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Old 11-08-2009, 07:37 AM   #21
tusko
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Re: Helping other people choose the right Transformer...

Really this goes to another post I've made a while back, why are TFs displayed and marketted in such a confusing way? Often its a jumble of boxes and complexities that aren't easy to penetrate with a casual glace.
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Old 11-08-2009, 01:15 PM   #22
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Re: Helping other people choose the right Transformer...

OHHHH boy.

Times in the past year i've been asked "do you work here" when i don't - "lost count"

I'm a heavy frequenter of my local TRU and other stores with TF's (to point where i'm on first name basis with the tru OWNER and both managers).

And honestly, I just like seeing people happy, so guess it's in my nature to try n help whenever i see some poor lost/confused/clueless sap wondering a toy aisle.

Most notable stories from over the years?

once I was in during movie 1 my local TRU, hunting for a something or other, a pair of fellas were rifling thru the voyagers, looking at everyone, the I assumed father was going "he's got to be here", so i looked over and nicely asked what they wanted. he said his son desperately wanted a blackout. I just nearly groaned as we were already up to wave 5 of the TFM1 figures and locally blackout was LONG gone (the local TRU had only gotten maybe a dozen as was)

So i thought bout it, then quickly whipped out the old cell, speed dialed the next city over (30 min away) and talked my way to the right dept floor guy who I knew was also a collector. After abought 5 min I hung up & said "book it to newmarket guys, talk to so n so, he's holding one for you" and they ran like place was on fire.

Another time was in one of my local wally-worlds, and was in the isle looking for something when i saw this really confused poor young lady, it was just in the TFM1 / TFA time when we were getting repaints of stuff and tfa had just came out.

She was standing there lost and looking fairly distraught, so i asked her, bleeding heart that i am, what she was looking for.
"My son want's a bumblebee for his bday"

Of cource my immediate reaction was (from working in retail), age, which turned out to be 5/6 range.

At the time she was looking thru the movie-formers, I quickly took her over to the quad with the last repaint of bee on it, but asked her if he was technicall minded or more into the character, she said he wasn't and he loved the char on the tv. Well that answered everything as i then led her back to the toy isle and rifled and handed her TFA be and said "here, this is what he wants then". Really only took 5 min of my time, but she was so happy got me a hug and a peck on the cheek from a not half bad looking lady (though i omitted that part when i recounted that story to the wife )

End all, i find helping these people makes thier day's better and generally just gives you that old big warm fuzzy feeling.

it's a trait we definitely could use more of in the modern world.
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Old 11-08-2009, 02:37 PM   #23
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Re: Helping other people choose the right Transformer...

my brother used to work at wally world. He told me that one time when he was stocking at the toy section, one lady came up to him and asked if he worked there, ignoring the obvious blue vest and nametag that indicated that indeed he did. my brother being the comedian, told her that in fact, no he did not work there.
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Old 11-08-2009, 02:37 PM   #24
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Re: Helping other people choose the right Transformer...

a couple times, seems to happen more often in the zellers here because of the jumbled mess the toy section is always in, can't remember the details, but i helped a couple find a certain voyager for their son
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Old 11-08-2009, 03:19 PM   #25
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Re: Helping other people choose the right Transformer...

I've helped people over the years. Parents, adults, employees, and children have received my advice.

I don't give it out to tell them what to do, but I give it out to try to prevent them from making bad decisions. Its up to them to decide.

If a child is with the parent, I do what I can to not say anything, and let the child tell the parent what he/she wants.

If people are confused, I might pipe up with some information, normally not very much. Stuff like "there are more in that aisle" or "this one is good, and this one is evil"

After that there are times when the parents or children will ask me more questions, and I'll do what I can to answer them.

I've suggested ultra and voyager universe figures to a 5 year old child and his mother instead of 25th anniversary Prime. I didn't hand him a figure and tell him to buy it, I just pointed at a few on the shelves and told the mother that those ones would be much easier for him to play with and were much cheaper. The kid asked questions about them and I answered which ones were good guys, and which ones were bad guys, which ones were planes and cars, and if they made noises or fired missiles. I suggested to avoid the movie stuff, since there's a lot of little frustrating fiddly bits on them, but I did also point to several Animated figures.

In the end I think he ended up picking Universe Stormcloud, since he liked the way it looked over Powerglide and Silverbolt, it was big, and he liked planes, even though it was a bad guy. I told him he didn't have to play with him as a bad guy, and he could make him whatever name he wanted. And he could play with him with his other toys, not just Transformer. All that kind of blew his mind and he liked his choice even more.

The mother thanked me and said she was very lost with this sort of thing and that it was all new to the child also. I made all of it much easier than she thought it could be.

I didn't pick anything up that day, mainly because the shelves were pretty bare and I was just checking the price on 25th Prime, but my mood was boosted and I felt pretty good about myself for a while afterward.



On other occasions, while asking questions to store employees, there were a few times where they thought I was the Hasbro representative and were really willing to give me like full access to all sorts of information about what was in the back and stock levels, and info from those telzon guns.

I never took advantage of any of that though, since I figured that it might be really bad for the employee to give out info like that to just some random guy. Sure, I might have abused the assumptions and asked them to check for something in the back, but that's something they should do anyways.

