I've worked at the Wonderful World of Wal-Mart -/sarcasm- for about two and a half years now, and I tell everybody I see to have a nice day. I mean, like I'll call my mother in law or something, and it's always the last thing that leaves my mouth. Just an annoying habit... slips out on accident.
This a bit late to the subject, but there is a video store in Moscow, Idaho that has the best system of organizing their movies. The store was owned and staffed by film buffs, and the movies were placed by actor/actress, director, and in the case of foreign films, by country. The selection was enormous (I think around 1999 they had 30,000 DVDs) and many films were in multiple categories. It could be confusing, but it was a blast to browse. Because it was a small store and the staff knew their stuff they could get away with it. Blockbuster and Hollywood Video suck so hard in comparison. I wish there was some place similar here.
There is a little video store near my house in Dallas that I love. It's called Premier Video, and it is tucked away between like, a mattress store and a camping/outdoor/organic whatever store. It's probably got about 1/8th the floor space of your average Blockbuster, but many more movies. They don't carry 80 of every new release, and they shelve them like books, not magazines, so you have to pull them out to see the cover. But their selection is really amazing, and the staff knows movies. You can come in, and say, "Hey, I'm looking for a movie I saw as a kid. It had that guy from the one show with the weird hair. And I think it had monsters." And they'll help you figure out what it was. If you're looking for a movie they don't have, ask them to get it, and they'll often have it within a month or so if it is at all reasonable. They actually had to set up a drop box in a suburb about 20 miles away, because a lot of people in that area were renting videos from them, but it was such a pain to drive all the way back to return them. When my dad and I were there a couple years ago, someone called in asking whether Holy Grail or Spinal Tap was better because he didn't know what to watch that night. The clerk said "hold on" then announced it to the whole store, and we had an impromptu discussion on the various merits of each film. It was awesome.
I've worked at the Wonderful World of Wal-Mart -/sarcasm- for about two and a half years now, and I tell everybody I see to have a nice day. I mean, like I'll call my mother in law or something, and it's always the last thing that leaves my mouth. Just an annoying habit... slips out on accident.
I used to have that issue too. When I worked as a phone tech support, if someone would call my regular phone I'd be like:
"Thank you for calling Bellsouth's Fast Acc.... FUCK! I'm sorry. 10 hour shifts are getting the best of me!"
My guess would be Giant Tiger, since it sounds like some sort of discount retail chain. Granted, all of the stores you suggested fit into that category too, though.
It was Canadian Tire. And the guy's a jerk.
Edit: And that last thing there happens to me all the time, too. I have to pause before I pick up the phone at home to remind myself not to say, "Housewares, (Gent) speaking" in a cheery voice when I pick it up.
I've worked at the Wonderful World of Wal-Mart -/sarcasm- for about two and a half years now, and I tell everybody I see to have a nice day. I mean, like I'll call my mother in law or something, and it's always the last thing that leaves my mouth. Just an annoying habit... slips out on accident.
I used to have that issue too. When I worked as a phone tech support, if someone would call my regular phone I'd be like:
"Thank you for calling Bellsouth's Fast Acc.... FUCK! I'm sorry. 10 hour shifts are getting the best of me!"
Haha =-)
I used to be a front end manager (until they shafted my ass and threw me back to the Pets department) and I got so used to apologizing to whiny bitches that I apologized to everyone for everything. I lost any aspect of badass, argumentative manliness that I had until I left that position.
Fuck, being a CSM sucked. I'm glad I'm out of it... I'm not glad I got the pay cut, however.
Glad I'm not so full of built-up angst and hate now, though.
edit @gent: I used to be cheery when I answered the phone. Now it's more like "Pets." with a "What the fuck do you want?" overtone.
I happen to like my job for the most part. But there's this one guy that's our news director/sportscaster.
He talks like the caracture of Richard M. Nixon from Futurama. (minus the odd Arooo!) It's just the way he talks on air. He also flails his limbs occasionally when he reads the news to "emphasise" a point. Or if he pulls something remotely clever he pulls the :winky: looking right at you.
He's oddly antisocial outside of his newsbooth. Like you say something not basicly chatty, like, "Hey Joe, how many adds can I expect to play tonight for the Hockey game?" and He'll breeze right past you. But on the phone, he'll say, "Skyybahamut, you Sssssstud you." when he calls. No he's not gay. Just odd.
I could talk about the conditions of the building, but I'm done for the day and it's 11pm and my pillow is singing her siren song.
I used to have a teacher who, at one point, was a DJ for a soft rock radio station. He said that once you develop that radio voice, you can never get rid of it.
It was awesome.
It's true. I had to keep my natural tone when I had my show.
My buddy who DJs and also announces at a strip club with his DJ voice?
I happen to like my job for the most part. But there's this one guy that's our news director/sportscaster.
He talks like the caracture of Richard M. Nixon from Futurama. (minus the odd Arooo!) It's just the way he talks on air. He also flails his limbs occasionally when he reads the news to "emphasise" a point. Or if he pulls something remotely clever he pulls the :winky: looking right at you.
He's oddly antisocial outside of his newsbooth. Like you say something not basicly chatty, like, "Hey Joe, how many adds can I expect to play tonight for the Hockey game?" and He'll breeze right past you. But on the phone, he'll say, "Skyybahamut, you Sssssstud you." when he calls. No he's not gay. Just odd.
I could talk about the conditions of the building, but I'm done for the day and it's 11pm and my pillow is singing her siren song.
I used to have a teacher who, at one point, was a DJ for a soft rock radio station. He said that once you develop that radio voice, you can never get rid of it.
