The "I hate working in retail at Christmas" thread

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Dynasty12

Well on Plasma TV's I wouldnt call it a scam. Because once you turn it on the gases in the TV start to degrade. So in 4 years when the TV is not up to manufactur specs. You can say the colour is not the same as it was before!!! Its not up to the specs of day 1!! They are forced to write you a gift card of what you paid for PSP.

Another tip for TV shoppers, always ALWAYS get them to bump the price down. I'm shocked at how many people dont even ask. I've seen people get the PSP 4 years for price of 2. Getting sometimes 300 more off aswell. Just push the managers. Dont be afraid to tell them you will try future shop.

That's what I hate about Future Shop, you always have to haggle to get the price down. I refuse to buy stuff from there!

[Dynasty12]

Originally Posted by Dion

That's what I hate about Future Shop, you always have to haggle to get the price down. I refuse to buy stuff from there!

It's pretty easy to get prices down especially if your geting a tv, speakers etc.. Especially if you get in on a slow day. A few weeks after xmas on a tuesday afternoon they are hurting for sales. This is when they are weak and you can get better deals. On a busy weekend, obviously they dont care so much.

[bradster57]

It's too bad that when I get fed up with Future Shop and head to Best Buy that its the same company.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Dynasty12

It's pretty easy to get prices down especially if your geting a tv, speakers etc.. Especially if you get in on a slow day. A few weeks after xmas on a tuesday afternoon they are hurting for sales. This is when they are weak and you can get better deals. On a busy weekend, obviously they dont care so much.

How does one know if they are getting a good deal or not? It's like haggling over the price of a new vehicle and hoping you got the best deal possible. It's just a process I hate going through.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I've considered getting a job at a fast food joint just to screw with them and see how long it takes to get fired.

That was a failed tv show. The contestants started a new job and they had to get fired as close as they could get to 5:00pm without going later. Surprisingly it was quite hard to get fired. Most of the employers would deal with the person throughout the day and just plan on phoning them at night to axe them.

[4X4]

Take a dump in the deep fryer. That'd be my strategy.

[ken0042]

What about the splashback?

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Flameschick

Well, the guys at Future Shop here in town get commission. Wouldn't it motivate people to try and sell more?

I just meant why would they because Best Buy advertises the fact they their employees don't make commission. "No commission, no pressure." It's part of their business plan. Commission sales is different than non-commission sales. I'm not saying one is better than the other, they both have their strengths and weaknesses. Plus if they were commission sellers they might as well put Best Buy signs all over the Future Shop stores.

[Locke]

I was just out there and its pure pandemonium...

And whats with; "Have a safe Holidays" ?

WTF? Either say Merry Christmas or scowl at me and let me go on my merry way.

What if I like my holidays with a dash of danger? Obviously I do or I wouldnt be out in the stores at this time of year.

[DementedReality]

Originally Posted by alltherage

...IT'S DECEMBER 19TH DAMNIT!!! It's your own damn fault for waiting this long!!!!
...

whats the problem? its not a fault, i am ALLOWED to shop on Dec 19th and YOU are PAID to SERVE clients. Deal with it.

[alltherage]

Originally Posted by J pold

Now you know how I feel when people start complaining about “real fans”

Just shut up about that already, its been months you bloody goof.

[jammies]

I think some people have a problem with the concept of "ranting". For example, if I said "Stupid morons in the left lane passing everyone at five billion kilometres an hour! I could just machine-gun them to death and feed their still-twitching bodies to the coyotes!" you can be sure that:

#1: they probably weren't actually driving 5,000,000,000 km/hr
#2: I don't own a machine-gun, at least not that I'll admit on a public forum
#3: I would probably get arrested before I found a hungry coyote

So let the poor retail dudes rave away, it's just a pressure valve that stops them from going totally ape and shoving a copy of 42nd Street Miracle between your flappin' lips and down your capacious maw.

PS: Don't listen to them ATR! Vent away!

[Eastern Girl]

I worked at Walmart in Toronto over the Christmas rush and it was horrendous. I was probably yelled at more than when I was doing market research, and in quite a few different languages too. People get so frustrated that the store might be out of things, or that there are long line ups and they have to wait, etc. I am not sure what I was supposed to do about it, but they seemed to like taking it out on anyone wearing the cool blue smock.

