Uneducated clerks (1 Viewer)

[Michael Warner]

I was in Hollywwod Video yesterday checking out their used discs while waiting for my car to be repaired next door. An elderly gentleman came in and mentioned that his VCR had died so his tapes weren't rewound. The clerk proceeded to discuss the benefits of upgrading to a DVD player and he seemed pretty well convinced. What threw me was the clerk's closing line. It went something like this -- "Just be sure you buy the cheapest DVD player you can find at Big Lots as the cheap ones will play any disc while the expensive namebrand players are designed to not play certain discs."

What's funny is I can understand where the clerk might have got that odd impression as I'm sure most people complaining about their rented DVDs not playing are using namebrand equipment. It still left me scratching my head a bit.

 

[David Lambert]

It went something like this -- "Just be sure you buy the cheapest DVD player you can find at Big Lots as the cheap ones will play any disc while the expensive namebrand players are designed to not play certain discs."

I betcha he was referring here to cheaper players like the Cyberhome 500 being multi-regional compatible whereas an expensive Panasonic player will of course only play R1 discs. Or it could refer to playing burned DVDs, MP3s, etc.

 

[James Miller]

actually I can't believe you still made the purchase after being fed that line... i certainly wouldn't give a dime to any store that was propagating such ignorance... (or worse)

and yes, that does prevent me from shopping at BB, CC and various other sundry shops...

for the price of waiting a few days (four letter work that that is) and ordering online I can get the best price from a dedicated DVD dealer and never have to be followed around a store (or completely ignored in one) or hear sales pitches for extended warranties or hear ridiculous lies about the products I am purchasing...

 

[Keith Paynter]

I don't think these people have ever heard of a thing called school! (Possibly because they've never been there themselves! )

 

[Nick T Robot]

I don't think these people have ever heard of a thing called school! (Possibly because they've never been there themselves! )

I don't think this person has ever heard of a thing called Election Day. (Possibly because they've never been to vote themselves!) Schools were out so people could vote...

 

[David Lambert]

Schools were not out where I live. What would necessitate that? The gyms/auditoriums of schools that are voting centers are usually barricaded off from the rest of the school, so that kids can get educated while democracy takes place nearby. School staff, like employees in other professions, have time before work, after work, or during lunch to go vote.

I definately didn't have my kid with me when I grabbed Nemo...he doesn't get it until the end of the week, based on conduct in school (he's been slipping a bit lately). So no reason to show him that I already own it; it's more of a motivator to him to "convince me to go buy it".


Other parents may be buying it now as gifts for kids to see as late as Christmas. There are gobs of reasons as to why kids wouldn't be with an adult buying a kids' title.


As has already been said, noone should ever refuse a sale of a product their employer is selling.

 

[David Galindo]

You have not seen stupid until you work at Sears. I do, and the manager actually uses fullscreen movies to demo the widescreen TVs. And yes, he streches them to fit. When I told him to get widescreen, he said he didnt want to confuse customers with the blackbars on some of the movies (I assume he refers to the different aspect ratios movies are shot in). He argues that people buy widescreen TVs to get rid of the bars, and thats the only way they will sell.

The only good thing out of this is that I am getting my 50" Samsung DLP from them at $2800 ($1200 off the original price) with the employee discount, coupons, and family night discount.

People can be so STUPID sometimes! Aaaah!

 

[Chad A Wright]

This is pretty funny. But, honestly, you have to come to expect this kind of ignorance after a while. But, you must also consider that DVD is probably not as big a deal to her as it is to the rest of us. Still, it's her job to know something about what her place of employment is selling.

 

[JustinCleveland]

you have to come to expect this kind of ignorance after a while.

But we shouldn't HAVE to! I thought that education of employees, so they can assist the customer was important.

As for the demo'ing of a WS TV with a stretched FS DVD... Ouch.

 

[Yumbo]

I saw FOTR being stretched to prevent burn-in at the SONY store in Sydney's FOX studio.

I told them to demo a 1.85 movie.

seriously though, DVDs are now being manuactured all over the place (Mexico, Philipines, Taiwan etc.), and I believe QC has dropped. This is after handling 4,000 discs (in rental) over the last 3 years.

 

[EdwardKarlinski]

I would have required a manager be brought forth and required the clerk to repeat that nonsense to the manager. You must remember, the clerk was neither ignorant nor stupid. The clerk was a liar. The clerk knew that she had made this up and deliberately told you this lie.

 

[Patrick Sun]

So...no one is in favor of just laughing uncontrollably in front of the clerk while slowly stumbling out of the store?

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Ah, well then I consider myself lucky that I shop at places that ask me if I want Wide Screen when available, and have never come close to questioning a purchase of mine.

That was a pretty funny, yet completely false line she fed you. I won't even get in to how stupid it would be to chastize someone for buying Finding Nemo, as you don't know the reason, David Lambert already phrased it better than I would have.

 

[Will_B]

I won't even get in to how stupid it would be to chastize someone for buying Finding Nemo,

Oh, I dunno, there are some adult Disney fans who probably deserve to be poked fun at now and then, like any subculture, be it Trekkies, Sports Buffs, or Barbie Doll fanatics.

Maybe I'm being sympathetic to the clerks, because in the town I work in (not to be confused with the town I'm fortunate enough to live in) the clerks at, say, the local drug store, are so obviously high school drop outs who probably were malnourished as children. They're slow, not too bright, and wouldn't know how to rewind a DVD if you asked them to. That's just unfortunate. People are not created equal, or at least, they don't grow up to be. So I try not to let it bug me when the line is slow because they're just not as swift (in all respects) as I am.

 

[Robert Hutchison]

If you think it's hard to get straight answers to questions about DVD's just try asking about HDTV.

 

[AllanN]

I hate rude, poorly trained clerks, with names like Dante and Handal...

I would not say Dante and Randal where poorly trained, they just truly did not give a shit, especially Randal!


“No time for love Dr. Jones.”

 

[Nick T Robot]

Why would someone chastize someone for buying ANY DVD title? People all have different tastes. I'm sure anyone here can find a title in my DVD collection that they would NEVER consider buying or even watching for free, while another HTF member proudly has that same title in their collection.

 

[DavidS]

I would not say Dante and Randal where poorly trained, they just truly did not give a shit, especially Randal!

 

[Eric Emma]

This is why I order online Cheaper and Easier

 

[Mark Kalzer]

This is why I always try to shop at the more Mom & Pop independant video stores. There the clerks actually CARE about movies and DVDs, actually know what they are talking about. Give me those over the uniformed corporate stores any day. If only I could find that store in Ottawa, at least one with good prices.

And I can't believe I'm hearing about 'questionable purchases?' You should NOT be embarassed to take your DVD purchases to the counter.