"Is that pop or rock?"

To that clerk, asking for a Benny Goodman CD would be comparable to asking me about any current recording artist.

hi ElicBxn babies I mean young kids just out of college who think they are the smartest things going but anything in muysic over a year old they blank out.They should be hiring those who have lived long enouth to know big band music and Jazz.guess I am a bit bitter,my son has some twenty odd years experience as a c omputer programmer so hes got an almost fu ll time job but doing what he did when he first started workingputting in electronic parts at fifteen dollars an hour when he was working for twice that he made a big erroir in going to work for a new very smell comp any that had more g uts than real bu siness sense so they started going broke and laid him off now they wanted him back and he told themn where to put it and noi he wou ld not take another cut in pay from them either. He told me its okay mom its a job and right now a job is a job. lose it you coujld go two years again with uut a real job.they hire twenty year olds with no experience y et instead of me with twenty years of c omuter programming so whats fair about that? to me coming out of college they should start at ground level a nd work up and hire older men for the complicated computer jobs.

I know what you mean hon. Years ago I worked for a music store (sold CDs, records, tapes, etc.). I loved what I did, and was always listening to music on the radio to know the songs that were on the charts. Plus I am a big fan of big band music myself. But the manager would hire on these young kids that didn't know jack about music. It's pretty sad when someone is working just for the paycheck and doesn't care enough to learn more about the area they are working in.

Who are they hiring these days? Plugged in babies.

yes that was a dumb thing for him to say. i mean if you work in a music store or anything like barnes and noble, you should be able to comprehend most of your area. they should hire older and younger. the young people know nothing about older music and most older people know not a lot about all the new music. i know i dont. my kids and grandkids usually have to explain some things that are new. and i explain to them about older stars and music

You would think someone that works in a music store would have at least HEARD of Goodman. I read something today that was written in the 50's and they were saying that rock music wouldn't be around long. Maybe in the future, young people won't know who the Beatles were either.

YESSSSS!!!!!!!!! Next time you're in there, ask him who Enoch Light is, and see what he does. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha I remember being 12 years old (almost 13) and getting a copy of Benny Goodman's gold collection for Christmas. What an awesome gift!!!! I'm 30 now, and my taste in music baffles most young people. I am 30, and my husband's 65. Why? Because I've found that guys born in 1946 or prior, have a better grasp of what good music sounds like. LOL As I respond to this, I'm listeing to Enoch Light and the Light Brigade (remember them?) performing hits of the 1920's. VERY HARD TO FIND! But seriously, is that pop or rock? I hope you reported him to his manager! I would have. Tell roomie that she has a GREAT taste in music! What's her favourite Benny Gooman song?

That is hilarious! That's like asking where Gone with the Wind is and getting blank stares.

its just the younger generation. we had a young university student here for lunch after church yesterday and he didn't know who Ernest Hemmingway was! i was pretty shocked! pretty sad, really. i guess its up to us to teach these kids.

I hate to tell you how many times I have had to explain who someone famous is. If it isn't the current popular people, then there isn't anyone who knows who they are. It also happens with crafts and more. You also need to realize that people don't bother to learn about things that are involved with their job. When I was working the camera department in the retail establishment I worked in before I had to go on disability, I had subscriptions to photo magazines and would read them cover to cover each month, learning everything I could about my job. I was the most popular person in that camera department. I still remember a fellow employee that was in the department when I had someone come to me about lenses for his camera. I made a couple of calls and found another store that carried them. I told the customer about the lenses and the store and the customer went away happy. The other employee chewed me out for sending the customer someplace else for the items he wanted and we didn't carry. I couldn't get through to her that it would be good for business, which it was. The customer came back for film and developing. He would only deal with me! And if he had problems with his pictures or camera I was able to help him out. But the gal that chewed me out never got the concept of doing for the customer and they would come back to the store that went the extra mile for them. She also didn't understand about learning about your job so you could better help the customer. Learning about the department is a LOT of work, and anymore people just don't want to put in the extra work for their job. Also, remember, that people no longer stay in the same job until they retire. The average time spent in one job is probably about two years. It's even shorter with low paid employment. We have reached the point that our expectations are lower than they were years ago. We don't expect that the employee is going to really help the customer, that the employee is going to learn about the job, and that there will be loyalty to the employer. We live in a high tech high energy era where it is easier to up and quit and find another job and if you can't find a job it is acceptable to go on unemployment. Younger hires expect to have far better pay and better benefits than we expected years ago. We knew, back "then" that if we wanted to keep our jobs we HAD to go to work. We didn't call in sick because we wanted to go to the beach or go skiing. We did what it took to keep the job and did whatever extra duties that the boss wanted us to do. Now it's "That isn't in my job description!" Should I continue. We're our parents now, in a world that is advancing at a furious rate! We expect better service like we received years ago, and it just isn't happening anymore with the advent of the internet and shopping online. Store clerks feel that there is no reason to bother because the people can buy it online anyhow. Consumers are buying online more because of the fact that clerks in the stores are surly and uninformed. It's a no win situation. Also, if you do run into a clerk that spends the extra time helping a customer out, the boss is on them like a cheap suit stating that they can't spend so much time on one customer, that there are many others that need their help too. It's a vicious circle that there is no way out of, including not having people know about some of the things from the past.

I've got to be honest, I haven't a clue who Benny Goodman is either. But in my defence, I don't sell music for a living.

Hi Elic, it depends how old this person is because young people these days don't know what music is, it just noise to them now, that what they know about, I love Benny Goodman music. Tamara

It's called the generation gap. Some day those kids will be talking about a famous musician to a younger person and that person will be going HUH? Who? What? Yup. It will happen. Some day they too will be an old fart like us.

I really do not find it at all surprising that the clerk did not know who Benny Goodman is nor do I think he (or she) needed to know. He or she is working for (most probably) minimum wage, so why should he or she learn what kind of music certain artists perform, especially if they are not "popular" music ("popular" as in they do not get many people asking about them)? As long as the clerk knew how to find the artist, which he did, then that is all that I would expect.

eh.the counter people at music stores nowadays aren't very rounded in their musical knowledge.nothing exists to them outside of whatever they listen to. i remember years ago going to the local store,and they had removed the KISS section. "nobody wants that anymore". really.i'm in front of you.i'm asking for it.therefore.. long story short-they kept "the knack" section.the knack had like 2 albums!