Working For Best Buy?

[ArJuN]

I've read those^, thanks for the post. Quite humorous lol.
I couldn't get outthere today because we had unexpected guests. So hopefully tomorrow.

 

[Journer]

i worked a BB for two years a year ago...i dont think it is as bad as everyone makes it out to be...i started at 11.25/hr as an in-store geek sqaud tech...6mo later they gave me a 1/hr raise (yah, i am that good ) the discount really is worth it...some items are no discount, but they are items you can get cheap online anyways.

As far as management, we had our share of bad managers, and some people got fired for dumb reasons...but hey, it is retail, any retail store will be like that...i worked at target before BB and i almost went postal on the place...anyways, if you befriend your superious early or just have a good sense of humor, you will be fine.

the meetings are quite gay, but not as bad as many make them out to be. Monthly meetings suck because: sunday, early morning, no point. But, you get free food and you get paid. Nightly meetings arent so bad, they just give numbers and you're one your way...

service plans and overpriced crap: how is any store different? walmart sells the same USB cables for very similar prices...all retail is like this...just because the enlightened internet savvy group beleives it is evil because it is sold much cheaper on the net doesnt mean it is. Your not just paying for the product, your paying for employees that (hopefully) know which one to give you, etc. etc. i know there is large debate on this, but in the end, most retail customers are stupid, so let them be stupid. I dont know wtf people are talking about on cuthroad selling PSPs and whatnot...I worked in various departments and no one bitched to me if i didnt sell PSPs...as a matter of fact, i never heard of anyone getting fired for that reason, all i saw were people getting rewarded for high PSPs rates and selling Platinum PSPs...

hiring process: first off, you must do good on the online thing, i dont know how anyone could do bad, but i had a friend that couldnt pass it...he must have been retarded or something ...anyways, sometimes it is hard to get in (at least in my area) because they are usually not hiring unless it is seasonal, in which case they hire anyone off the streets. You will interview with a manger or two, and most likely be accepted unless you are REALLY dumb, but again, sometimes they take ANYONE, i do mean ANYONE (i workedwith some...) then you have this BS training with the head manager...it is completely retarded, but you do get rewarded if you remeber ****** (some tornado hit BB, crap like that) so, dvd's and gift cards are cool...plus you get paid for your time...

hours: they usually dont hire so many people that you dont get enough hours. During the season (thanksgiving, christmas) expect little to no time off...but it is to be expected,that is when they make the most money...on top of that, if you work there long enough, you can get off during the season except for a few days...such as black friday, couple days before/after christmas, etc...but when i was there for just a few months i applied for time off for one week before and after christmas...it was about 4 months ahead of time, and they granted it to me...you just need to get it good with higher-ups...as in any job

with that said, it is a very good place to work for high school kids and some positions if you dont have a degree (double agent, GS senior, some management) but if you have a degree, there are much better places to be working.

 

[watdahel]

how much are employee discounts?

 

[purbeast0]

worst job I ever had. however i got the job for 1 reason ... the discount.

you had to work 30 days before the discount came into play. so basically i worked there for 30 days as a 2nd job, bought all my stuff on the 30th day, saved over $1800, and quit the following day.

as others said, the management is horrible. you get treated like crap, have to stay there till midnight and more sometimes to unload trucks (even though your schedule says you can leave at 9:45), and the environment just blows.

stay away ... far away, trust me.

 

[mindmaniac]

I don't know, the BB in my town has had the same employees for years. They all seem to like their jobs. I've never been really pressured into the warranties either. All in all if I were looking for a job I would consider it.

 

[shortylickens]

Anybody thats worth a damn wont work there.

You met someone who didnt have his head up his ass?
Relish it. Because he wont be there next week.

 

[ModeEngage]

I worked there for two years.

Your experiences will vary dramatically with your supervisors. Some are only out to hit their numbers, and don't give a flying fvck about their employees. Others are more reasonable and actually understand the salesperson/customer dynamic. Either way, if your store's all important numbers are bad, expect to get bitched at if you aren't selling 200% of your goal in whatever department you work in.

