The wonderful world of retail

I've been out of things around here lately. I took a little break from gaming to focus on writing other things, including resumes. It is definitely time for me to seriously pursue another career. I just don't know how much longer I can live the life of an impoverished salesperson at Best Buy. On good days, I feel like I'm treading water. On the rest, I just despise everything. This job is sucking the life out of me. So begins a little rant about the world of corporate retail.

For the past three years I worked at a used media store. I didn't make a lot of money, but I always had access to cheap music, movies, and more importantly, games. It's hard to argue with getting recent releases for $20 instead of the usual $50 for a new copy at other stores. Other than that, the best part was talking with customers. There was never a shortage of regulars who called me by name, because they knew I would always give them my honest opinion of a title. My co-workers and I had no qualms about putting down a bad game. We knew that someone out there wouldn't listen, and after it was bought, we just wouldn't carry it anymore. Now I'm being told to lie, or at least keep important information to myself.

Cases in point:
- The Nintendo DS Lite is on the horizon. It's a smaller DS that retains the same screen-size, with the bright screen as seen on the Gameboy Advance SP. The Nintendo reps have forbidden me to tell customers about this though. In fact, they want me to push the current DS as fervently as possible so that they won't get stuck with a bunch of unwanted old versions. I wonder how cheated the people who buy a regular DS a week before the release will feel?

- My coworkers and I feel that Logitech, hands-down, makes the best wireless controllers, and we let everyone know. Apparently corporate is concerned about our high Logitech sales. As it turns out, the $20 Nyko double pack makes an extra $1 profit per sale. Now I'm supposed to push controllers that I know will probably fail in a few weeks, if not days. Screw that. What happened to their policy of "customer-centricity"?

- I've been criticized for my recommendations to customers. This is especially evident when it comes to DDR. I'll tell customers to buy the game from us, as DDR is extremely scarce around here, but point them to internet sites for some good pads. I'm sorry, but I play DDR, and if you want me to sell a pad with the game, then you should supply me with good pads instead of the gimmicky crap I have right now.

After these points you probably aren't expecting me to say this, but please, "Listen to my advice." Best Buy employees are not necessarily fans of their jobs. I know what it feels like to be broke and jerked around by corporations, because I deal with it every day. When I go up to you in the store, remember that I don't see a dime of what you spend. I'm trying to help you get what you need, not fill the pockets of some CEO I've never seen. Nobody seems to understand this though. Instead of the friendly greetings and conversations I got at the used store, I now get treated like a 4-in-the-morning telemarketer.

Comments 7

Genj Feb 18, 2006

That's the Republican / CEO / Captalist/ shoot-your-rich-lawyer-friend-in-the-face-and-blame-it-on-the-sun-and-not-the-beer-you-had-for-lunch way of life! They get rich off your labor. Congrats.

The clerks at my local Best Buy just play the Guitar Hero demo whenever I'm there and they seem pretty happy. Maybe you should try that until you find a new job.

pup Blogger Feb 18, 2006

I get yelled at when I play the Guitar Hero demo. When I moved to this city, I knew Best Buy wouldn't be anywhere near my dream job. I just didn't think I would dislike it this much. I guess you could say that this was just a chance for me to let off some steam.

Halon Feb 18, 2006

At Best Buy we used to do nothing but bullshit the whole time and got paid pretty well. It still sucks, though.

Logitech does make great wireless controllers. I use mine for XBox all time time. The d-pad sucks big time and controller s still feels better, but it's still awesome.

I don't understand why no one uses the separated d-pad like Sony. Having four distinct buttons ensures that you don't accidently push in a diagonal direction instead of just up, down, left, or right.

honestgamer Staff Feb 18, 2006

Yeah, no doubt. By the way, I've never gotten a good recommendation on anything at Best Buy. Most of the time, they just come over and say "Hi" so their manager doesn't yell at them. Any time I actually ask for information, I get blank stares. It's sad. I'm not asking tough questions, either. Just "Do you have game X"? They don't like to see me coming, and I no longer care to see Best Buy employees. Game Crazy is a much better place to buy games, so now I go there first.

I know how it is, though. I worked in sales. My current job is at a computer store, though now I work in service. In sales, I'd tell people something was great, or that it sucked, and they'd ignore me most of the time. A few people would listen to me and they always came back happy, thankful that I was willing to level with them. Others would sneer and walk out the door like they were smart to purchase something. They'd usually come back, dissatisfied with the product and avoiding my eyes because they knew they fucked up by not listening.

I think it's just because a lot of people work in sales only briefly. They work, they try to make as much money as they can (by following corporate policy) and then they quit for some other newbie to take their place. Sales people that know what they talk about, or who aren't looking to rip people off, are quite rare.

Halon Feb 19, 2006

I do like Sony's d-pad alhthough it is far from perfect. I don't hate the logitech one because it's hard to distinguish between different directions, it just fells very cheap, as if it's going to come off after ten minutes of use. Luckily I rarely use the d-pad so this isn't too much of a problem.

fighter86 Mar 5, 2006

DS Lite,huh? What about a new Starfox game?