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Sadly I am inclined to agree with you Thanatos -- and also, this is why I also don't bother calling.
Yeah, but as you said, they're really not much better.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thanatos
If the typical Kmart staffer has 0 knowledge about toys, and say the typical TRU employee has say ten times that amount of knowledge... well, we all know what 10 x 0 gives us. ;)
Not many. But if I was your average toy staff, and someone rang up and simply said, do you have "Transformers Reveal the Shield Turbo Tracks" I would at first wonder what the hell type of language they were speaking.Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
By guiding them through you can determine at which point they are getting confused and provide elaboratin if need be.
Perhaps they should be more informed, but the truth is they're more often not, and by asking in the way I wrote above, I have always had good help - they either have the toy and will hold it for me (as in the case of Masterpiece Grimlock last year) or they will be able to tell me definately not. It's a tip that helps me with Engineering presentations, talks at my youth group, phone calls, etc - always assume your audience knows less than you do.
Like Seraphim says, the average child, parent or dedicated-to-one-toyline fan wouldn't have the frame of mind to ask more than the brand and character name, or they overwhelm the staffer with too much info at once.
Start small, by saying it is a Transformers toy.
When they get to that section, tell them the size class/packaging type (big/small box/carded item + colour packaging/sub-title).
Then tell them the name and description (colour/alt-mode).
If they think they've found it, ask for verification on the name and description, and price (if you already know what it should be).
Step by step is the most successful method I find. Overwhelm them with something like 'Transformers Reveal the Shield Turbo Tracks' will be like speaking a different language, and you just confuse anyone who doesn't collect them.
Well, I'm guessing that I'm not average then? :confused:
IMO it's not Rocket-Science to figure that most day-to-day retail staff wouldn't know scrap about TFs and hence asking them:
"Is Tracks in?"
"Have you got RTS Jazz yet?"
"Where's the toy that has just been released that is based on the original 1980's Transformer Grapple, he's a crane that is is a simple retool of a figure released a couple of years ago of a fire truck who is also based on a 1980s figure..."
-Would receive a Durp answer. :rolleyes:
What is annoying is the fact that one has to hold a staff members hand all the way through a question that really should be easily understood, rendering asking the question in the first place completely redundant. :mad:
IMO, asking a question like:
"Have you got Transformers Reveal The Shield Turbo Tracks in stock?"
-Is completely within reason and the simple reason why is by taking the question and purely breaking it down (And this should be done for anything, not just toys!):
Transformer - A Boy's/Male's Robot Toy.
Reveal The Shield - Assortment Type.
Turbo Tracks - Specific Character/Toy.
The fact that a vast number of Australian Retail floor staff can't figure out how to simply hear a question like:
"Do you have Transformers Reveal The Shield Turbo Tracks in stock?"
-And discern from that to mean:
"Do we have A Boy's/Male's Robot Toy by the name of Transformers, of the Assortment Type named Reveal The Shield and with a Specific Character/Toy name of Turbo Tracks in stock?"
-Is the exact reason why major Australian Brick and Mortar Stores/Chains are in their arse these days and losing out to Online Retail. :mad:
The pitiful level of service and incompetence in favour for Low Staff Costs and Stockholder Profit in this country is ridiculous and is why I love dealing with Independent Toy Stores like Uncle Pete's Toys, because at least their staff are trained to know what the hell they have on the shelf or in the stock room. :cool:
Don't give me the crap excuses of 'Smaller stores can do that because they have less staff, etc.' or 'Staff from bigger stores deal with more people, etc.' because if you're hired and placed in a specific section you should be bloody well trained properly for that section and rarely do I ever see any staff in their respective sections at all in bigger stores unless a sale is on. :mad:
(At least Kmart Stores have Section Managers, but their usefulness is purely individual dependant :o)
*Rant Over* :p
RANT BEGINNIG:eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by Hursticon
see now the discussion is starting to slant towards, "People are idiots".
I don't mean to offend anyone but it's the truth. True, if you call up someone who doesn't know the details of transformers and say, do you have any Reveal the Shield Wreck Gar's? they probably aren't going to know what you are talking about.
If you call up the same person and lead them through the trail of looking for a toy, it's a Transformer, it's about this big, it look like a bike, it has red packaging it says Wreck Gar on the front, you might get right answer but also possibly not.
