Best Buy Interview Tomorrow. EDIT: Job received.

[Tristicus]

^ dont use the discount so much, Some peeps get fired over it.


And I wish I could of wore sneakers lol, the bestbuy I worked at wanted dress shoes :X

Well if I get a good deal on games, I'll be using it quite a bit. Probably on a TV towards Christmas, but not sure other than that. Ideally, I don't shop at BB myself usually unless they have a sale.


Yeah, he said sneakers were fine as long as they were flat black and don't have a white stripe or something down the side...if I get warned about them, then I suppose I'll have to find dressier ones.

 

[NinjaTech]

*thumbs up*

 

[MJinZ]

*received*

 

[Tristicus]

Oh, also, for anyone that has worked there, what color shirt should I be wearing when I go to train and such? He said we "earn" the blue shirts...lol.

 

[Jadow]

just a nice collared polo without any pattern on it, or a button up dress shirt, no crazy colors.

 

[TheSpy007]

As someone who has worked at best buy for 4 years part time. I have worked at Computer sales and geeksquad and have a few comments. First we dont push just monster cables, all cables give huge margin. A $70 rocketfish hdmi cable( best buy owns rocketfish brand) has an employee price of around $2. We dont rip people off. Even if our cables cost a ton more than other stores, the customer still has a choice to buy it from us or not. We are not holding a gun to your head, their ignorance is not our fault. Also one thing about warranties, some are rip offs sure. But a $99 1 year accident handling plan for a laptop is the best deal i have seen. Wait 10 months, the laptop "drops". Most likely they will not fix it but give you a new laptop, that is better than the one you had. Before you make fun of the managers. They make around 50-80k a year, plus bonuses. The store manager makes around 100-150k a year, plus bonuses.

 

[airdata]

TheSpy : nice honest post. I like the part about the lack of guns to the heads, and customers being ignorant, not necessarily ripped off !

 

[Evadman]

the customer ignorance is not our fault.

I disagree. As a salesperson, it is your responsibility to educate the consumer. It doesn't mean that you tell them to go somewhere else, it means you explain the product, what it does, etc and let them make their own decision.

 

[TheSpy007]

I disagree. As a salesperson, it is your responsibility to educate the consumer. It doesn't mean that you tell them to go somewhere else, it means you explain the product, what it does, etc and let them make their own decision.

I was just saying ignorance to the price. Of course i will tell them what it is for and how it helps them. But i will not say oh the store across the street has the same item for $15.

 

[Gillbot]

I was just saying ignorance to the price. Of course i will tell them what it is for and how it helps them. But i will not say oh the store across the street has the same item for $15.

But you also will never say that the same XXX item over there that's 1/2 price is essentially exactly the same either and that IS your fault.

 

[Tristicus]

But you also will never say that the same XXX item over there that's 1/2 price is essentially exactly the same either and that IS your fault.

If it is between me being fired and selling someone a $50 overpriced cable...I'm going to sell them the cable. At home I tell everyone monoprice and the like...

 

[Gillbot]

If it is between me being fired and selling someone a $50 overpriced cable...I'm going to sell them the cable. At home I tell everyone monoprice and the like...

That's fine but the poster I quoted is playing all high and mighty acting like it's not their problem and they are an angel. Total BS IMHO.

I love going into "chain stores" and listening to their total bullshit. Some of the stuff they spew is utter complete bullshit and when you call them on it, they get all pissy. Trust me, I understand it's your job to move product but don't play mighty and act like you are a saint. Tell it how it is and don't cover up with bullshit.

 

[thescreensavers]

Oh, also, for anyone that has worked there, what color shirt should I be wearing when I go to train and such? He said we "earn" the blue shirts...lol.

a plain White polo shirt. Thats the Newb color.

 

[ShawnD1]

a plain White polo shirt. Thats the Newb color.

how to dress for a job interview

 

[kranky]

But you also will never say that the same XXX item over there that's 1/2 price is essentially exactly the same either and that IS your fault.

Not his responsibility. Tell the truth about the product, yes. But it's not his job to push lower cost items. He's being paid to sell. That's his responsibility, and he can tout the most expensive cable as long has he's telling the truth about the product.

 

[Shadow Conception]

Is sales the only position a high school kid can apply for at BB?

 

[jtvang125]

Kind of funny that you got the job with little or no job experience but another poor sap on these boards got turned down with several years of retail experience.

Congrats on the job though.

 

[Tristicus]

Is sales the only position a high school kid can apply for at BB?

Sales or cashier. You have to be 18 to work in Geek Squad (I was told), and I THINK 18 to be in the warehouse.

