this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2026
824 points (97.7% liked)
Technology
87627 readers
4149 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I’ve attempted to shop at Best Buy over the past 30 years or so.
The problem is, no matter which era, none of the staff seemed to even understand my questions, let alone be able to answer them — this isn’t just electronics, but on ANYTHING in the store. “Does that washing machine have a direct drive or belt drive?” “What’s the theoretical maximum power of that amplifier?” “What are the manufacturing tolerances of that Monster cable you say is so much better than bulk electrical wire I can get at Lowe’s?”
I mean, even the Geek Squad guys just read the details off the packaging or off their reference document; no actual thought ever went into trying to help me solve an issue that would result in a purchase.
In the early 00s I made a fair bit of money as a side hustle fixing stuff that the Geek Squad had messed up.
That's just sales in general. I remember looking for a new car at the dealer one time and told them what I wanted and they walked me over to a completely different car. I asked him what car it was and he told me it was the one I asked him about.
I worked in sales for 6 years and was proud of my knowledge but watched my dumb and downright shady coworkers outshine me. It's depressing.
I recently bought a tv from a regional retailer where the salespeople actually knew their products and was blown away. Like, they asked our needs, told us what was realistic then pointed us towards what would match them. In general they were knowledgeable and helpful which was weird and nice.