What I hate Most About Shopping...

I have in the past been a retail salesman. I learned from some of the best. In the time I was on the selling end, the most important thing I learned was to serve the customer the best that I could. That meant getting them what they wanted for a price they were happy with. It didn't mean selling them the most expensive thing I could find, and it didn't mean selling them what I or the company wanted. That wasn't my job, and as it turned out my bosses like that about me. They knew I was a soft sell type, but my style worked, and I moved product. I also was smart enough to know when I was making the wrong approach or was not going to make a sale. People don't generally trust salespeople, and as much as those companies tried to teach us about making an approach, it does not really work. The worst part about shopping is often the salespeople. It isn't always their fault either. Either the store feeds them tripe through bad corporate videos, or they do not educate their employees at all. They are told to sell some piece of crap in a box that they know little or nothing about. Furthermore, with the wages they a paid it is unlikely they will take the time to do any research on their own time. The worst ones of all are the ones armed with only a little knowledge and use their uninformed opinions to decide what products they will or will not sell. That is where I do hold an employee accountable. It is not a salesperson's job to interject their opinions into a sale. It is certainly not their job to tell someone they should not but something mostly because they do not like a product. If they know the product is junk that is one thing, but if they do not like a product too bad, do your job and sell it. I sold stuff I did not like, but I always tried not to sell things I knew to be junk. In the end if that is what the customer wants that is their problem. There are a lot of low-end bush-league salespeople out there, especially at the chain stores, just remember the tripe they are feeding you may not be a "best buy".