Best Buy has the same scheduling issues as any retail store, so that's not a huge deal in your situation...

In short, use it for experience, use it for the discount, but get the hell out when you have another opportunity.

 

[KillyKillall]

Originally posted by: ArJuN
I'm thinking about applying for Best Buy tomorrow or monday. It'll be a summer job and hopefully through the school year. Does anyone work for them now? Can you explain the hiring processess? Do they ever turn people down if they have enough staff? I havea bunch more questions that I can't think of right now...

You get disqualified if you actually know what you're talking about. Atleast, I'm guessing from the people I've talked to that work there.

 

[DougK62]

Be prepared for everyone you know to ask you to buy stuff with your discount.

 

[James3shin]

I worked car audio, retail and then to installer. It sucked on the retail side with the massive pressure to move product out the door regardless of whether or not it sucked. Installation side wasn't as bad but it got old quick, great people in the install bay though.

 

[A5]

What kind of discount are we talking about on like TVs and stuff? I have a friend that works there and I want to know before I go around asking her to buy stuff for me

 

[LordMorpheus]

Circuit City is a direct competitor of BB. I have not worked at BB, but I worked for two years at a CC and I felt I was well treated and respected by management.

I was not a salesman, I was a warehouse guy, which might have something to do with that. I worked hard, kept the warehouse very clean (we had frequent down time, I'd sweep or organize or use the stockpicker to shelve various items to make things flow better to escape boredom), and I felt that management really responded. The people I worked with were not total losers - the lead warehouse guy (no managers directly associated with the warehouse, but I'd call this guy the warehouse manager even though he didn't wear black) was intelligent, friendly, good guy to hang out with during down time, and very capable and organized. The managers would frequently need our help with something (setting up a new display, finding something that had been lost, rethinking a sales floor arrangement, etc.) and when we'd come through for them they'd be grateful, and when we couldn't (say something had walked out, or there was an error in the database and we didn't have something the computer showed in stock) they never blew up or got pissed at us about it.

I don't really feel the warehousers got treated any differently, either, all the employees seemed comfortable with the managers and, while nobody was thrilled to be there every day, they didn't seem to hate their jobs.

I don't know if the store I worked at was exceptional, or if CC is just a friendlier employer than BB, but it's definately worth checking in to.

(p.s. I started at 7.75 hourly. Don't know how this compares to other retailers)

 

[KentState]

I worked for BB for about year when I was in college and just wanted an easy job with a good discount. Honestly, if you don't take the job seriously and know that you can quit at anytime, it won't get to you. I feel bad for the poster above that had to rearrange wedding plans, but the OP sounds as if this isn't a career move. To the OP, if you are just looking for an easy job, try it out. The worst that can happen is that you quit a couple days later or they fire you.

 

[Soccerman06]

q]Originally posted by: ArJuN
Wow thanks for the help guys. I'm probably going to head over there soon and see how it is, maybe ask a few employees there for their personal experiences at the store. What is the pay like? I'm expecting minimum wage. As for the departments RasitlinZ listed, I wouldn't touch Media, or Appliances. Everything else I'm interested in. Where would video games fall under?[/quote]

Media pays $7.50/hr, but the best part of media is your always doing something, unlike car audio, where you basically sit there and do nothin (that has its high points to). Time seemed to go by much faster when I was stocking than talking to people cause I got to climb stuff in the back and throw stuff, movies and software, down below to someone to put into a cart I had a really nice manager who ended up workin at brewery and gets me cheap beer :laugh:, but I was fired by some hot shot new manager because he didnt like my approach to customers.

Careful about media though, you get stuck with ****** ass hours, I had to work from 8pm to 2am then 6am-noon because of the stupid managers (christmas time). The summer hours are much more laid back.

