Useless Knowledge
I've mentioned the specialty toy store that I work at in a couple of my previous posts. Sadly, the end of this month also marks the end of that toy store. We have closed our retail doors to the public. The store owner now officially only sells his toys and games through his amazon.com storefront. Lucky for me, I still have a job at the cute little candy store he owns.
But, as I left the store this afternoon, I realized something horrible.
All the knowledge I've been accumulating over the past 3 years and 3 months at the toy store was turned from something useful that I used nearly every day into something completely useless in just the split second it took me to walk through the door and into the parking lot for the last time.
For example: To ring up a bag of rocks, you type in geo-0300. A bag of seashells geo-0014. Sticky stones fill-a-pouch geo-0013. Personalized Christmas ornaments or-100. Read Along CD books pr-0199. Small popcorn bag ps-0110. Playmobil is listed in the computer by number. Calico Critters listed by cc: name of item. Schleich product number 70047 is a jousting knight/horse colors green and white with gold horse shoe, Schleich 70018 is a knight with sword on reared horse red with gold fleur de lis. Paint your own piggy banks are 50% off. All Charm-It brand are 50% off. The miscellaneous items are in the computer as: mini horses, mini kitties, puppies small plastic, puppies mini plush, mini sticky hand, sticky hand small, miniature wooden furniture, lizards small, frisbee smiley face, stencil ruler 6 1/2 inch, mini erasers assorted, etc.
It's a little harder to memorize all this than it looks. There are literally hundreds of different codes to memorize. And hundreds of way a small cat figurine could be listed in the computer. For example, said cat could be listed as: mini kitties, kitties small plastic, mini cats, mini kittens, small kittens, cats small, cats small plastic, miniature kitties, miniature cats, mini cat figurines, mini kittie figurines, miniature kittie figurines, the list could literally go on forever.
I can correctly identify, within 4mm, the size of any marble from a distance and tell you exactly how much we charge for it. Marbles are currently handmade by only two companies worldwide. We buy our marbles from House of Marbles, one of those two companies.
When a customer points to any one of the games in our inventory (over 1,500 different games), I can tell them exactly how much it costs, an overview of the game, recommended ages, number of people who can play, approximately how long it takes to play one round, I can compare it to the other approximately 1,499 games in the store, and I can give a personal experience and opinion on over half the games. When a customer comes in not knowing what game they want, I can give them a good recommendation based on the type of games they like, age range, and group size they are buying for. Most the time, they come back in and tell me I did a great job recommending the game and they want me to recommend even more to them.
Any person can call or come in looking for any item and I can accurately tell them within an instant, without looking it up, whether or not we carry that item, have it in stock, and where it is located in the store. We have over 20,000 items in our inventory.
I can help people come up with the perfect birthday gift in their price range about 95% of the time they ask for help.
Thomas and Melissa & Doug brand wooden train sets are 100% compatible and interchangeable.
I could tell you a million random facts about the products we carried in the store.
My brain is FULL of information I've learned at the toy store. And the majority of it is 100% completely useless to me now. It's so weird.
Customers frequently told me they were impressed with my knowledge of products and grateful that I could be so friendly and helpful. And now that's gone. None of that knowledge means anything anymore. It doesn't help me at all in life. It's just baffling that I can spend over 3 years, cramming my brain with what seemed like useful information and then have it become useless literally overnight.
I sure hope that this isn't what happens with all the information I'm getting from my university education. It would be a pity if the thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of my time were to one day become worth nothing.
Just like my toy store knowledge.
I've mentioned the specialty toy store that I work at in a couple of my previous posts. Sadly, the end of this month also marks the end of that toy store. We have closed our retail doors to the public. The store owner now officially only sells his toys and games through his amazon.com storefront. Lucky for me, I still have a job at the cute little candy store he owns.
But, as I left the store this afternoon, I realized something horrible.
All the knowledge I've been accumulating over the past 3 years and 3 months at the toy store was turned from something useful that I used nearly every day into something completely useless in just the split second it took me to walk through the door and into the parking lot for the last time.
For example: To ring up a bag of rocks, you type in geo-0300. A bag of seashells geo-0014. Sticky stones fill-a-pouch geo-0013. Personalized Christmas ornaments or-100. Read Along CD books pr-0199. Small popcorn bag ps-0110. Playmobil is listed in the computer by number. Calico Critters listed by cc: name of item. Schleich product number 70047 is a jousting knight/horse colors green and white with gold horse shoe, Schleich 70018 is a knight with sword on reared horse red with gold fleur de lis. Paint your own piggy banks are 50% off. All Charm-It brand are 50% off. The miscellaneous items are in the computer as: mini horses, mini kitties, puppies small plastic, puppies mini plush, mini sticky hand, sticky hand small, miniature wooden furniture, lizards small, frisbee smiley face, stencil ruler 6 1/2 inch, mini erasers assorted, etc.
It's a little harder to memorize all this than it looks. There are literally hundreds of different codes to memorize. And hundreds of way a small cat figurine could be listed in the computer. For example, said cat could be listed as: mini kitties, kitties small plastic, mini cats, mini kittens, small kittens, cats small, cats small plastic, miniature kitties, miniature cats, mini cat figurines, mini kittie figurines, miniature kittie figurines, the list could literally go on forever.
I can correctly identify, within 4mm, the size of any marble from a distance and tell you exactly how much we charge for it. Marbles are currently handmade by only two companies worldwide. We buy our marbles from House of Marbles, one of those two companies.
When a customer points to any one of the games in our inventory (over 1,500 different games), I can tell them exactly how much it costs, an overview of the game, recommended ages, number of people who can play, approximately how long it takes to play one round, I can compare it to the other approximately 1,499 games in the store, and I can give a personal experience and opinion on over half the games. When a customer comes in not knowing what game they want, I can give them a good recommendation based on the type of games they like, age range, and group size they are buying for. Most the time, they come back in and tell me I did a great job recommending the game and they want me to recommend even more to them.
Any person can call or come in looking for any item and I can accurately tell them within an instant, without looking it up, whether or not we carry that item, have it in stock, and where it is located in the store. We have over 20,000 items in our inventory.
I can help people come up with the perfect birthday gift in their price range about 95% of the time they ask for help.
Thomas and Melissa & Doug brand wooden train sets are 100% compatible and interchangeable.
I could tell you a million random facts about the products we carried in the store.
My brain is FULL of information I've learned at the toy store. And the majority of it is 100% completely useless to me now. It's so weird.
Customers frequently told me they were impressed with my knowledge of products and grateful that I could be so friendly and helpful. And now that's gone. None of that knowledge means anything anymore. It doesn't help me at all in life. It's just baffling that I can spend over 3 years, cramming my brain with what seemed like useful information and then have it become useless literally overnight.
I sure hope that this isn't what happens with all the information I'm getting from my university education. It would be a pity if the thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of my time were to one day become worth nothing.
Just like my toy store knowledge.
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