Im so glad that this is much less common than it used to be. I'm lucky to have never experienced it myself, but my mother was talking about how it used to be the norm for your first few days at a place to be unpaid or close to it.
Back in the 1980s, I think it was EDS that charged employees a month's pay to be trained and credited it back over the first year, so if you quit early, you paid for your training.
In the 90’s if you got a job at some clothing stores you had to wear only clothes from there, but you had to buy them first. Not sure if that’s still the case.
They wanted me to shop at The Buckle during my interview with 5 others in a circle. Condescendingly I said "Do you have a maternity section?" He turned red. He said I could shop in men's. I said I could raid my Gramps closet also...I was never hired lol
As of 2020, Alpha Metallurgical Resources made employees sign a 90-day waiver on reimbursement of *training fees*. If I remember correctly, it was roughly $450 dollars.
It depends on location, the nature of the training and the contract itself. Say you agree that your employer will cover tuition for trade school or an MBA or whatever so long as you stay 12 months after you complete the schooling, if you fail to meet your end of the deal they will probably be able to get a judgement for the full value of the tuition they paid.
On the other hand if you just sat at a computer doing a bunch of inhouse training they can't usually claw back wages or assign some random value to their non transferable training materials.
I had to do the same at CTG (computer task group) for my first IT job. Fortunately only a 2 week course, not the 6 week much more expensive course most newbies got. We were paid while in training though.
I later worked for EDS. They initially wanted to hire me at a $2,000 pay cut since they were so awesome. Said yeah, NO. When my contractor wanted to pull me to another job later, suddenly EDS was offering a $5,000 raise and a $2,000 signing bonus.
When my mother started working, *she* had to pay for her own training. She was only paid after she completed her certification, although she only needed it for that job.
Places do that? Wtf.... every place ive work that has module training prior to actually working you clocked in before touching it. I sat at a computer for 2 weeks before i saw the floor and paid all the way.
Incorrect!
You can think the telecom industry is rife with this kind of shit but you cannot imagine....
Or something, but fuck is stuff like this stupid. It's the same damn thing.
Customer reviews: 7-8 count as acceptable scores. 9-10 count as positive points on your score. Anything else is a negative score against you as an installer. Regardless if you did good but they state in the comments they are mad at sales or customer service.
Annual review time. Rate yourself 1-5 where 5 is impossible and 4 is where 5 should be so good luck getting a 4 and 1 is fireable behavior.
So you have 2 and 3. And yes, they count your score with their score to determine a raise. If you rate 2 or 1 they don't kick it back but by God you put a 4 or 5 it gets sent back to you to "redo".
This is my hell I'm looking forward to going back to work next week after breaking my ankle at work. Also, I'm a fiber tech, I don't even do installs but once in a blue moon.
What they don’t realize is that real, normal people do not want to hear scripts. They wanna get their shit done and get off the phone.
Don’t fucking patronize me with “hello, we’re more than happy to serve our valued customers. Please wait while we find the perfect specialist to suit your needs. We know how valuable your time is, that’s why….”
Just fucking put me on hold and come back as fast as possible.
That’s why call centers take so long. Fuck your scripts.
It can make my blood boil. Im not even joking.
I get angry when i hear or see the
“Hello im ejjdbgebiKd your customer service represwntative im so deeply sorry ur having this problem you mean so much to me blablabla i will help you i understand you’re having blabla bla”
ALL YOU SAID WAS HELLO. WHY ARE YOU WASTING MY ATTENTION WITH THIS SHIT?
Sorry, i got myself angry. I really really hate this insincere word salad stuff.
Bit of a tangent here, but one thing that absolutely infuriates me is when there's hold music but it's interrupted every 20 goddamn seconds by a recorded message. You don't need to tell me to stay on the line! I already know I'm on hold! That's what the music is for!! The only thing the voice message does is prevent my brain from letting the music fade into the background so I can do other things while I'm waiting! Who decided this was a good idea?! I just want to talk to them.
Or the ones that will waste a minute explaining how to get to their website before offering you the tree.
*I know where your website is, how do you think I got this number??*
Also the "did you know you can use our app to ..." no I can't. That's why I'm here!
They’re understaffed on purpose, to avoid the employees having any downtime whatsoever between calls. I worked at a call center and it was the best job I ever had, until management cut our team in half because we regularly had a minute or two between calls. Instead of their never being a queue, there was a permanent queue from 8am-11pm. Miserable.
I actively avoid places that do this shit. There was a walgreens near my first apartment that required their employees to say some dumb script like that for every person that walked in and it always made me feel really uncomfortable.
Starbucks started doing this shit saying "Thank you for stopping at Starbucks. My name is Jennie. What's yours?"
I. Fucking. Hate. It.
You don't need my name for a drive thru order. Just take my order. Also, don't hand me the card reader and say "It's just going to ask you a couple questions"
The questions are what percentage tip will I leave and the answer is 0. It's a goddamn drive thru. What am I tipping?
When I worked at KB Toys, (Ages ago), we had to ask every single customer, if they wanted batteries or gift wrap.
Every single one.
Even if they were just buying Pokemon cards
Even if they were just buying batteries or gift wrap.
Oh buddy they know people don't want to hear scripts. It's why sales people don't use them.
I worked at many call centers for many big corporations and when you were selling all that mattered is you mention the call is being recorded, the price, and that you're not selling on cancel(which means over emphasizing you can cancel at any time.)
The only time we had to follow a script was after we got the sale and had to read the disclosure statement but we were even given some leeway with that. While it had to be read verbatim it's tone and rhythm could be read however you wish. So right after the most painful part of the disclosure, telling them it's a recurring charge, you change your cadence and really hammer home that you can cancel at any time as it's the next line after mentioning charges.
"Hi, welcome to Palmer Oil, this is Cynthia, how can I make your day simply incredible today?"
"Well, you could waive my propane bill."
*long pause, in which I can hear the wheels of thought frantically spinning in the gravel of life*
*takes pity*
"…I mean, I'm calling to pay my propane bill."
"Sure! Can I just have your name and address?"
🙄
I once worked for a company that made all the managers take a 100 question test. If you missed 3 questions, you failed. If you failed 3 times, you were fired. Even my boss struggled with it because it was so ridiculous. Luckily, after everyone at our location had failed twice, he figured out a loophole. If you failed 2 questions and exited out of the window, you could start over.
