CHUD.com Community › Forums › THE CHEWERS › The Chewers Catch-All › Starting a job at Best Buy
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Starting a job at Best Buy

post #1 of 33
10/11/07 at 5:49pm
Thread Starter 
So I'll most likely be starting a job at Best Buy next week or within the next few weeks. I had an interview today and pretty much nailed it and the guy offered me a job right there. This all happened at some "job fair" they were having that started at 9am and was running till 7pm today. I was offered the job around 10am. Radical!

Basically... has anyone ever worked for Best Buy before? Or had friends/family work for them? Any idea what it's like?
Reply
post #2 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:03pm
No news about them, but congrats. Juicy employee discount on all those movies, hmm?
Reply
post #3 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:05pm
If there's a secret handshake that gets you a discount let me know.

Based on the experience of shopping at Best Buy, most of their employees are idiots though. I could stand in the middle of the store yelling and throwing things and still not get any service when I'm trying to find a DVD. Also they seem to have a lot of confusion about what to do when a phone rings. I'm pretty sure it's just stand there. So when you call them you get no service, and when you go to the store you get no service.
Reply
post #4 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:08pm
Best as I can tell the key to working there is to ask every single customer if they would like a subscription to every single magazine currently published in North America.
Reply
post #5 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:10pm
Be sure to also ask for insurance on everything, even gum.

And make sure to come up with a few catchy lines for selling Monster Cables.
Reply
post #6 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:10pm
Thread Starter 
Well... I'll be in the back from the sounds of it. Working late nights/early mornings setting up displays/stocking shelves. So I won't have to deal with costumers. I get to unload trucks apparently as well. So I can only assume plenty of things will "fall off the back".
Reply
post #7 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:12pm
I'm sure if you put even a small bit of effort into your job and act like you actually want to be there, you'll be manager in no time.

Or you'll get fired for making everyone else look bad. Could go either way.

Good luck. Retail work is known to swallow your soul.
Reply
post #8 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:19pm
As someone who has worked retail I can tell you if you give a shit it makes a difference to you, the consumer and your employer. With that being said its just a matter of time before the stupidity (coworkers, retail corporate desires and above all the consumers) gets to you.

Good luck.
Reply
post #9 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:22pm
I worked there back in high school as a summer job in Digital Imaging. Sucked at sales, but the discount was great. Everything was 5-10% above cost. I worked there for 4 months, started with $300 in the bank and left with $600. I loved that discount.

I thought about going back, hoping for something easy like Media or Video. Though I wouldn't mind unloading the truck. Good exercise and no fucking customers.
Reply
post #10 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:26pm
Thread Starter 
Well the good thing is is that I worked a dinner theatre for a few years and bussed tables during the offseason (winter) when they had other shows on. So I dealt with people then. Plus, I work at a gym now and you wouldn't believe how many idiots are there. I deal with parents too at the gym so I've had my fair share of frustrations and wanting to beat the shit out of people. Usually you just do what's typical of most employees.... you make fun of them later with co-workers. I still can't believe that we have four... FOUR hours of operation signs for our youth fitness centre up in that room all within... literally a metre of each other and the parents still don't know when we close. It boggles the mind.
Reply
post #11 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:36pm
Could you look and see if your Best Buy has any decks of SMOKIN' ACES playing cards laying around? I was supposed to get a free deck when I purchased SMOKIN' ACES on DVD but the location I went to was all out. Now I have SMOKIN' ACES on DVD but every time I've played cards of late I've had to use a deck that doesn't feature characters from SMOKIN' ACES. It wasn't supposed to go down like that.
Reply
post #12 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:37pm
Worked there in Media 2 years, might be heading back in the very near future.

Since you're working the warehouse, best thing I can tell you is simply to keep things orderly back there. Great as the temptation may be to just dropping displays/boxes wherever as long as it's in the right department's section just makes the floor guys' jobs aggravating as hell, especially come Black Friday. Also, the faster you get the know the guys working Inventory, the better. Finding out whatever you can do to make their job go faster (i.e., prioritizing what needs to go out on the floor the next day vs what they're going to be lax about, and not burying the boxes with that product under 5 HDTVs.) will make everything go smoothly.

