The "I hate working in retail at Christmas" thread

[Burninator]

Thankfully I don't work in retail anymore, but I feel your pain. Ever since I worked at IKEA and the Dome I am completely immune to crowds. I know most retail stores have a couple days of the year when they are really busy, but they fail in comparison to IKEA. On busy Saturdays we would get 40,000 people walk through the store. I got very good at walking through the crowds looking like I wasn't able to help people. Otherwise it would take me way to long to get to my department.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I feel sorry for you retail people and anyone that has to work harder during xmas. Everything slows right down for me around this time of year, hence my post count practically doubling in the last week.

We need a good argument around here. Damn cops need to tase someone.

They tried to get me on Tuesday at Melrose. Believe it or not, you can outrun a taser-wielding cop should you be sufficiently motivated. Such as the desire not to be tased.

I think he laughed out a lung as I was running down 17th screaming:

"Dont tase me!!!"

Better luck next time CPS.

[Got Miikka?]

Originally Posted by Locke

They tried to get me on Tuesday at Melrose. Believe it or not, you can outrun a taser-wielding cop should you be sufficiently motivated. Such as the desire not to be tased.

I think he laughed out a lung as I was running down 17th screaming:

"Dont tase me!!!"

Better luck next time CPS.

You might be laughing now but wait until they get the long-distance taser on the market. Those electrodes will shoot out hundreds of meters to catch spry buggers like yourself. You take off from Melrose and they've got you at the Hemporium.

And while we're on the subject tasers make a great tool for crowd control in these holiday-spending melees. Someone corners you looking for a Wii, you tase the piss out of him, and then you can say, "Anyone ELSE wanna be a hero?"

Guarantee it's the last time you get asked. (Except when you say 'hero' next thing you'll see all these lightbulbs go off and then you'll get asked where the Guitar Hero display is)

[4X4]

Garth was the OG tase wielder. His cattle prod at the bar was legendary.

[Flameschick]

That sucks alltherage, especially since BestBuy employees don't make commission.

I can't believe Best Buy people don't get commission after they've reached a certain $ amount of sales...

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

So before Christmas the staff at Best Buy is too busy to help customers? Makes sense. My question would be why they sit around with their thumbs up their butt the other 11 months of the year? Any time I have been to Best Buy I have to walk up to some person in the store and ask for help. Usually they are just standing there or are talking to their co-workers.

I always seem to have trouble finding Best Buy employees to help me. Several times I have gone into Best Buy and seen the few employees helping people with a couple other customers waiting to be helped. Wait around for 10 minutes get fed up, go over to Futureshop and walk right up to someone and get help. I guess that is the benefit of commission employees. The downside of course is it's hard to believe a lot of what comes out of there mouths.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Flameschick

I can't believe Best Buy people don't get commission after they've reached a certain $ amount of sales...

Why would they?

[Dynasty12]

I used to work at Best Buy. Thank god I got fired before this Christmas rush. The managers there are such s, they always go on to the costumer how they are all done commison and they push those damn PSP extended warrenty things like crazy.

They make bonus money on those things and its disgusting how hard they push those things. Hey if your getting a Plasma TV get that PSP for sure because you can cheat the system on the Plasma's very easy. For the LCD's however its a little harder since I've never seen dead pixels before. I mean look around the store, do you see any dead pixels on those tvs? They have been running 9 plus hours 7 days a week for months and some even years.

[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.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Burninator

I know most retail stores have a couple days of the year when they are really busy, but they fail in comparison to IKEA. On busy Saturdays we would get 40,000 people walk through the store.

In Ottawa, IKEA on Labour Day weekend is as insane as retail can get.

[Dynasty12]

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.

Always late. Hated the job so I'm glad it's over. But I'm going on boxing day and changing prices around and stuff! jkjk

[Flameschick]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Why would they?

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

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Dynasty12

Always late. Hated the job so I'm glad it's over. But I'm going on boxing day and changing prices around and stuff! jkjk

Booo! Late people suck!

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by Dynasty12

I used to work at Best Buy. Thank god I got fired before this Christmas rush. The managers there are such s, they always go on to the costumer how they are all done commison and they push those damn PSP extended warrenty things like crazy.

They make bonus money on those things and its disgusting how hard they push those things. Hey if your getting a Plasma TV get that PSP for sure because you can cheat the system on the Plasma's very easy. For the LCD's however its a little harder since I've never seen dead pixels before. I mean look around the store, do you see any dead pixels on those tvs? They have been running 9 plus hours 7 days a week for months and some even years.

Most of us know its a scam. At Future Shop they tried to sell it to me. I kept saying no, no, no, no. Finally I asked what the fail rate was in the first year under manufacturers warranty vs failures in the four years after? Nobody could give me an answer.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Burninator

Why would they?

Logic says that the more you sell the more you make, if there's a cap on commission, I'm going to sell like mad over the first three days of the month and then when I hit the end of the commission point I'm going to spend the next 27 days of the month, I'm gonna dry hump the fax machine for 8 hours a day.

When I worked at Future Shop about 16 years ago, I used to love Christmas panic time because selling was a matter of telling the fool to give me his credit card. It was pretty easy to put 1200 dollars worth of commission in your pocket on boxing day in 1991 dollars without working to hard. If there was a cap where I couldn't make commission on boxing day, there's no way I would be showing up to deal with that environment for $11 an hour.

Even when I was a buyer for future shop, I would slip into a store on boxing day and sell because making tones of money was a thrill.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

Most of us know its a scam. At Future Shop they tried to sell it to me. I kept saying no, no, no, no. Finally I asked what the fail rate was in the first year under manufacturers warranty vs failures in the four years after? Nobody could give me an answer.

The extended warranty at future shop only loses money in two areas. 1 is computers because the warranty is badly written, the second is bigger T.V.'s because large screen T.V. failure rates double after the manufacturers warranty expires.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by albertGQ

Well since you guys don't have any "You're the best EVER!" left, do you have any of the "It's what I've always wanted!!!" in stock still? If not, I'll settle with the "You're my favourite brother in the whole wide world!"

The only thing that is left is the "Gee, thanks, you shouldn't have. Do you still have the receipt?".

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

In Ottawa, IKEA on Labour Day weekend is as insane as retail can get.

Or Montreal on Canada Day. 95% of leases in Montreal expire July 1st. Its known as moving day in the city. Just imagine what Ikea is like when several hundred thousand people have just moved into their new appartments.

[Dynasty12]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

Most of us know its a scam. At Future Shop they tried to sell it to me. I kept saying no, no, no, no. Finally I asked what the fail rate was in the first year under manufacturers warranty vs failures in the four years after? Nobody could give me an answer.

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.

[TangerZ]

hey i've worked alota retail too and been in the customer service industry basically all my life and i know how crazy things get around christmas and esp.boxing day.. my last retail job was at a shoe store in td mall and it was definatly the craziest busy i've ever seen last boxing day....i mean first.. women and shoes.. and then when theres a crazy sale like boxing day..wow frickin insanity just like that sinbad swartzenegger movie, there was literally no where to walk in the store and i probably had at least 5 different pairs of shoes to get everytime i went back to our stock room to get the pairs..the only good thing is i was paid on commission which kept me from ripping off someone head.