In truth, I don’t EXPECT the workers at Best Buy – or most other places – to know as much about the specific film or TV property products that I intend to purchase… because not all of them have spent the “years as a devoted fan” of said property as (presumably) you and I have.
If someone who looks as if they’re on summer break DOESN’T give me a blank stare when I ask for PERRY MASON or VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, I consider it a plus.
In this case, I don’t expect them to know any more than the average person does about THE SIMPSONS, or Season 12 of the show, or anything else related. Again, if they do, it’s a plus, but most folks are “just doing a job”.
Now, what I DO expect them to know about is the PRICING of a particular new-release product in their area – and the variance in the experiences of some of the posters so far indicates that that maybe the whole “Head vs. Flat” thing might have been born of an internal store-policy confusion worthy of some Simpsonian-satire of its own. Stranger things than DVD packaging have divided Springfield in the past!
But, yes… a better employee understanding of the pricing of the two different packages might have resulted in my getting the one I wanted (over the one I didn’t) for the lower price. (Or, maybe those shopping at other BB stores simply “got away with something” due to the unusual pricing policy.) That’s why I asked two persons before accepting the prices as quoted. Also, maybe I should have just taken the “Flat Package” to the register anyway – and hoped for the best.
But overall, I find the folks at Best Buy are far better – in both knowledge and willingness to assist – than in competing stores. And, what they don’t know, they’re usually willing to look-up. Just last night, in fact, a BB salesperson directed me to another BB store (a reasonable drive away) that had in stock a DVD set that was sold out in her own store. That’s the kind of service I like. Perhaps every store chain should work this way – and some of them do – but not as consistently as Best Buy.