Other than that, your discount goes into effect after 30 days. Abuse the fuck out of it.
Reply
post #13 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:43pm
Thread Starter 
I don't think we have Black Friday here in Canada. At least not that I know of. The interviewer guy did ask, as his final question, if I were available to work Boxing Day. When I said 'yes', he smiled and nodded and quickly wrote it down. I think that sealed the deal.
Reply
post #14 of 33
10/11/07 at 6:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brendan
Well... I'll be in the back from the sounds of it. Working late nights/early mornings setting up displays/stocking shelves. So I won't have to deal with costumers. I get to unload trucks apparently as well. So I can only assume plenty of things will "fall off the back".
That's the way to go. I had a job for a couple of summers in HS/college working in the back of a Service Merchandise, and it wasn't too bad. You don't have to deal with customers, don't have to wear the lame-ass "company polo/khaki pants" uniform, and there is some pretty entertaining tomfoolery that happens behind the scenes at those places.

The best thing about the job: It provided continuous motivation to do well in school, so I'd NEVER have to work retail again! Good luck, Brendan.
Reply
post #15 of 33
10/11/07 at 8:02pm
If you were working with customers, you'd probably hate your job straight out like 98% of sales workers. But if you're unloading trucks that's a very different story and actually sounds like a decent job.
Reply
post #16 of 33
10/11/07 at 8:08pm
Working the back? Nice. Try to make friends with a manager. Makes the whole job so much easier.
Reply
post #17 of 33
10/11/07 at 9:12pm
Getting buddies who work there to buy stuff for you is like making a nuclear weapons deal, there's so much secrecy and paranoia and every moment you're there you need to be on guard, as they've become Big Brother super-Nazis about this practice.
Reply
post #18 of 33
10/11/07 at 11:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe LeFors
The best thing about the job: It provided continuous motivation to do well in school, so I'd NEVER have to work retail again! Good luck, Brendan.
I am currently a manager in retail and the other day one of my employees told me that a customer had alerted her to a spill of some sort in the main aisle by the front doors. I went over there to discover that the spill had been the contents of someone's stomach. I immediately called all of the high school kids working that day over to the scene. And proceeded to clean it up myself and use it as an opportunity to tell them to "FOR GOD'S SAKE, STAY IN SCHOOL"
Reply
post #19 of 33
10/12/07 at 1:50am
Good luck on Boxing Day. You will have bruises, and that's not a poorly planned pun. I know for a fact there was an old thread about working at Best Buy where I gave advice in one of my very first posts. Only thing I can really say is, so much of the staff is compromised of idiots or those with zero knowledge on their product line, expect to be treated the same regardless of your degree of expertise.
Reply
post #20 of 33
10/12/07 at 8:55am
we have an HHGREG opening soon and I was all excited thinking it would be like BEST BUY. Then I went to the HH Greg website and found out that it IS like Best Buy, except without the media. No CDs, No DVDs.. No video games.

Which means it just sells appliances and tvs. LAME.

Be glad you got a job at Best Buy.
Reply
post #21 of 33
10/12/07 at 9:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by neaux
we have an HHGREG opening soon and I was all excited thinking it would be like BEST BUY. Then I went to the HH Greg website and found out that it IS like Best Buy, except without the media. No CDs, No DVDs.. No video games.

Which means it just sells appliances and tvs. LAME.

Be glad you got a job at Best Buy.
It's exciting to hit HH Gregg at first, but then you realize it's sort of an "appliance" store. They have stereos, TVs, phones, mattresses, and appliances (Fridges, Freezers, Washer/Dryers). Their prices are really good, but yeah, no media, no computers, no monitors, no game systems. It's almost like the electronics dept. from Sears and they turned it into a separate store.
Reply
post #22 of 33
10/12/07 at 5:47pm
I've never worked for Best Buy directly, but I did work for Suncoast a couple of years ago when they were owned by Best Buy. They were really into pushing the extra crap at the register; frequent buyer clubs, magazines, even batteries. Seriously, how many times were you shopping in the mall, looking at movies, and thought "You know, I need to pick up some batteries"?