Today I got involved with a lengthy debate about this woman's claim.
She was burgled, and her son had a (60gb, backwards compatible) PS3, which was stolen. We got our supplier to replace most of the electricals, PS3 included. However, what the supplier sent her was a 40gb, non-backwards compatible PS3, since this is the UK and that's the only model available.
As it turns out, her son is not best pleased with this, since the replacement has fewer features and he can't play his large collection of PS2 games on it. I got her to consider a compromise, I checked with the supplier, and we could supply a slim ps2 for about £70, plus about £220 or so for the 40Gb PS3. That way, he gets the full functionality he had before, less a bit of hard drive space and it doesn't cost too much.
Unfortunately, I had to run this by my boss to cover myself, since to someone who isn't quite up to speed on the various PS models, it looks like I'm handing out free games systems.
Predictably, my boss wouldn't accept my argument (I actually compared it to someone having a damaged DVD/VCR combo, and replacing it with a VCR and a DVD player, which I know for a fact we've done in the past if it works out cheaper), and insisted she wouldn't authorise that, they'd have to get us a quote for another 60gb PS3. I advised against this, as the damn things are like gold dust and command prices higher than the original RRP, but was told that was the only option she'd authorise.
Predictably, the woman managed to get one from ebay (and was no doubt bidding like crazy, since I essentially had to tell her that if she could get hold of a 60gb PS3, we'd cover the cost).
So now we're paying £670 to this woman instead of £290 to the suppliers for a PS2 slim and a 40gb PS3. Great.
If your boss is such an asshole that she won't listen to/accept common sense suggestions from her employees..pointing out her inadequacies probably isn't the best plan
Did you point out the difference in the bottom line to your boss? Maybe it's just a childish "I told you so," but I'd do it.
I did, but tried not to gloat.
For just about anything else, I wouldn't have bothered. I just had that feeling that if I didn't run it by her I'd get pulled up for it.
Ebay is a complete pain for this sort of thing, because once you tell someone that you'll pay for something if they can get hold of it, the first thing they do is fire up ebay. It used to be a huge problem for collectibles, but we use a specialist company to assess "fair market value" for those. Not so with electronics, unfortunately.
EDIT: She's not an asshole, she just wasn't getting it, despite my explanations. All that she could see was that I was proposing giving someone two consoles to replace one.
So I get a call from some executive just a moment ago who was complaining he called an hour and 45 minutes ago (which is weird, because I was here) and left a message and no one answered. Basically he isn't able to connect to the network.
I answered the phone on my lunch break (because no one ever fucking answers the phone except for me) and told him I'm going to finish this last piece of food and head up there asap. Of course I get bitched out and he says: "Look forward to seeing you." and slams the phone.
Okay, this will most likely not be very interesting in writing, but i'll attempt it. (wihtout embellishing anything or revealing where i work)
First, its a market research place. we call people up, and have them answer our questions. there is around ... 20% response rate. this means, our people deal with 80% or more of people saying "fuck off" and hanging up.
This leads to tension, and anger.
on to the goings on of a few days ago.
I am listening to someone do their phone calls, and i clearly hear them say the word "fuck". Now, the 1st rule of research club, is that you don't curse at research club. lest ye be canned.
Before i can tell my superior about this, one of the floor interviewers comes up to me and has a complaint. There are people nearby her who were making a lot of noise by talking across the lanes. She had asked them to stop. Because of this, they began to not only talk louder, but insult her about her looks and lifestyle.
So, it turns out that the woman who cursed, is also one of the two that were harassing the young woman. So, after reporting all of this nonsense to my boss, i resume listening to surveys given. after about 2 or 3 of them, i listen to the *other* person accused of harassing and i hear the following line
"you ain't pretty, and you ain't all that"
Cue me going O_o:!!: and recording the harassment.
But the oddest thing of all is that neither of them were fired, both still work here, but one is on super secret double probation.
Edit - ah yes, i had forgotten the best part.
So after all this crap is over, break is called, and in the break room, the perpetrators began to throw accusations at people about "being snitches" and basically acting stupid. this freaks out an older lady who in my opinion is "highly medicated"
She comes to me and says
"this job is not worth having my tires slashed over, you better have someone watching the parking lot"
M - "what? whos going to slash your tires?"
CL - "you know who! those guys in the breakroom!" (it should be noted that they are women)
M - "well i dont think they would slash your tires!"
CL - "its possible! they were calling me a snitch!"
M - "what? how could you have heard anything? you sit 2 rows over on the opposite side of the office."
CL - "anything could happen"
M - "i'll look into it... O_o"
She seemed to think that we are dealing with a pack of Switchblade carrying thugs who at the slightest hint of punishment for misbehavior will pop tires and sugar our gas tanks.
This is a question for Best Buy employees. Do any of you know how to contact the motherfucker who decided it would be a good idea to put playable versions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band in your stores?
Every time I go in, it's always some child or teenager playing the same damn song on Guitar Hero, and with Rock Band it's gotten even worse with that fucking drum set. I know the idea is to sell the games, but in my experience people just come in and bang away, making for an extremely unpleasant shopping experience.
So I suppose my second, more serious question is this: am I just getting old, or does this shit annoy the fuck out of everyone?
nosnibor on
When you're a spy, it's a good idea to give away your trade secrets in a voiceover on a TV show.
So I get a call from some executive just a moment ago who was complaining he called an hour and 45 minutes ago (which is weird, because I was here) and left a message and no one answered. Basically he isn't able to connect to the network.
I answered the phone on my lunch break (because no one ever fucking answers the phone except for me) and told him I'm going to finish this last piece of food and head up there asap. Of course I get bitched out and he says: "Look forward to seeing you." and slams the phone.
