hey sony! it's not good enough.

foreword: ok, it's long. if you can't handle it, then skip. don't read it then come complain that it's long, ya?! some stories are meant to be long. not everything can be short and sweet in this world, except for me of course. :-)

hello? mr sony san, your salesmen sucks. ok, so maybe he doesn't exist. it's a corporation, i get, and there is no actual mr sony behind the whole scene, now or in previous recorded history. but still, your salespeople suck.

everybody knows sony, right? ranging from cameras, to computers and laptops, televisions, home theatre systems, home audio, gaming electronical equipments, they have achieved a very solid share of the market and worlwide recognition. but this same sony, with salesmen so many in each shop that they are hovering and lingering in all corners of the store, just not in your corner, have employed staffs that are quite determined to sabotage business, and their bottom line profit.

walked into the sony centre at midvalley over the weekend. was looking for a digital photoframe for brother's birthday. i basically knew the specs and the prices, so it was a simple matter of getting a new unit and paying for it. walked around the store a little trying to locate the product. zilch. no one offered to help either. approached a salesman who was standing nearby, staring vacantly at a laptop, imitating the life-art of a metal pole. had to double-check that the iron-on badge on his t-shirt was indeed sony's, because his performing art of the lamp post is too convincing. i asked him about the product, to which he furnish 'out of stock'. ahhhh, but of course. that's the standard reply of malaysian salespeople. out of stock. even for shoes of any models or size. they don't need to flip the bottom to see the stock list stuck on the back. they don't even need to touch the shoe. it's still, and forever will be, out of stock. i don't understand why they don't get more stock of it in the first place, especially with generic products like the photoframe, which does not distinguish by size or colour. get a few more in stock just to act as door stopper for the time being, if nothing else. how can you convince customers to buy things if the item is out of stock, especially this being a latest addition to their product list and not some forgotten obsolete model of things that people have forgotten. ahhhh, i'm ranting.

anyway, he was reciting off the top of his mind, we have two models, one for $899 and the other for $1099. the thing about telling customers the price, is to get it right first. especially when the customer has already done her homework, and the salesperson representing the company, has not. go to the klcc branch. we may have it there. no 'if you'll like to leave your phone number, we can always order it for you'. or 'i can call the klcc branch to check if they have and ask them to keep one for you'. nopey nope. there's always the philips one upstairs, nearer and selling for cheaper, you knowwwwww. nope. obviously they didn't know. and they didn't care either. the little sales proceeds that could have gone into paying a portion of their salary vanished into thin air. couldn't care less. ahhhhh, a true master of the zen study of 'hakuna matata'. didn't bother to inform me that there was another sony branch in the gardens wing nextdoor either and perhaps i can try there first and save myself some petrol. nope. the customer guidebook only teaches them to the point of announcing grandeurly 'there is no stock', with an air of indifference and a flick of the wrist if you can master it. finito. let the customer go. we don't need them.

so, off i trotted off to the gardens wing to check out the other sony outlet. three salesmen were gathered around the counter. the entire shop with nary a customer. i'm not surprised, with their amazing salesmanship. i asked the same question. the senior one, i deduce he is more senior as he seems to be less lost and is apparently the only one who flicked through the newest product brochure, replied with the standard reply 'out of stock'. he would have made his fellow salesmen proud! the other two was looking at each other and mumbling digital photoframe? what's that? we have that? they are more elevated in status, the blur-king status that is. every morning their mantra is "we just have to stand around and look handsome. we are not selling products. as long as we stand tall like a pole, the products will sell itself. nevermind what we are selling. who cares what we are selling? the customers are here to see us." no "we'll order for you if you like to come back". then again, i was already turning away in disgust.

trotted back to best denki electrical store downstairs, where i saw the original item in the first place. boy, this is turning out to be a long story. well, i can't help it if there is so much inefficiency to share, can i? was running out of time so i basically wanted to grab a salesperson, grab the stock, pay for it and runnnnnn! but of course, you can never locate the salesperson. they crouch behind the huge tvs or under the high shelving just incase you want them. they spend hours under there, flattened together with the mice, until it's time to close the shop, these poor people. anyway, managed to locate one miles away, which obviously is not incharge of the sony counters. i don't care. if you breathe and you move, and you work in best, it's good enough. signalled to him that i need help with sony products. he trotted off to locate his colleague. a good minute later, he appeared and said the man will be with me shortly. what, he's too busy fighting with the loo?? spied the sony salesman another minute later, tied up with another man who was enquiring about tvs. don't think he can manage to get free for the next 15mins. you know men and tvs. so, this tv ah, what features does it have? the salesman will recite the information he has crammed into his brain. customer will stare quietly at the tv for a few minutes, as if his eyes can tell the difference of each specification. then, how about this one? same ah? why the price difference ah? and another few minutes spent staring blankly at the screen. face it man, you are just trying to pass time whilst your wife is trying out some dresses upstairs! stop dawdling. few minutes later, another staff walked past and i asked him to get me a new unit. no more sales information. no more sales talk. just give me the thing, darn it. he disappeared into the big black space beyond the shelving....forever. poor man. his family and loved ones will sure miss him. after another few minutes of silently debating whether we should walk out of the store, a man appeared from nowhere. which man? i have no idea, but definitely not the one that was sucked into the big vacuum of nothingness. he announced grandeurly, the standard reply, 'no stock'. probably should have screamed at that moment. or perhaps burst into flames. but was so exhausted from interacting with imbeciles that i merely accepted it with such grace. ahem. the salesman shared with us that the product just arrived a few days ago, so they only have the show unit and no stock. ???? why put the item on display, if you don't have the stock? if you are bringing in one for display, why don't order a few more for selling??? what is the rationale behind best's business motto? our business is to make the place attractive, happening, but not to make profit or sell. remember this, salespeople, our job is not to to make money. we don't sell. we just display.

ahhhh, the beauty of salesmanship in malaysia.

note: called klcc to enquire if they have stock. clever little me, ler, pay 10 sen instead of driving all the way there. anyway, man who picked up call apparently has also undergone the strict salesmen training required. no stock. *rolls eyes* he was going to put down the phone, but i'm not giving up so easily. no no. you're not crawling out from within my palm. hehehe (evil laughter) can you tell me where i can find stock? wait ah.....one minute later, which one do you one? we have one more unit of the $799. that's the one i want! *more rolling of eyes*. see? now, do you understand and believe the brainwashing that the salespeople had to go through before they are full-fledged salespeople? they have to announce to all and everyone that there is no stock, without checking first. it's imperative that you don't ascertain stock first, otherwise there is no purpose to it. if you check, you will have to admit you have some stock and then you will be forced to sell it!! that can't happen. remember the motto? we don't want to make profit. we don't want to sell.