I dunno, it's kinda rolling the dice. You can get really lucky sometimes. Even if the person doesn't necessarily care about the stuff, they pick up what other people say, and would know what gets bought the most. That's better than nothing at times.
And then you can get really lucky and find someone that knows their shit.
So it never hurts to ask, though you may get an actual eye roll lol
If I'm lucky they know the right aisle.
My local Ace Hardware is fully staffed by highly knowledgeable people, though. It's well worth the extra few bucks.
I don't run a directly customer facing department anymore, but when I ran electronics I got to be both the employee that didn't know much, and the one that tells you more than you asked for.
I went to college for network admin, but never actually landed a career in it because COVID hit right after I graduated. I've done a bit of everything with computers and can speak to a lot of things.
But I haven't used every electronic device we sold or have even basic knowledge of some of them, so I had to fall back on "Well, a lot of people buy this one, so there's probably something nice happening there."
I worked at a mom and pop hardware store in college. I learned more practical information there than I did in school. I even got good enough to sell power tools, mowers, and chainsaws. We didn't get commission or anything like that but it was a point of pride to be able to answer customers questions and make a sale.
Retail is full of talent that couldn't find a job in their field of work though.
And hardware stores specifically, especially the local mom and pop ones, seem to attract the older semi-retired crowd that is looking for something to do where they can share their knowledge.
At least this is how it is where I live.
I mean sometimes they do know, they're individuals after all with varying levels of knowledge and experience. If they say they don't know I thank them and move on, but plenty of times they've been able to answer my questions. Seems a bit patronizing to assume that just because they work at a store like that it means they don't know anything and can't answer questions. I actually literally asked an employee a question about a plumbing fixture in a big box store recently and, shocker, they were knowledgeable and had the answer to my question.
Exactly plus they're more likely to know and hear things about products. What tradesmen hasn't stopped and talked a person ear off about their go to stuff and why it is. There's plenty of tradesmen who know less than the person at the store as well.
There's always a retired plumber or two working in the plumbing section. Maybe not other sections, but definitely plumbing. Good luck out there, DIYers!
Yea, plumbing was a poor choice for title, hah. Every home store in places I've lived always seems to have a knowledgeable person.
The city I live in has two big box stores. One has a retired plumber in the plumbing section. I’ll drive further to go to that one and wait patiently for his advice.
This is why I ask the Fediverse for home improvement tips first. Y'all will never steer me wrong. Plus my electrical breaker box doubles as a nice little space heater now, it's so warm!
You can save copper by using the ground wire as a neutral
Oh dear
They both connect to the same place anyway !!
The electrician in me is twitching lol
I work at a hardware store. Amusingly, the most detailed questions I’ve gotten have been asked by people calling on the phone. I love it when people have a specific item number and I can just look it up on the computer right away. We have detailed descriptions and specifications of most things in our inventory, and I’m more than happy to spend time helping people who know what they’re talking about.
When people call and give a vague description of an item that may or may not even exist, then I get exasperated. If I’m too busy to play twenty questions, I’ll just say that we don’t carry it. I have no problem helping that same person when they’re in the store, but when they call, they’re inevitably doing other things and aren’t listening to me anyway. If they won’t take their own problem seriously, I’m not going to, either.
I would usually just read whatever it said on the box and the customer would seem pleased with my knowledge.
That's pretty standard here. No one expects the answer of a plumber, but they usually help somewhat
"I know more than you" https://youtu.be/IEhHEOIYgMY?si=oeVR3o3scSn8Y01o
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/IEhHEOIYgMY?si=oeVR3o3scSn8Y01o
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Even worse, doing it on check out.
Of course. The delusion that some billionaire knows fucking anything better than anyone else.
