I have to push back a bit. Internet research only gets you so far and can be quite difficult. In the best cases, we were able to get into from our vendors that

I have to push back a bit. Internet research only gets you so far and can be quite difficult. In the best cases, we were able to get into from our vendors that wasn't normally accessible to the public. And even without that, customers were happy to have someone who could answer their questions directly. Even when we had to look something up, they often appreciated that we were more familiar with the relevant terms needed to find the information they were seeking. Occasionally, a customer who was very knowledgable would come in; it was 50/50 whether they were someone we could accommodate by skipping past technical advice and focusing on inventory ("Is it in stock at the sister store?"), services, and deal-making. The other 50% were, frankly, assholes who definitely should just be buying possible counterfeits off Amazon. Sorry that we don't have time to research the differences between two high-end receivers that we'd have to special order anyway; for every one of your exceptionally rare requests, there are dozens of customers who need us to walk them through troubleshooting a basic system set-up (where components can be from one of a dozen different companies), so that's where the energy is going. Best Buy functioned most effectively as a sort of library-esque community center where residents could receive basic tech assistance across a wide range of microprocessor-driven products (which we would then sell you); something similar goes for much of retail. Workers are conscientious, but there is a limit to the advice the structure can afford to give for free. You wouldn't walk into a grocery store and expect the butcher to be able to walk you through preparing a sous vide steak with white wine sauce or whatever; they could point out what cut would work best, but beyond that, you'd hire someone to teach you.