Not so "bright" store employee

KingGlamis

Banned
Joined
Jun 10, 2007
Messages
745
Location
Mesa, AZ
So I stopped by the local Radio Shack recently to buy a couple things for my flashlight mod project (only because any real electronics stores are a much further drive). The very curious cashier asked what I was buying this stuff for. I said, "To modify a flashlight to make it brighter." He looked confused, and then asked, "How do you make a flashlight brighter?"

Maybe it's just me, but I think if you work at a Radio Shack you should at least have a basic understanding of the things you sell. There are many ways to mod a flashlight, but "most" of the ways are not exactly rocket science.

Knowing that any answer I gave would not really get comprehended by said cashier, I simply said "Installing a better bulb and batteries capable of powering the bulb is the easiest way." He nodded and said something to the effect of "Wow that's cool, I've never heard of anyone modifying a flashlight before."

And... prior to my checking out I was asked four times by that one employee and another employee there if I had any questions they could answer or if they could help me find anything. The first three times I said "No, I'm ok." The fourth time, after not finding what I was looking for, I did ask for help. They were like two deer in headlights. I had asked for a common item that obviously neither of them had ever heard of.

Oh well, my own fault for not driving to a "real" store. But I'm still shocked that people take a job at a place where they don't know the basics of the industry they work in. Kind of like taking a job at McDonalds and not knowing what french fries are. :laughing:
 

Monocrom

Flashaholic
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
19,850
Location
NYC
Nope! It's not about applying for a job that you know nothing about..... It's about hiring the cheapest employees. Customer Service and a knowledgeable staff are two things you no longer find in many of the big-name stores.

Instead of hiring the guy who has experience and actually knows what he's doing..... well, that guy isn't going to work for peanuts. The guy with zero experience? You can pay him less! And, that's what a lot of retailers do.
 

MarNav1

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
3,192
Location
Nebraska
Unfortunately, this is corporate America. Hire folks like that(young and naive) like we all were. Pay them paupers wages and the (executive) makes the profits. I do not like this philosophy at all but here we are.The reason they are not so bright is because they are victims of a Socialist education which basically means they aren't taught anything, but that is a subject for the Underground. Oh and by the way if you attend the London School of Economics or Oxford that is what you will be taught.
 
Last edited:

turkdc

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
77
Location
Shelby Township, Michigan, USA
So did the salespeople ask you "Watt" you are doing?

I would guess that >90% of their business is selling cellular phone contracts. People that a.) know about/understand the physics of electricity or b.) choose to work on projects of that nature are few and far between.


turk
 

jmw19

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 26, 2006
Messages
107
Location
State College, PA
Best line about RatShack I've heard so far: "Radio Shack - you've got questions, we've got cellphones."

It's sad to watch stores tumble down the "cheaper is better" slope, but at least I can buy a few resistors or a spool of wire locally, without paying shipping or waiting for delivery. Last visit I picked up a bunch of battery holders for peanuts, and only got the "can I help you?" once.
 

chmsam

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 26, 2004
Messages
2,241
Location
3rd Stone
Ah, the wonders of the corporate culture. Most employees are neither hired with skills nor are they trained if they lack them. Nor are people inclined to learn too many new things -- present company excluded for the most part.

Last week I was asked by a RS employee if I could find what I was looking for. I couldn't so I asked him to look for the item. I also got the deer in the headlight look. What was that exotic and complicated electronics gizmo? Was it some brand new, high tech, whizzbang item? Nope, I wanted an alligator clip. :confused:

"What is THAT? Never heard of it." :eek:oo:

Ouch. :ohgeez:

And where does the US rank on the list of advanced technologically educated countries?
 
Last edited:

bexteck

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 23, 2005
Messages
237
Location
Western Massachusetts, USA
A friend of mine told me that he was in Radio Shack the other day buying a small spool of speaker wire for some ham radio project and the cashier asked him what he was doing with it. I have forgotten what he was using it for, but it was not for speakers. The cashier told him that it would not work because it was speaker wire, and my friend told him that any stranded copper wire of that gauge would work. The cashier then insisted that it would not work and he knew because he had graduated from the Radio Shack audio and electrical class.

My friend happens to be an Electrical Engineer working in the defense industry who builds microwave communications systems for a hobby. He was using this wire for a very simple purpose that anyone should see that it would be fine for. The stupidity of this employee plus the confidence that he knew more than his customers was incredible.