Cashiers suck, you have to keep asking everyone about the rewards card and other crap, I hated it.

Applying for a job blows, you have to do some bs online application with 100 questions, usually consisting of: "Do you agree with someone stealing from us?" or "Do you feal depressed when something doesnt go your way?" or "Do people make you angery when they dont listen to you?". After doing it like 4 times (applied 2 times cause of complications and changed from PT to FT), it only takes 10 minutes for the whole thing, but its a pain to have to do it.

All the trouble was worth the discount, my family must have taken a few grand from BB, a new 62" DLP for on $3000 and change, saved $500 on a new laptop for college and accessories, and atleast $300 from the media stuff. Oh btw the cd/dvd holders that sell for $20 are like $1 with you discount

 

[krunchykrome]

Oh, I could't count the number of horror stories I have read about former Best Buy employees. Not to mention the friend's of mine who have told me their stories.

Don't do it.

 

[elektrolokomotive]

I was a PCHO dept Supervisor for a couple of years back around 1995. It wasn't so bad back then, but the pressure was still there to sell warranties. My store went through about 6 GMs in the time I was there. The last one was the best. I can still remember his face the day my buddy (who was the Media Sup) and I went up to him at the same time and told him we were quitting. Both our depts were consistently #1 or #2 in the district. He took us to lunch to try and keep us. We laughed, but went to lunch with him anyway and had a good time.

I find myself going there less and less frequently. Their pricing model has gotten consistently worse over the years. I went in there yesterday 'cuz I needed a CAT5 cable and a car charger for my new Samsung T509 phone. The prices were outrageous. $30 for the charger, and around $20 for a cable. I understand that they need to make up their margins on accessories because the high ticket items have such a low markup, but this stuff amounted to robbery.

I wound up going home and ordering from Amazon. Charger: $5, cable: $4.

 

[ArJuN]

Hmm..what is this online test thing everyone keeps mentioning? I went online, and entered my SS# and someother stuff. Then at the end it told me to go into the store to pick up some form. I said ****** it and just cancelled it..and thought I'd just go in and get everything done there..

 

[imported_Imp]

Not what I wanted to hear. There's a BB opening up soon in my 'area' and they're advertising positiona, I'm thinking about applying as a part-time job. ~Just quit my old one (receptionist~quit as incentive to get new one), but getting payed triple at my summer job right now. However, can retail/BB be much worse than now?

Now: IT summer job, inventory of ENTIRE(thousands) department's(ALL area offices) computer AND software stock while answering basic "IT" questions (I can't find this button, how do you turn this off/on, etc...). Think I've used the phrase "Can I check your computer" and "sorry to bother you" at least 500 times now...

 

[ArJuN]

^how much you getting paid?

 

[Dritnul]

Originally posted by: ArJuN
Wow thanks for the help guys. I'm probably going to head over there soon and see how it is, maybe ask a few employees there for their personal experiences at the store. What is the pay like? I'm expecting minimum wage. As for the departments RasitlinZ listed, I wouldn't touch Media, or Appliances. Everything else I'm interested in. Where would video games fall under?

whats minimum wage in ur area maybe if u live in cali where its 7.15 but most retail chains pay more than minimum wage if its only 5.15 in that area starting is around 6$-6.50 round here w/ no previous experience

 

[Pugnate]

Wow this thread was so freakin' interesting. I love it. haha.

Reading all your experiences makes me picture it as a cross between the workplaces at Office Space and 40 year old virgin.

 

[ArJuN]

Alright, I just got back from Best Buy. It was pretty "fun". I asked a dude if they had openings and he said yea, they were hiring. Then he told me how to sign up and all. And then I said, "If you don't mind, how do you like working here?" And then he went into the this whole thing about how great it was and much fun he was having while making money at the same time. I just took it as a bunch of BS. Then one of my friends approached me who worked at the computer section, which I didn't know. He said I can put him down as a reference in the application thing, and that he'd put in a good word for me with his manager. So I asked him what he though, and he said he was having a great time and that it was a blast working there. We'll see...

