I embarassed and annoyed a "big box" employee yesterday...

[sabbath999]

I admit it, I butted in where I didn't belong... but I just couldn't stand listening to a conversation in a "big box" retailer yesterday. I won't say which one other than to mention that the store name rhymes with "Vest Guy".

Me, I needed a new set of batteries and I was having lunch next door, so I stopped in to buy some.

I walk in, walk by the camera department just to look at the toys, see what they carry, etc. There is a salesperson there who was greening a lady customer about how he was a "serious photographer" who could help her choose which camera to buy...

So she asked this "serious photographer" some "really hard" questions, and he stammered, hummed and hawed about the answers to the point where he had to go ask somebody.

Really tough questions they were: Does the Rebel XTI use AA batteries, or if not, what kind does it use and how much do they cost? Also, did she need to buy spare batteries?

Does it use an SD card like her point and shoot Canon, so she can use the cards she already has?

Does it use any of the same lenses that her non-digital EOS Rebel uses, since she already owned three different lenses?

Does it have a flash built in?

He answered that he was pretty sure the XTI couldn't use AA batteries, and thought it may use a rechargeable battery. If that was the case, it probably would shoot about 200 or so pictures on a charge. He told her that he was pretty sure it did use SD cards, and that her cards would therefore work in it, and that he didn't think her EOS lenses would work because they had a different mount on them.

It was at this point in time that I had enough... I know, I shouldn't have said anything but this guy was about to really mess over a customer, and I just couldn't take it.

I basically said "Excuse me, the camera can shoot all day on one battery (my boss can go 1000+ shots on one charge), the batteries are like $50+ bucks if you want a spare (pointing them out on the rack right behind them), that the camera most definitely did NOT take SD cards (pointing out the right memory cards to her) and that it absolutely would take any EOS lens she might have. Since she was just using the camera for family stuff, I advised her to skip the extra battery.

The salesperson glares at me and just stomps off, and I go on to tell her everything I know about an XTi (which is some, but not enough to be a salesperson on one) and explain to her that I am a Nikon person and could answer questions better about the D40/D40x, D80 and D200's they had in stock.

A few minutes later another clerk came over and I saw her loading up with an XTi & memory card...

I think I deserve a commission on that sale.

 

[just x joey]

i hate salsepeople. i saw this one lady at ritz ripping off an amature (obviously with ALOT of money) and sold him a 5d body with a cheapo lens! not jsut one lens either, 3 CHEAP LENSES! like worse then the kit lens, i dun even know what they were but im positive the lowest fstop they had were like 4.5 lol i hate salsepeople, i culd never be one. i wuld have suggested a cheaper body with a better lens. but whatver... i guess the lady made mad dough off the sale.

 

[DSLR noob]

A full frame with cheap lenses? Baaaaaaaaaaad idea.

 

[soylentgreen]

What do you really expect. Everyone that works at Vest Guy is barley out of puberty. With the shamble the public school system is in, it may be too much to ask them to read some of the sales literature that manufacturers so painstakingly compile and send out for these bozoes. Besides, are you really going to listen to what a salesman tells you? Our only course is to arm ourselves with as much info as we can gather. Hence the forums, google, etc. BTW. You should have asked for at least a gift card from the manager for your sale.

 

[Sideburns]

There is no commission at Best Buy...so no...you don't really deserve commission, cause the other guy wouldn't have got it anyways lol.

Either way, I do that stuff ALL the time.

This one guy at CompUSA while I was on vacation in Hawaii...started asking about a laptop...and the salesguy is like "you should really think about the extended warranty...there's viruses out there that are not only bad for your computer but PHYSICALLY damaging!" He made a huge emphasis on physical.

I walked right up to the guy, and I'm like "This guy's full of ****. Get the computer, forget the extended warranty, because Sony covers you for three full years, and there's no such thing as a physically damaging virus. Unless he was referring to lightning as a virus"...and he's like "wow...thanks so much kid...I can never know who to trust at these silly stores"...he got the computer, and when he went to the counter all I could see was him putting his hands up "no no no" to the warranty lol.