Kind of funny that you got the job with little or no job experience but another poor sap on these boards got turned down with several years of retail experience.

Congrats on the job though.

All places are different I suppose...management at the local one is really chill.

 

[ShawnD1]

Sales or cashier. You have to be 18 to work in Geek Squad (I was told), and I THINK 18 to be in the warehouse.



All places are different I suppose...management at the local one is really chill.

Also varies from town to town. Right now I'm desperately trying to get an electrical engineering job and it seems like 90% of the jobs I'm applying for are in a city that's about a 3 hour drive south of where I am. In my current town, there's nothing. This is a barren wasteland. Both cities have roughly the same population and are located in the same province/state.

 

[Gillbot]

Not his responsibility. Tell the truth about the product, yes. But it's not his job to push lower cost items. He's being paid to sell. That's his responsibility, and he can tout the most expensive cable as long has he's telling the truth about the product.

Agreed, but many times they blatantly lie to push higher priced product.

 

[0roo0roo]

I disagree. As a salesperson, it is your responsibility to educate the consumer. It doesn't mean that you tell them to go somewhere else, it means you explain the product, what it does, etc and let them make their own decision.

no, you take the paycheck, you are their bitch.

 

[ShawnD1]

I've worked at Best Buy before, and you're not supposed to lie the customers. One guy was caught lying to a customer by saying a special promotion with the Xbox 360 (2 free games) only applied if the person bought a service plan for the Xbox. He was immediately fired.


What you're supposed to do is describe what the product does without lying. If I'm trying to sell you a warranty, I'll tell you that you can bring your Xbox into the store and we'll fix it. You don't need to send it to microsoft, and there's no chance of it being lost in the shipping. If we can't fix the Xbox, we'll give you a new one. If your kid knocks the system over and it can no longer read discs, we can fix that too.

They also try to sell things you might not know existed or did not think about. A guy buying a PS3 or Xbox might not know that you can buy a controller for it that looks like a regular DVD controller. Some people don't know that a product does not include batteries. Some people don't know that you need antivirus software to keep a computer secure. Some people don't know that a UPS battery backup for your computer can give you enough time to safe your documents in the event of a power failure.

You don't need to be an asshole to sell things. Just help the customer understand what they want. There's lots of shit I didn't even know I wanted until I saw it in a store.

 

[Exterous]

I THINK 18 to be in the warehouse.

Ah....warehouse. I remember those days fondly. While I never worked in that department I did take part in the games of 'Hammer toss', 'Razor blade toss' (who knew you could shatter a tempered glass window by throwing a razor blade at it) 'Keyboard smack' 'Sack Smash' 'Printer Toss' etc.

Hope it goes well for you! You'll meet a lot of good people, a ton of assholes (If you stay long enough you will develop a healthy hatred of people) and probably get a ton of cheap electronics

 

[Exterous]

You don't need to be an asshole to sell things. Just help the customer understand what they want. There's lots of shit I didn't even know I wanted until I saw it in a store.

Yep - Just be helpful and give them the information they need. Some require more steering than others but I always tried to give them my honest and best advice on what to buy

 

[DanDaManJC]

I've worked at Best Buy before, and you're not supposed to lie the customers. One guy was caught lying to a customer by saying a special promotion with the Xbox 360 (2 free games) only applied if the person bought a service plan for the Xbox. He was immediately fired.


What you're supposed to do is describe what the product does without lying. If I'm trying to sell you a warranty, I'll tell you that you can bring your Xbox into the store and we'll fix it. You don't need to send it to microsoft, and there's no chance of it being lost in the shipping. If we can't fix the Xbox, we'll give you a new one. If your kid knocks the system over and it can no longer read discs, we can fix that too.

They also try to sell things you might not know existed or did not think about. A guy buying a PS3 or Xbox might not know that you can buy a controller for it that looks like a regular DVD controller. Some people don't know that a product does not include batteries. Some people don't know that you need antivirus software to keep a computer secure. Some people don't know that a UPS battery backup for your computer can give you enough time to safe your documents in the event of a power failure.

You don't need to be an asshole to sell things. Just help the customer understand what they want. There's lots of shit I didn't even know I wanted until I saw it in a store.

yeah that's a good way to approach it. i worked retail for a while, but didnt come at it with the right mentality... i knew you get stuff at newegg, monoprice etc for much cheaper and that just irked me.

frankly though, most people really dont give a damn. they just want the product now, working and in front of them. they dont want to deal with the "hassle" of deal shopping, however insignificant that is. there are plenty of people that dont know things like monoprice exist... but on the other hand, you cant hold yourself accountable for other's ignorance.