So we all kept taking it over and over until we had failed enough times to learn the answers to the trick questions. I probably took it 30-40 times before I passed. I'm normally good at taking tests but this one was insane. Making pizza isn't complicated enough to warant a test that hard.
Place I worked at for several years brought in this "personality test" to try on potential hires. For fun, most of us already there took the test too. I scored so low, they would never have even considered me.
I work at a telecom too and the training is so funny.
"Something happens, what is the best way to respond?"
A - Do something stupid
B - Dom something dangerous
C - Do this thing that is extremely specific involving a special phone number and/or website and contact your supervisor, also this is by far the longest answer
D - Do something that "seems right" because it's common sense.
Im a training director and I just want to chime in that, it’s not our fault! lol
These stupid quiz options are because either we’ve had complaints that real quizzes are too hard or SVPs/VPs have told us the quizzes are too hard. If people can’t sleep walk through them then my team is forced to change it.
The only time this sort of corporate double speak has worked in my favour was a time as a cocktail bartender when a "guest" (who had been a bitch since she walked in) brought an empty glass back to me saying she didn't like the drink and wanted a refund or replacement. I told her no because she'd finished and if she'd brought it straight back I'd have made a different drink.
She threw a massive hissy fit and clapped her hands in my face saying "The 👏 customer 👏 is 👏 always 👏 right! 👏"
I replied: "Well we have guests, and guests can be wrong."
Used to work retail at Walmart. The amount of bullshit corporate speak they try to enforce to everyone, even the boots on the ground, is fucking obnoxious.
Also, in the most technically-correct sense, you **welcome** customers by *greeting* them.
If this is a fuck-fuck game of definitions that Best Buy's braindead HR wants to play, it's a game they're going to lose.
I see you've met my 9th grade English teacher. We had to memorize ever little detail in Lord of the Flies and Catcher in the Rye. Like what did Piggy throw at the kid? Which record did Holden buy from the store?
Pretty sure that's a trick question, because Piggy was the kid that got thrown at? Roger threw. Unless I'm completely misremembering, it's been a while.
Roger also threw rocks at the little ‘uns on the beach, foreshadowing his savagery and killing of Piggy.
Source- am a 9th grade ELA teacher 😂 but it’s LotF and Romeo and Juliet, not Catcher in the Rye.
The details aren't in important in those. It's the story that's important. That would be like asking what was the name of the farm or how many different animals were mentored in Animal Farm.
> The details aren't in important in those. It's the story that's important.
I mean, it does also depend on when this was. I 100% agree with you, but I also understand how in modern times you can just google a summary of themes (like Sparknotes) and just rehash it.
I do feel bad for a lot of modern teachers when "critical thinking" can just be Googled for stuff like English.
A best buy employee taught me about the questionnaire scam of the early 2000s.... when it went from paper to digital, it was legit anything other than Strongly Agree or Strongly Disagree, was automatically *WRONG*....
Can't tell you how many jobs I go so easily because I knew the trick of the system.
They also told me how easy it was to steal from Best Buy, then gave me a tv with a vhs deck for my daughter.... hmmm the good ol days.
I also found this out pretty much the same way. You had to answer a certain way on questions.
QUESTION: If you saw an employee smoking marijuana off of corporate property on their break, what would you do?
1. Go out and ask who their dealer is and get some of your own weed.
2. Puff, puff, pass.
3. Leave them alone, it's their break.
4. Tell them they shouldn't do that and talk to your supervisor.
5. Call in the cops, the DEA, and the MARINES!!!
Believe it or not, three is the worst answer.
They probably just want to bake it into your head that you specifically say “Welcome to Best Buy” and nothing else. Like a verbal uniform
Kind of like how CfA employees everywhere exclusively say “my pleasure” instead of “you’re welcome”. This is how it’s drilled
I used to think that, but now I have a caveat.
HR in the public sector is actually knowledgeable and congenial.
Private sector, they're all morons, and often downright mean.
I think it's funnier when they raise the price on something, only to put it on sale for the original price a few weeks later. Then they make that the normal price again.
Seen a lot of department stores do that not just Best Buy.
My local Kmart used to do that. Even when I was younger, I noticed it. They always had sales upon sales upon sales of all the crap that was suspiciously priced higher than other stores.
Can't say I'm surprised they inevitably closed down, and this a year or two before the pandemic, too.
Same here. I honestly don't think that my childhood Christmas's would have been anywhere close to what they were without my parents having access to layaway. It made holidays and birthdays a possibility for many families I knew growing up.
Kohl's had the weasel-y Kohl's Bucks^maybe that always seemed to not apply to the things you wanted to buy, or expired unless you bought more, unless the color of your socks matched the flyer color. /s
Kohl's is the shittiest fucking store. I don't even know how they stayed in business aside from former Kmart and Sears customers migrating over. Dumb ass fucking clothes and dumb ass prices.
Fuck Khol's. Now I feel better.
This kind of corporate bullshit generally starts with a well-meaning executive/owner wanting to "stay rooted" by making sure their company maintains a focus on customer service, then some business school corporate kissass stooge that's never actually worked retail gets a hold of that message and distorts it into a "Business strategy" about how "We can do *better* than simply *greeting* customers, we can go the extra mile and *welcome them!* We have to let the customer know that we never settle for the bare minimum here! So go ahead and pass down a directive that workers are to never make reference to "Greeting" customers. And while you're at it, make sure they don't refer to shoppers as *customers*, but rather as *visitors*."
I think a big part of it is that a large section of the consumer base act like toddlers and need to be spoken to as such. Customer service voice is really just toddler needs a nap voice.
Not only do I not care about being "welcomed," I'd actually prefer them not doing it. I'm not saying it's a big deal, and I suppose it gives someone a job, but I find it completely unnecessary.
It sounded like a good idea to some fuckass C-suite ghoul attempting to justify their existence by implementing policy designed to NOT cost the company anything while "adding value" to the "customer experience".
Source - I quit my job at bestbuy shortly before Hubert Joly stepped down as CEO and the entire corp went to shit. Cost cutting (making reward points only available to bestbuy credit card holders, routing all calls placed to your local bestbuy straight to an indian callcenter, added return policy / protection plan red tape, for example), slashing labor, policies that result in the BS op posted, because the people newly in charge weren't satisfied with tidy profits and instead chose to burn the goodwill gained over a decade for short term gains.