Working in the back of the store shouldn't prove to be quite as soul-shattering as dealing with the customers. However, I'd urge you to spend at least a week out on the floor, as I guarantee you'll come away with some great stories.
Reply
post #23 of 33
10/13/07 at 8:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wydren
Working in the back of the store shouldn't prove to be quite as soul-shattering as dealing with the customers. However, I'd urge you to spend at least a week out on the floor, as I guarantee you'll come away with some great stories.
My favorite: An old guy comes up to me and asks, "hey do you have one of those things where you push the button and the TV moves?"

Baffling.
Reply
post #24 of 33
10/14/07 at 3:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brendan
I had an interview today and pretty much nailed it and the guy offered me a job right there.
Good to hear you nailed an interview for the opportunity to unload shit out of a truck and work with a bunch of morons. Must have been some tough questions you had to deal with in that one.

-him "Can you pick something up, walk twenty feet with it and set it down?"

-you "Yes."

-him "Do you know anything about electronics?"

-you "No."

-him "Perfect, you nailed it, start tomorrow."


I also just recently scored a job as a guy who shovels shit at a toxic waste facility. Anyone with experience got any tips?
Reply
post #25 of 33
10/14/07 at 4:58am
Can you please find out why they insist on asking everyone who enters the store if they need "help" every 30 seconds, and somehow make them stop.
Reply
post #26 of 33
10/14/07 at 5:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by swedish miyagi
I also just recently scored a job as a guy who shovels shit at a toxic waste facility. Anyone with experience got any tips?
Hey now, relocating radioactive feces isn't as easy as it sounds.
Reply
post #27 of 33
10/14/07 at 5:22am
Swedish Miyagi: 1, Thread: 0
Reply
post #28 of 33
10/14/07 at 5:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by devincf
Swedish Miyagi: 1, Thread: 0
I know, it always boggles my mind when it happens, too, but there it is.
Reply
post #29 of 33
10/14/07 at 7:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by neaux
we have an HHGREG opening soon and I was all excited thinking it would be like BEST BUY. Then I went to the HH Greg website and found out that it IS like Best Buy, except without the media. No CDs, No DVDs.. No video games.

Which means it just sells appliances and tvs. LAME.

Be glad you got a job at Best Buy.
Yeah we recently had an HHGREG open up here in Fayetteville, and yeah basically it's Sears appliances meets Best Buy's refridgerators and TVs. It was very disappointing, and the employees won't leave you the fuck alone.
Reply
post #30 of 33
10/14/07 at 12:35pm
Thread Starter 
I had to give Miyagi some positive rep for that.
Reply
post #31 of 33
10/14/07 at 9:32pm
I worked at CC for over a decade, hope BB handles the product better than we did. Not all our fault, amazing how people can cram shit into a 53 foot trailer. Ahhh, the memories, wait till you open the back of a truck and have waves and waves of shit just flowing out onto the ground. Go ahead and stock it unless it rattles, if it rattles move it to open box.
Reply
post #32 of 33
10/14/07 at 9:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by swedish miyagi
I also just recently scored a job as a guy who shovels shit at a toxic waste facility. Anyone with experience got any tips?
Do it naked. It'll be funner.
Reply
post #33 of 33
10/15/07 at 7:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milkyway
Can you please find out why they insist on asking everyone who enters the store if they need "help" every 30 seconds, and somehow make them stop.
This is because the job consists of cleaning up the aisles, helping customers, and standing around. It's mind-numbingly boring, but it still beats fast food. When they ask if you need help, it's more of a desperate cry for help.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: The Chewers Catch-All
CHUD.com Community › Forums › THE CHEWERS › The Chewers Catch-All › Starting a job at Best Buy