What I learned talking to 50+ dispensary budtenders about how they actually handle customer recommendations

I've spent the last few months visiting dispensaries across New York talking to budtenders about what happens on the floor when a customer says "I don't know what I want" or "I need something for sleep." Not selling anything — genuinely trying to understand the gap between what customers need and what they get.

A few things that surprised me:

Most budtenders default to indica/sativa even though they know it's outdated. Almost every budtender I talked to knew that the indica/sativa distinction is largely a myth — effects come from terpenes and cannabinoids, not the label. But when a customer asks a quick question and there's a line forming, they fall back on it because it's fast and customers understand it. The accurate answer takes longer to explain.

Terpene knowledge is the biggest gap. A handful of budtenders knew their terpene profiles cold and could explain why myrcene drives sedation or why limonene lifts mood. Most had heard the terms but couldn't connect them to outcomes with confidence. Almost none had any reference material to fall back on mid-conversation.

New budtenders are underwater for weeks. Every manager I talked to said the same thing — new hires spend their first few weeks just trying not to look clueless. There's no real onboarding system for product knowledge. They learn by watching veterans and picking things up over time.

The shelf isn't doing enough work. Customers look at 200 products and can only really read THC%, price, and strain name. If they don't recognize the strain, they're guessing. If the budtender is tied up, they're on their own.

What managers actually want: Every manager I talked to said the same thing unprompted — they want consistency. They don't need every budtender to be an expert, they just need every customer to get a decent answer regardless of who happens to be working that shift.

Curious if any operators or budtenders here recognize this or see it differently. Is terpene literacy something you actively train for? What does onboarding actually look like at your store?