See, that's funny because right now I'm sitting here doing fuck-all waiting on some executive-types to respond do emails I sent as far back as last week. I'm not in IT, but I wonder how they'd respond if I took this long to get back to them about something.
edit: nosnibor, I'm pretty sure you're getting old. Report to HR for your hearing aid and pants that come up above your belly button.
This is a question for Best Buy employees. Do any of you know how to contact the motherfucker who decided it would be a good idea to put playable versions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band in your stores?
Every time I go in, it's always some child or teenager playing the same damn song on Guitar Hero, and with Rock Band it's gotten even worse with that fucking drum set. I know the idea is to sell the games, but in my experience people just come in and bang away, making for an extremely unpleasant shopping experience.
So I suppose my second, more serious question is this: am I just getting old, or does this shit annoy the fuck out of everyone?
She seemed to think that we are dealing with a pack of Switchblade carrying thugs who at the slightest hint of punishment for misbehavior will pop tires and sugar our gas tanks.
The first time I went to Best Buy after they installed the Rock Band demo, I could hear some dumb fuck banging away on the pads before I stepped foot in the store. This stupid fuck was banging on the pads so hard I thought the sticks were going to snap. He seemed completely oblivious to how annoying he was. The guy playing guitar was visibly pissed because he couldn't hear what he was playing.
People were taking videos of the drummer with their camera phones. If he could have heard anything over his own banging, he would have heard at least a dozen people snickering and/or mocking him.
I hate the fact that these Rock Band bundles are huge. 3 different versions all piled up in our back room, taking up more space and the problem is especially exacerbated by the fact that now Rock Band isn't quite the high commodity item. Goddamn people, get this crap out of our store.
I hate the fact that these Rock Band bundles are huge. 3 different versions all piled up in our back room, taking up more space and the problem is especially exacerbated by the fact that now Rock Band isn't quite the high commodity item. Goddamn people, get this crap out of our store.
I'm in Brisbane, Australia, 19 and am currently out of a decent job. Working in a bar is getting to me and I'm thinking of moving on to something in Tech Support. I have worked for six months in a computer repair shop and have a diploma in screen, game animation. I'm about to start my BA in multimedia (July).
What should I look at doing to break into the scene?
I'm still a long way off knowing all my shit. But I'm still sure there is a job out there for me somewhere.
She seemed to think that we are dealing with a pack of Switchblade carrying thugs who at the slightest hint of punishment for misbehavior will pop tires and sugar our gas tanks.
Where do we find employees like this?
Are you an equal opportunity employer?
For the most part. if you can read a paragraph with some medium sized words in it without stumbling. we'll give you a chance. but still, who the hell resorts to violence over *their own mistakes*?
So I get a call from some executive just a moment ago who was complaining he called an hour and 45 minutes ago (which is weird, because I was here) and left a message and no one answered.
When I worked title insurance, we sometimes got complaints like that. What they conveniently left out was that they called while we were closed. To make them happy, the "office coordinator" suggested extending office hours (to which my boss said "no fucking way") or answering the phone as soon as we got in and up until we left. (My boss was first in at 7 am and I was last to leave at 5 - 6 pm.)
She explained to Ms. Clueless that doing the latter would start a cycle that would never stop. It didn't matter how early or late we took calls because the bitchy paralegals that pulled this shit would just start doing it earlier or later, know fully well that we were closed, and still complain that we weren't open.
There were also paralegals that would call at 5 minutes until closed. Usually because we were doing the mail or scrambling to finish up before we left, we just didn't get to the phone in time before it went to voicemail. These same harpies would complain that we "left early."
Ironically, I just accepted a job to be a paralegal. O_o I plan not to be as big a bitch.
On the subject of death and daemons disappearing: arrows sure are effective in Lyra's universe. Seems like if you get shot once, you're dead - no lingering deaths with your daemon huddling pitifully in your arms, just *thunk* *argh* *whoosh*. A battlefield full of the dying would just be so much more depressing when you add in wailing gerbils and dogs.
This is a question for Best Buy employees. Do any of you know how to contact the motherfucker who decided it would be a good idea to put playable versions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band in your stores?
Every time I go in, it's always some child or teenager playing the same damn song on Guitar Hero, and with Rock Band it's gotten even worse with that fucking drum set. I know the idea is to sell the games, but in my experience people just come in and bang away, making for an extremely unpleasant shopping experience.
So I suppose my second, more serious question is this: am I just getting old, or does this shit annoy the fuck out of everyone?
God sweet hell yes.
At Christmastime we had a Rock Band demo set up out in the Garden Shop. It was just the guitar and drums, with some limited songs.
And sweet fucking CHRIST how they would bang the drums. We would actually have to tell the kids to calm the fuck down before they broke the damned things.
And they still broke them. I think they're sitting back in claims, the red drum previously had a hole in the head which has slowly progressed to not having a fucking drumhead at all. I mean my god.
And yes, the guitar hero kids always come in and play like the very first song on the playlist over and over again on easy. Makes you want to shoot yourself.
This is a question for Best Buy employees. Do any of you know how to contact the motherfucker who decided it would be a good idea to put playable versions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band in your stores?
Every time I go in, it's always some child or teenager playing the same damn song on Guitar Hero, and with Rock Band it's gotten even worse with that fucking drum set. I know the idea is to sell the games, but in my experience people just come in and bang away, making for an extremely unpleasant shopping experience.
So I suppose my second, more serious question is this: am I just getting old, or does this shit annoy the fuck out of everyone?
