Originally Posted by MEversbergII

Yeah, the kind of people who tend to know a lot about "stuff" tend to be able to sell better-paying skills elsewhere. The last time I worked retail I had a pretty good handle on things but that was only because we had a very limited focus (shipping / packing related goods and services).



I don't go into my local Wal-mart much, but I had noticed over the years that there were fewer and fewer compared to how I remember it being as a kid. Back then, there were department specialists - my mother even had a friendship with one who ran the crafts supply section. That doesn't seem to be the case, now, as I've definitely seen the same lady pushing carts of petfood to one section as I've seen handling the groceries and baby supplies. Probably not really any time to oggle the goods and develop any working knowledge of them.

I also noticed this at Lowes, too - a decade ago, my Lowes had some dedicated lumber guys who did cuts and other stuff like that. Now I just kinda have to find a guy, and the last time I was in there I went through two people who weren't confident in using their saw enough to do cuts for me. I knew a guy who worked there - for about three months of the year he was lawn and garden - the rest of the time he was in the loading docks (and this year he was only in lawn for a couple of weeks before having to cover some other section). Can't say I'd bother to learn much either.