Don't you hate bad classes / Seminars ?? a rant

[tuba]

I just spent 2 hours in a controls class where the instructor was sitting in a chair at the front of the room, slouched against the wall, just sort of talking, and playing with his computer while we stared at the giant screen.

In my 12 years of going to these things, I have never seen such a piss poor attitude of a instructor / presenter. And there were 25 guys there too!

I gave the sales rep who greeted us a piece of my mind. She looked shocked.

I told her that this was my first inpression of her company, and to have an instructor like that shows me that he doesn't care, and the company doesn't care, and if the company doesn't care, I will tell my customers to rip out their controls and go with someone else.

Gotta rant - I could have done two more jobs today instead of dropping everything to go to a waste of my time.

[HVAC_Marc]

Ya, I went to a class the other day run by Mrs. Hitler Jr. I dont know if she could have portrayed the stoic hardassed exterior any better. A horrible waste of time and I made it known to everyone else in the area... I felt like I just joined some cult based upon her attitude about everything.

[tuba]

You know, I had to wonder: Are most of the controls companies that cocky? I mean, once they convince you to install their stuff, they got the customer by the balls for at least a few years, right? The customer has to buy their upgrades and hardware and technical support.

Man! I haven't been this upset in a long time.

[tuba]

Hey Marc, was it a worthless sales pitch, or was it one of those people who did not know squat about what they were teaching, but would never admit to it?

[tuba]

The sales rep ended up calling my boss and is very concerned that I am going to be telling customers to get rid of this particular brand of controls...

[HVAC_Marc]

Hey Marc, was it a worthless sales pitch, or was it one of those people who did not know squat about what they were teaching, but would never admit to it?

Pretty much worthless unless you were inducted into the cult. Then it doesnt matter if you know it or not because the product is everything.

If the boss is good, he wont rip you a new one. Rather, he should try to understand why you have come to that conclusion and act accordingly.

[bunny]

Interesting...the call should have been "Sorry we had such a poor instructor; perhaps we can reschedule with an instructor who can present the material in a way that is beneficial to your techs".

Training falls under the category of "how can I serve my customer". All this rep is worried about is his/her sales...nothing else.

[ICanHas]

Classes are worthless if there's no interaction with peers and the instructor. If its a one-way presentation, we have YouTube channels for that.

[timebuilder]

I love it when I see a class schedule from a local manufacturer, and I'm expected to pay money to THEM to learn how to fix THEIR crappy equipment.

They should be paying us and giving a free hot lunch to boot. Pikers.

[tuba]

You're absolutely right - there should have been some apology for the crappy instructor and some offer of resolution of a better instructor or some training materials. Not just "We are very concerned that your employee is going to tell the customer to rip out the controls and go with our competitor"

They should be very concerned that this employee and probably many others who feel the same way, are going to tell anyone who will listen, about my first impression and how they wasted my afternoon.

[techbill11]

I have been to a few and some seemed to be more of a sales pitch on new equipment.

[artman934]

I was in a class today and got a vegetarian sandwich for lunch? I was like "what's this California communist crap".

[ICanHas]

I love it when I see a class schedule from a local manufacturer, and I'm expected to pay money to THEM to learn how to fix THEIR crappy equipment.

They should be paying us and giving a free hot lunch to boot. Pikers.

I say this depends on the situation. If its something useful in general or there's high market demand for skills, its fair that you ought to pay for it like any classes. If its useless proprietary non-transferable stuff specific to their products and they're scrambling to have techs who can handle their stuff, its fair for them to have to cover the cost.