I don't know how to contact the planogram person, but I hear ya.
I quit before they put in the Rock Band, but the Guitar Hero kiosk was right across the aisle from the Geek Squad counter, where I worked. I eventually just learned to tune out the music. (I was more annoyed at the mobile department, when the sales reps turned the bass up on the demo units as loud as they could.)
But also gave me a moment of awesome: two guys "performed" at the kiosk. They were waving the fret around, dancing in place, and generally acting as if they were on stage. The entire store was moving to where they were and laughing hysterically because these guys made total asses of themselves and having a blast.
The icing on the cake? They then moved over to the Singstar kiosk. And sang "Journey." Badly. Loudly.
I was leaning on the counter and holding my sides and crying because I was laughing so hard.
On the subject of death and daemons disappearing: arrows sure are effective in Lyra's universe. Seems like if you get shot once, you're dead - no lingering deaths with your daemon huddling pitifully in your arms, just *thunk* *argh* *whoosh*. A battlefield full of the dying would just be so much more depressing when you add in wailing gerbils and dogs.
For the most part. if you can read a paragraph with some medium sized words in it without stumbling. we'll give you a chance. but still, who the hell resorts to violence over *their own mistakes*?
That's how the telemarketing division of the MLM I was working for a few months ago operated. While doing some stuff on a manager's computer, I overheard her talking to another manager about how she was having trouble hiring decent employees because half the applicants had criminal records ranging from writing bad checks to assault and battery.
Frankly, after interacting with some of those people, I wouldn't have trusted them with a goldfish. They were that idiotic.
On the subject of death and daemons disappearing: arrows sure are effective in Lyra's universe. Seems like if you get shot once, you're dead - no lingering deaths with your daemon huddling pitifully in your arms, just *thunk* *argh* *whoosh*. A battlefield full of the dying would just be so much more depressing when you add in wailing gerbils and dogs.
This is a question for Best Buy employees. Do any of you know how to contact the motherfucker who decided it would be a good idea to put playable versions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band in your stores?
Every time I go in, it's always some child or teenager playing the same damn song on Guitar Hero, and with Rock Band it's gotten even worse with that fucking drum set. I know the idea is to sell the games, but in my experience people just come in and bang away, making for an extremely unpleasant shopping experience.
So I suppose my second, more serious question is this: am I just getting old, or does this shit annoy the fuck out of everyone?
God sweet hell yes.
At Christmastime we had a Rock Band demo set up out in the Garden Shop. It was just the guitar and drums, with some limited songs.
And sweet fucking CHRIST how they would bang the drums. We would actually have to tell the kids to calm the fuck down before they broke the damned things.
And they still broke them. I think they're sitting back in claims, the red drum previously had a hole in the head which has slowly progressed to not having a fucking drumhead at all. I mean my god.
And yes, the guitar hero kids always come in and play like the very first song on the playlist over and over again on easy. Makes you want to shoot yourself.
I used to stop by the electronics section whenever I was at the local Wal-Mart and play a quick Guitar Hero. Though I would usually play Carry On My Wayward Son on expert, and rock it. I stopped because all the dumb kids broke the whammy bar and the strum bar was really loose too.
God Damn It, Apple stores (and Apple in general) are a pain in the arse.
Policyholder breaks iPhone. She calls us, goes through the usual "Accidental Damage"screening successfully, says the Apple store will charge £169 to fix it, but the store won't put it in writing.
Fair enough, small claim, nothing to worry about. She got paid, send us a copy of the invoice, and we'll be all settled up.
She calls back in, now they're saying they can't fix it. We say OK, and ask our electronics supplier to take a look at it. They call us, say they can't so much as touch an iPhone without fucking over their bulk discount agreement with Apple. Second option (because we're getting mildly desperate) is the specialist forensic investigators we use for accidental damage claims. Same deal, they can't even look at it without risking their "Apple Certified technicians" status.
So I end up being the one that has to call the store and speak to one of their "Geniuses" with our policyholder present. She gave him the run down, he was quite happy to speak to me, and the (spare) phone was passed over.
I tell him all we need is confirmation that the phone is beyond repair, preferably in writing.
"We can't put anything in writing."
"What, at all? Even if it's just on a compliments slip, that would be fine"
"We can't put anything in writing."
"Okay, never mind, all I need is for you to confirm that you can't repair the phone."
"I can't confirm that."
"So are you going to repair the phone?"
"I can't confirm that either."
He went on to tell me that I shouldn't need any verification the phone isn't repairable because, apparently, "iPhones are different" in some way that the normal procedures for electronics don't apply to them. Eventually I gave up. She's just going to send us the broken phone and we'll pay for a new one.
I used to have a teacher who, at one point, was a DJ for a soft rock radio station. He said that once you develop that radio voice, you can never get rid of it.
I dated a woman for a short while who hosted a relatively popular morning FM show in town, and she sounded EXACTLY like she did on the radio, all the time. Even in bed. And, when a woman starts to request certain things in her "radio voice"... there's a point where it crosses the bridge from entertaining to creepy, especially when you hear her the next morning, on the radio, in the same, exact voice.
If I tell you to get off the store ladder, it's not because you're black, it's because you're not supposed to be on the fucking ladder.
About once every three months at the library, after I'd turn someone down for a lack of credentials for a card, I'd get the "you just don't want to give me a card because I'm black/ a veteran / disabled / don't like me!"
We had STACKS of the same slip of paper detailing what was needed for a card since we'd hand them out so much.
