It's Time for Some Dude to Get Fired.

Every retail chain has some dude offering service that's worse than bad, it's badly informed. Technology can fix that.

• "This will fit your printer." It didn't fit.
• "We don't have anything like that." It's right there.
• "There shouldn't be a fee with that account." There was a $15 fee 20 days later.
• "You should really be wearing a small." Now you can't bend your arms.

Some dude is exhausting because we end up spending our interpersonal energy ditching him so we can get on with our shopping. Some dude is usually earnest and friendly, but he actively gets in the way of a purchase.

The trouble for retail chains is that they can only seem to employ those dudes. And who can blame them for failing? Expertise is fleeting. It's a rare person that can be trained as a walking, talking product reference. I say why try. We'll all be happier if we move on from the idea of personal service for packaged products.

I want to walk into a retail store and not be approached by some dude. I'd rather approach a kiosk that's been programmed by the smartest dude in that organization. All those other dudes can work for him, indexing specs and doing his busy work. The smart dude, the one with real insight, can distill his knowledge into a carefully considered touch screen application that lets me access the best of his brain on my terms. Or at least let me Google it.