On Apr 3, 2006, at 12:46 PM, Peter wrote:

>
>> A harmless Nerf, sure...
>
> But what is a Nerf ? This is not very enlightening:
>
Really?  You should try http://nerf.com

A selection of toys featuring projectiles made from a mid-strength
foam.  Most famously, weaponry shooting foam darts, "rockets", balls,
and so on.  But also "sports balls" somewhat lighter and softer than
the real things.

http://www.hasbro.com/nerf/pl/page.nstrike_blasters/dn/default.cfm

(and during the search, I found this interesting result from a
"customer service" survey here:
http://www.vocalabs.com/resources/blog/C1045710889/index.html )

Another kind of customer service experience
Fri - November 18, 2005 09:31 AM
My wife needed a Nerf gun to take to work. Don't ask.

So last night I found myself in a local Toys 'R' Us. I would have 
thought it was Retailing 101 to make it easy to find things in a big 
store, but apparently Toys 'R' Us management thinks otherwise. So after 
a few minutes of fruitless wandering the aisles, I spotted an employee.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where to find Nerf guns?"

The man's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah, I know where the Nerf guns are. I've 
got a whole collection at home."

"A regular Nerf arsenal, eh?"

"Every Nerf gun ever made. I even have the Nerf bazooka."

He led me to the aisle with about a dozen different models of Nerf 
armaments, ranging from a Nerf crossbow to the giant combination Nerf 
rocket launcher with two detachable Nerf machine guns. He clearly 
couldn't wait to share his depth of knowledge and experience in all 
things that fling Nerf.

"This one is a good basic set. It has six Nerf darts which glow in the 
dark. Or this model has a laser sight, with a laser pointer built into 
the gun. This one can shoot either a barrage of darts, or a big Nerf 
grenade. Is this a gift for someone?"

"Actually, it's for my wife," I said. "She needs to take it into work."

His eyes lit up with something approaching awe: as though I had told 
him that Shangri-La is real and located in the Western suburbs of 
Minneapolis. "Wow, what kind of place does your wife work?"

"It's a software company. They have programmers who like too blow off 
steam."

"Here, this model is pretty cool. It's based on a German-designed 
machine gun..."

In the end I chose one of the simpler models, but I felt that I had 
made a truly informed choice, and I came out knowing far more about 
Nerf weaponry than I ever expected or wanted to. The employee who 
helped me was one of those rare gems in today's big box retail world: a 
true enthusiast. Odds are, he took the job at Toys 'R' Us at least in 
part to feed his Nerf habit, and doesn't get a whole lot of recognition 
for his unique knowledge base. Frankly, it's hard to see how the 
company could really make use of such a narrow specialty.

But it certainly made this trip unexpectedly interesting for me.

Posted by Peter Leppik

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