Do sales people really know their products?

[Melbosa]

 http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3141356&did=1

Worth a read:  Girl is hitting up major stores asking questions on what to get for her BF as a gift, testing sale people's knowledge of the gaming industry.

[Tonnica]

 I read this article yesterday and it's quite a good read. It only really samples one location for each of the different stores but it does give a hint of the more prevalent attitudes and knowledge level you're likely to run across in the store employees.

Mileage may vary of course. For example there are two EBs in the Park. One is similar to the one they visited in the article in that the employees can throw around big, heaving sighs when you ask about something. The other (possibly because it's bigger and less busy and/or differently managed) has snappier service unto a GameSpot. When I went out to get a couple new games about a month ago I put both stores through the Ridiculously Long And Complex RPG Title Test. When I asked for Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga - Avatar Tuner (try to say that even once fast!) the first store employee I was working with looked like their head was about to explode trying to process the long title. Then they heaved a siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh as they had to look it up. They apparently had two copies in-store but they couldn't figure out where they were (which was odd as DDS was coming in a limited edition double size collector's box at the time). The second store employees (I say plural because they had some nice teamwork going) knew what game I was looking for and went straight to the shelf behind the counter and found it for me, which was a correct move as the game is rated M (for bloody violence, brief nudity, and language). Big difference between the two stores. The first store I got the vibe that I was WRONG!! SO WRONG!!!!!!!!!!! for wanting to buy a game with a tricky name, the second store I got a much more friendly "here you go hope you enjoy. No pressure to buy anything else" kind of vibe. Kind of like how you should never ever expect some of the employees at the BCOM in the park to be any more useful than a screen door on a submarine.

[Darren Dirt]

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3141356&did=1

Worth a read:  Girl is hitting up major stores asking questions on what to get for her BF as a gift, testing sale people's knowledge of the gaming industry.

I love their response to the ignoramudoofus at "Best Buy":

So, forget the boyfriend. I'm gonna pick up this GameCube for my toddler, along with this copy of Resident Evil 4 - which clearly has graphics only a baby could love. Might as well grab a few Mario games for Xbox or PS2 while I'm at it.