Eeriest salesman ever...

nosey

I decided to go to CompuSmart today to see a few of the newer macs. It's considerably closer in South Edmonton than wandering over to the Westworld store near the Mall That Ate Edmonton...



Anyways... I wandered in, looked at a few of their PDA's, saw a few of the "twist me off 'coz I'm fragile" laptops (where the screen twists and it becomes a tablet-almost) and quite a few interesting mod kits for computers. Kinda surprised at that... They had some interesting rubber grips for ipods in original imac colors... would probably keep it from falling out of shirt pockets...



Salesman number one understood a "Don't bother me, I'm browsing" attitude... asked him where the macs were and he went away... So far so good...



Wandered into the Mac section, found an iBook 14 inch screen with the battery pulled out. Tilted on its side... I don't know if it felt flimsy because it was so big, because it had the battery missing, or because the holder-downer-thingie they used for keeping it from getting too mobile was loose and not bolted down properly. Reminded me of an ibook in bondage...



They had an emac, an imac, one of the neato-nifty silver tower, and some 15 inch studio screens for $999CDN (50 bucks american or so) A largish person is talking and gesturing around a customer who is asking about a silver tower...



Salesman number two comes up, so I ask him about the new 12 inch laptop... First we have to wander the store looking for a computer... He plugs in the apple site and surfs to canada, and voila... same price as I have been budgetting for. He seems knowledgable enough... knows his limit and ain't afraid to say "I don't know, yet"



Finish with him and wander back to the mac section... Salesman number three asks "Is everything alright" gets an affirmative and wanders away...



play with the imac... no iDVD3, no iLife yet... Large linmping salesman comes up... Ask him about iLife in the box, and he hands me Keynote "It's just as fun, and you can get it today"... uh... thanks... Do you have any machines with the newest downloads of iMovie, iPhoto and Tunes?



Just this one, showing me the tower... I talk a bit about how I want to use iDVD... "Just buy an apple Superdrive on eBay and slap it in"... 'kay, but are you sure it will work? Sure... an apple drive is an apple drive is an apple drive"...



The conversation from there twists and turns through several rumors he is suggesting I wait for... keeps mentioning an upcoming 'i70' ship that will blow the current models out of the water... I start wandering around the store looking for an exit, saying "That's great, see you later" several times... get stuck at the entrance, like a cornered animal... he's still following, blocking all access...



Do a quick loop around a display (He's still following) and a leisurly dash down a bunch of closed tills, all chained off (Where's the exit? Where, dammit???)



My third "That's great, gotta go, see you later" as I find an open till (He's still limping after me... dedicated, I guess, in some perverse way) Blathering something about coming back to see the aluminum ibooks (Duh!) when they come in next month... Make a final dash to the door and like some badly programmed computer-controlled monster in Marathon, he follows me on the other side of the tills, talking still about the new "OS 10.4.2" coming out soon...



I break out into freedom and the great outdoors... and see through the glass that he's limping towards the back of the store to curl up and lie in wait beside the iMac on display, to await another victim...



spooky, eerie, and 'wow, bad karma man', just like a Kate Bush concert...



Anyone else have one of those 'clingy salespeople' happen to you? I'll be travelling to Westowrold from now on, even if I have to dodge quickly past West Ed to get there...



[ 02-03-2003: Message edited by: nosey ]</p>

wrong robot

<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />



I don't really know whether to laugh or cry...that was a very good read though, I'm reminded of that SNL skit with Sylvester stallone as the Orange Julius guy working in the computer store... <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />



I can't say I've had clingy salespeople before, but I have definatly had some weirdos....for the most part when I walk into a store not intending on buying anything I make a little small talk with a saleperson "so, this g4s pretty fast"..."yup"..."yup" taht kind of stuff, but then they always leave me to my own devices and I get to spin the iPod track wheels really fast(causing them to break probably, but its so satisfying)



Actually...now that I think about it, once I was buying some air freshner or something like that, simple over-the counter purchase, no salesman or anything, but the girl behind the coutner started asking me these questions like "how old are you?" "you still in school" "where do you goto school" I answered and made some witticisms and she gave this weird laugh then said "I went to a correctionl school, I'm all better now though" and I kind of smiled and made to exit. Then she just kept asking me questions "do you want a bag with that"..."no I'm fine its not very big I'll put it in my pocket"..."oh okay, you sure you don't want a bag?"...."no I'm fine"...etc.



that was kind of weird.

defiant

nice story, nosey... haha..



was she at least cute, wrong robust?



[ 02-05-2003: Message edited by: Defiant ]</p>

mount_my_floppy

It kind of reminds me of this friend of mine whome is really annoying and will chase you all over the house to tell you a story that probably isnt true when he knows you arent listening. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />

pscates

I often get those kind of salespeople at Circuit City and other places where "commission is king".



I went into one several months back and, literally, within five steps inside the door had a guy just glom onto me like I was his lifeboat and he was floating amidst Titanic wreckage and debris.



