Freedom!Thursday, January 4, 2007 | 2:02AM |
First, let me say that working at Best Buy was not that awful for what it was worth. As a business, I think it’s a pretty good company. Then what, might you ask, do I feel I am free from?
DUMB CUSTOMERS.
Sorry, but there are just too many people who are unwilling to think that are actually given driver licenses and proceed to operate a motor vehicle in order to come into a big box store and say, “Ok, I’m looking for the best camera for the least amount of money, and I’m not a professional, so I don’t need, like, the best or anything, but I want my pictures to look really good.” Yes, all of that in a single sentence.
1) It’s obvious you’re not a professional photographer. You’re at BEST BUY.
2) Best camera for cheap? Here are the SLRs; they’re $700+. Here are the cheap cameras; they’re $130 and less.
3) You don’t need, like, the best? But I thought you just said you were a professional… oh wait, you AREN’T a professional. That’s right. Sorry, I forgot.
4) Who wants their pictures to look good anymore?
What’s worse than this? The know-it-all who knows next to nothing. I’ll remind you, my Bachelor’s is in photography. I’m working on my Master’s in photography. (I actually did originally tell people this in order to instill confidence in my knowledge level.) One time I had a guy come in and ask for an SLR, but it had to have the live video preview. Ok, there are very few cameras that have that, as (traditionally) the sensor in an SLR is covered by the shutter and mirror until the moment of exposure. That is the standard. But this guy insisted that I didn’t know what I was talking about and that he’d “been doing photography for 35 years”. I bit my tongue, but I really just wanted to tell him to leave the store.
I’ve had other people that act like that guy, and they’ll ask me a leading question, which I’ll answer in a way they might not like. This one guy insisted I look on a camera box to ensure it was, in fact, Mac compatible. I told him several times that I knew for a fact that it was, but he wouldn’t let up. “I’d just feel a lot better if you’d look at the box.” So, I call a manager over, we look at the box, I’m right, he thanks me AND LEAVES. He had no intention of buying, he just wanted me to do his research for him.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed “educating” people in cameras and camcorders. Sometimes we’d have really great customers who truly needed help in making a decision, and I always got a lot out of those interactions, because my goal really is to be a teacher. But more often than not, people approached me as the enemy. I understand that to an extent, because they think I’m trying to get as much money out of them as possible (uhm, obviously… that’s my job… how else would a business operate?). But that’s hardly an excuse to be a jerk right off the bat. I always tried to treat people as I’d like to be treated unless they acted inappropriately.
But I worked with almost 100% great people at both stores… there were only about 4 or 5 people I ever truly disliked, and the majority were back in Texas. I made some great friends, and I learned a lot about retail markup.=) There are only a few things I’ll ever be able to buy in a Best Buy now that I know what the employee discount is. That was the single greatest incentive for working there. If you ever need a short- (or long-)term job, apply there. For that reason alone, you won’t regret it.
Comments
“uuhh, yeah, like can you tell if this roll of film has been used, cuz if not I want to shoot it.” We used to get a lot of dumb customers at the photo store too….
Polly Chandler | Thursday, January 4, 2007 | 4:25PM
Ah, I know what you mean. When I get a question from one of those guys… what’s the best HD camera? I tell them the Thomson LDK 8000. It’s what ESPN and ABC Sports use. It starts at $116,600.00 …but that’s without the lens.
IGO | Monday, January 8, 2007 | 6:34PM
Kind of late, but I found this so true.
Try working at a bank. Now you’re messing people’s money. Yeah, we get some real gems.
Add to that the fact that I live in an area filled with people who feel that they’re better than most, and you get some REAL fun days at the ‘ol bank.
I need to find a job. :(
Oh, I finally got a phone dude.
Casey | Saturday, February 10, 2007 | 1:14PM
I’m so glad I never have to deal with customers.
I’ll occasionally get a viewer who gets transferred back to me to ask a technical question, but it only happens maybe twice a month. Technically, we don’t even have to take them, but I usually will if I’m in a good mood. They’re usually old people, so I feel bad if I don’t at least try to help them out.
My favorite questions are when they are offended by something CBS airs and they ask why I aired it. Because you know, I personally create and produce every show CBS airs, right? You know CSI, King of Queens, Survivor… I did that!
Justin | Monday, February 12, 2007 | 7:19PM
King of Queens is my favorite show ever!!
Stacy | Monday, February 12, 2007 | 8:48PM
I know, it’s one of our favorites too. Too bad stupid CBS is jerking it around in the lineup. And to make things worse, the shows that are airing in its place right now are awful.
To be honest, most of CBS’ lineup is pretty terrible. But don’t tell my boss I said so.
Justin | Monday, February 12, 2007 | 11:28PM
All Content © Walker Pickering