Last edited by Shepp; 11-08-2009 at 03:22 PM.
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Old 11-08-2009, 03:33 PM   #26
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Re: Helping other people choose the right Transformer...

Haha, last time wasn't all that impressive for me, but there was a lady looking at both ROTF Deluxe Sideswipe and Swerve this past Halloween in the local Newmarket Wal-Mart where I was with my wife, brother and some friends, and she was wondering which one her son would like more. I asked if he'd seen ROTF, she said 'No' as he was too young in her opinion to see it, than I asked what his favorite color was and she said Red, so I told her to go with Swerve.

Than, this past week, I was checking out Zellers at the 404 for new Transformers or Star Wars pieces and an older gentlemen, who looked super confused, asked me if I knew anything about this stuff and I pulled a Sheldon Cooper and said: "I know everything about this stuff." Long story short, I helped him track down a Clone Wars Turbo Tank and Turbo Tank Support Squad set for his nephew's christmas present...if that doesn't make him the favorite uncle, I don't know what will.
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Old 11-08-2009, 08:56 PM   #27
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Re: Helping other people choose the right Transformer...

I remember one time, fall 2005, I was at TRU in the TF section naturally and there was a lady with a cart full of other toys. Anyways minding my own business I saw 4 G1 reissues hiding behind some other non-TF toys near the TF section. Since I bought everything during a sale a few weeks before (think it was 30% off or about $28 each) I grabbed Richochet just to check the price for fun. Scanned in at $0.01 So naturally I grab the other 3, rodimus, smokescreen, and hoist and all scan in at $0.01 too. So gleefully I go back with all 4 in hand and frantically search for more when the lady asks where I found those and what would I suggest for TF. Turns out she was buying toys for kids for her community centre, with money they raised + donations. All along I was planning to buy all 4 plus add a couple random stuff to pad the bill and just return the extra stuff later, and walk away with $0.01 TFs. But I told the lady these scanned in at 1 cent and the cashier would probably not even notice or care since she had a cart full of toys anyways and gave her the 4 TFs.
She thanked me and that was that. I didn't stick around to see if she got the toys for 1 cent but I can't imagine she didn't.
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Old 11-08-2009, 10:22 PM   #28
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Re: Helping other people choose the right Transformer...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Soundwaveblaster View Post
I remember one time, fall 2005, I was at TRU in the TF section naturally and there was a lady with a cart full of other toys. Anyways minding my own business I saw 4 G1 reissues hiding behind some other non-TF toys near the TF section. Since I bought everything during a sale a few weeks before (think it was 30% off or about $28 each) I grabbed Richochet just to check the price for fun. Scanned in at $0.01 So naturally I grab the other 3, rodimus, smokescreen, and hoist and all scan in at $0.01 too. So gleefully I go back with all 4 in hand and frantically search for more when the lady asks where I found those and what would I suggest for TF. Turns out she was buying toys for kids for her community centre, with money they raised + donations. All along I was planning to buy all 4 plus add a couple random stuff to pad the bill and just return the extra stuff later, and walk away with $0.01 TFs. But I told the lady these scanned in at 1 cent and the cashier would probably not even notice or care since she had a cart full of toys anyways and gave her the 4 TFs.
She thanked me and that was that. I didn't stick around to see if she got the toys for 1 cent but I can't imagine she didn't.

I am humbled by your generosity, good sir.
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Old 11-08-2009, 10:28 PM   #29
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Re: Helping other people choose the right Transformer...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Soundwaveblaster View Post
I remember one time, fall 2005, I was at TRU in the TF section naturally and there was a lady with a cart full of other toys. Anyways minding my own business I saw 4 G1 reissues hiding behind some other non-TF toys near the TF section. Since I bought everything during a sale a few weeks before (think it was 30% off or about $28 each) I grabbed Richochet just to check the price for fun. Scanned in at $0.01 So naturally I grab the other 3, rodimus, smokescreen, and hoist and all scan in at $0.01 too. So gleefully I go back with all 4 in hand and frantically search for more when the lady asks where I found those and what would I suggest for TF. Turns out she was buying toys for kids for her community centre, with money they raised + donations. All along I was planning to buy all 4 plus add a couple random stuff to pad the bill and just return the extra stuff later, and walk away with $0.01 TFs. But I told the lady these scanned in at 1 cent and the cashier would probably not even notice or care since she had a cart full of toys anyways and gave her the 4 TFs.
She thanked me and that was that. I didn't stick around to see if she got the toys for 1 cent but I can't imagine she didn't.
I tip my hat to you. Very admireable.
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Old 11-08-2009, 11:20 PM   #30
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Re: Helping other people choose the right Transformer...

I have helped people many many times. It's a great feeling.

Unless you get those people who look at you like a freak for helping them with a toyline....

I have had many good experiences though. The look of joy on a kids face, combined with the look on a parents face when I saved them money (it's happened, heh)

One time, a parent was on the phone with her husband or somebody and they were back and forth describing the character. I asked her what her kid wanted, and based on the little description, I was able to find it in 2 seconds. After thanking me, she proceeded to talk to her husband about the random guy in the toy isle who was so helpful and saved her day
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