Then when I worked at a lingerie store, the Christmas season just seemed to ramp up all the creepy guys that would come in, trying to grope/hit on the salesladies with lines like, "Well, my girlfriend is about your cup size, let me compare" or "will you try this one on for me, I want to see it on a real woman." It was gross.

I hated working retail over Christmas, I sympathize greatly with anyone that does it.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I've often wondered who these people are that actually get fired. I thought it was just a myth from Seinfeld. How exactly does one get fired? Stealing? Not showing up? What is necessary to get fired? I've considered getting a job at a fast food joint just to screw with them and see how long it takes to get fired.

Hmm, well, I've been technically fired from my job at a hotel. The owner was one of those egotistical people, who loves to show off his wealth to people, and teach us peasants life lessons on how to be successful like he is. Anyways, he's one of those people who acts important by wanting to know everything that goes down in his hotel without actually doing anything about.

Anyways, I was the evening manager at the time at his crappy hotel. The guy scrimps and saves on needed hotel repairs all the time, so of course that place has a ton of problems all the time, from not having any hot water, to leaking pipes. So one night a room had a leaking pipe that no one knew about until it flooded two rooms beneath it, and it was a full house that night, so I had to scramble to get everything solved.

Next thing I know, I get this crap phone call from him asking me why I didn't let him know about it. So I tell him "so what were you going to do about it? Is it not better for me to solve the problem first? I mean, its not like I had idle time on my hands to report to you first." Long story short, the conversation escalated to the point where I was basically belittling him on the phone for what a moron he is, and him screaming through the phone about how he demands I respect him because he's such a successful person in life and blah blah blah.

Basically the guy was telling me what a POS I am, and I just kind of belittle him even more for being an idiot. Its amazing how mad people get when they're yelling at you and you kinda talk to them all nice and sarcastic. Works wonders! Anyways, by the end of the conversation, I was talking to the guy like you would talk to a baby, and that just pissed him off even more. He finally just hung up on me cuz I swear if he continued the conversation, he was gonna pop some blood vessels from the anger. And then there's me just laughing at him.

So yah, needless to say, after the convo ended, I was quote "let go" the next day. At least they gave me severance ha ha. I didn't even ask for that, and they gave it to me. Ah, fun times

[4X4]

^^That's a cool kind of firing^^

[Kipper is King]

I work at a Chapters, but fortunatly not a mall location like chinook!

However, I will go bonkers if someone asks about the American/canadian pricing difference on books! Please stop! I'm begging you all!

[maverickeastwood]

Thank God I work as a mechanic in a plant. Dealing with operators is bad enough at times never mind the random public that gets in your face. To those of you that work in retail...your a lot more patient than I would be as I have a tendency to curse and swear in front of others.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Originally Posted by flylock shox

Best time to shop: December 24th. Time pressure, limited options, nobody but efficient bachelors in the stores, and some places are already switching to boxing day prices.

Oh, and office supply stores are good for digital picture frames. I just got one at Staples after some jacktard at Future Shop said "we're all out, good luck finding one in this city buddy." Friggin' Staples was just one block down.

That was nice of him to wish you luck, perhaps he had something to do with you finding what you were looking for.

Just quit a good job and moved to another city, no real need to work at this time <significant value in my stock options>. I decided to take a position in retail sales. Wow, somewhat of a mistake if I hadn't committed to this company I would not be working there. This experience has solidified my disdain for the holiday season. I can't believe how stupid, ignorant, rude etc people can be!

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

That's been my experience as well. I don't know if I prefer it to the Future Shop dweebs that you can't walk five feet without getting asked if you need help. The only help I need from those losers is that they get out of my freaking way!

Wow I never really thought of myself as being a loser. But I'm sure you didn't mean me.

[Couch Potter]

been there, done that. I've worked at a Toys R Us as seasonal staff for Christmas so I know what it's like being hammered with customer questions. It was a time when tickle me Elmos were crazy popular and I was asked if we had them in stock every 10 minutes.

Unlike a few here, I knew I was being paid to help the customer, so I politely said no to them. If you dont like answering the same questions to customers at your current job, then find another job that suits you better. There's thousands of other jobs available in Calgary