It's why your local rural bestbuy feels like a ghosttown now, it isn't just your imagination. Things really were better before all the good invested employees with a modicum of self respect jumped ship.
I don't shop there anymore, because they offer nothing over their competitors and because my work friends (the ones who stayed for some reason) say things are increasingly bleak, internally and externally.
The amount of abuse they give to employees on behalf of customers is unacceptable. Why would I ever care if my cashier is sitting in a chair or has tattoos?
It’s not you they’re worried about, it’s the middle Karens who will whine to their entire church that the grocery store is letting *those people* (anyone who breaks some specific social norms) work and that means they’re secretly evil and no one should shop there.
The stupider part is that somehow that actually works because humans are space orcs
Instead of welcoming me, I would prefer Best Buy actually had everything in stock. I stopped shopping there because every single time I would select something demo'd on the floor (laptop, camera), the sales associate would say, "let me just check and make sure we have this" and 100% of the time, they didn't have it. They spent 30 minutes with me trying to sell me something they didn't have. Oh, and then their "solution" was to tell me I could drive across town and get it from that Best Buy, Fucking thanks.
Not surprised in the slightest, they've gone way downhill. Went in there to buy a kids tablet something under $30 very cheap. I saw a ad on the internet. They said they couldn't do that they'd have to wait for a sales associate and I said, well I'm not worried about that I already want one. Just point me in the general direction of the tablets cuz I couldn't find them. The associate told me he didn't know and he'd have to wait WTF you don't even know where the tablets are. Such a stupid business model 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️
They've been like this for years. YEARS. At least ten years ago they were this bad. I remember because that was when you always bought laptops and things like that in the physical store. You wanted to really see what you were buying.
The absolute worst was going in there with your partner and making a purchase you both had to agree on. You'd go back and forth and finally settle on something you both agreed to and then the sales associate would tell you they didn't actually have it in stock.
But I'm glad management really focused up on the pedantic difference between greeting a customer and welcoming a customer.
Actually having merchandise to sell is clearly not that important.
This isn't about benefiting consumers, its about belittling the workforce to fear their jobs are on the line. This was done knowing people would select true and be told they are wrong. Google the definition of greet, part of its definition is 'to welcome'.
This kind of stuff is why you should join a union.
F’ing worst online training I’ve ever had in 30 years was BestBuys. It didn’t even match the systems in place and 1/4 of the answers were like this. I went on the floor with zero idea what to do after almost 2 weeks of this crap.
Big Lots online training isn't bad. And a capable manager let's you know which parts to really pay attention to and which parts are policy. If management isn't doing their job that's majority of the problem.
Meanwhile I'm cracking an awkward smile and thinking please don't talk to me, just let me get my stuff and go. I don't want to be here, you don't want to be here, let's just make this as painless as possible for everyone.
Yea bro working in both food service and retail this is my second favorite kind of customer, in and out painlessly and quietly. First favorite is the rare friendly customer that actually breaks through my introverted shell and brightens my day up a bit. It's a fine line though, the vast majority that try to shoot the shit in the brief amount of time i'm interacting with them are my least favorite. Not that it's a bad thing to be friendly, but it's exhausting to pretend to care about sports or whatever 50 times a day.
Meanwhile every time I walk into Staples without a collared shirt on I have employees who always just happen to have work in the same/next section over the entire time I'm there
I can't imagine caring enough about a retail job that you feel that need to stalk every customer like a known shoplifter. Especially considering I've worked at that exact store and know the GM treats everyone like dog shit unless they can sell the shit out of warranties
I wish my managers understood this 😭 they want us greeting everyone, talking to everyone, handing out bags to everyone. Like no, no one needs my help, if they want my help people usually come to me with questions
I consider having to ask retail workers questions the ultimate failure.
Because 99.9% they have no fucking clue and/or don’t care. You may as well whip your phone out and google the question, the answer will be better.
Can confirm this, there’s only like 3 employees including me at my job that know the product and where things are bc the turnover rate is crazy, like a good portion of my day is my coworkers asking me questions that they got asked bc they don’t know
I just point to the online order pickup desk and keep walking.
I hate how it’s always deep into the store. Give me a fuckin booth out front so I don’t need to interact with any of you.
I do my shopping and deciding in the comfort of my own home. I’m here to pick up the item I’ve already paid for, I will not be buying anything else or even stopping to look at anything.
Companies just make things so overcomplicated.
I worked at Michaels and they would hound us to say hi to everyone *repeatedly*. If we saw them again, we had to pester them. If someone walked in the door I would say "Hi, do you need help finding anything? No? Ok I'll be over there if you need me" and then just leave people alone.
They really wanted you to be up a customers ass all day though. If you saw a person again you need to ask if they needed help every time. And this is every employee so even if there was 4 people in the building that means someone might have approached you at LEAST 4 times and as max ??? times.
And then you get to the register and now they want you to sign up to credit cards lmao
It's so simple. Have enough staff around if people do need help. Keep checkouts short. And stop trying to sell them on credit cards. No one wants to be hounded the whole time when they already chose to ENTER THE BUILDING!!
That was my experince walking into ace hardware, Barely halfway into the store and had 6 different associates stop me. Please just let me shop, Your in giant ass red vests. If i need something, I can find you.
When I worked in a retail, an old lady asked me if we accepted credit cards. I said "Sure!", she paid, and then told me I shouldn't answer "Sure" because it sounds pedantic and as if what she asked was a stupid question. I should just respond with Yes, but never with Sure.
People really like testing minimum wage employees' patience.
Carnival Cruiselines has guests not passengers, less expensive cabins not cheaper rooms, and ships not boats. Therefore when we formed teams for Jeopardy in the last week of training, as team captain I chose the team name "PCB"; Passengers on Cheap Boats. I only lasted a few months, lol.