Keep in mind, it's really freaking easy to get a card. The 'weakest' form of ID that is accepted is a envelope addressed to you within the county. If somebody really wanted a card, they could just print up an envelope. It didn't even matter if you were homeless, if you brought a letter from the shelter stating that you were currently there, we'd give you a card that just had a 5-item checkout limit (versus the normal 40)
God Damn It, Apple stores (and Apple in general) are a pain in the arse.
Policyholder breaks iPhone. She calls us, goes through the usual "Accidental Damage"screening successfully, says the Apple store will charge £169 to fix it, but the store won't put it in writing.
Fair enough, small claim, nothing to worry about. She got paid, send us a copy of the invoice, and we'll be all settled up.
She calls back in, now they're saying they can't fix it. We say OK, and ask our electronics supplier to take a look at it. They call us, say they can't so much as touch an iPhone without fucking over their bulk discount agreement with Apple. Second option (because we're getting mildly desperate) is the specialist forensic investigators we use for accidental damage claims. Same deal, they can't even look at it without risking their "Apple Certified technicians" status.
So I end up being the one that has to call the store and speak to one of their "Geniuses" with our policyholder present. She gave him the run down, he was quite happy to speak to me, and the (spare) phone was passed over.
I tell him all we need is confirmation that the phone is beyond repair, preferably in writing.
"We can't put anything in writing."
"What, at all? Even if it's just on a compliments slip, that would be fine"
"We can't put anything in writing."
"Okay, never mind, all I need is for you to confirm that you can't repair the phone."
"I can't confirm that."
"So are you going to repair the phone?"
"I can't confirm that either."
He went on to tell me that I shouldn't need any verification the phone isn't repairable because, apparently, "iPhones are different" in some way that the normal procedures for electronics don't apply to them. Eventually I gave up. She's just going to send us the broken phone and we'll pay for a new one.
Of course apple products are different.
You see they're built so that when one breaks, instead of having to go through all the shit you'd normally have to do with another companies product, getting it repaired, having it work, etc., instead you can just send apple another $5,000,000,000 to get a completely new apple device!
I'm having a productive week in terms of department wide announcements. Thus far they're pretty much "For God's sake don't send people to eBay looking for 60Gb PS3s", and "Apple stores apparently refuse point blank to provide any kind of useful service, use our suppliers, or get them to send the broken item in if it's an iPhone*."
*This in itself is annoying, because it means we have to pay to dispose of it.
This is a question for Best Buy employees. Do any of you know how to contact the motherfucker who decided it would be a good idea to put playable versions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band in your stores?
Every time I go in, it's always some child or teenager playing the same damn song on Guitar Hero, and with Rock Band it's gotten even worse with that fucking drum set. I know the idea is to sell the games, but in my experience people just come in and bang away, making for an extremely unpleasant shopping experience.
So I suppose my second, more serious question is this: am I just getting old, or does this shit annoy the fuck out of everyone?
Assuming this is from a customer perspective, I have other problems with Best Buy. As much as I love that store (remember, I am a customer) it was always too noisy before those games. My pet peeve are people who turn up the home theatre and car stereos up too loud. I don't mind it going up for a few seconds, but if I can hear it for up to a minute clear on the other side of the store, I get peeved.
Any time I even look at the goods in those departments a sales associate asks me if I need help. I'm not sure how a customer can get away with abusing their toys for long periods of time without being spoken to in a polite manner.
Is there a Best Buy policy about NOT telling the customers to turn stuff down?
You see they're built so that when one breaks, instead of having to go through all the shit you'd normally have to do with another companies product, getting it repaired, having it work, etc., instead you can just send apple another $5,000,000,000 to get a completely new apple device!
Sorry, I'm calling bullshit on your post. I've got a few friends that work in Apple stores and I own many an Apple product. If you have a legitimate problem, they will help you fix it. I've never had a problem with Apple fixing any of my products or putting anything in writing. If anything, they do it in triplicate.
If you dropped your iPhone on the ground/in water/you jog with your iPod and sweat on it/did any other matter of stupid shit with your electronics, you deserve to be stared at like an idiot.
I hate the fact that these Rock Band bundles are huge. 3 different versions all piled up in our back room, taking up more space and the problem is especially exacerbated by the fact that now Rock Band isn't quite the high commodity item. Goddamn people, get this crap out of our store.
But I only needed one!
Do you really only need one? In fact, word on the street is that you need more than one--more than two actually. You need three--one for each console. No worries, I rang them up for you already and took the money from your wallet. Consider yourself welcome.
On another note, Lost Odyssey at our store has been flying off the shelves. Depending on who you talk to, the discs might literally be flying out of the cases. Is it just that our store seems to be very RPG happy or does anyone else see this where they are? It would be nice to see an RPG sell for a change in the 360. I remember when Eternal Sonata came out, I felt heartbroken everytime I passed the case on the shelf.
You see they're built so that when one breaks, instead of having to go through all the shit you'd normally have to do with another companies product, getting it repaired, having it work, etc., instead you can just send apple another $5,000,000,000 to get a completely new apple device!
Sorry, I'm calling bullshit on your post. I've got a few friends that work in Apple stores and I own many an Apple product. If you have a legitimate problem, they will help you fix it. I've never had a problem with Apple fixing any of my products or putting anything in writing. If anything, they do it in triplicate.
If you dropped your iPhone on the ground/in water/you jog with your iPod and sweat on it/did any other matter of stupid shit with your electronics, you deserve to be stared at like an idiot.
I agree because it is totally stupid for you to drop something because everyone has reflexes of Spider-Man.
You see they're built so that when one breaks, instead of having to go through all the shit you'd normally have to do with another companies product, getting it repaired, having it work, etc., instead you can just send apple another $5,000,000,000 to get a completely new apple device!
