What would you say... ya do here?

Hello Everyone,

Office Space is one of my favourite movies. Or it was, until I started working in an office. It quickly went from hilarious satire to a docu/drama. But I digress. The movie great because it's endlessly quotable, and a famous scene came back to me recently. You see, I'm in the market for a truck (part of my year of living like a snail). I've emailed a bunch of dealerships with what I'm looking for, hoping that they would be able to find a vehicle that meets my needs. What I got instead was a bunch of invitations to come down and see them (i.e. spend more of my time). Thing is, I've already done all the research. I looked into what kind of truck would meet my needs, what is worth paying for and what isn't, what average prices are, etc. I now just need to find that specific truck in my price range. That's what I want the sales person to do.

The response I was hoping for was "Yes sir, I'll find what you are looking for and present you with options." Not "Hey, why don't you spend a bunch more of your time, come to see me, and I can try to convince you to buy one of the trucks that's already on our lot," which is the response I got.

If I have to also do the work of finding the specific truck I want to buy, what exactly am I getting for the sales person's fee? I'm sure they have knowledge about the ins and outs of buying a vehicle, but that's the kind of thing a good instructional video on Youtube can cover. Might not be quite as good, but if it saves me the several hundred dollars the sales person would make on this purchase, I'm willing to go this route. In the movie, some corporate consultants are interviewing employees to see what they do and what value they bring. In the scene I'm relating to, it gets revealed piece by piece that the employee is entirely redundant. At this, he snaps, yelling "I have people skills, goddammit! Why can't you see that! What the hell is wrong with you!" I don't think it would descend that far if I were to point out the redundancy of a salesperson, but I already feel like I'm in a theatre of the absurd, so who knows?

wes