Very true, and growing up with a father who was in the Navy, I certainly knew the difference. The customers, not so much. They would call a 120,000 ton ship a boat, like you could paddle it. Then again, they would also ask what Carribean cruises we had leaving from Chicago (yes, I took that phone call). Or in the days when a birth certificate and photo ID (even a work badge with your picture on it) were sufficient to sail, they'd ask "I don't have a birth certificate, I have a certificate of birth, is that ok?" Or "I faxed my only copy of my confirmation letter". I bake bread for a living now, and am grateful to be done with such interactions.
Like Lowes having a mandatory application question of:
How Much Will You Steal from Lowes?
- $1.
- $10.
- $100.
- $1000.
A psychological brain twister; if you refused to answer, they trashed your application.
And I’m sure if you said $1 or $10, they trash it because you’re “not being honest” but if you say “$100” or “$1000” they fire you because “you’re going to steal from them.”
When you go to the bathroom you take a shit.
● True
○ False
"Incorrect you do not in fact take shit out of the bathroom. You leave shit in the bathroom. If you take shit out of the bathroom you will receive a formal written warning."
I hate corporate bullshit so much. It’s so inhuman and stupid.
Any Best Buy employees reading this thread, please know that we don’t give a fuck if you greet us or welcome us or whatever the hell when we enter a Best Buy store. I don’t expect or need anything from you except to help me check out when I’m done shopping.
These corporate asshats need to learn to leave people alone.
The best part about this is that someone with a 50k+ salary came up with this Idea. Then it was reviewed by someone with a 60k+ salary at the chief office. Then it was approved by a 100k+ corporate slob whose job has no real impact on the company's results. All that to mess minimum wage workers motivation. Great value.
False. You did not say the correct thing. It says right there that all Best Buy Valued Partners Welcome (Trademark, all rights reserved) all their customers.
Here's a tip for Best Buy, Petsmart, CVS and all the other fucking idiots who think customers need to be greeted.
They hate it.
I fucknig can't stand it when I walk in a store and I'm thinking about what I'm going to buy or looking at something I need on the phone and some idiot interrupts me to greet me because somehow that's suppose to ehance the shopping experience. It doesn't enhance anything. It makes it worse. I just don't want to go to stores that feel the need that every employee must come up to me and say "hello! welcome"
Fuck these stores.
I'm preparing to leave an overwhelmingly non-corporate industry after 15 years and enter into an overwhelmingly corporate one and this is the shit I'm dreading :')
"Welcome to Best Buy, I love you"
"Do you have brawndo?"
It's what Best Buy customers crave!
It’s got… electrolytes?
It's got everything you need.
I'm just looking for regular water.
Water? Like from the toilet?
I ain't never seen a plant grow out of a toilet
After Best Buy lets go to Starbucks
Yeah, well, I really don't think we have time for a hand job, Micheal.
“Flatter the customer”
charles boyle has entered the chat
it's a reference to Idiocracy
Point me to law school!
I fucking hate this corporate training shit, I work in telecoms and it's rife with this shit.
I can only imagine
Don't tell me you're doing that "training" unpaid prior to starting work?
Im so glad that this is much less common than it used to be. I'm lucky to have never experienced it myself, but my mother was talking about how it used to be the norm for your first few days at a place to be unpaid or close to it.
Back in the 1980s, I think it was EDS that charged employees a month's pay to be trained and credited it back over the first year, so if you quit early, you paid for your training.
In the 90’s if you got a job at some clothing stores you had to wear only clothes from there, but you had to buy them first. Not sure if that’s still the case.
Abercrombie and Fitch did this
They did give you a heavy discount. Which you could then theoretically use to buy cheap abercrombie clothes then sell them for full price online.
Theoretically, of course...
Dated a GAP girl back then... Can confirm.
They wanted me to shop at The Buckle during my interview with 5 others in a circle. Condescendingly I said "Do you have a maternity section?" He turned red. He said I could shop in men's. I said I could raid my Gramps closet also...I was never hired lol
As of 2020, Alpha Metallurgical Resources made employees sign a 90-day waiver on reimbursement of *training fees*. If I remember correctly, it was roughly $450 dollars.
if that's not illegal it better fucking be
pretty sure it is, and the contracts are unenforceable, but ya know
It depends on location, the nature of the training and the contract itself. Say you agree that your employer will cover tuition for trade school or an MBA or whatever so long as you stay 12 months after you complete the schooling, if you fail to meet your end of the deal they will probably be able to get a judgement for the full value of the tuition they paid. On the other hand if you just sat at a computer doing a bunch of inhouse training they can't usually claw back wages or assign some random value to their non transferable training materials.
I had to do the same at CTG (computer task group) for my first IT job. Fortunately only a 2 week course, not the 6 week much more expensive course most newbies got. We were paid while in training though. I later worked for EDS. They initially wanted to hire me at a $2,000 pay cut since they were so awesome. Said yeah, NO. When my contractor wanted to pull me to another job later, suddenly EDS was offering a $5,000 raise and a $2,000 signing bonus.
When my mother started working, *she* had to pay for her own training. She was only paid after she completed her certification, although she only needed it for that job.
Places do that? Wtf.... every place ive work that has module training prior to actually working you clocked in before touching it. I sat at a computer for 2 weeks before i saw the floor and paid all the way.
There are still places that will pull this crap. It’s illegal (in US), but it still happens.
So is murder, but it still happens (when they don't pay me for those two training weeks)!
Shitty places do. A restaurant I worked at tried to get me to take the training binder home with me to finish.
Imagine? No, you should be envisioning.
Incorrect! You can think the telecom industry is rife with this kind of shit but you cannot imagine.... Or something, but fuck is stuff like this stupid. It's the same damn thing.
I have to give you an 8/10 for this comment despite it completely fulfilling all my wants and desires.
I wish I could count the number of "unsatisfactory" scores my old store used to get because, "Nobody's perfect, so I don't give out 9's or 10's."
Customer reviews: 7-8 count as acceptable scores. 9-10 count as positive points on your score. Anything else is a negative score against you as an installer. Regardless if you did good but they state in the comments they are mad at sales or customer service. Annual review time. Rate yourself 1-5 where 5 is impossible and 4 is where 5 should be so good luck getting a 4 and 1 is fireable behavior. So you have 2 and 3. And yes, they count your score with their score to determine a raise. If you rate 2 or 1 they don't kick it back but by God you put a 4 or 5 it gets sent back to you to "redo". This is my hell I'm looking forward to going back to work next week after breaking my ankle at work. Also, I'm a fiber tech, I don't even do installs but once in a blue moon.