People are generally idiots, mainly because they are not observant. They do not pay attention to their surroundings. And by no means am I picking out department store employees, I'm talking about most people. If you took an average person stood them in front of a wall of transformers merchandise and asked them to pick you a Reveal the shield WreckGar, if it was on the front, they might take a few seconds to find it. or maybe longer.
If it was on the second or third row back from the front peg, some people would only take a little while to look deeper for it. A lot of people though would shrug their shoulders and say it's not there.
They would not be inclined to look past the first row.
I'm not saying that all people are like this, but a large majority are, and part of the reason is imperative, actually caring about their environment. All toy stores have fairly meager wage, so this often leads to staff not caring. which leads to people not looking carefully or even making up an answer to a cutomer enquiry because the really don't care. they clock in they clock off and as long as the pay keeps coming what does it matter to them.
On the other hand though there are people in the world who do care, and regardless of the pay or incentive to do something, they pay attention. These are the people who will be able to tell you if something is in stock, and if they don't know they will do their best to find out, they may even go so far as to proactively ask you for details about a product. These are the people who make the world go round, whether they are working at maccas, big W, Westpac, Boeing or a Law firm (nothing comes straight to mind). as you talk about section managers at Kmart and their usefulness being individual dependant, this is exactly what I'm talking about. An idividual who cares about their role in a job, or life in general will go out of their way to be knowledgable about it.
I guess in the end it boils down to passion, if you're not passionate about it and you can't get passionite about it, it's time to try something different.
Like Agent K said:
Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.
RANT ENDED (Phew)
I completely agree with you dude and it's thoroughly frustrating how many sheepish idiots do make up a significant portion of the populace. :(
This quote:
-Is spot on man and it's actually one of my most favourite quotes from a movie. ;):)Quote:
Like Agent K said:
Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.
I really enjoy the hunt (I'll probably get blasted for this) sometimes even more so then the toy itself! Case in point was when I drove around all of Sydney looking for Wreck Gar and ended up also finding HA Jazz.
But on the occasion where I'm simply just too lazy to get off my ass. I do call. I seem to share the same experience as many of the previous posts so I agree that you need to get specific and it helps. Although, I've never had success finding something via calling.
And another reason calling isn't effective is coz unlike yourself who's a crazed transformer fan, the store staff don't go scrummaging through the back of the pegs or behind boxes to see if someone has hidden one there! :mad::p
I was once at Target looking and a staff member asked if they could help me. I told them that I was looking for a toy that was:
+ a Transformer called Solar Storm Grappel
+ part of the Reveal the Shield line
+ a yellow Voyager Class robot that transforms into a crane
+ part of the same assortment as Strafe and Lugnut
+ and that I couldn't find it in the aisle where the Transformers are
Despite all this information that I gave, I was still directed to the same aisle with the store attendant insisting that the toy was there. I led the attendant to the aisle (who reluctantly complied) and pointed out that the toy was indeed not there.
I agree with what UltraMarginal said - it also boils down to how much they care about their products, which IMO is dependent on how much pride they take in their job. IMO if people took pride and care about their work, then they would be more observant. So whether you're being served at a department store or dedicated toy store doesn't matter all that much, it's whether or not the person serving you actually cares about the products they work with. It also depends on whether or not the employee cares enough to train staff about product knowledge.
My next door neighbour used to work at TRU and her boyfriend works at Bunnings. TRU staff are notoriously ignorant about their products wheres Bunnings prides themselves on their staff's expert knowledge. She explained to me that this was because Bunnings regularly trains their staff in product knowledge whereas when she was working at TRU they never gave her product knowledge training. She desperately _wanted_ training, but they never gave it to her.
As I said before, I find Japanese department store staff to be quite knowledgable -- if I ask them when their next shipment of Transformers is coming in, they can tell me the exact date and time off the top of their head without even having to look it up. I reckon this is a combination of worker's pride (and honour) and occupational training and open sharing of product information.
JMHO.
Idiocracy'dQuote:
Originally Posted by Hursticon
Ah yes, that movie. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
snip><Quote:
Originally Posted by sanbot
Like you I also really do enjoy the hunt, though it's dissapointing to go on a bit of a hunt and not come up with anything.
Looking in 4 or 5 stores on a Thursday evening is something I quite enjoy. I seem to like shopping more than my wife does... :eek: