Employee attitudes at beer stores

I always try to give knowledge to the pups that walk in asking the questions, which you can tell are uninformed. Or the wanderers searching for Hunahpu or Marshal Zhukov six months later on the shelves, after the initial release. Florida is a free for all for beer nowadays. Everything seems to be special release and when it says that, it vanishes at my stores within hours. Its not like Colorado or California where you can find great beer sitting on the shelves year round in mass.

 

The craft beer store guy has become this decade's record store guy.

 

I work at a liquor store in St. Louis Park, MN. I try to be the guy that my customers can rely on for solid beer advice and customer service. Sucks to hear that I am the minority of liquor store employees.

 

He also doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.

 

It amazes me that store owners don't realize the value in saying to a good customer "Hey do you want a bottle of _______. I held on to one for you." To customers that spend a lot of money there.
I am willing to but 90% of my beer from a local store even though they are always $1 or so more than the chains. This is partially because a few times a b year I will here that statement.

 

I have nothing but great things to say about my favorite store (probably how they got to be my favorite). The store owner has employees over to her house for bottle shares of beer from her store. A select few of us regulars are also invited so I get nothing but a great service and discussion about beer when I go in.

 

I always go in with the lowest expectations. I can only be pleasantly surprised from that point

 

Kinda depends. I usually pull that kind of response out more for the guy telling me some beer is super rare, and that's why he decided to charge way way more than anyone else, usually said with a smile. And the beer is usually just a limited shelf beer, not anything truly rare. There's a store near me where the owner has a glass display case full of Pappy and I asked him, just for shits and giggles, what they went for. He basically told me they're not for sale, he just likes to display them, but since the price people will pay keeps going up, he'll hold them and get as much for them as possible. Again, smiling as if not's totally obnoxious, even if it is his right to do whatever the hell he wants to with them. Doesn't mean he will make many fans that way. That's more of the stare a long time because I'm trying to process this guys' assholity.

There is a specific kind of beer store employee I have encountered on occasion who will:
1. Assume you know nothing off right off the bat until:
2. You prove you know what you're talking about by asking for current releases that are "beer geek" material (limited/BA)
3. Shit on the beer you are interested in, and all others you suggest as alternatives
4. Recommend inferior beer in a style completely unrelated

They tend to get the stare a long time then walk away kind of response.

I've also had manager types call me a liar to my face when I told them about much lower prices at other spots. I even went into a liquor store to get my sister in law some relatively cheap wine I knew nothing about but knew it was 16.00 and the manager just flipped and went to his computer and said I made it up and he can't even get that from his distributor for that and it wasn't in NJ and what store and acted like he was going to call them. That's a stare and walk away moment.

Honestly I've had at minimum 90% good to great experiences and 10% or less of this kind of nonsense.

 

Also when my wife and I made a trip to the PNW last year I had some terrific experiences in Seattle. Chuck's Hop Shop in particular stood out. I loved going in and despite doing some research being blown away by how many relatively local breweries were bottling and how few of them I was at all familiar with or informed about. I just basically said hey this is what I like, make some recommendations, and the guys hooked us up and took a lot of time to talk and fill us in on some of the less heralded locals. Also asked a ton about the east coast beer scene (everywhere we went people wanted to know about HF and Heady Topper). I found this attitude wherever I went in Seattle and the outlying areas. Nobody assumed I was a complete newb or forced me to present my beer geek credentials, which is something one does encounter in other scenes.

 

Maltitude in Columbus GA has the coolest dudes always answer any questions and always talk to them about beer it's awesome, always look forward to going.

 

I find if you go to government stores here, you get people who know next to nothing about beer and probably don't even drink it themselves. There are exceptions, but I haven't found many. I certainly wouldn't ask for advice, but for the most part, I find they're polite and pleasant. If I go to private stores, I expect a bit more knowledge. I've only really had one bad experience with a clerk in a liquor store, and it wasn't even about what I was buying or what I knew or didn't know about beer, it was purely about my friend who went in with me not having ID on her. I didn't mind being a 26-year-old (at the time) walking in with another 26-year-old walking in to buy a few beers for the weekend and being refused so much as I minded how snarky the clerk was about it. That's the only bad experience I've had, though.

 

I have to admit that my favorite store is the local Bevmo. The staff are extremely nice and most are very knowledgeable. Really makes for a good experience every time I go

 

Not many comments from Illinois but generally the retail (beer) stores I go to the sales people are nice. Obviously some people have more knowledge than others and some you may want to ask questions of and others you would be wasting your time. It may be because I worked in retail for a long time that I try to be friendly and nice as well because I know how many jerks retail employees have to put up with. Generally retail is the the lowest paid and the most unappreciated of any career you can go into. Retail jobs are typically entry level jobs for many people like students, or maybe the last job at the end of someones career, unless they are the owner or manager or family of the owner. Also the hours are generally bad having to work either nights, weekends, or holidays. I refuse to go shopping on Turkey day and try to discourage family member from doing so because I feel it is unfair to retail workers to have to work on a national holiday. In my opinion for the people that are complaining if you give repect to the clerk in the beer store they will most likely give it back to you.

 

When I want a good beer, I go to my local bottle shop where I know and trust the owner. The staff are tremendous. I will happily pay higher prices to a locally owned business staffed by people who know their stuff.

 

I've only experienced something like this a handful of times. The most notable was when I was trying to shoot the
shit with a clerk at a store. I mentioned that I was heading up to Hill Farmstead in a few days and he goes "do you think you're special? I've been there, too." I haven't been back since.

This makes me really sad to read, as I work part time in a bottle shop (network engineer by day).

If I know more than someone, and they ask a question, I'll fill them in. If they don't ask, I won't bring it up. I don't get pissed if they don't know something, as not everyone spends the amount of time studying beer that I do. If they tell me something I don't know,I admit it and I remember what they tell me for next time.
If they like something I don't, I go "Awesome, man. Not my thing, but it's cool that you like it" and I don't get shitty if they hate something I love.

Thankfully, everyone in my shop is like that. (Come visit us if you're in Philly. I'm at The Loft/Iron Abbey in Horsham. We're cool and I love meeting BAs.)

 

Funny, I've met more customers with, shall we say, less-than-stellar attitudes than employees in my experience. Though plenty of fine people are involved in this hobby, far too many downright assholes populate the ranks as well.

 

Hmm. I've generally only encountered two types here in my area of AK: nice workers who know about beer, and nice workers who don't. I've never really had a bad customer service, but I can definitely tell when I'm talking to someone who knows/cares about beer and someone who just isn't into it. Those who really know about beer are an extreme minority.

People here don't really fuss about things, act pretentious, or smug much. I believe it may be partially related to the fact that the hipster presence (at least in my experience) is pretty negligible here.