Vacation bummer

Kryptoglow

Kryptoglow

Joined
Jan 8, 2011
Messages
651
I took the family to Dollywood this past week and had a blast. One thing I really wanted to do was go to smoky mountain knifeworks (near by) as I've heard they have everything. I walked in and my heart rate doubled. There were knife counters as far as the eye could see. I've seen all kinds of knives online...and figured I would finally be able to fondle a few in person. I made my way to the first section and looked at a few bokers including the illumination. A sales rep showed up to offer assistance and I quickly showed him a list I had with five or six brands and asked for some direction. Out of the 5 or six he claimed they only had one of the models listed. I assumed he was aware of the inventory but a minute later I found a stack of knives which was one of the models they did not have. I decided to ask someone who looked a bit more with it about the models. The new helper also said "sorry, no emersons, no spyfox collaborations,no lonewolf models, no remington wit N690CO steel... I kept looking around and found them all. The rem N690's were only 8-10 feet from the remington sales guy I had asked. The emersons had their own large case right next to the esee's. I found the lonewolf knives a few minutes later. After looking for an hour or so and talking to some of the help:), I realized that no one I spoke with was a real knife enthusiast. I'm sure the owner of the store is doing quite well but I think he is loosing loads of business. The store is right in the middle of one of the most popular vacation destinations and his help is quick to say we don't have it.

One other thing. I'm a fan of Esee knives and there was a large display of their products in the store. What puzzled me was a pile of broken esee knives at the bottom of the display. They were propped up on pieces of slate with moss neatly tucked here and there. Why would someone offer a product and right below the product display (nicely) a bunch of them broken to pieces?

Overall I enjoyed the store and hope to go back. I just spent most of my time searching and less fondling.

Thanks for listening to my sort of rant.
 
IIRC the ESEE knife display were of obviously abused blade that were replaced because of their no nonsense no questions asked warranty, I believe the owners of these knives were sent replacement blades and told not to purchace anymore ESEE products, IIRC.

As far as the knowledge base of the help there, i can't comment...
 
Yeah I've been over there, the good: business that employs locals in an area that in general quite possibly suffers from lack of jobs. the bad: those folks might not care or know anything about knives.
 
I had a somewhat similar experience while visiting SMKW last fall. The knife in the photos below is one of mine and I have always referred to it as a Colt "Railsplitter".

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All of these that I have ever seen listed on auction sites are listed as Railsplitters as well. (look up "Colt Railsplitter" or "Colt Knife" and you'll see what I mean)

I was at the Colt counter at SMKW and I did not see one of these so I asked the clerk about it. Keep in mind that SMKW has this particular knife made for them under the Colt name. The clerk told me that Colt has never made a Railsplitter. I didn't have my Railsplitter with me but I told him that I had a Colt Railsplitter at home. He asked his coworker who was behind the same counter and he also said that Colt never made a Railsplitter pattern.

I left there feeling like I was in The Twilight Zone. How could two clerks that work for the company that commissioned the knife not know of its existence?

As it turns out, SMKW has this knife listed on their website as a "Rancher Stockman". On every other website that sells them, they are listed as "Railsplitters".

So technically, the clerks were right but I still call it a Railsplitter.:)
 
This is something we call "the culture of mediocrity". We see it all over the U.S.A. and it is scary. People just seem to want to get by rather than be exceptional. Martin Luther King Jr. said something like "if your going to be a garbage man then be the best garbage man there ever was!" or somthing to that effect. Generations of the past used to take pride in what they did. They played to win and for keeps. I think there have been far too many awards given for participating rather than winning. Winners deserve the award and the losers should get jack. They should go home feeling like a loser so they can work hard to win the next time they compete. I've seen many bussineses go under because they went soft. Hire the best and train them to be even better and you'll be sucessful. Hire dopes and you'll fail. Then blame some boogyman for your failure. This time it was a store clerk, I've seen doctors, lawyers, police, and even military personel act like this. I can't wait until I need their help. Rant over.

Unklfranco
 
If you hire knife knuts to work in your knife store, they'll spend all their time talking knives instead of waiting on customers and expect to be paid more because they know something. At least that seems to be the consensus among retail store owners. I've seen a knife enthusiast behind the counter chatting with one customer and ignoring three others. Maybe he knew the other two were tire kickers, and I was in no hurry, but still.
 
T. Erdelyi said:
IIRC the ESEE knife display were of obviously abused blade that were replaced because of their no nonsense no questions asked warranty, I believe the owners of these knives were sent replacement blades and told not to purchace anymore ESEE products, IIRC.

As far as the knowledge base of the help there, i can't comment...
Click to expand...

I imagine they were abused as you stated but I still don't know why anyone would set up a careful display of broken items below the ones they are selling...

Believe it or not, two of the people I asked about the different models looked them up on their computer and then claimed they had none. I asked one fella about a gerber freeman which is being discontinued. It was marked at 29.99. I asked him how many did he have in stock? He immediately said this is the last one we have. I quickly pointed to another one in the case next to us. He then went to the computer and said we show 6 in stock but theres a note that we can only find 1. At least they now have two.