Sorry, I'm calling bullshit on your post. I've got a few friends that work in Apple stores and I own many an Apple product. If you have a legitimate problem, they will help you fix it. I've never had a problem with Apple fixing any of my products or putting anything in writing. If anything, they do it in triplicate.
If you dropped your iPhone on the ground/in water/you jog with your iPod and sweat on it/did any other matter of stupid shit with your electronics, you deserve to be stared at like an idiot.
What? Why?
It was dropped. Which isn't a warranty job. It is a valid insurance claim with our home contents policies. All we needed to replace it was confirmation from the Apple store that it was beyond repair. This is something that is trivially easy to obtain when dealing with any other item of electronics, Apple computers included, from anywhere that deals with appliance/electronics/computer repair.
In this instance, it had to be an Apple store because apparently nobody else will touch iPhones. Our usual electronics people told us point blank that they are specifically prohibited from dealing with iPhones, and the guy at the Apple store told us that they wouldn't give us anything at all by way of confirmation. Call bullshit all you like. It happened, and I'm going to end up with someone's broken iPhone arriving at my desk in a jiffy bag because of it.
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There is a little video store near my house in Dallas that I love. It's called Premier Video, and it is tucked away between like, a mattress store and a camping/outdoor/organic whatever store. It's probably got about 1/8th the floor space of your average Blockbuster, but many more movies. They don't carry 80 of every new release, and they shelve them like books, not magazines, so you have to pull them out to see the cover. But their selection is really amazing, and the staff knows movies. You can come in, and say, "Hey, I'm looking for a movie I saw as a kid. It had that guy from the one show with the weird hair. And I think it had monsters." And they'll help you figure out what it was. If you're looking for a movie they don't have, ask them to get it, and they'll often have it within a month or so if it is at all reasonable. They actually had to set up a drop box in a suburb about 20 miles away, because a lot of people in that area were renting videos from them, but it was such a pain to drive all the way back to return them. When my dad and I were there a couple years ago, someone called in asking whether Holy Grail or Spinal Tap was better because he didn't know what to watch that night. The clerk said "hold on" then announced it to the whole store, and we had an impromptu discussion on the various merits of each film. It was awesome.
XBL : lJesse Custerl | MWO: Jesse Custer | Best vid ever. | 2nd best vid ever.
I used to have that issue too. When I worked as a phone tech support, if someone would call my regular phone I'd be like:
"Thank you for calling Bellsouth's Fast Acc.... FUCK! I'm sorry. 10 hour shifts are getting the best of me!"
Edit: And that last thing there happens to me all the time, too. I have to pause before I pick up the phone at home to remind myself not to say, "Housewares, (Gent) speaking" in a cheery voice when I pick it up.
Haha =-)
I used to be a front end manager (until they shafted my ass and threw me back to the Pets department) and I got so used to apologizing to whiny bitches that I apologized to everyone for everything. I lost any aspect of badass, argumentative manliness that I had until I left that position.
Fuck, being a CSM sucked. I'm glad I'm out of it... I'm not glad I got the pay cut, however.
Glad I'm not so full of built-up angst and hate now, though.
edit @gent: I used to be cheery when I answered the phone. Now it's more like "Pets." with a "What the fuck do you want?" overtone.
It's true. I had to keep my natural tone when I had my show.
My buddy who DJs and also announces at a strip club with his DJ voice?
Completely different guy.
http://www.derrickcomedy.com/2007/08/21/wqxr-the-cool-breeze/
She was burgled, and her son had a (60gb, backwards compatible) PS3, which was stolen. We got our supplier to replace most of the electricals, PS3 included. However, what the supplier sent her was a 40gb, non-backwards compatible PS3, since this is the UK and that's the only model available.
As it turns out, her son is not best pleased with this, since the replacement has fewer features and he can't play his large collection of PS2 games on it. I got her to consider a compromise, I checked with the supplier, and we could supply a slim ps2 for about £70, plus about £220 or so for the 40Gb PS3. That way, he gets the full functionality he had before, less a bit of hard drive space and it doesn't cost too much.
Unfortunately, I had to run this by my boss to cover myself, since to someone who isn't quite up to speed on the various PS models, it looks like I'm handing out free games systems.
Predictably, my boss wouldn't accept my argument (I actually compared it to someone having a damaged DVD/VCR combo, and replacing it with a VCR and a DVD player, which I know for a fact we've done in the past if it works out cheaper), and insisted she wouldn't authorise that, they'd have to get us a quote for another 60gb PS3. I advised against this, as the damn things are like gold dust and command prices higher than the original RRP, but was told that was the only option she'd authorise.
Predictably, the woman managed to get one from ebay (and was no doubt bidding like crazy, since I essentially had to tell her that if she could get hold of a 60gb PS3, we'd cover the cost).
So now we're paying £670 to this woman instead of £290 to the suppliers for a PS2 slim and a 40gb PS3. Great.
I did, but tried not to gloat.
For just about anything else, I wouldn't have bothered. I just had that feeling that if I didn't run it by her I'd get pulled up for it.
Ebay is a complete pain for this sort of thing, because once you tell someone that you'll pay for something if they can get hold of it, the first thing they do is fire up ebay. It used to be a huge problem for collectibles, but we use a specialist company to assess "fair market value" for those. Not so with electronics, unfortunately.
EDIT: She's not an asshole, she just wasn't getting it, despite my explanations. All that she could see was that I was proposing giving someone two consoles to replace one.
So I get a call from some executive just a moment ago who was complaining he called an hour and 45 minutes ago (which is weird, because I was here) and left a message and no one answered. Basically he isn't able to connect to the network.