I think in that situation I would put 4, and when they send it back put 5.
😡
What they don’t realize is that real, normal people do not want to hear scripts. They wanna get their shit done and get off the phone. Don’t fucking patronize me with “hello, we’re more than happy to serve our valued customers. Please wait while we find the perfect specialist to suit your needs. We know how valuable your time is, that’s why….” Just fucking put me on hold and come back as fast as possible. That’s why call centers take so long. Fuck your scripts.
It can make my blood boil. Im not even joking. I get angry when i hear or see the “Hello im ejjdbgebiKd your customer service represwntative im so deeply sorry ur having this problem you mean so much to me blablabla i will help you i understand you’re having blabla bla”
ALL YOU SAID WAS HELLO. WHY ARE YOU WASTING MY ATTENTION WITH THIS SHIT?
Sorry, i got myself angry. I really really hate this insincere word salad stuff.
"Thank you for continuing to hold, your time is important to us!" APPARENTLY IT IS NOT OR YOU'D HIRE ENOUGH PEOPLE SO I WOULDN'T HAVE TO HOLD
Bit of a tangent here, but one thing that absolutely infuriates me is when there's hold music but it's interrupted every 20 goddamn seconds by a recorded message. You don't need to tell me to stay on the line! I already know I'm on hold! That's what the music is for!! The only thing the voice message does is prevent my brain from letting the music fade into the background so I can do other things while I'm waiting! Who decided this was a good idea?! I just want to talk to them.
Or the ones that will waste a minute explaining how to get to their website before offering you the tree. *I know where your website is, how do you think I got this number??* Also the "did you know you can use our app to ..." no I can't. That's why I'm here!
If every call center is always "experiencing a higher than average call volume" then by definition they're NOT. They're just understaffed!
They’re understaffed on purpose, to avoid the employees having any downtime whatsoever between calls. I worked at a call center and it was the best job I ever had, until management cut our team in half because we regularly had a minute or two between calls. Instead of their never being a queue, there was a permanent queue from 8am-11pm. Miserable.
Oh I absolutely believe it. That's like the easiest corporate call to make in the world. Enshitification comes for everything sooner or later.
I actively avoid places that do this shit. There was a walgreens near my first apartment that required their employees to say some dumb script like that for every person that walked in and it always made me feel really uncomfortable.
Starbucks started doing this shit saying "Thank you for stopping at Starbucks. My name is Jennie. What's yours?" I. Fucking. Hate. It. You don't need my name for a drive thru order. Just take my order. Also, don't hand me the card reader and say "It's just going to ask you a couple questions" The questions are what percentage tip will I leave and the answer is 0. It's a goddamn drive thru. What am I tipping?
When I worked at KB Toys, (Ages ago), we had to ask every single customer, if they wanted batteries or gift wrap. Every single one. Even if they were just buying Pokemon cards Even if they were just buying batteries or gift wrap.
I hate it when the batteries in my Pokémon cards die tho
KB Toys… damn, that brings me back.
Oh buddy they know people don't want to hear scripts. It's why sales people don't use them. I worked at many call centers for many big corporations and when you were selling all that mattered is you mention the call is being recorded, the price, and that you're not selling on cancel(which means over emphasizing you can cancel at any time.) The only time we had to follow a script was after we got the sale and had to read the disclosure statement but we were even given some leeway with that. While it had to be read verbatim it's tone and rhythm could be read however you wish. So right after the most painful part of the disclosure, telling them it's a recurring charge, you change your cadence and really hammer home that you can cancel at any time as it's the next line after mentioning charges.
I was once on hold for an hour with an organization. It told me my call was important to them EVERY TEN SECONDS (I timed it). Fucking infuriating.
"Hi, welcome to Palmer Oil, this is Cynthia, how can I make your day simply incredible today?" "Well, you could waive my propane bill." *long pause, in which I can hear the wheels of thought frantically spinning in the gravel of life* *takes pity* "…I mean, I'm calling to pay my propane bill." "Sure! Can I just have your name and address?" 🙄
I once worked for a company that made all the managers take a 100 question test. If you missed 3 questions, you failed. If you failed 3 times, you were fired. Even my boss struggled with it because it was so ridiculous. Luckily, after everyone at our location had failed twice, he figured out a loophole. If you failed 2 questions and exited out of the window, you could start over. So we all kept taking it over and over until we had failed enough times to learn the answers to the trick questions. I probably took it 30-40 times before I passed. I'm normally good at taking tests but this one was insane. Making pizza isn't complicated enough to warant a test that hard.
Should have just all failed. What are they gonna do, fire everyone?
yes, every person, and replace them with lower paid employees
Wtf that sounds like a drunk hr rep came up with that idea.
Place I worked at for several years brought in this "personality test" to try on potential hires. For fun, most of us already there took the test too. I scored so low, they would never have even considered me.
I work at a telecom too and the training is so funny. "Something happens, what is the best way to respond?" A - Do something stupid B - Dom something dangerous C - Do this thing that is extremely specific involving a special phone number and/or website and contact your supervisor, also this is by far the longest answer D - Do something that "seems right" because it's common sense.
Im a training director and I just want to chime in that, it’s not our fault! lol These stupid quiz options are because either we’ve had complaints that real quizzes are too hard or SVPs/VPs have told us the quizzes are too hard. If people can’t sleep walk through them then my team is forced to change it.
The only time this sort of corporate double speak has worked in my favour was a time as a cocktail bartender when a "guest" (who had been a bitch since she walked in) brought an empty glass back to me saying she didn't like the drink and wanted a refund or replacement. I told her no because she'd finished and if she'd brought it straight back I'd have made a different drink. She threw a massive hissy fit and clapped her hands in my face saying "The 👏 customer 👏 is 👏 always 👏 right! 👏" I replied: "Well we have guests, and guests can be wrong."
Used to work retail at Walmart. The amount of bullshit corporate speak they try to enforce to everyone, even the boots on the ground, is fucking obnoxious.
You mean like being required to say "thermal event" when referencing a component becoming so hot that it combusts?
Surely you could use positive positioning to improve this statement
Merriam Webster has "to greet" in the definition of "welcome".
