesn't understand this stuff either, so they just pick someone who seems likable to them. 

I heard this from my friends, hopefully it's not like this everywhere but... you know how it goes.

this is very hard to read if you have the dark theme on

[Nallown]

I would say this happens because these jobs are often not very well paid and they just need somebody to work here. I suppose it's hard to find someone who knows this stuff to be working in this kind of place. Dunno just a thought

I'm actually willing to put this to the test, I'm not kidding.

 

upcoming month I'll be having a 3 week holiday off from work.

I might consider trying to get a job at these places just to see what they expect and how easy it is. This will be a part time job and I'll see how it works out.

 

If enough people are interested in me doing this then I'll give it a shot and we'll see what's gonna happen because this is just ridiculous. 

[A.D.A.M]

go for it 

[Calavera]

I also have bad experience with a little shop for phones in my city, the only guy working there wasn't looking at me, when I asked for a phone cover that was for my new phone he sighed, then came up to me and pointed at the thing, when I still didn't see it (since it was behind some other covers) he sighed again, pointed it out again and grabbed it from the shelf and threw it in my hands.

Next time I'll be that stupid customer that complains, since that was just plain rude and totally not my fault.

 

I also work in a supermarket, I do get the occasional customer that behaves like shit, but that doesn't mean I need to do the same to the customers.

 

Treat a customer like you want to be treated, if he does that again to me I'll get mad, with good reason I reccon.

[Frankie]

this is very hard to read if you have the dark theme on

 

Yeah I am looking at it, probably because of the apostrophe I did copy it because I am in europe and dont want to switch keyboard layouts everytime.

[Mooshi]

Green text edition!

 

>Make plans for triple monitor set-up

>Nice selection on sale

>Buy

>Get email because out of stock

>Get refund and look at more monitors

>Find one, but it has a silver bezel that sticks out

>Go to store to see what's in stock

>Check out big warehouse 

>Head to closest one to see if something good is in stock

>Enter the shop feeling not so hopeful

>Head to back and find monitors

>None met requirements

>Ask a sales rep for suggestions

>Reps completely clueless

>Explain to first rep the situation with criteria

>Rep had no idea what was being talked about

>Shows off a Samsung monitor

>Monitor lacks DVI and Displayport 

>Rep mentions it lacks VESA mounts

>Turned monitor around to check

>WEEWOOWEEWOOWEEWOO ALARM GOES OFF

>Everyone is staring

>nope.avi didn't happen look away

>Rep shuts down alarm

>Apologize, Rep wants things to be left alone

>Holy balls Batman these reps aren't helpful

>Try to talk to another rep

>Rep completely ignores me to talk to others

>Walk in front of rep to get some assistance

>Explain situation

>Rep is stuck on repeat asking the same questions over and over

>I just want a monitor that fits what I'm looking for pls

>Rep searches "monitor 24" in black" on warehouse computer

>Site doesn't recognize colour as a searchable option

>'we don't have anything in stock...'

>WTF

>Behind me were many 24" black monitors yet he chose to accept website results

>HOW CAN SOMEONE BE THIS STUPID

>Head to a new store and accept this team of reps to be a lost cause

>"Thank you"

>Walk up to monitor section and ask new rep for suggestions

>Rep doesn't know about monitor tech

>Only got the job because of Asus to advertise their products

>Get redirected to a specialist

>Busy

>Chat it up with rep while waiting

>Guy turns out to be pretty cool and he discussed his old job role

>Original role is industrial manufacturer for Asus who does photography in the free time.

>Specialist is finally free

>Explain to her about my monitor criteria

>Think I see tears coming out of her eyes

>Told nothing in stock matched criteria and walked away

>Ponder how these assistants even get employment to be recommending products

>Will only order monitors online from now on

>No wonder people end up blaming bad products due to bad suggestions

>Recruitment should really hire those who are actually qualified and knowledgeable 

[Nallown]

 

Green text edition!

 

 

Thanks this is much needed as the story is quite big.

[Mooshi]

Thanks this is much needed as the story is quite big.

 

I read the whole thing and felt your pain. Thought I'd do you a small fav to help those who wanted a shorter version of the story.

[JAKEBAB]

Lmao and this is why I'm glad I know what I want before I go to these stores! I swear Linus is like the only sales person I've ever seen know what they are talking about lol

[Mojo-Jojo]

"horrible" Is a strong word. A letdown, yes, and I feel your disappointment, but I was expecting something far worse than this.

[Vivilacqua1]

this is very hard to read if you have the dark theme on

how do you get that theme? (i currently have the original sucky white)

[Nallown]

I read the whole thing and felt your pain. Thought I'd do you a small fav to help those who wanted a shorter version of the story.

yea it's much appreciated

[Vivilacqua1]

-snip

You should totally do  that

[Trik'Stari]

The sad thing is, they could employ some 16-20 year old from these forums, with no formal training, and they'd probably perform better, likely any one of you.

 

 

"horrible" Is a strong word. A letdown, yes, and I feel your disappointment, but I was expecting something far worse than this.

The alarm going off it pretty bad.

 

Who in the fuck puts a touch alarm on a monitor? It's a display product, chain it down and let people be able to look at the back of it for fucks sake.

[Nallown]

how do you get that theme? (i currently have the original sucky white)

at the bottom of the page next to the RSS feed button choose "change theme"

[Vivilacqua1]

at the bottom of the page next to the RSS feed button choose "change theme"

thanks!