I don't know what they are teaching in the Radio Shack School of Electrocrap (not yet an accredited learning institution) but it can't be much more than how to read packages and regurgitate the information for the customer.
 

jtr1962

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 22, 2003
Messages
7,506
Location
Flushing, NY
This is a really sad of affairs. I remember in the 1980s showing one of the Radio Shack employees a project I was designing. He understood it, and even commented on PC board design rules. Nowadays you would probably get a blank look if you asked for a resistor. The hard truth is that workers with a good technical background are increasingly hard to find in the 30 and under age group. Blame the lack of science/math education in the US, coupled with a general perception that these fields are uncool/nerdy. Everyone these days it seems would rather be on American idol. As the present crop of engineers/scientists start to retire in the next decades there will be a shortage of people to fill their shoes. Radio Shack may not be a place a technically oriented person will remain for life, but many present-day scientists/engineers started out working there during college. Thanks to the shortage of engineering undergrads, places like RS are forced to just hire anyone who comes in the door. Of course, the new corporate mantra of hiring the cheapest labor doesn't help, either.
 

BIGIRON

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
1,879
Location
South Texas
Was in WalMart not long ago to buy a crank battery for a boat. Picked up the battery I wanted (a standard auto batt) and proceeded to checkout. Manager of department asked, conversationally, what I was going to put it on. I said "boat". He said, "you must have a marine battery, a regular battery will burn up the starter". This was the manager of the department.
 

Illum

Flashaholic
Joined
Apr 29, 2006
Messages
13,053
Location
Central Florida, USA
I find radioshack to be somewhat disappointing from the old days were it served basically the needs of any ham operator in the neighborhood...now all you see are cell phones, RC cars, toys etc that are "on demand" products...

the employees know little about electronic components but seem to know everything there is to know about cellphones:thinking:
 

Omega Man

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 15, 2005
Messages
1,378
Location
East Coast
I want to quote and comment on just about every post in this thread. But instead I'll just share an emphatic *group sigh* :(
 

Diesel_Bomber

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 19, 2006
Messages
1,772
It's not just Radio Shack, folks. Ever go to Walmart or Autozone? The dude behind the counter knows "a bit about cars," but he worked at Taco Bell last week. The last time I went to an AutoZone, the convo went something like this:

Me: I need 8 Autolite 26 spark plugs, please.
AutoZone Employee: What make and model vehicle, sir?
Me: Don't need to bother with that, just get me 8 Autolite 26 spark plugs, please.
AZE: Sir, I need to look up the vehicle so I can tell what part you need.
Me: I already know what part I need. Please go get me 8 Autolite 26 spark plugs.
AZE: I'm sorry sir, I need to know the part number at the very least.
Me: I just told you the part number. Autolite 26 spark plugs. 8 of them, please.

I didn't have time to drive to my preferred NAPA, so I gave the parts clerk the make and model. He didn't seem the least bit surprised or even embarrassed when the part his computer told him was exactly what I'd told him, and didn't apologize for the hassle.

The cashier told him that it would not work because it was speaker wire,

I had nearly the opposite happen to me. I was buying two conductor stranded wire to wire up my home stereo, and the Home Depot associate insisted that only speaker wire would work with speakers, nothing else would. I don't like the insulation on most speaker wire as it gets brittle over time, so I chose lamp cord instead. I realize lamp cord has very nearly the same insulation, but it doesn't get brittle. I'd hazard a guess that UV exposure and the opaque lamp cord insulation vs. the clear speaker wire insulation has a something to do with it. The ability to buy a 500ft roll of lamp cord for the same cost as 150ft of speaker wire was a nice bonus.

It's a sad world we live in. :buddies:
 

bexteck

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 23, 2005
Messages
237
Location
Western Massachusetts, USA
I had nearly the opposite happen to me. I was buying two conductor stranded wire to wire up my home stereo, and the Home Depot associate insisted that only speaker wire would work with speakers, nothing else would. I don't like the insulation on most speaker wire as it gets brittle over time, so I chose lamp cord instead. I realize lamp cord has very nearly the same insulation, but it doesn't get brittle. I'd hazard a guess that UV exposure and the opaque lamp cord insulation vs. the clear speaker wire insulation has a something to do with it. The ability to buy a 500ft roll of lamp cord for the same cost as 150ft of speaker wire was a nice bonus.
:


I have a theater type audio system which I have pieced together from ebay items and equipment that would have otherwise been thrown out by schools, churches, etc. Don't get me wrong though, its nice stuff (crown amp, bose performance speakers etc.)

