Beer Store in Torontoist: Heroes and Villains 2009: Villains

Philip1 · Post by **Philip1** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 12:34 pm

Every BS I've been to has been one where you pick up your own beer and bring it to the cash register so I've had little to complain about in the past.

However, since they started taking empty bottles it's been a pain at my local BS. There are always three to five times as many people in the 'empties' queue, which is usually right out the door from Friday right through Sunday afternoon. I went there on Thursday, thinking it wouldn't be busy, saw the line well outside the store into the car park and just drove on. (I'll try again this afternoon!)

The part of the store where the line forms for bringing empties is narrower and shorter than the purchasing area. To make matters worse there are people with carts taking up more space - I know, I know, they can't help it! - and others well back in the queue with boxes of bottles on the floor as the roller counter (or whatever it's called) only has room for a couple of customers at the front.

The only positive thing I can say is that they are now better prepared for the volume of empties than they were when it just started as they've diverted more staff to that part of the store. What they would need to do now is re-design the layout of the place so that there's more space allocated for people returning bottles.

dmits · Post by **dmits** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:29 pm

Oh they are rediculous! The last time I returned bottles at the beer store the employee without a problem accepted 3 St. Bernardus bottles, then started to complain about me about bringing in out of province bottles when she saw a pair of ephemere 750ml bottles... Another time, I think it might have been the same woman, after having me wait for 20 minutes for trois pistole came out and said "we stopped carrying that funny beer, it just sits in the back and goes bad". She then proceeded to suggest other high alcohol content beers. I guess according to TBS training Olde English is comparable to a bottle conditioned dark ale... who knew.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:41 pm

dmits wrote:Oh they are rediculous! The last time I returned bottles at the beer store the employee without a problem accepted 3 St. Bernardus bottles, then started to complain about me about bringing in out of province bottles when she saw a pair of ephemere 750ml bottles... Another time, I think it might have been the same woman, after having me wait for 20 minutes for trois pistole came out and said "we stopped carrying that funny beer, it just sits in the back and goes bad". She then proceeded to suggest other high alcohol content beers. I guess according to TBS training Olde English is comparable to a bottle conditioned dark ale... who knew.

These people can be amazingly rude & ignorant and I wonder if people feel like punching them (of course a really stupid idea.)

It is surprising that within such an important major retail operation, people of this low level of consumer care are able to flourish & moreover actually feel they are master of their little domain.

** this comment was edited for political sensitivity & less anger. **

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:56 pm

Belgian wrote:
dmits wrote:Oh they are rediculous! The last time I returned bottles at the beer store the employee without a problem accepted 3 St. Bernardus bottles, then started to complain about me about bringing in out of province bottles when she saw a pair of ephemere 750ml bottles... Another time, I think it might have been the same woman, after having me wait for 20 minutes for trois pistole came out and said "we stopped carrying that funny beer, it just sits in the back and goes bad". She then proceeded to suggest other high alcohol content beers. I guess according to TBS training Olde English is comparable to a bottle conditioned dark ale... who knew.
Being an abrasive semi-moron is a job prereq at the BS store. It should be perfectly legal to strike these people in the face very hard. (But it is not!)

Fucking knuckle-dragging bush-league human trash running a major retail organization. Darwin should have nipped this in the bud by now, but these people are still around... pissing in the gene pool. Sad.

Not to take this thread too far off track, but that might be the most inappropriate thing I've read on Bartowel. Judgmental and downright prejudice.

I'm not a fan of the beer store, but the staff don't know any better. They aren't taught any different, and are doing a fine job as they are being told. Your comments are tantamount to blaming someone for the race they are born into.

Beer geeks are about .0001% of the population, and frankly, we don't really make a difference on the bottom line. So why do we expect people to cater to us? Cause we're fucking geeks that is why. But it doesn't mean we can degrade individuals who won't know any better.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:16 pm

Yeah I revisited this thread, I was slightly overstating it and probably went too far in the slag. But as I see it the TBS situation (atmosphere working there) does not engender any basic concern for great customer care, and instead encourages so many inappropriate & stupid staff comments to customers, I wonder if they maybe deserve a little hyperbole now and again. Calling them "brainstems' or whatever, the actual literal truth of that comment is not important. These people just make customers mad and it isn't necessary. It's screwed up, it cannot be justified. Sorry, that's what I think.

Plus I'm just way too angry this week, I admit. Will chill now. Thanks Len!

dmits · Post by **dmits** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:35 am

while I do agree with steelback guys your reasoning about us being a small target market, I just thought it was a funny story. I wasn't expecting the 20 something blonde to know much about beer, and she could have honestly thought reccomending olde english was a helpful reccomendation. I'm in my 20s, I still get carded time-to-time, she could have seen 9% alc and though "oh he justs wants a buzz".

The refund situation, however, is very frustrating. you would think over $0.10 the cashier would be best to be polite and accept an alcohol container if they were unsure. I for one feel insulted when an employee suggests I'm so cheap im trying to steal a couple nickels... I mean really its not like im trying to single-handedly bankrupt The Beer Store one empty at a time.

side note: the LCBO, you can find employees that know beer, and at the very least they've all been polite in my experiences. When you not dealing with massive holiday lineups it can be enjoyable to shop there.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:53 am

dmits wrote:then started to complain about me about bringing in out of province bottles when she saw a pair of ephemere 750ml bottles...

two words: "private order"

Philip1 · Post by **Philip1** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:59 am

I for one feel insulted when an employee suggests I'm so cheap im trying to steal a couple nickels...

the LCBO, you can find employees that know beer

Based on my local LCBOs and Beer Store the latter has a higher turnover of employees. That can't help.

Besides, every time I'm in the BS I look at what others are buying and frankly, based on what I've seen, it probably wouldn't be worth the company's while training employees about beer. Virtually every one at my BS is buying Light, discount (ie Lucky, Laker), Dos Equis/Corona, or Bud/Labatts/Molson. As I've said here on these boards before when I grab a six pack of a Unibroue from the top shelf dust falls all round.

notdan · Post by **notdan** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:37 pm

Philip1 wrote: As I've said here on these boards before when I grab a six pack of a Unibroue from the top shelf dust falls all round.

Woo! Pre-aged Unibroue!

co · Post by co » Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:56 pm

The Beer Store is like Consumers Distributing...all the stock is in the back and half of what they "stock" is unavailable. Consumers Distributing went out of business in 1996, of course, they had competition.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:34 pm

notdan wrote:
Philip1 wrote: As I've said here on these boards before when I grab a six pack of a Unibroue from the top shelf dust falls all round.
Woo! Pre-aged Unibroue!

Actually the best unibroue I think I've ever had was some Maudite that they had to blow the dust off of at my parents local beer store (a VERY small town near London, ON). I can't imagine how well aged those bottles were, but they were VERY tasty.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:21 pm

Chris wrote:
notdan wrote:
Philip1 wrote: As I've said here on these boards before when I grab a six pack of a Unibroue from the top shelf dust falls all round.
Woo! Pre-aged Unibroue!
Actually the best unibroue I think I've ever had was some Maudite that they had to blow the dust off of at my parents local beer store (a VERY small town near London, ON). I can't imagine how well aged those bottles were, but they were VERY tasty.

I have some 3.5 to 4 - year old Maudite and Trois Pistoles, would those go over well at a tasting or be seen as poor contributions?

I think they taste magic. Plus TP always makes fantastic bison meat stew. I can really enjoy an old bottle of Trois Pistoles, whether I drink it totally clear or allow a little sediment to make it foggy again.