Is it just me or do retail employees seem a lot less enthused and helpful these days? I’ve noticed this at several different places lately and given my experience working such jobs, I just can’t imagine managers allowing it to the extent I’m witnessing. Yesterday while shopping for my new laptop was the worst of these experiences by far. It was so bad that I actually considered the possibility that I was on some hidden camera show for a moment. It occurred at the electronic store Fry’s, which is located near my parent’s house in the city of Downers Grove. I needed a laptop that would allow me to write and update things to the internet when at the library, something my really old laptop of nearly six years was no longer allowing me to do (it would only turn on half the time). After about fifteen minutes of browsing with my brother I had settled on the one I wanted. Price was the biggest factor. I make a living from my writing, but just barely, and until I knock down some credit card debt that has been acquired in recent months, I’m not really comfortable making really big purchases. Thankfully I didn’t need a super high-tech laptop for games and movies, so finding something in the four hundred to five hundred dollar price range was very doable.
So, laptop selected I walked up to a group of employees who were all standing around a main computer and mentioned that I wanted to buy a laptop – not look at a laptop and then go back and forth on whether or I really wanted it, but BUY IT. A nice easy sale. The response: empty headed stares. Thinking maybe I had accidentally spoken in my home planet language I repeated myself in English. Again, several empty headed stares, though this time they did look back and forth amongst themselves. A third inquiry got the job done. A young man steppedforward and mumbled a “which one do you want?” question. I pointed to the laptop and he selected the card and brought it to the main machine. “Oh,” he then said after spending a minute there, “we don’t have that one anymore.”
GAH! This same thing happened the last time I was there looking for a printer. Why is it on display if they don’t have it?
Keeping my cool I was about to tell him I had a second choice in mind, one that was a bit more expensive but still within my price range when he informed me they did have a few of the one I wanted that had been returned. “They are cheaper too since they were opened,” he said. My brother than informed me that they had probably been Christmas gifts that were eventually returned due to the poor gaming quality which sounded fine with me. I did, however, ask if anything was wrong with them and was assured they were all in good working order.
Five minutes passed, during which I felt pretty happy thinking I was not only getting a decent laptop, but one at a cheaper price than I initially planned for. But then he came back empty handed.
“Um, I can’t find them,” he said.
Wait, what? Out loud I asked, “Are you sure you have them in this store?”
He assured me they did but then told me he didn’t know where they were. At this point I’m thinking: then go get someone to help. Rather than suggest it I just told him to go get the other laptop I had picked out.
Another five minutes began to pass. During this time I realized how absurd his inability to find the first laptop was and walked up to the group of employees who were still standing by the main computer, all of whom gave me an odd look. Pushing the look aside I asked them if maybe someone could go help the young man find the laptop I wanted. The reply, “No, probably not,
it’s a mess back there.”
Seriously, that was the response I was given. My brother and I didn’t even know what to say. Making it worse the young man started to return with my laptop and while doing that another employee – I’m thinking his supervisor – started to inform him that he hadn’t finished with something from earlier. Thankfully he was not detoured and brought the laptop forward. Before buying it, however, I asked if he could check again on the first laptop. He did and this time he found one, but, alas, it was broken.
Anyone else feel there was something completely wrong with that experience?
So, laptop selected I walked up to a group of employees who were all standing around a main computer and mentioned that I wanted to buy a laptop – not look at a laptop and then go back and forth on whether or I really wanted it, but BUY IT. A nice easy sale. The response: empty headed stares. Thinking maybe I had accidentally spoken in my home planet language I repeated myself in English. Again, several empty headed stares, though this time they did look back and forth amongst themselves. A third inquiry got the job done. A young man steppedforward and mumbled a “which one do you want?” question. I pointed to the laptop and he selected the card and brought it to the main machine. “Oh,” he then said after spending a minute there, “we don’t have that one anymore.”
GAH! This same thing happened the last time I was there looking for a printer. Why is it on display if they don’t have it?
Keeping my cool I was about to tell him I had a second choice in mind, one that was a bit more expensive but still within my price range when he informed me they did have a few of the one I wanted that had been returned. “They are cheaper too since they were opened,” he said. My brother than informed me that they had probably been Christmas gifts that were eventually returned due to the poor gaming quality which sounded fine with me. I did, however, ask if anything was wrong with them and was assured they were all in good working order.
Five minutes passed, during which I felt pretty happy thinking I was not only getting a decent laptop, but one at a cheaper price than I initially planned for. But then he came back empty handed.
“Um, I can’t find them,” he said.
Wait, what? Out loud I asked, “Are you sure you have them in this store?”
He assured me they did but then told me he didn’t know where they were. At this point I’m thinking: then go get someone to help. Rather than suggest it I just told him to go get the other laptop I had picked out.
Another five minutes began to pass. During this time I realized how absurd his inability to find the first laptop was and walked up to the group of employees who were still standing by the main computer, all of whom gave me an odd look. Pushing the look aside I asked them if maybe someone could go help the young man find the laptop I wanted. The reply, “No, probably not,
it’s a mess back there.”
Seriously, that was the response I was given. My brother and I didn’t even know what to say. Making it worse the young man started to return with my laptop and while doing that another employee – I’m thinking his supervisor – started to inform him that he hadn’t finished with something from earlier. Thankfully he was not detoured and brought the laptop forward. Before buying it, however, I asked if he could check again on the first laptop. He did and this time he found one, but, alas, it was broken.
Anyone else feel there was something completely wrong with that experience?
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