Why are my FLGS completely ignorant?

[PJ-Mason]

sounds like my experience at the WotC store (when they existed). the clerk didn't have a clue about the products and his company made them. :\

Whoa. Thats pretty bad. Although, in his defense, he was probably a MTG card player.

 

[Belen]

A big online retailer once told me that a book I had preordered had not been printed yet. This was more than a week after I had seen the book in a store, and 3 or 4 days after their site had listed it as shipping within 24 hours. Even better they told me it would probably be weeks after they got it before they would ship it to me because of the number of orders. I guess they didn't mind accepting more preorders then they could fill.

No store is perfect, but I've found my FLGS much more responsive than major retailers.

Amazon did that to me all the time. It is why I refuse to use them now.

 

[The_Gneech]

While I too prefer staff be knowlegable and enthusiastic about their RPG products... there is a dark side to this.

THE UBER-GEEK.

As you initially enter the store this employee appears to be a typical friendly worker... until you have the short-sightedness to ask a knowlegable question, or worse, thier opinion on something. As soon as your soft social-interaction underbelly has been exposed, this vile and repulsive creature stikes!

Suddenly you are innundated by an overwhelming torrent of logorrhea. In less than a minute, the Uber-Geek has not only completely briefed over the patron's query, they have "skillfully" segued into a tedious chronicle about a recent adventure. Of course this ponderous saga always seems to include several asides that detail the most irrelevant minutiae.

The only way to defeat this beast is by foregoing the "grin-and-bear-it" politeness the Uber-Geek relies on, and instead counter-attack. This can be with either a smooth bluntness ("Look man, I don't care about your half-ogre barbarian with a vampire template. I came here to shop.") or several non-Euclidian interjections ("My dad killed a dragon when I was two", "That's cool... I'm raising a gelatinous cube in my cellar", "Please stop talking, I fear your voice is going to activate my epilepsy"). A final tactic is to actually have that epileptic seizure... of course you might want to conveniently "recover" before anyone actually calls a paramedic.

You should mention the Uber-Geek's tendency to lionize whatever his particular geekdom is, while denigrating yours (if it should happen to be different) as stupid, childish, and inane. Example: Once upon a time, I enjoyed the Pokémon CCG as part of my gaming roster. So, as I stand at the cash register buying books for a variety of different RPGs, I ask our local Uber-Geek to include a Pokémon booster please. "Aaah, yes, the Stupidmon card game, pure cash-cow for WotC with no redeeming features whatsoever!"

Yeah, that cash-cow was one of the things that kept you in business 'til 3.0 came out, hosehead. Remind me when belittling a customer's purchase was considered a good business practice?

-The Gneech

 

[WayneLigon]

Here's the thing - do you expect an employee at any other retail store to be fully aware of what's going on in inventory? Do you call a clothing store expecting the person who works there to be able to find a particular sweater? You expect them to be able to point you to the Land's End merchandise, sure, but the individual style and color of sweater?

I do, as a matter of fact. I might not expect them to know it to the smallest bit of minutia but I do expect them to know what of the major brands they carry. Since this was a WOTC product and is, unless they are a very very unusual store, part of the best-selling book line they have, I'd damn well expect them to lay hand to it blindfolded. I'd also expect them to be up to date on what's coming out.

Since even the largest game store is going to have a much smaller inventory than even a small clothing store, I'd pretty much expect them to be able to lay hand to anything except perhaps an individual Warhammer mini. The guys are my FLGS can indeed do this.

 

[thalmin]

Since even the largest game store is going to have a much smaller inventory than even a small clothing store, I'd pretty much expect them to be able to lay hand to anything except perhaps an individual Warhammer mini. The guys are my FLGS can indeed do this.

Sorry to disagree with you on this, but we have somewhere near 30,000 - 35,000 SKUs in our store. I doubt if many clothing stores come even close to that number.
Still, the staff should know about the major lines.

 

[mcrow]

the employees @ ANY retail store should know the stock well enough to assist customers. That means they should know (@ the very least) where to find stuff and should have some knowledge of the major product lines they carry. Have you ever gone into one of those bath & body stores with your wife or girlfriend? the people that work in those places know everything about all of their products. If the bath & bodu girls can do it surely our fellow gamers should be able to tell us when the newest WoTC book will hit the shelf.

 

[Henry]

Sorry to disagree with you on this, but we have somewhere near 30,000 - 35,000 SKUs in our store.

30,000 different products!?!?! I knew you were a top-notch store, but GOOD GOD! You are talking about "sitting in physical presence" and not "currently in Point of Sale system", right? My closest "serious" game store can't have more than 10,000 or so...

Sad part is, because Gencon moved to Indy, i never go to Chicago anymore. Damn! I gotta plan me a road trip one day...

 

[Drew]

I am always saddened to hear about poor customer services at (F)LGSs'. It makes me really appriciate the stores I go to. Here in central Iowa, we have two excellent stores, Mayhem Comics of Ames and Mayhem Comics of Des Moines. They are truely great stores with helpful, friendly employees and great communities of gamers. They are a joy to go to, shop at, and game at.

=====
El Rav

Mayhem is great! I live in north central Iowa (Mason City), and we're lucky to have two decent gaming stores. Its hard to get non-WOTC stuff, but I don't think it sells all that well for them anyway.

During my one trip to Mayhem...let's just say I felt like the kid in the candy store. Good place.

 

[thalmin]

30,000 different products!?!?! I knew you were a top-notch store, but GOOD GOD! You are talking about "sitting in physical presence" and not "currently in Point of Sale system", right? My closest "serious" game store can't have more than 10,000 or so...

Give or take a little, that's physical presence. Course much of that is in miniatures, paints, out-of-prints, and dice (we don't sell individual colectable cards or minis).

Sad part is, because Gencon moved to Indy, i never go to Chicago anymore. Damn! I gotta plan me a road trip one day...

Maybe you could make it for our next auction, or the next Game Day.

 

[Remathilis]

My husband and I live in Ypsilanti (closer to Milan really), and the nearest stores are Rider's, Underworld (which has since closed), and some not so great store in downtown Ann Arbor. Livonia, and Lansing are a might far to go for a book or two. So until we return to Denver, we are doing all our shopping online.

Its a 45 minute drive, but I like Pandemonium Games in Garden City.

Sorry to hear Underworld is gone.