Anyway, I needed to buy some heavy duty speaker wires to use outside with this system. A 100ft oxygen free speaker cable will cost something like $100, and I needed two of them, so I went down to home depot and purchased 4 14AWG 50' outdoor extension cords on sale for $6 each. I brought them home, cut the ends off, soldered two cords together for each 100ft length and soldered the correct connectors at each end. They work beautifully. Total cost: $35 including the connectors.

I should have told an employee what I was planning on doing just to see what kind of reaction he had.
 

BIGIRON

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
1,879
Location
South Texas
Like the Bomber said. Couple of years ago, at an Autozone, I went in for a batt for a diesel MBZ. Picked one off the rack and went to checkout. The guy asked what kind of vehicle. Told him. He entered info into computer and said "That car's not listed, I can't sell you the battery"....... I literally had to get the store manager to direct him to sell me the batt. (AZ was the only store near me that stocked that particular batt or I would have moved on.)
 

Daekar

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 23, 2007
Messages
837
Location
Virginia, USA
It's a sad world all right... but it makes me wonder about some things. In particular, it reminds me of what I was taught about the difference between virtual and brick-and-mortar store: In general, you get a lower price with less service and advice online whereas you get more service and more, better advice in a brick-and-mortar with higher prices. "Real" establishments support their higher prices with their services. (this doesn't apply to many CPF-serving websites, I've been impressed with the customer service and knowledge of many of them) However, that doesn't seem to be happening here at all - instead of offering services which make it worth spending money there, RS has simply stopped offering services and severely reduced the number of products that require knowledgable salespeople.
 

GarageBoy

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 12, 2004
Messages
3,975
Location
Brooklyn NY
It's not just Radio Shack, folks. Ever go to Walmart or Autozone? The dude behind the counter knows "a bit about cars," but he worked at Taco Bell last week. The last time I went to an AutoZone, the convo went something like this:

Me: I need 8 Autolite 26 spark plugs, please.
AutoZone Employee: What make and model vehicle, sir?
Me: Don't need to bother with that, just get me 8 Autolite 26 spark plugs, please.
AZE: Sir, I need to look up the vehicle so I can tell what part you need.
Me: I already know what part I need. Please go get me 8 Autolite 26 spark plugs.
AZE: I'm sorry sir, I need to know the part number at the very least.
Me: I just told you the part number. Autolite 26 spark plugs. 8 of them, please.

I didn't have time to drive to my preferred NAPA, so I gave the parts clerk the make and model. He didn't seem the least bit surprised or even embarrassed when the part his computer told him was exactly what I'd told him, and didn't apologize for the hassle.



I had nearly the opposite happen to me. I was buying two conductor stranded wire to wire up my home stereo, and the Home Depot associate insisted that only speaker wire would work with speakers, nothing else would. I don't like the insulation on most speaker wire as it gets brittle over time, so I chose lamp cord instead. I realize lamp cord has very nearly the same insulation, but it doesn't get brittle. I'd hazard a guess that UV exposure and the opaque lamp cord insulation vs. the clear speaker wire insulation has a something to do with it. The ability to buy a 500ft roll of lamp cord for the same cost as 150ft of speaker wire was a nice bonus.

It's a sad world we live in. :buddies:

You got questions, we got blind stares

Try Auto Zone with a modded car..
 

chmsam

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 26, 2004
Messages
2,241
Location
3rd Stone
I'm dying to see what would happen at AutoZonedOut if the local electric car club brought in one of their cars.

This could get to be fun. Picture this -- A guy walks into a parts shop and asks for parts for his old Mazda RX4 rotary sedan. They ask how many cylinders. He says none. They ask if it was a single or double overhead cam engine. He says none. They ask how many valves it had. None. You must be wrong -- how's it supposed to work without cylinders or valves? He says it doesn't even have any pistons either. They think he's pulling their leg. He asks for two coils and four plugs for the twin rotors. What? He says it's a rotary. They ask what time the meetings were. No, no, no, not rotary like Elk or Moose, it's a Wankel engine. Hey, ya perv, watch the language!
 

PhotonWrangler

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 19, 2003
Messages
14,432
Location
In a handbasket
Nodding head in sad agreement with everything above. :sigh:

I miss the good old days of real electronics stores with knowledgable employees, where you could walk in, purchase a single resistor, and have a good conversation with the clerk over carbon vs. thin film resistors, the temperature coefficient of them, which ones were noisier, etc.

On the other hand, I had a surprising experience at a Radio Shack early this year. There was a middle aged clerk working there who really knew his stuff. One of his previous jobs, many years ago, was designing machines for manufacturing the glass bulbs for light bulbs! He had some neat stories and it was fun to talk to him.
:)
 
Top