Store employees embellishing?

Doesn't happen in my store, although people who have worked there longer than I have accused my boss of sometimes going out of his way to push old stock regardless of what a customer wants.

I usually go above and beyond to help someone find what they need, whether it's a one bottle or a lot, because talking to people is much more rewarding and fun than any other part of my job. I never hype things that I don't like, and if I haven't had something in question, I'll ask the other sales guys, as they're all honest people who just love beer. I even warn people when something has a large price tag (for noobs, $17 for a 4pk of Ted Fidy seems kind of crazy) and try to persuade them to try 1 serving and get the rest another time if they really like it.

If we get some new whale, I always inform people who sound interested in craft stuff, but I don't lie about having it or claiming that it's the best whale ever. That's not cool.

 

Dude is totally full of crap. As someone who works in a retail store I try not to bullshit my customers. A. It doesn't make you look good if they know you're lying. B. It can mess with your credibility. Working at a small retail store, credibility is the BIGGEST thing we have, so if I'm lying to someone I'm not only making myself look like an ass, I'm making the store look like one too. If there's a new beer in that I haven't had and someone asks me how it is, I tell them the truth or if I've heard from beer geek friends, I let them know what they've said. One of the biggest problems is that people have different palates, just cause I tell someone that this beer has tropical fruit and a piney finish, doesn't mean that they will get the same flavor. So does that make someone a lair?

 

Yeah.. its gotten ridiculous here (and everywhere from what i gather) in the last three years.

Ya gotta have ppl to gopickitupformebro for ya.
And then reciprocate once in a while (or better yet, do it first (buy a few bottles of the special release shit instead of just one for yourself, and hold some for ppl then hopefully they'll think of you ).)

I do lots of text coordinating on day of releases...all the damn time....it's a huge pain in the ass
And i call a lot of stores.
It helps to bring beers from your trades/extras to be nice to ppl...but sometimes you get shut out. That's the way it is
This year i missed bourbon county coffee entirely and got one bottle of backyard after a lot of looking and mistiming
Missed sucaba and FW 17 even parabola. But fortunately some friends got me some extras....
It is part of the new way. Craft is hip and somewhat popular now ...

 

Yep.

 

I know that people tend to not call out these stores directly by name but I want to make a positive shout out to the beer manager at Encinitas, Ca. BevMo. The guy is a genuine beer lover, is honest about what he's tried, and gives very good descriptions of flavors, a very nice guy to boot!

 

Well, age doesn't really make that much of a difference, but from my experience at least on average the IQ of the people I've met who were wearing skinny jeans was lower than those who do not. I don't know why. Maybe it's because as men our brains are actually down there and they're squeezing the life out of them?

 

TS, i'm in CT as well...obviously a long shot that i'd know it but, which store is this?

Also, I would have been annoyed as well. When somebody lies about stupid shit like that and ham up everything to try to impress, it's just flat out irritating. The people who are claiming he was "just trying to make polite conversation" or whatever are morons. Since when has it been difficult to converse with somebody without making shit up?

 

I went to augusta back in october and walked into about 4 different stores looking for Pumking. None of them had it but I went into this one store and they had a pretty good selection of beer and the store owner came over to talk to me while I was shopping and started bragging about how his store has over 500 different beers and its the best beer store in augusta and how he had all the good stuff. I asked him if he had any pumking because I was trying to get a few bottles for some friends back home (it was never distributed to my locale in south georgia). Anyway this guy looks me straight in the face and told me it hasn't come out yet. Now, I had already purchased some pumking earlier in the month in Atlanta so I told him I had already bought some this year and he gave me that look like damn he caught me in a lie and made up some crap about how the distro guy must have lied to him or something. And then He had two 6 packs of jai alai and told me he was the only store in GA that it gets distributed too anymore. Don't know if it was true then but my local store now has an abundance of it. Anyway it didn't bother me too much but I just thought it was funny.

My local store is pretty good but its like someone already said, I'm the teacher and they are the students. I don't know too much about beer but I know a lot more than they do and have to request beer to get shipped there becuase they only know about the typical beers you can find anywhere. Oh well, they are learning.

I do want to shout out to the employees at Total Wine though. It's rare that I find an employee there that doesn't know their stuff. Especially Chris who works in the Kennesaw Atlanta location. He's helped point me in good directions when it comes to new beer styles I've never tried before. In my opinion if you don't know about beer then you shouldn't work at a store that sells primarily craft beer. It's like a car salesman not knowing anything about the cars they are selling.

 

To the OP: Let me get this right... you came across a 2008 six pack of Bigfoot in the cooler and left it there? Your mistake!

 

Honestly, the OP needs to get a grip and grow a pair

 

Yeah I heard a story clerk a while back explaining to a customer that its called a barlywine because the ABV technically makes it a wine. I laughed my ass off and went about my business.

 

The majority of cooler jockeys don't know shit about beer. Don't get me wrong, some know their stuff and know it well, but in my experience most don't. I'm too polite to put them in their place, but if they're being arrogant or jerky about it I won't hesitate to drop a nuclear bomb of beer geekdom on them.

 

It seems to me this raises another set of questions. One - as brewer, would I trust a store to represent my product properly. That's no different than any business, so pick on cars. Can you really trust a salesman to represent the vehicle accurately? Where's the hype stop and reality begin, and where do they outright misrepresent things? The butcher example is good as far as it goes, but doesn't apply to everything. Most stores I visit I don't see the same people twice - a dedicated butcher shop hopefully has the same few trained professional wielding the knife. Johhn Bagodonuts making minimum wage stocking liquor store shelves is not the same thing. Are they trained beyond "pick things up, put things down, pull the trigger on the pricing gun? Maybe some few are.

Two - from the consumer perspective, it is almost asking "will I like this beer" and that is something only your own taste buds can decide. Should a store employee be able to tell you a little about the beer? Maybe, but with the number of beers on the shelves these days and the number of mostly unskilled/semi-skilled store employees out there it is pretty doubtful. I'm not saying dedicated beer folks don't exist in retail - but I think they are few and far between based on my experience. So it is incumbent on me to study up and know my stuff. Maybe I eventually find the equivalent of a good butcher or fishmonger in some bottle shop - it would be cool if I did. But even then, I wouldn't count on an employee to give me an idea of whether I am going to like a beer or not even if they could carry on an intelligent conversation about the characteristics. It could be a beer crafted with the greatest love, attention to detail, etc and that would not guarantee I will like it - that is up to me.

I guess the short version is you pay your money and take your chances, but at least we as beer lovers can take it as a personal responsibility to learn.

 

Something similar happens here. Until you get to know the guys at one of the stores, theyre pretty much hands off. They wont lie or be a douche to you, but thats because they probably wont talk to you unless you ask them a question. After youve gone there quite a few times and get to know them, you get the hook up (this place only does pints, but if its not too busy theyll pour a sample if youre a regular. otherwise theyll flat out refuse).

PS this place is always playing amazing metal music. Plus, their prices are generally lower by about $1 for packs/bottles and higher for drafts. Also, its like the largest craft beer store in the state.

The guys there are genuinely awesome and knowledgeable.

 

Can we also remember, however, that there are also some people selling beer in retail locations that really DO know what they're talking about, though?