I answered the phone on my lunch break (because no one ever fucking answers the phone except for me) and told him I'm going to finish this last piece of food and head up there asap. Of course I get bitched out and he says: "Look forward to seeing you." and slams the phone.
First, its a market research place. we call people up, and have them answer our questions. there is around ... 20% response rate. this means, our people deal with 80% or more of people saying "fuck off" and hanging up.
This leads to tension, and anger.
on to the goings on of a few days ago.
I am listening to someone do their phone calls, and i clearly hear them say the word "fuck". Now, the 1st rule of research club, is that you don't curse at research club. lest ye be canned.
Before i can tell my superior about this, one of the floor interviewers comes up to me and has a complaint. There are people nearby her who were making a lot of noise by talking across the lanes. She had asked them to stop. Because of this, they began to not only talk louder, but insult her about her looks and lifestyle.
So, it turns out that the woman who cursed, is also one of the two that were harassing the young woman. So, after reporting all of this nonsense to my boss, i resume listening to surveys given. after about 2 or 3 of them, i listen to the *other* person accused of harassing and i hear the following line
"you ain't pretty, and you ain't all that"
Cue me going O_o:!!: and recording the harassment.
But the oddest thing of all is that neither of them were fired, both still work here, but one is on super secret double probation.
Edit - ah yes, i had forgotten the best part.
So after all this crap is over, break is called, and in the break room, the perpetrators began to throw accusations at people about "being snitches" and basically acting stupid. this freaks out an older lady who in my opinion is "highly medicated"
She comes to me and says
"this job is not worth having my tires slashed over, you better have someone watching the parking lot"
M - "what? whos going to slash your tires?"
CL - "you know who! those guys in the breakroom!" (it should be noted that they are women)
M - "well i dont think they would slash your tires!"
CL - "its possible! they were calling me a snitch!"
M - "what? how could you have heard anything? you sit 2 rows over on the opposite side of the office."
CL - "anything could happen"
M - "i'll look into it... O_o"
She seemed to think that we are dealing with a pack of Switchblade carrying thugs who at the slightest hint of punishment for misbehavior will pop tires and sugar our gas tanks.
Where do we find employees like this?
Every time I go in, it's always some child or teenager playing the same damn song on Guitar Hero, and with Rock Band it's gotten even worse with that fucking drum set. I know the idea is to sell the games, but in my experience people just come in and bang away, making for an extremely unpleasant shopping experience.
So I suppose my second, more serious question is this: am I just getting old, or does this shit annoy the fuck out of everyone?
See, that's funny because right now I'm sitting here doing fuck-all waiting on some executive-types to respond do emails I sent as far back as last week. I'm not in IT, but I wonder how they'd respond if I took this long to get back to them about something.
edit: nosnibor, I'm pretty sure you're getting old. Report to HR for your hearing aid and pants that come up above your belly button.
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People were taking videos of the drummer with their camera phones. If he could have heard anything over his own banging, he would have heard at least a dozen people snickering and/or mocking him.
But I only needed one!
I'm in Brisbane, Australia, 19 and am currently out of a decent job. Working in a bar is getting to me and I'm thinking of moving on to something in Tech Support. I have worked for six months in a computer repair shop and have a diploma in screen, game animation. I'm about to start my BA in multimedia (July).
What should I look at doing to break into the scene?
I'm still a long way off knowing all my shit. But I'm still sure there is a job out there for me somewhere.
Love you all.
For the most part. if you can read a paragraph with some medium sized words in it without stumbling. we'll give you a chance. but still, who the hell resorts to violence over *their own mistakes*?
If I tell you to get off the store ladder, it's not because you're black, it's because you're not supposed to be on the fucking ladder.
XBL : lJesse Custerl | MWO: Jesse Custer | Best vid ever. | 2nd best vid ever.
When I worked title insurance, we sometimes got complaints like that. What they conveniently left out was that they called while we were closed. To make them happy, the "office coordinator" suggested extending office hours (to which my boss said "no fucking way") or answering the phone as soon as we got in and up until we left. (My boss was first in at 7 am and I was last to leave at 5 - 6 pm.)
She explained to Ms. Clueless that doing the latter would start a cycle that would never stop. It didn't matter how early or late we took calls because the bitchy paralegals that pulled this shit would just start doing it earlier or later, know fully well that we were closed, and still complain that we weren't open.
There were also paralegals that would call at 5 minutes until closed. Usually because we were doing the mail or scrambling to finish up before we left, we just didn't get to the phone in time before it went to voicemail. These same harpies would complain that we "left early."
Ironically, I just accepted a job to be a paralegal. O_o I plan not to be as big a bitch.
God sweet hell yes.
At Christmastime we had a Rock Band demo set up out in the Garden Shop. It was just the guitar and drums, with some limited songs.
And sweet fucking CHRIST how they would bang the drums. We would actually have to tell the kids to calm the fuck down before they broke the damned things.
And they still broke them. I think they're sitting back in claims, the red drum previously had a hole in the head which has slowly progressed to not having a fucking drumhead at all. I mean my god.
And yes, the guitar hero kids always come in and play like the very first song on the playlist over and over again on easy. Makes you want to shoot yourself.
I don't know how to contact the planogram person, but I hear ya.
I quit before they put in the Rock Band, but the Guitar Hero kiosk was right across the aisle from the Geek Squad counter, where I worked. I eventually just learned to tune out the music. (I was more annoyed at the mobile department, when the sales reps turned the bass up on the demo units as loud as they could.)
