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Once upon a time way back when and long ago when one would go into a shop that say specialized in automotive parts one could get a straight answer from the person behind the counter. Now a days I personally find that the people behind these counters and in so many other shops and stores have not a clue about the job in which they are working at. You can ask them a question and they look at you like you have asked them for a ticket to Mars. These people are just not trained at all. The employers are putting them behind the counters and they are not getting sufficient training in regards to the products that they are selling. There fore I as a consumer get very frustrated. I think the main problem is the employers are just trying to get the bodies there and are hoping that these people mysteriously and magically learn the jobs. Here is once instance where my husband and I were returning a truck battery that was a week old. The battery came with a nine year warranty. Three year warranty total replacement with no cost to us. We walk into the store and tell the person behind the counter that the battery is not working and is not holding a charge. Could he possibly check it and see if the battery is a dud. The store clerk comes back and says to us yep its a bad battery. Then he just stands there. My husband says to the guy well do you have another one in stock. Just one minute I will go and check he says. We wait and wait and wait. There's no one else around that he is helping and we are wondering whats taking him so long. Finally he returns and says yes we have one in stock. So my husband says well how do I get it? Well I have to get the manager to fill out the paper work. So he calls the manager and tells us the manager will be about ten minutes. So we wait and wait and watch this clerk sweeping behind the counter. About thirty minutes go by and we ask what's taking so long? He goes to find out. In the meantime we see a manager on the floor and my husband asks him if he knows whats going on. His reply is well they had to make a phone call to get walked through the battery replacement procedure. So we wait and wait and wait. By this point we are saying to each other that we will never shop in this store again.

My main point is that it is easy to get frustrated as a consumer and it is hard at times to show respect to these people when they do not really try that hard to help you.

Learn more about this author, Susan Varden.
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