 

[DeepSpring]

I was in Ritz recently just to pick up a little memory card belt pouch and before I left I decided to just look around a bit. I was in there "studio" lighting section looking at the reflectors, just curios how much they cost, and a guy walks over and asks if he can help. I said no not really just looking around. He then spins me around and shes me this 3 light studio set up for like $150 and starts trying to tell me how good it is. I'm like actually I am going on the wireless flash route so I can use it on location. I start talking about how I don't want to have to get a big battery pack for studio strobes and I'll just sync flashs with pocket wizards and such. As I'm talking I start to notice his face is a little confused. So stop and he's like oh wow you know a lot more then I do...... He had never even herd of pocket wizards or even have any idea you can sync a few flashes off camera.


I had a bad experience at circuit city once. I was buying a new laptop. I decided to go with a pretty cheap gateway and then just upgrade the parts which would be less then buying the same comp pre built. So anyways I tell the guy whos selling me the comp I need a larger ram card for it. He walks over to the shelf picks one up and assures me this is the one I need. I get home try to put it in and soon realize he sold me the wrong one. . . I go back and they don't want to exchange it. I finally convince then to take it back and ask for the one I need. After someone spends 15 minutes running around he tells me they never carried that size.......

 

[Sideburns]

I was in Ritz recently just to pick up a little memory card belt pouch and before I left I decided to just look around a bit. I was in there "studio" lighting section looking at the reflectors, just curios how much they cost, and a guy walks over and asks if he can help. I said no not really just looking around. He then spins me around and shes me this 3 light studio set up for like $150 and starts trying to tell me how good it is. I'm like actually I am going on the wireless flash route so I can use it on location. I start talking about how I don't want to have to get a big battery pack for studio strobes and I'll just sync flashs with pocket wizards and such. As I'm talking I start to notice his face is a little confused. So stop and he's like oh wow you know a lot more then I do...... He had never even herd of pocket wizards or even have any idea you can sync a few flashes off camera.

I had a bad experience at circuit city once. I was buying a new laptop. I decided to go with a pretty cheap gateway and then just upgrade the parts which would be less then buying the same comp pre built. So anyways I tell the guy whos selling me the comp I need a larger ram card for it. He walks over to the shelf picks one up and assures me this is the one I need. I get home try to put it in and soon realize he sold me the wrong one. . . I go back and they don't want to exchange it. I finally convince then to take it back and ask for the one I need. After someone spends 15 minutes running around he tells me they never carried that size.......

get it figured out yet?

You will most likely need SODIMM...they sell it at newegg.com or ncix.com Depending whether you need DDR or DDR2 you should be able to figure out the rest yourself.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

gotta put food on the table somehow..

 

[S2K1]

What do you really expect. Everyone that works at Vest Guy is barley out of puberty.

I work at 'Vest Guy' two nights a week and there is some truth to that, but not entirely(no I don't work with cameras there). Usually the people to talk to are the ones who are there full-time and work in the mornings. It is frustrating though when you get someone new or who doesn't know what they're doing.

 

[JIP]

For me I just have to hold my tounge. I can't count the number of times I have walked by a conversation between a salesman and customer and just wanted to scream. I think if I did say something evertime I heard someone talking out of their butt while trying to make a sale I would probably never get anything done.

 

[pandinus]

I've done similar things. I'm not the best person to ask advise, since I'm just a noob myself. However, when a sales person keeps BSing customers I just can't help but think that someone has to do something... Fair enough, the sales person should know his/her products, and should be honest. Otherwise people will come back and do what you did.

I think that some sales people are so sleasy and slimy that the air humidity increases when they enter a room, so if someone makes them a bit embaresed is just great.

 

[Don Simon]

"Vest Guy"

You annoyed Officer John McClane? Bad idea

 

[Chas]

The store's management should have apologized to the lady right then and there.

The sales person should have been "reassigned".

And you should have been given a $20 credit toward purchase of anything photo-related, as well as perhaps the offer of a job.

 

[Zatodragon]

Ha! Great job.

Yea, when i worked at Kits, the manager hated me cause i didn't sell 'what the company' wanted me to. I sold what the person actually wanted and choose on their own will. Got out of retail cause if you don't do what they want, the managers just make it hell to work there.

 

[xfloggingkylex]

I do that stuff all the time. I think as long as we're all civil about it, it is almost our duty to the aspiring photography community to provide information and to dispell mis-information.