But also gave me a moment of awesome: two guys "performed" at the kiosk. They were waving the fret around, dancing in place, and generally acting as if they were on stage. The entire store was moving to where they were and laughing hysterically because these guys made total asses of themselves and having a blast.
The icing on the cake? They then moved over to the Singstar kiosk. And sang "Journey." Badly. Loudly.
I was leaning on the counter and holding my sides and crying because I was laughing so hard.
That's how the telemarketing division of the MLM I was working for a few months ago operated. While doing some stuff on a manager's computer, I overheard her talking to another manager about how she was having trouble hiring decent employees because half the applicants had criminal records ranging from writing bad checks to assault and battery.
Frankly, after interacting with some of those people, I wouldn't have trusted them with a goldfish. They were that idiotic.
I used to stop by the electronics section whenever I was at the local Wal-Mart and play a quick Guitar Hero. Though I would usually play Carry On My Wayward Son on expert, and rock it. I stopped because all the dumb kids broke the whammy bar and the strum bar was really loose too.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
Policyholder breaks iPhone. She calls us, goes through the usual "Accidental Damage"screening successfully, says the Apple store will charge £169 to fix it, but the store won't put it in writing.
Fair enough, small claim, nothing to worry about. She got paid, send us a copy of the invoice, and we'll be all settled up.
She calls back in, now they're saying they can't fix it. We say OK, and ask our electronics supplier to take a look at it. They call us, say they can't so much as touch an iPhone without fucking over their bulk discount agreement with Apple. Second option (because we're getting mildly desperate) is the specialist forensic investigators we use for accidental damage claims. Same deal, they can't even look at it without risking their "Apple Certified technicians" status.
So I end up being the one that has to call the store and speak to one of their "Geniuses" with our policyholder present. She gave him the run down, he was quite happy to speak to me, and the (spare) phone was passed over.
I tell him all we need is confirmation that the phone is beyond repair, preferably in writing.
"We can't put anything in writing."
"What, at all? Even if it's just on a compliments slip, that would be fine"
"We can't put anything in writing."
"Okay, never mind, all I need is for you to confirm that you can't repair the phone."
"I can't confirm that."
"So are you going to repair the phone?"
"I can't confirm that either."
He went on to tell me that I shouldn't need any verification the phone isn't repairable because, apparently, "iPhones are different" in some way that the normal procedures for electronics don't apply to them. Eventually I gave up. She's just going to send us the broken phone and we'll pay for a new one.
About once every three months at the library, after I'd turn someone down for a lack of credentials for a card, I'd get the "you just don't want to give me a card because I'm black/ a veteran / disabled / don't like me!"
We had STACKS of the same slip of paper detailing what was needed for a card since we'd hand them out so much.
Keep in mind, it's really freaking easy to get a card. The 'weakest' form of ID that is accepted is a envelope addressed to you within the county. If somebody really wanted a card, they could just print up an envelope. It didn't even matter if you were homeless, if you brought a letter from the shelter stating that you were currently there, we'd give you a card that just had a 5-item checkout limit (versus the normal 40)
Of course apple products are different.
You see they're built so that when one breaks, instead of having to go through all the shit you'd normally have to do with another companies product, getting it repaired, having it work, etc., instead you can just send apple another $5,000,000,000 to get a completely new apple device!
*This in itself is annoying, because it means we have to pay to dispose of it.
Assuming this is from a customer perspective, I have other problems with Best Buy. As much as I love that store (remember, I am a customer) it was always too noisy before those games. My pet peeve are people who turn up the home theatre and car stereos up too loud. I don't mind it going up for a few seconds, but if I can hear it for up to a minute clear on the other side of the store, I get peeved.
Any time I even look at the goods in those departments a sales associate asks me if I need help. I'm not sure how a customer can get away with abusing their toys for long periods of time without being spoken to in a polite manner.
Is there a Best Buy policy about NOT telling the customers to turn stuff down?
Sorry, I'm calling bullshit on your post. I've got a few friends that work in Apple stores and I own many an Apple product. If you have a legitimate problem, they will help you fix it. I've never had a problem with Apple fixing any of my products or putting anything in writing. If anything, they do it in triplicate.
If you dropped your iPhone on the ground/in water/you jog with your iPod and sweat on it/did any other matter of stupid shit with your electronics, you deserve to be stared at like an idiot.
Do you really only need one? In fact, word on the street is that you need more than one--more than two actually. You need three--one for each console. No worries, I rang them up for you already and took the money from your wallet. Consider yourself welcome.
On another note, Lost Odyssey at our store has been flying off the shelves. Depending on who you talk to, the discs might literally be flying out of the cases. Is it just that our store seems to be very RPG happy or does anyone else see this where they are? It would be nice to see an RPG sell for a change in the 360. I remember when Eternal Sonata came out, I felt heartbroken everytime I passed the case on the shelf.
I agree because it is totally stupid for you to drop something because everyone has reflexes of Spider-Man.
What? Why?
It was dropped. Which isn't a warranty job. It is a valid insurance claim with our home contents policies. All we needed to replace it was confirmation from the Apple store that it was beyond repair. This is something that is trivially easy to obtain when dealing with any other item of electronics, Apple computers included, from anywhere that deals with appliance/electronics/computer repair.
In this instance, it had to be an Apple store because apparently nobody else will touch iPhones. Our usual electronics people told us point blank that they are specifically prohibited from dealing with iPhones, and the guy at the Apple store told us that they wouldn't give us anything at all by way of confirmation. Call bullshit all you like. It happened, and I'm going to end up with someone's broken iPhone arriving at my desk in a jiffy bag because of it.