In my OP I mentioned the emersom knives. How can a knife store not know that they have in stock a large selection of one of the most popular production folders. Keep in mind I asked two employee's.

If I were the owner I would ask my employees to at least memorize a list of brand names offered. Maybe then, memorizing the gettysburg address in middle school would make sense...
 
unklfranco said:
This is something we call "the culture of mediocrity". We see it all over the U.S.A. and it is scary. People just seem to want to get by rather than be exceptional. Martin Luther King Jr. said something like "if your going to be a garbage man then be the best garbage man there ever was!" or somthing to that effect. Generations of the past used to take pride in what they did. They played to win and for keeps. I think there have been far too many awards given for participating rather than winning. Winners deserve the award and the losers should get jack. They should go home feeling like a loser so they can work hard to win the next time they compete. I've seen many bussineses go under because they went soft. Hire the best and train them to be even better and you'll be sucessful. Hire dopes and you'll fail. Then blame some boogyman for your failure. This time it was a store clerk, I've seen doctors, lawyers, police, and even military personel act like this. I can't wait until I need their help. Rant over.

Unklfranco
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+1 :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
yablanowitz said:
If you hire knife knuts to work in your knife store, they'll spend all their time talking knives instead of waiting on customers and expect to be paid more because they know something. At least that seems to be the consensus among retail store owners. I've seen a knife enthusiast behind the counter chatting with one customer and ignoring three others. Maybe he knew the other two were tire kickers, and I was in no hurry, but still.
Click to expand...

Excellent counter point.
 
I don't know about having people work for you that don't care about what your doing? I believe that would lead to poor customer service and a don't care attitude kind of like I experienced at SMKW. I'd say hire a knife nut who has an understanding of courtesy and customer service. Any employee who stands around chatting and ignoring customers while being paid is a moron and will be a moron where ever they hold a position....
 
Well a good business owner will take the time to train the help, or at least have a manager and asst. mgr. do the training. That being said, how many times have I gotten a clown across the gun store counter giving horrible advice to a novice shopper? Too much.
The solution seems to be that the owner ( of any business ) needs to stick his head in the shop long enough to get the lay of the land, train the employees, and in turn, treat the employees like real people.
 
You don't have to be an enthusiast to work in a retail store but you should at least have basic product knowledge. From my experience with SMKW and what I've heard of the founders, the attitude of their employees seems consistent.
 
As a stupid college kid I worked in a hardware store that was chain affiliated but family owned. This was in the 80's as the big box hardware retailers were taking over. Imagine being a dumb kid who needs to pay for college in an area where finding work was not easy which means you take what's available. I learned a lot but my moron factor was right up there back then. I got better but co-workers routinely said 'If you can't dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with b.s.' and I am sure there were times when I did one or the other. Looking back now I was 19 and working 60 hours week and glad to be getting what I was for pay. Long term the best thing I got was an education in honesty, technical skills, customer service and knowing when to walk away. I finally left there after being told to stop selling propane by the pound for customers refilling BBQ grill 21lb tanks. Someone would come in with a tank that had over half a fill in it and we were supposed to charge them for a full filling. I would send them back in for a refund and then show them how to check the weight at home on their bathroom scale. Man alive did I get reamed for doing that so my short stint at that place came to an end and I went to work nights for UPS loading airplanes for Next Day Air.
The hardware store later closed, does anyone wonder why. SMKW's probably has some of the same dumb kids trying to earn money for the truck they want to drive or college. Hopefully they pick up some real world knowledge but they have to be open to learning and admit to being ignorant when they really are. Store owners would rather not have their clerks admit to being stupid when a question is asked...brilliance or b.s. is the standard unless someone is building their skills and knowledge base with integrity. It won't earn you many early sales awards but long term you can hold your head up. It has made me a bit more patient with ignorant young store clerks, especially if they look like they are trying to learn.
 
You make a good point, but if the whole store is full of know-nothing employees it says a lot about the business.
 
Stelth said:
You make a good point, but if the whole store is full of know-nothing employees it says a lot about the business.
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Fortunately there was a mix of people with experience and skills. I was hired more for muscle than brains. Yes, a store where no one has a clue would be aggravating. Generally I want to find what I am looking for on my own and when I do look for help I wait for whoever is the busy one, they generally are who you will end up going to anyhow if you can't get good help.
 
Most retailers are only willing (or able) to invest in the minimum amount of training an employee needs to cover the basics of their job. The larger the operation, the worse it is. Even enthusiastic, competent, hard-working people are too often stifled because those running the operation are disinclined (out of habit or necessity) to take the time to give the worker the information they need to do their job well. And of course, in retail, you'll usually find that people are there more often because they need a job and less because selling spatulas is their passion in life.
 
Being a knife enthusiast,or not, has little to do with being a SALESPERSON,imho.An on the ball employee might not have ever heard of Emerson knives,but would soon have the information to be able to sell them to a customer. A knife enthusiast,who becomes a real salesperson,will only spend time chatting about knives if no potential buyers are nearby.A real salesperson will take it upon themselves to gain a working knowledge of the product,and be aware of available stock. And be able to communicate this to interested customers. There is a difference between a Sales Professional and a Warm Body.
 
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