Originally Posted by marthe brault-hunt
Count me in as a big mouth! Most stores have a simple requirement i.e. to convert as an example 3/4 to .75 so they can prepare the sale slip for the cash if they don't have a scanner to do it, The clerks are paid minimum wages would the store ask for sewing knowledge, it would become a specialized job which would mean higher salary to pay for the owner of the store. The unknown rule is that the store is not responsible for information given by a clerk to a customer because this is outside of their job definition, Going back to the post , the clerk was there to cut exactly what the young girl ordered, The clerk that ask you questions is doing it on her own!
I was in Walmart, paying for blank cds, when a woman walked up to the register and asked for some one to help her with yarn for an afghan. They sent over the lady that works in crafts. Being nosy, lol, I pushed my cart over to see what advise she was giving her. Turned out, she had no real knowledge of yarns, and between them, they were stumped. The woman buying the yarn was picking it up for someone else who had given her vague information on how much to get for an afghan for a patient in a nursing home. It needed to cover his bed. No measurements, of course. No ideas on color, kind, amount.
I had been crocheting for years, and have made many afghans. I helped the customer select a nice soft yarn, the hook, a simple pattern, explained about dye lots, and how some yarns don't require you to check that all the dye lot numbers are the same. She left happy, and the associate was happy to have had the help. So much in fact, that any time I want something from that area, she will go the extra mile to see if it is available in the store, either on the shelves or in the back. Big box stores and a lot of these other places we go do not train their people that end up in the areas they work.
I was in JoAnn's last weekend, and the woman who cut my fabric probably knew less about yardage than I do...and that's saying a lot, lol.