"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
...
"Dennis Edward" wrote:

Oddly we don't expect a supermarket checkout to know which foods are
good for your particular situation, or how to assemble a meal. But we
expect a company that sells hardware parts to guide and instruct us on
how to use what they sell us. We expect them to educate us some. It's
weird, I would normally try to find information myself because in my
lifetime I seldom find people in businesses that are truly
knowledgeable. And when you do they want to be on the clock. Most
people freely pass along bad information. Just read newsgroups and you
see it happening.


I don't expect the check-out person at the supermarket to know much more
than how to ring-up the order. That said, I seldom check-out where the
clerk fails to identify at least one produce item. For example, no one know
what a leek is. "Is that leaf lettuce" is the usual response to anything
that is green and isn't cabbage or iceberg lettuce. I do expect the people
IN the produce department to know something about what they are selling. I
would expect a produce department worker to know which apples are better for
pies or which onions are better eaten raw. I would expect the produce
department worker to know how to store the items and how long they keep.
Same with the meat department. They should know how to cook various cuts of
meat and know if they are less-tender or better for grilling.

I do think that people working in hardware stores should know something
about hardware. Why even have clerks if they can't help you select the
appropriate items for a project? You could just have someone stock the
store at night and the open the place to the public who could use the
self-checkout lanes. I don't expect them to rescreen my windows, but I do
think they should know the qualities of the various types of screen they
sell. They should know about spline and the tools you need to do the job.
Sometimes you luck-out and find someone who really knows about hardware, but
usually you get someone who really doesn't know much and who spends all
their time on the cell phone talking to management or customers who call in.
Now THAT really ****es me off. I don't think there is anything more rude
than to answer the phone when you are in the middle of helping a customer.