There was a question asking what salary I wanted. So I asked my friend what I should put down. He said to put $8.00, because he makes $8.75, and he put $8.00 on his app as well, and he just joined 2 weeks ago. So we'll see how that goes...

 

[Dritnul]

Originally posted by: ArJuN
Alright, I just got back from Best Buy. It was pretty "fun". I asked a dude if they had openings and he said yea, they were hiring. Then he told me how to sign up and all. And then I said, "If you don't mind, how do you like working here?" And then he went into the this whole thing about how great it was and much fun he was having while making money at the same time. I just took it as a bunch of BS. Then one of my friends approached me who worked at the computer section, which I didn't know. He said I can put him down as a reference in the application thing, and that he'd put in a good word for me with his manager. So I asked him what he though, and he said he was having a great time and that it was a blast working there. We'll see...

There was a question asking what salary I wanted. So I asked my friend what I should put down. He said to put $8.00, because he makes $8.75, and he put $8.00 on his app as well, and he just joined 2 weeks ago. So we'll see how that goes...

GL least u should know what ur getting into

 

[saymyname]

For those worried about the interview process let me give you some insight. They use a phone system that basically asks you the same questions over and over again but in a different way. For all I know they do it on the net nowadays. They're checking your ethics. If you give different answers for the same question then you're going to fail. You'd have to be an idiot though since most of the questions involved(ed) stealing. The correct answer is "no you will not take something even if it's only worth $1". We used to always laugh when someone would fail.

They then have 2 or 3 interviews. If you're applying for a customer service/cashier position and don't get hired on the spot there's probably something wrong with you. They can do "all three inteviews at the same time" and get a head nod from the GM and you're in at the first interview. If you're applying for sales or a tech postion I don't remember if they can do all three interviews at once.

I'll warn you right now about applying for a cashier/customer service position. First of all they would write you off if you were $0.10 under in your drawer. I can't count how many people I saw fired for repeatedly being off on their change. I think they would write you up twice and then fire you. If you were off by over $5 I think you got fired on the spot. You also have high stress situations like catching counterfeit money and fake/stolen credit cards which will net you zero reward from BB (despite the fact that you're supposed to get a reward from the CC companies iirc which was never seen) and the customers might go insane. If you're in customer service you're in for a world of hurt. I saw some of the most outrageous things in my store. One guy literally took a pile of CD's, that were open and couldn't be returned, crushed them in his hands and then threw the shards at the employee's face in a fit of rage. I saw tons of merchandise get thrown at people. Lots of swearing, yelling, threats, and high stress. Christmas time and Thanksgiving was a nightmare. My worst x-mas was working at BB since I was unable to wind down and enjoy the holidays. I still can't believe I didn't quit right then and there.

If you're working at the security desk prepare to be really bored. And when things go bad they can get ugly. One guy was trying to steal a computer monitor by smuggling it out in another box. They had to wrestle the guy down after calling a mayday and having almost the entire store surround him. I personally think calling non-security employees and then using 18 year olds as security is a bad idea. We were lucky nobody got hurt that day since the perp was seriously considering charging one of the smaller guys in the store. You could see that he was about to do it before all the managers dogpiled him.

It's good sales experience though. I'll give it that. I hear they've changed the salaries too so that supervisors now make $50K which is a huge improvement to the $12 or whatever it was an hour back in the day. If you're over 18 though (and I thought BB only hired over 18) you are much better off getting a sales job elsewhere.

 

[xrax]

I worked at Best Buy back in 1996. It was just for the holiday. The discount got you something like 5% above cost. You would have to put in a request to buy the stuff and then wait, most of the time the margin was only a few bucks, I worked in the computers department and most customers would come in with no clue. A computer bundle would be advertised and you would spend all day Sunday writing rainchecks. A truck would come but none of the advertised computers are on it. Customers would get pissed.