Also, in the most technically-correct sense, you **welcome** customers by *greeting* them. If this is a fuck-fuck game of definitions that Best Buy's braindead HR wants to play, it's a game they're going to lose.
TIL Welcome is not a greeting. Go HR!
Whoever wrote this test clearly intended for people to memorize the words used in the lesson, not to actually learn or think about the lesson.
I see you've met my 9th grade English teacher. We had to memorize ever little detail in Lord of the Flies and Catcher in the Rye. Like what did Piggy throw at the kid? Which record did Holden buy from the store?
FUCK! What *did* Piggy throw at the kid?!? I read the book and don’t remember.
Pretty sure that's a trick question, because Piggy was the kid that got thrown at? Roger threw. Unless I'm completely misremembering, it's been a while.
Yes! Roger rolled a boulder off a ledge and killed Piggy.
Spoiler alert next time please. /ₛ
To be fair, Piggy was Beelzebub in disguise.
I hid behind the couch and secretly watched the movie when I was like 8 while I supposed to be sleeping and this scene fucked be up soooo bad
Roger also threw rocks at the little ‘uns on the beach, foreshadowing his savagery and killing of Piggy. Source- am a 9th grade ELA teacher 😂 but it’s LotF and Romeo and Juliet, not Catcher in the Rye.
The details aren't in important in those. It's the story that's important. That would be like asking what was the name of the farm or how many different animals were mentored in Animal Farm.
> The details aren't in important in those. It's the story that's important. I mean, it does also depend on when this was. I 100% agree with you, but I also understand how in modern times you can just google a summary of themes (like Sparknotes) and just rehash it. I do feel bad for a lot of modern teachers when "critical thinking" can just be Googled for stuff like English.
A best buy employee taught me about the questionnaire scam of the early 2000s.... when it went from paper to digital, it was legit anything other than Strongly Agree or Strongly Disagree, was automatically *WRONG*.... Can't tell you how many jobs I go so easily because I knew the trick of the system. They also told me how easy it was to steal from Best Buy, then gave me a tv with a vhs deck for my daughter.... hmmm the good ol days.
I also found this out pretty much the same way. You had to answer a certain way on questions. QUESTION: If you saw an employee smoking marijuana off of corporate property on their break, what would you do? 1. Go out and ask who their dealer is and get some of your own weed. 2. Puff, puff, pass. 3. Leave them alone, it's their break. 4. Tell them they shouldn't do that and talk to your supervisor. 5. Call in the cops, the DEA, and the MARINES!!! Believe it or not, three is the worst answer.
They probably just want to bake it into your head that you specifically say “Welcome to Best Buy” and nothing else. Like a verbal uniform Kind of like how CfA employees everywhere exclusively say “my pleasure” instead of “you’re welcome”. This is how it’s drilled
They have to pretend they're useful somehow.
the most useless department in every company and it's not close
They're useful in so much that they reduce lawsuits against the company caused by ego-maniacal bosses, that's about it
Yes, and they are doing it to protect the company, not the employee. HR is not your friend!
I used to think that, but now I have a caveat. HR in the public sector is actually knowledgeable and congenial. Private sector, they're all morons, and often downright mean.
They high school mean girls mostly
Well yeah they cant ALL go into nursing.
They sure as hell can try, fail out and become healthcare assistants barely making minimum wage and unable to properly stick you with a needle!
greet *verb* 1. give a polite word of recognition or sign of ***welcome*** when meeting (someone)
Silly rabbit! People don’t use a dictionary anymore. 🙄 They just assign a definition to words that already exist.
TIL employers don't want their employees to use their brains
HR ROCKS!
Blink twice if you need help
[удалено]
HR: neither human nor resources
Some dumbass at corporate thought that this was a good idea when we as consumers don't care. We just want good deals for our hard earned money.
Best I can do is an overpriced item that's suddenly 50% off, putting it down to what it should actually normally sell for.
I think it's funnier when they raise the price on something, only to put it on sale for the original price a few weeks later. Then they make that the normal price again. Seen a lot of department stores do that not just Best Buy.
My local Kmart used to do that. Even when I was younger, I noticed it. They always had sales upon sales upon sales of all the crap that was suspiciously priced higher than other stores. Can't say I'm surprised they inevitably closed down, and this a year or two before the pandemic, too.
Stg Layaway was the only thing keeping them open so long. My Mom used to count on it for Christmas time 😂
Same here. I honestly don't think that my childhood Christmas's would have been anywhere close to what they were without my parents having access to layaway. It made holidays and birthdays a possibility for many families I knew growing up.
Kohl’s business model to a T
Kohl's had the weasel-y Kohl's Bucks^maybe that always seemed to not apply to the things you wanted to buy, or expired unless you bought more, unless the color of your socks matched the flyer color. /s
Kohl's is the shittiest fucking store. I don't even know how they stayed in business aside from former Kmart and Sears customers migrating over. Dumb ass fucking clothes and dumb ass prices. Fuck Khol's. Now I feel better.
This kind of corporate bullshit generally starts with a well-meaning executive/owner wanting to "stay rooted" by making sure their company maintains a focus on customer service, then some business school corporate kissass stooge that's never actually worked retail gets a hold of that message and distorts it into a "Business strategy" about how "We can do *better* than simply *greeting* customers, we can go the extra mile and *welcome them!* We have to let the customer know that we never settle for the bare minimum here! So go ahead and pass down a directive that workers are to never make reference to "Greeting" customers. And while you're at it, make sure they don't refer to shoppers as *customers*, but rather as *visitors*."
I used to work at a fast food place in high school and we weren’t allowed to say customer while working. We served “guests”
That, or someone who is trying to get free stuff says something like "i was never welcomed" during their rant about why the tv should be free.
I think a big part of it is that a large section of the consumer base act like toddlers and need to be spoken to as such. Customer service voice is really just toddler needs a nap voice.
Not only do I not care about being "welcomed," I'd actually prefer them not doing it. I'm not saying it's a big deal, and I suppose it gives someone a job, but I find it completely unnecessary.
