Well, that was amusing...

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xxguitarist

Joined
Jun 12, 2007
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Met a friend-of-a-friend today, and was talking online with her. Turns out she's a rep for cutco knives.. She didn't know what barrage of questions she was in for when she bet she could sway me from my Wusthof knives. After a while I was just playing devil's advocate asking about the steel they use, what RC it is hardened to, and whether it's differential or not, etc.
Best though, was when (before she'd figured out that i knew something about them) she suggested that using a diamond stone was a bad idea and would dull a knife :confused:
Course, I set off on a (friendly) rant about how one should use a medium then fine stone then switch to a strop etc, removing the burr, etc.
She got the point after that one.
I think I wound up teaching her a few things.
Anyone else blindside someone who thought they knew a lot about this topic or similar?
 
Sorry, I thought it applied to the " humor, and everyday life." part of the description of the previous location, though it is generally knife related.
 
want proof that people that sell stuff dont know anything is to go to a car dealership, electronics store, or lowes.

suprisingly though, the guy who stocks meat at my local kroger picked out a DYNAMITE porterhouse for me today. oh, and I used to work at a circuit city for a while, but really those are just exceptions that prove the rule ;)
 
p_mcmanis said:
want proof that people that sell stuff dont know anything is to go to a car dealership, electronics store, or lowes.
Click to expand...

well, consumers need to realize that when they walk into a place like lowes, or circuit city or whatever, most of the employees there are usually more concerned about getting high on their lunch break in the parking lot than they are about the customers. most of them are not experts at anything, unless their positions requires them to sell a certain amount in order to keep their job. i worked at a big name electronics retail store for a few years, and most of the people who worked there were either busy getting high in the parking lot or helping their buddies rip off the store. the customers were really the least of the concern of the people working there. i saw a customer pick up a display tv off a shelf and walk out the store with it once.
 
As shocking as it may seem to many here, the world is not entirely composed of hard core knife nuts. Most folks aren't interested in the metallurgy of knives, aren't interested in heat treatments nor in the rockwell hardness value of their knives, and are as obtuse as the knives in their kitchen drawers. Most folks think there are only two varieties of steel - "stainless" (obviously superior) and steel that rusts. It is to this vast mass of blissfully uneducated folks that Cutco markets its wares - not to folks who know a thing or two about what makes up a great knife.

That said, there are some things about Cutco products that are not unappealing. The lifetime sharpening and serration pattern (if you like serrated blades, of course) are respectable. The Cutco handles are actually pretty comfortable and ergonomic for a lot of folks' hands. And a couple of Cutco products are actually decent - for example, I think the spatula spreader is a damn fine tool.

I'll give you a personal example. Aside from the spatula spreader, I would personally never use a Cutco product, yet in our kitchen drawer reside several Cutco knives. These are used (and loved) by my wife, who has been lectured by me at length about the inferiority of these knives compared to other, cheaper knives, and who knows that they are made of mediocre materials and are of quite average workmanship. Yet she still doggedly sticks to her beloved Cutco knives. She loves serrated knives and to her, Cutco is the epitome of what works for her in the kitchen. She's not interested in the finer points of knives - she's interested in knives she doesn't have to mess with too much and doesn't have to sharpen (since she knows I won't touch them), and can throw into the dishwasher without pangs of guilt. To her, it's all about convenience, and no amount of my coaching/lecturing will ever change that. She's the exemplar of the Cutco customer.
 
I have a complete set of Cutco knives. My wife bought them before we got married.

I sold them to her.

I doubt she would have bought them had she not been enamored of me, but there you have it. I repented soon after, and ceased selling them, by the way. I like them as knives, but they are overpriced for what you get, and the supposedly forever sharp edge gets dull sooner than you would think. I read countless testimonials from customers saying such things as "I have used these knives for 12 years and never sharpened them, and they still cut just as well as they ever did."

I got news for you: That customer has forgotten what a sharp knife feels like when you cut something.

OK, that probably wasn't news to most of those on this forum.

Anyway, in response to the OP, I generally steer away from people wanting to talk about Cutco, as I am rather embarrassed that I once represented their company.
 
The electronics stores & home improvement stores are bad too, I agree.
I've helped other customers in radioshacks while the employees had a blank look on their faces.
 
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