If you don't know what you want...

Then how am i supposed to know?

Seriously. When a guy walks into the shop, and needs some kind of small component it can be a mental challenge. Usually there are loads of the damn things, which are very similar looking, but critically different, and it can take a while to work out exactly which one is the right one. This process is made longer if the customer isn't entirely sure which values they need.

It is made entirely im-bloody-possible when all they know is roughly what it looks like. They will stab at any picture that looks slightly similar and go 'that one!'
So you think ok, fine. There's about fifteen on the list here that look like that. Which value do you need? Naturally he doesnt know. 'What do you reckon?' he asks.

Well i don't bloody know do i? If i ask what it's being used for, you just say 'it's for a dashboard'. Which is super-helpful. Not to mention, if i was a freaking electritian, i wouldn't be working here for peanuts. I tend to form the opinion that if you know this little about the thing you're working on, you should leave it well alone and get someone professional to do it.

Of course you can't say those things quite like that, but you do try to get the point across. You tell them that you really aren't able to say what they need, and maybe they should find out precisely which values they need. They tend to get upset by this, and suggest that you somehow don't know how to do your job. They start talking to you as though you were, in fact, the idiot in this conversation.

I personally would love to see a minumum wage shop employee anywhere know all of his or her products inside out. Especially without training. (they don't train us. That might cost them money in some way). Oh well.

Today i also encountered another guy. This is the Takes-Forever-To-Complete-A-Thought guy. I have to stress that TFTCAT guy isn't disabled in any way. He simply seems to approach every question as though it required chess-master type thinking. Even simple questions like 'Would you prefer this? It basically the same thing, but because it comes as a package, it costs about £5 less.' are met with five minutes of thoughtful silence. He then decides, inexplicably, to take the more expensive option.

Actually, it's amazing how often people do that. When faced with a deal that is cheaper and offers no disadvantages whatsoever, they will shy away and take the more expensive option. want a lightbulb? Ok, but look, we do a four pack thats actually outright cheaper than the two pack! You don't need four? Ok. You can keep them as spares though, so you don't need to buy them again for a while. You'll just take the two pack? Fine, whatever.

People won't let you save them money. Yet, curiously are unwilling to part with thier money if you actualy try to get them to buy something either. They ask for discounts, cheaper, lower quality alternatives, you name it, but will happily look a gift horse in the proverbial mouth. You just can't win sometimes.