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Comment by 8_hours_ago | Hacker News Reader

That's a benefit of shopping in a brick and mortar store! I used to always get annoyed and say "no thanks, I'm good" when the employee approached and asked that question, but then a friend told me that I should take their help. If you tell the employee what you are looking for, or that you don't know exactly what you are looking for, they will usually (about 75% in my experience) be very helpful. The employees tend to be very knowledgeable about what they are selling and have good advice about what to buy or what not to buy.

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> The employees tend to be very knowledgeable about what they are selling

That's often true of specialty stores, especially independent local ones. It's often not true of big chains and stores that don't have a narrow focus.

It's also often the case that they will steer you based on their knowledge of their sales incentive structure, which is often much better than their knowledge of product.

Yep, best example: car dealership.

In my experience, employees seem to have an uncanny ability to annoy me when I just want to browse, and avoid me when I want their help.

Out of the last 5 times I've gone into a store hoping to get some help and advice from an employee, I reckon 3/5 they have ignored me until I found what I was looking for, or concluded that they didn't have it and just left.

I've even put my hand up in the middle of a store, like I was in school, waiting for assistance because ther were so few employees around, or because after asking me if I needed help as I walked in the door, they lost interest in me, and decided to have a chat with their colleagues.

> I've even put my hand up in the middle of a store, like I was in school, waiting for assistance because ther were so few employees around, or because after asking me if I needed help as I walked in the door, they lost interest in me, and decided to have a chat with their colleagues.

I probably wouldn't have helped you either, that seems like incredibly strange behavior.

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