Why I'm going to be Fired

[Jester]

Jester has a point.

People have been saying that way too much lately.

I need to get back to living down to my drunken irresponsible insane reputation......

[Broomjockey]

Fashion Lad! has the best answer so far, I think, in regards to actually selling the things. It's not your choice as to whether they take it, and they might be someone who needs it. It's your job to offer it, explain it if needed, but back off if the person seems hostile. There's no point in shoving it down people's throat.

Jester's on the track corporate-wise (sorry ), an employee needs a reason to sell, not a reason not to. As Peter in Office Space said "If Initech ships another couple of units and pads their bottom line, I don't see another dime! What's the point?" Same thing with PPPs and such. Make someone afraid of losing their job, and they're only going to work just hard enough to avoid being fired.

[Jester]

Jester's on the track corporate-wise...

Now I'm not only right but a corporate shill as well?

Oh, for the love of Zeus!

That's it! I have some reputation damage to attend to.

BARTENDER! Yes, you! We are going to need a few things over here. Let's see....five beers, six shots of aged rum, a bottle of Jagermeister, three wine glasses, a bucket of ice, a blindfold, some grape jelly, a wine cork, a roll of paper towels, twenty rubber bands, some rope, one blindfold, a bag of cotton balls, one wooden yardstick, a stick of butter, ten jello shots, one can of whipped cream, four empty shot glasses, some hand lotion, a pair of handcuffs, a bullwhip--no, better make it TWO bullwhips--a bicycle tire (uninflated, of course), one of those furry Russian hats, the head of Anthony Robbins on a silver platter with some grape seed oil, a hatchet, some latex gloves, a large box of condoms, a hippopotamus, Kirsten Dunst's home phone number, one cucumber, washed, a leather apron, a bucket, three dollars in quarters, a camcorder, some extra batteries, and NO QUESTIONS!

And we need that STAT!

[Rapscallion]

Well I could sorta see protection plans for some things... I can't play Halo on my computer anymore because the disc got cracked while I was carrying it from home to work and back. It does piss me off, though, because this has "profit center" written all over it. And if Microsoft wasn't a bunch of tools I would have been able to make a working backup copy (as is my right under law) of the broken disk instead of a couple of coasters.

You don't buy the software - you buy the licence to use it, not the disk itself. What this means in real terms is that you should be able to contact Microsoft and arrange for the broken discs to be shipped to them, and then you should receive a fresh copy of said discs back. A chum of mine was telling me about it last week.

Rapscallion

[Gurndigarn]

If this practice annoys customers enough, they won't come back. Is that your problem as an associate? Absolutely not! You're simply doing what you're told. If that ends up shooting your company in the foot, then maybe they'll recognize their collective craniorectal inversion and rethink their policies.

Unfortunately, that only works if the suits take off the jackets, roll up their sleeves, and work alongside the grunts regularly. Otherwise, business just slacks off and they have no clue why.

We have, for instance, one chain that we supply coin-op games to. This chain is, across the board, down over 20% in revenues this year and probably down over 50% since we started with them. Corporate's opinion? "Well, the coin-op industry is hurting right now." My opinion? When we started with them, the average game they had was 2-3 years old. Now it's 7-8 years old. There is a connection between that and revenues. Hydro Thunder was a great game back in 2000. In 2007, it's a good game-- that, sadly, all of our customers have played many times.

I've spoken up any time that anyone I think can do anything about it is around, but nobody who doesn't work with the games and our partners regularly believes it.

Make someone afraid of losing their job, and they're only going to work just hard enough to avoid being fired.

Do it often enough, and they'll no longer feel afraid of being fired, as well.

[wagegoth]

Every time I go to Target I'm asked if I want the card. I say, "No." That's it. I don't hassle the clerk; they don't hassle me. At Best Buy I get the EPP offer for the new DS, the magazine offers if I go through the regular checkout, same thing.

Willmun: Don't decide for the customer. Don't decide for yourself. Don't think about it. Don't put yourself in the customer's place. Make the offer. If they're not interested, drop it. If they are, great, make the sale. (Frankly, $3 for a $50 video game is definitely something I would consider.) If you absolutely hate doing it, then start looking for another job now. If you are interested in something other than retail, a lot of companies are hiring after the holidays, because a lot of people collect their holiday bonuses then quit.

I know, you'll probably get some SC who gets pissed because of all the EPPs they're offered, but you're going to get SCs anyway, especially this time of year. Come back to the board, we're hear to listen.

[Pezzle]

Every time I go to Target I'm asked if I want the card. I say, "No." That's it. I don't hassle the clerk; they don't hassle me. At Best Buy I get the EPP offer for the new DS, the magazine offers if I go through the regular checkout, same thing.

You should buy it, so they stop yelling at me -_- lol

[chops]

Unfortunately, that only works if the suits take off the jackets, roll up their sleeves, and work alongside the grunts regularly. Otherwise, business just slacks off and they have no clue why.

Which is why it'll never happen until it's too late. I know, I can dream...

[Gurndigarn]

Unfortunately, that only works if the suits take off the jackets, roll up their sleeves, and work alongside the grunts regularly. Otherwise, business just slacks off and they have no clue why.

Which is why it'll never happen until it's too late. I know, I can dream...

Well, I can hope that we get different suits in our corporate office, too.

[JustADude]

Which is why it'll never happen until it's too late. I know, I can dream...

Move to a different company. There's at least one company out there where the Corporate Suits don't get their bonuses without having to actually work two weeks a year (one during Hell Month) on the front lines. This includes everyone at the company up to, and including, the CEO.

Hell, Sam Walton even used to stop by his stores and talk with the employees... not just management, but the actual EMPLOYEES... to see how things were going for them. It was only when his kids, who never really worked a day in their lives, took over that things went to shit.

[wagegoth]

Hell, Sam Walton even used to stop by his stores and talk with the employees... not just management, but the actual EMPLOYEES... to see how things were going for them. It was only when his kids, who never really worked a day in their lives, took over that things went to shit.

Pretty much what happened after a couple of generations at Nordstrom.