<img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />



"How are you doing? Can I help you today?"



"No, I'm just poking around a bit, seeing what's what." (my standard reply in these types of scenarios...casual and friendly. Maybe that's the problem?)



I walk over to the digital camcorders...



"Let me tell you about these. You see, what you ha..."



"That's okay, really. I know about them and what they do. I'm just browsing a bit, okay? Thanks."



"Sure, no problem. Let me know if you need anything".



"I will" (I'm feeling the first little tingles of agitation and "LEAVEMETHE#$%@ALONE!!!" inclinations.







He FOLLOWS me around to the stereos, games, keyboards, inkjets, asking on two more occasions if I "needed assistance" and attempted to explain inkjet technology to me, unsolicited.







After about 10 or so minutes of this chucklehead breathing down my neck and all, I just went "listen, I just want to browse around and look at things BY MYSELF. Can I do that? I swear to God that if I decide to buy ANYTHING, I will come find you and work with you on it, okay? I promise. Please just let me walk around some, okay?"



Didn't even PHASE him!



"Do you play video games? We have some pretty co..."



I did a Chandler Bing-esque double-take and a slow "Oh my God!" and just eased my way out of the store entirely.



Little gel-haired worm of sales twit.



I haven't been back to that particular location either.



He drove me out of a store (where I might've laid down $50-100 eventually) after 15 minutes just because he couldn't make himself stop being a stalking pain-in-the-balls.



Amazing.



I thought about calling the store back later and trying to talk to someone about it, but thought "eh, who cares...they'll just laugh".

murbot

It's like this at the local Future Shop. There are more employees in there than staff sometimes. My wife and I were in there a few weeks ago and we actually counted the number of blue-shirted geeks that approached us.



We were in there for 15 minutes, and were BOTHERED 7 times, by 7 different people. GOD that pisses me off.



By the 5th guy, I was just saying "NO" and not even looking up at them.



I don't know why these people would do this.... do they really think it's going to help make a sale? If anything it drives people out. I haven't bought anything there since.

ghost_user_name

A lot of them are told by management to approach customers. I believe there is something in their "Salesmanship" manuals about attempting to make conversation and make yourself available.



Speaking of which, read today's <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/"; target="_blank">Penny Arcade!</a> for a good laugh. If you read the first news posrt, they have two scans from an Electronic's Boutique manual for sales people.



Creepy.

pscates

Well I certainly understand being told or encouraged by management to "approach customers" and all. That's part of doing what they do and earning commissions and so forth. And I don't have a problem with "being approached".



It's the "hanging over your shoulder even though you've tried your hardest to make it crystal clear that you're only browsing and don't need their help but they still won't leave you in peace" tactics I'm bothered by.



By all means, approach, be chummy, ask if I need help, etc. That's wonderful. Sometimes, actually, I do...and I'm happy to see a salesman coming my way.



But when I say "no thanks, I'm just looking around right now...", that's code for "buzz off...and please don't make me ask you again".







I'm very good about asking for help when I NEED it and also making sure that the person who helped me is properly credited so they get their commission. I usually ask and want to make sure.



I'm not out to screw anyone. I just like to be left alone if I want to casually browse a bit, that's all.



Over-the-top hard-sell types - in any scenario: electronic stores, car dealerships, telemarketers, etc. - are really enormous pains-in-the-ass and might possibly get further, with certain types of people anyway, if they just toned it down and pulled back on the reins a bit.







[ 02-05-2003: Message edited by: pscates ]</p>

murbot

That's it! I knew I recognized the host of <a href="http://www.thenewtnn.com/shows/oblivious/"; target="_blank">Oblivious</a> from somewhere. The bastard worked at an Electronics Boutique!!







These guys just don't know that they're ON TV!!







[ 02-05-2003: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>

nosey

[quote]Originally posted by murbot:

<strong>It's like this at the local Future Shop. There are more employees in there than staff sometimes. My wife and I were in there a few weeks ago and we actually counted the number of blue-shirted geeks that approached us.



We were in there for 15 minutes, and were BOTHERED 7 times, by 7 different people. GOD that pisses me off.



By the 5th guy, I was just saying "NO" and not even looking up at them.



I don't know why these people would do this.... do they really think it's going to help make a sale? If anything it drives people out. I haven't bought anything there since.</strong><hr></blockquote>



I've often found the following solutions to work in Futureshop:



While wandering through the computer section by accident, "Can I help you find anything?" Yes... tooasters... and after that a washer and dryer... can I ask you a few questions about those?"



In the software section "Can I help you?" Yes, I am looking for a band called 'glorious sex pimples'... can you help me find it"



and, in the music section "May I help you?" "Sure, I need to find something that will clean the road salt off my car... do you have anything that is non-abrasive and gets rid of clingy shit?"



The last one, oddly wnough, they never seem to 'get'...