Ridin' Through Gateway Country, Roundin' up details....

["Robert G. Brown" <bob@xxxxxxx>]

For several weeks now, I've been chattering about going to "Gateway Country",
the Gateway 2000 Store/Order center on Westnedge Avenue. The idea is to "play
dumb", as a way of finding out what a salesperson there will do with someone
who doesn't know very much at all, and how they would find out what machine
was really right for me, including such details as why I'm interested in buy-
ing a computer, what the system will be used for, and so forth.

The purpose of this is not to poke fun at the dumb salespeople, suddenly 
revealing to them what a genius I am or something. I wanted to see what John
Q. Public has to go through to get decent value in a PC, and what better way
to find out than to pretend to BE John Q. Public?  If we're going to make
assumptions about hardware and software, let's see what most people have to 
go through in order to get one.

This afternoon I did it, since I was (momentarily) caught up on the email, 
the technical papers I'm laying out, the bill-able work. I'd done 10 miles
today on the Kal-Haven, the laundry was done and the floors mopped, so maybe
the world was telling me ... "Go to Gateway Country! Round up them facts!"

About 4 minutes after I entered the store, browsing the pamphlets and look-
ing a bit puzzled, a woman in a Gateway uniform approached me asked me if she
could help me. "Yes, I'd like to buy a computer, and I'm trying to figure
out what all this stuff means", waving the papers in my hand. She smiled
and took me over to a machine, and started talking about the range of machines
they had, as well as the numerous options, and their "Your:)Ware" [tm] 
program....

I was able to slow her down a little by asking her about different things, 
like the difference between a Pentium (a P233-MMX with 32Mb and a 2Gb drive,
sound, modem, etc., at $1199 is now their smallest and cheapest box), what a
motherboard was, and how I can do all the things she was claiming, but it 
became clear over the next 10-15 minutes or so that I wasn't going to get a
lot of useful information from her. Repeatedly I had to ask her about the 
jargon with which she was peppering her patter. If I wasn't there to impress 
them, it seemed like she was intent on impressing me.

By "useful information" I mean WHY would someone want to buy something, like 
get their $1999 machine instead of their $1199 box. I mean, is what I'm going
to do make that extra $800 worth spending?

She was very good at telling me what that $800 was going to be spent on, and
she was also good at answering questions about the hardware and software. She
even (when pressed a little) told me about a couple of options that are NOT
on their sheets (I have this friend, see? and he knows about computers...)
Like for an extra $99, They load NT Instead of Win95 (a reasonable deal, at
M$ list prices). All the software (it's hard to get one of these boxes w/o
getting something, at a discount, from M$, like "Home Essentials 98" or some
kids programs, or games...) comes preloaded when your machine is delivered, 
so there's nothing to install or configure (it's also hard to avoid the free
upgrade to Win98).  My question about OS'es caused her real stress, I could 
tell, so I decided not to blow my cover by mentioning Linux or anything that 
would mark me as one of those pesky troublemakers.

But the question that I was waiting for... even broadly hinted that she
should ask: "What are you going to use the computer for, anyway?" Just never
came up. It was like she didn't want to know. So there I was, without enough 
knowledge to make a good choice, and the salesperson wasn't about to help me.
I'm sure I came across as quiet, pleasant, and reasonably intelligent, just 
ignorant about all this technology stuff.

Not only was no aid extended at that point, but it was clear that if I wanted 
to go for the top o'the line box (at $3499) they wouldn't stand in my way, or
ensure that this really is the right box for me. On balance, I think that the
average car salesman, certainly the average appliance or stereo salesman is
more helpful.

Maybe this kind of advice is part of "Your:)Ware"[tm] service now, which means
I have to go back and sit down and talk to people in detail (which for many
people makes it harder to say no later) about the important issues.

Perhaps I'll do that, in a week or so.  In the meantime, my character has to
figure out some things; maybe go read a few magazines.  If anyone has any
suggestions, please let me know.

                                                        Cheers!
                                                         ---> RGB <---