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billythegoat

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I used to ask them questions I knew the answer to just so I could laugh to myself at their ignorance. I also have helped customers frustrated by uneducated staff, helped them pick out their gear, and then walked them to the sales desk. I should have gotten commission. A couple times the people thought I was an employee, lol.


But in the GC workers' defense, a lot of those guys are just slumming it in bands, just working at the shop to try and pay rent. They might not be as interested as we are in the specs of everything, and they don't get paid enough to warrant the time it takes to learn everything.

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One time in Sam Ash I asked A young guy working in guitars for a set of strings with a .010 first string and a .052 sixth string. He informed me in a very condescending tone that the first string was the heavier string closest to your head and the sixth string was the thinnest closer to your feet. I thanked him for setting me strait. I told him that for 35+ years of playing guitar I had this backwards.

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Ya I didn't think I would be alone on this.


Almost every time I go down to pickup something I know they have. I get the usual "Can I help you?", so I say what I am looking for and more often then not they have no idea what I am talking about. "One second sir I will check the computer!", then they are gone before I can tell them they are standing directly in front of what I want. It happened with my Squier Jaguar Bass a little while back, my Holy Grail and the Snark I just got. At least they are friendly and the prices are good.

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Yes, most of the time. When I bought my Kemper the dude in the store didn't even want to show it to me. He had no idea what it was, the regular salesman wasn't there and he was afraid it would get damaged as he looked up the price and got scared. Finally another salesman told him 'Dude, you're a salesman, Sell.' I gave him an education as we fumbled thru the accompanying book together.

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Maybe I am taking it a bit personal with this store in particular. I have tried to land a job there numerous times but without retail experience they don't care how much you know about gear.

I like getting used stuff from this place. They usually don't give people much on trade in items and the flip them for only a few bucks more than they paid.

I miss the little M&P shop where I used to live. Ex rocker turned into a cop/guitar shop owner. He knows loads of stuff but often tries to sell you a bunch of stuff you don't need.

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They should have some sort of education on the products they are peddling. To the best of my knowledge, I believe they don't get paid commission. It seems to have sucked any drive out of having any sort of responsibility for the task at hand. Now for the most part they are just money handling till jockeys. There may be some sort of incentive to out sell your work mates that I don't know about. I have left that particular establishment more than once empty handed and did my business elsewhere because of the poor help from the staff. Which leads me to believe there is nothing in place.

Maybe this is a product of having good prices. There is no meat left on the bone for the business to pay for competent staff. Now that I think about it, it's all OUR fault smile.gif

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I almost got hired at my home GC, but it would only be for the holidays so they had to pass. Training and such.


I usually SELL gear when I'm at GC. Sold 3 guitars and bass in 2 hours when I was just jamming there.


I like the 2 music shops by me: the Detroit GC and Huber and Breeze.


They both let me play some really cool high end gear because I treat the products and the people there with respect. Also helps I've been going there for almost 10 years.

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Being the age of information, if you have half a brain, you really should have thoroughly researched anything you buy. It's simply an informed decision making process. I don't expect retail outlets of any sort to be experts on what their selling. I do however, like to be treated respectfully and if so, will return to do more business. I learned a long time ago being an asshole doesn't get you very far.

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You should know more about the product you're interested in than the guy selling it to you. Look at the number of products in the average music store. Think about how much time you spend researching something you're thinking about buying. Multiply that by the number of products in the store. If you were the employee, would you invest that amount of time? I sure as hell wouldn't.

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Quote Originally Posted by Flatspotter

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If you were the employee, would you invest that amount of time?

 

Yes. I don't see how anyone wouldn't see it as an asset.


I do agree that you should know as much as you can about the particular item you are purchasing. It is just nice to actually have help when they ask, "Can I help you?".

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Quote Originally Posted by Flatspotter

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If you were the employee, would you invest that amount of time?

 

Yes. I don't see how anyone wouldn't see it as an asset.


I do agree that you should know as much as you can about the particular item you are purchasing. It is just nice to actually have help when they ask, "Can I help you?".

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Quote Originally Posted by billythegoat

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...that you know more about the products in the music shop then the guy selling them to you?

 

I work at a guitar shop. I do sales and repairs here. So, no, I don't find that to be the case.

Granted, there are some guys who've been around longer, done more, and therein know more than me. In which case I'm completely respectful and open myself to their knowledge and experience.

But mostly, people rarely know more about the stuff in here than I do. cool.gif

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