Best Buy Employees Attend Boot Camp On Frantic Customers

[Virginia Dare]

Sometimes, I just have to say

:wtf: !!!!



Madness reigned at the Best Buy at the Potomac Yard shopping center in Alexandria the other morning. And 27-year-old Shawn Tillery was caught in the middle of it.

One person grabbed an armload of CDs while another tried to stuff Nintendo's new Wii gaming console into his shopping cart. A poster was nearly knocked to the ground.


"My cart got stolen," a voice wailed.

"Traffic jam!" another person called out.

"I know y'all got some PS3s in the back," someone else yelled at Tillery accusingly.

Early Friday morning, stores will be opening their doors to determined hordes of bargain hunters. When the shoppers rush in, what's a poor salesperson to do?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112101392.html

[WilliamPitt]

1. ...the horror...the horror...

[marmar]

2. Considering Best Buy's customer service...I can see why the customers are frantic.

:yoiks:

[Coventina]

6. I second you on that, Best Buy SUCKS!!!

Every time I shop there I swear that I am never going back.

I don't know how I end up getting sucked back in every year or so.

[noonwitch]

16. I prefer ABC Warehouse

Their service is always good.

[Coventina]

17. Hmm, we don't seem to have those in the Phoenix area.

We're stuck with Best Buy and Circuit City, which really isn't any better than Best Buy.

But then, I've cut wayyyyyy back on my spending, due to financial constraints, so it's not like I frequent electronics stores.

:hi:

Thanks for the suggestion, though! Maybe ABC will expand out here someday.

on edit: having serious problems typing today.....

[magellan]

3. If they can't behave like adults

...then only let a few into the store at a time. There's no excuse for this mob behavior in the first place. If people would only wait until after Christmas to buy their must-have game machines there'd be no rush and they'd probably pay less as well.

Stupid sheep.

[CrispyQ]

10. I hate shopping.

There is not one thing I need bad enough to go to the malls from Halloween to mid-January. There's not much I need to motivate me to go any other time, as well. Watching people shop is depressing. Their eyes glaze over & they don't look at or pay any attention to other human beings. It's all about stuff.

Holy crap, I cannot beleive adults behave this way over stuff. And we wonder why our culture is so corrupt & demented -- we value things over people.

[Virginia Dare]

13. I agree...

over the last 5-10 years, the Mall has become one of my least favorite places to be, I go maybe two times a year. Especially this time of year, it's complete sensory overload and an in-your-face lesson on how shallow and self-consumed our society has become.

[tanyev]

4. That's why we stay home and watch DVDs on Black Friday.

[samfishX]

5. Heh...I have 2 PS3s

But I didn't bum rush Best Buy to get them. Sheesh.
...naw, I camped out at Ciruit City.

Personally, I'm hoping to score I nice new TV come Black Friday, since mine is all but dead at this point.
...but I'd like to get it WITHOUT getting trampled.

[Virginia Dare]

7. Be sure to pack your Kevlar...

welcome to DU!!!

[greyl]

8. That's a good idea. Role-playing sales training.

I bet it helps when frantic customers are jumping to conclusions all over the place.

[Ian David]

9. BestBuy uses children as your "personal shoppers," by the way

I was in the store one day when they were training a bunch of personal shoppers.

I swear, they must have been in 9th or 9th grade at most.

Anyway, I over-heard part of the speech on stop-loss prevention and shop-lifters, and I couldn't help but chime-in with my own two cents worth.

I told the class about a guy I heard about on the news a few days ago who got arrested for stealing from Wal-Mart. What he'd do is he'd buy something, put it in his car, and then come back into the store with the receipt, pick-up the same item off the shelf, and then "return" it for a "refund." Some of those items were worth less than two dollars! Oh, and did I mention that the man was a senior official in Bush's White House?

BTW... Update on THAT story (I'll also post it in a new thread):

Ex-Aide To Bush Pleads Guilty
Allen Avoids Jail For Shoplifting
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/04/AR2006080400919.html

[EnviroBat]

11. I will be conducting my own personal Jihad against Christmas this year.

There will be no shopping, no gift giving, no bullshit, period. I will spend some time with friends and family. We will drink and break bread. I've had enough of the commercialism, capitalism, and general ugliness of the populace as a whole on this holiday that is supposed to mean so much more. 39 years of this crap is enough. I've washed my hands of it. There may be a little something for my "significant other", but that's about it. Oh and my doggie will get something nice too...

Merry Christmas Everyone!

[Virginia Dare]

14. Yay for the four-legged critters....

they help keep me grounded.

I commend you on your crusade, I'm sure will be filled with an inner peace this holiday that you have not known in many years.

[CrispyQ]

15. I write out a generous check for mom & I'm done.

;)

[The Gunslinger]

12. Putting Christmas back in the stores..............

instead of the Churches and homes....


Totally screwed up.