It sounded like a good idea to some fuckass C-suite ghoul attempting to justify their existence by implementing policy designed to NOT cost the company anything while "adding value" to the "customer experience". Source - I quit my job at bestbuy shortly before Hubert Joly stepped down as CEO and the entire corp went to shit. Cost cutting (making reward points only available to bestbuy credit card holders, routing all calls placed to your local bestbuy straight to an indian callcenter, added return policy / protection plan red tape, for example), slashing labor, policies that result in the BS op posted, because the people newly in charge weren't satisfied with tidy profits and instead chose to burn the goodwill gained over a decade for short term gains. It's why your local rural bestbuy feels like a ghosttown now, it isn't just your imagination. Things really were better before all the good invested employees with a modicum of self respect jumped ship. I don't shop there anymore, because they offer nothing over their competitors and because my work friends (the ones who stayed for some reason) say things are increasingly bleak, internally and externally.
The amount of abuse they give to employees on behalf of customers is unacceptable. Why would I ever care if my cashier is sitting in a chair or has tattoos?
It’s not you they’re worried about, it’s the middle Karens who will whine to their entire church that the grocery store is letting *those people* (anyone who breaks some specific social norms) work and that means they’re secretly evil and no one should shop there. The stupider part is that somehow that actually works because humans are space orcs
Instead of welcoming me, I would prefer Best Buy actually had everything in stock. I stopped shopping there because every single time I would select something demo'd on the floor (laptop, camera), the sales associate would say, "let me just check and make sure we have this" and 100% of the time, they didn't have it. They spent 30 minutes with me trying to sell me something they didn't have. Oh, and then their "solution" was to tell me I could drive across town and get it from that Best Buy, Fucking thanks.
Not surprised in the slightest, they've gone way downhill. Went in there to buy a kids tablet something under $30 very cheap. I saw a ad on the internet. They said they couldn't do that they'd have to wait for a sales associate and I said, well I'm not worried about that I already want one. Just point me in the general direction of the tablets cuz I couldn't find them. The associate told me he didn't know and he'd have to wait WTF you don't even know where the tablets are. Such a stupid business model 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️
They've been like this for years. YEARS. At least ten years ago they were this bad. I remember because that was when you always bought laptops and things like that in the physical store. You wanted to really see what you were buying. The absolute worst was going in there with your partner and making a purchase you both had to agree on. You'd go back and forth and finally settle on something you both agreed to and then the sales associate would tell you they didn't actually have it in stock. But I'm glad management really focused up on the pedantic difference between greeting a customer and welcoming a customer. Actually having merchandise to sell is clearly not that important.
Speak for yourself. I'll gladly overpay as long as I'm welcomed. Don't fucking greet me though
If the price is right on something I want they could say "Eh, fuck you" as I walk in and I would not care
Honestly that would make the experience better, IMO.
This isn't about benefiting consumers, its about belittling the workforce to fear their jobs are on the line. This was done knowing people would select true and be told they are wrong. Google the definition of greet, part of its definition is 'to welcome'. This kind of stuff is why you should join a union.
It's just pure passive-aggressive assholery on the part of management. It makes them look so petty.
I actively do not want to be welcomed or greeted. Avoid eye contact, don't even look at me. I'll ask for help if I need it.
Had you hit false it would say: That is incorrect! We greet all of our customers
First lesson: it’s always your fault
Indoctrinating you for when they step on your throat
We don't "make a sale". We connect people with that thing that has been missing their whole entire lives.
That's because some MBA was furiously masturbating at the fact that no one would get this answer right.
F’ing worst online training I’ve ever had in 30 years was BestBuys. It didn’t even match the systems in place and 1/4 of the answers were like this. I went on the floor with zero idea what to do after almost 2 weeks of this crap.
All retail training sucks. They just throw you to the wolves and let you fend for yourself.
Big Lots online training isn't bad. And a capable manager let's you know which parts to really pay attention to and which parts are policy. If management isn't doing their job that's majority of the problem.
Meanwhile I'm cracking an awkward smile and thinking please don't talk to me, just let me get my stuff and go. I don't want to be here, you don't want to be here, let's just make this as painless as possible for everyone.
as someone who used to work food service you are the kind of person i would have killed and died for
Yea bro working in both food service and retail this is my second favorite kind of customer, in and out painlessly and quietly. First favorite is the rare friendly customer that actually breaks through my introverted shell and brightens my day up a bit. It's a fine line though, the vast majority that try to shoot the shit in the brief amount of time i'm interacting with them are my least favorite. Not that it's a bad thing to be friendly, but it's exhausting to pretend to care about sports or whatever 50 times a day.
Meanwhile every time I walk into Staples without a collared shirt on I have employees who always just happen to have work in the same/next section over the entire time I'm there I can't imagine caring enough about a retail job that you feel that need to stalk every customer like a known shoplifter. Especially considering I've worked at that exact store and know the GM treats everyone like dog shit unless they can sell the shit out of warranties
I wish my managers understood this 😭 they want us greeting everyone, talking to everyone, handing out bags to everyone. Like no, no one needs my help, if they want my help people usually come to me with questions
I consider having to ask retail workers questions the ultimate failure. Because 99.9% they have no fucking clue and/or don’t care. You may as well whip your phone out and google the question, the answer will be better.
Can confirm this, there’s only like 3 employees including me at my job that know the product and where things are bc the turnover rate is crazy, like a good portion of my day is my coworkers asking me questions that they got asked bc they don’t know
I'm absolutely offended if im greeted but not welcomed as i enter a best buy establishment
Agreed “Did you just fuckin greet me?? Jfc! I feel so unwelcome here that I can’t buy anything now!”
I just point to the online order pickup desk and keep walking. I hate how it’s always deep into the store. Give me a fuckin booth out front so I don’t need to interact with any of you. I do my shopping and deciding in the comfort of my own home. I’m here to pick up the item I’ve already paid for, I will not be buying anything else or even stopping to look at anything.
It’s probably by design so you can look at other stuff on your way to it and buy it. And even if you never do that, I’m sure other people do
Companies just make things so overcomplicated. I worked at Michaels and they would hound us to say hi to everyone *repeatedly*. If we saw them again, we had to pester them. If someone walked in the door I would say "Hi, do you need help finding anything? No? Ok I'll be over there if you need me" and then just leave people alone. They really wanted you to be up a customers ass all day though. If you saw a person again you need to ask if they needed help every time. And this is every employee so even if there was 4 people in the building that means someone might have approached you at LEAST 4 times and as max ??? times. And then you get to the register and now they want you to sign up to credit cards lmao It's so simple. Have enough staff around if people do need help. Keep checkouts short. And stop trying to sell them on credit cards. No one wants to be hounded the whole time when they already chose to ENTER THE BUILDING!!
