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Me> "I'm looking for a sound bar with a wireless subwoofer." Big box store employee> "Such a thing doesn't exist. It would defy the laws of physics. The signal
by kevinskii 11y ago
Me> "I'm looking for a sound bar with a wireless subwoofer."
Big box store employee> "Such a thing doesn't exist. It would defy the laws of physics. The signal couldn't travel across the room to the woofer in time to produce a clean sound."
Me> "Odd, I could swear I've seen such a thing before."
Employee> "Nope, it's impossible."
Me> "Then what's this right here?" (Points to a sound bar with wireless subwoofer on display.)
Employee> "Oh! Well this isn't my department, and the guy who knows about sound bars is out to lunch. I didn't think it was possible because I'm a Java programmer, you see, and I couldn't think of a way to program it so the signal would reach the woofer in time."
Me> "A Java programmer? You don't say."
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I don't want to spend two hours researching every little consumer electronics product I might buy, and I'm willing to pay a slight premium to someone who is able to spend five minutes educating me. I suspect there are many others who are similar.
- wtallis 11y ago> "I don't want to spend two hours researching every little consumer electronics product I might buy, and I'm willing to pay a slight premium to someone who is able to spend five minutes educating me. I suspect there are many others who are similar." That's basically REI's business model. Their staff has extensive personal experience with what they sell, and the stores run classes on what equipment to get and how to use it. They've got a lot more customer-facing staff than something like the supermarkets mentioned in the article need, because REI customers need more educating than people buying groceries. It's a real pity that Best Buy and friends are run more like a hybrid of the grocery stores and a used car lot.