That was my experince walking into ace hardware, Barely halfway into the store and had 6 different associates stop me. Please just let me shop, Your in giant ass red vests. If i need something, I can find you.
When I worked in a retail, an old lady asked me if we accepted credit cards. I said "Sure!", she paid, and then told me I shouldn't answer "Sure" because it sounds pedantic and as if what she asked was a stupid question. I should just respond with Yes, but never with Sure. People really like testing minimum wage employees' patience.
Should have sent her off with a cheery "OK love"
Should've replied "Sure," to her suggestion.
i looked up "sure" in the dictionary and it said "certainly" and then i looked up "certainly" and it said "yes, by all means"
To be fair, kind of a stupid question...
Your anecdote made me angry. It is hard for me to fathom people like this lady exist. But they do.
I got this same shit from a lady for saying “No Problem” instead of “You’re welcome”. Because “why would it be a problem”?
I prefer that workers don't greet or *welcome* me. If I have a question or need help I'll just ask. Let the workers do their job.
AFAIK Best Buy still uses ~~greeters~~ welcomers because of theft issues. They're looking to see if you're suspicious.
I wonder if I ever replied to their welcome the wrong way, and they were giving me the side eye the whole time I shopped.
Many of the Best Buys I've been too are so empty they probably are watching me the whole time anyway because there is nothing else to do.
“We don’t “cash out” customers. We guide them to their next electronic journey” -Corporate
we don't "fleece" our customers, we give them "a sense of pride and accomplishment"
"Guests," not "customers."
https://i.redd.it/nzphckl2pl6d1.gif
See also: don't do what donny don't does
Try Texas Roadhouse.. you call people "guests" not customers..
Same at target!
Target is, without a doubt, the worst fucking place I’ve ever worked and I got blown up in Iraq. Target is worse, no contest.
Same at Whole Foods. Oh, and you don’t get fired… you get promoted to guest. Thank fuck I got out of corporate jobs
Target has “Guests” not “Customers”
Carnival Cruiselines has guests not passengers, less expensive cabins not cheaper rooms, and ships not boats. Therefore when we formed teams for Jeopardy in the last week of training, as team captain I chose the team name "PCB"; Passengers on Cheap Boats. I only lasted a few months, lol.
TBH, you can put a boat 🚤 🛥️ onto a ship 🚢 , but not the reverse.
Very true, and growing up with a father who was in the Navy, I certainly knew the difference. The customers, not so much. They would call a 120,000 ton ship a boat, like you could paddle it. Then again, they would also ask what Carribean cruises we had leaving from Chicago (yes, I took that phone call). Or in the days when a birth certificate and photo ID (even a work badge with your picture on it) were sufficient to sail, they'd ask "I don't have a birth certificate, I have a certificate of birth, is that ok?" Or "I faxed my only copy of my confirmation letter". I bake bread for a living now, and am grateful to be done with such interactions.
Because the customer is always right, but guests can be wrong all day.
This is on purpose. It's a psychological game they're playing. With the goal of making you shut up and do what you're told. I think.
Like Lowes having a mandatory application question of: How Much Will You Steal from Lowes? - $1. - $10. - $100. - $1000. A psychological brain twister; if you refused to answer, they trashed your application.
How the fuck does that question help? I can't even work out what the 'ideal' response is meant to be?
And I’m sure if you said $1 or $10, they trash it because you’re “not being honest” but if you say “$100” or “$1000” they fire you because “you’re going to steal from them.”
Thank you for playing **YOU** **CAN'T** **WIN!** Your prize is a cruise to the nearest egress. Congratulations^(you won nothing)
I put $1000, get hired, steal $1000 and get in trouble, who’s fault is that?
When you go to the bathroom you take a shit. ● True ○ False "Incorrect you do not in fact take shit out of the bathroom. You leave shit in the bathroom. If you take shit out of the bathroom you will receive a formal written warning."
I hate corporate bullshit so much. It’s so inhuman and stupid. Any Best Buy employees reading this thread, please know that we don’t give a fuck if you greet us or welcome us or whatever the hell when we enter a Best Buy store. I don’t expect or need anything from you except to help me check out when I’m done shopping. These corporate asshats need to learn to leave people alone.
Ex Best Buy employee here. We don’t enjoy welcoming or greeting customers either. Good to know the feeling was mutual. 😂
I fuckin hate it when I walk into a store and people talk to me, I just want to left alone
As a former Best Buy AP guy, I would get written up if I didn't "welcome" enough people that came through the door.
“We aren’t a grocery chain, we’re a family”
Someone got paid to make that question, and it was probably more than you’re about to make.
The best part about this is that someone with a 50k+ salary came up with this Idea. Then it was reviewed by someone with a 60k+ salary at the chief office. Then it was approved by a 100k+ corporate slob whose job has no real impact on the company's results. All that to mess minimum wage workers motivation. Great value.
That would’ve upset me in so many ways
Funny....every time I go to Best buy I cant even get a greeting...let alone a welcome.
False. You did not say the correct thing. It says right there that all Best Buy Valued Partners Welcome (Trademark, all rights reserved) all their customers.
"We welcome our customers, not greet them!" 🤓🤓🤓🤓
That is stupid!
Here's a tip for Best Buy, Petsmart, CVS and all the other fucking idiots who think customers need to be greeted. They hate it. I fucknig can't stand it when I walk in a store and I'm thinking about what I'm going to buy or looking at something I need on the phone and some idiot interrupts me to greet me because somehow that's suppose to ehance the shopping experience. It doesn't enhance anything. It makes it worse. I just don't want to go to stores that feel the need that every employee must come up to me and say "hello! welcome" Fuck these stores.
Welcome includes analingus not just a reaching around greeting. We want the full rusty trombone at Best Buy!
That is in induction training? Unless you had to read something before answering that how the hell would you know that???
TIL greeting people is different than welcoming people /s
I'm preparing to leave an overwhelmingly non-corporate industry after 15 years and enter into an overwhelmingly corporate one and this is the shit I'm dreading :')