Why I'm going to be Fired

[Will-Mun]

Now, I don't claim to be the best employee where I work, the Electronics department of Toys R' Us... And honestly I don't think anyone should really be able to claim that without being arrogant. We all make mistakes sometimes, and we all have periods of time where we excel.

But I am a good employee, I think I'm rather good. Compared to some of the other people I work with I'm knowledgeable, I'm quick to get what the customer needs, and I actually show an interest in the products (Gaming and Electronics). The people I usually work with (not all, just two in particular) are elderly women, somewhere in their 40s I think, who really don't know much about gaming or electronics, I don't know why they work in that department quite honestly... Now I'm not trying to say they're bad workers, they are good, but I do feel that I am at least more qualified to work there.

But I am going to be fired.

I am currently Seasonal Help, which means my job comes with a time limit, but there might (big might) be a rehiring for me at the end of the season. Doing well within the job doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter how well I get along with customers, how knowledgeable of the Gaming Industry I am, nor that I know what the difference between two MP3 players is. The reason I will not be kept on is because I won't sell enough add ons.

I don't feel comfortable selling service plans on products I know don't need it. I'll sell them on some things... Gaming hardware, cameras, things that you would actually benefit from having them protected. But I do not feel comfortable selling a three dollar service plan on a video game, I do not feel comfortable selling a five dollar service plan on a board game...

I also hate, HATE, selling Credit Cards. I hate store brand Credit cards. I feel they're quite worthless in fact. If you don't already have a credit card, you won't be approved, if you do... You already HAVE a credit card, why do you need another?

This is the reason... I can work harder than anyone else, it won't really matter because thats not what corporate will be looking for.

Come January, it's Job Hunt 2: The Return!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

A five-dollar service plan on a board game? Who's the idiot who thought that up?

And what can go wrong with a board game that can't be fixed by returning it and getting your money back?

[rvdammit]

A five-dollar service plan on a board game? Who's the idiot who thought that up?

And what can go wrong with a board game that can't be fixed by returning it and getting your money back?

Dog ate the hotels?

[MMATM]

Board game service plan: Charging $5 to replace pieces when they get lost, as opposed to just buying more pieces from any of a million pawnshops, eBay sellers, or dollar stores for fifty cents to a buck. Or even using other things as pieces. Dice? Replaceable. Player tokens? Replaceable. Cards? Well, those are tough to come by if they're not standard playing cards, so you might find it worthwhile to spend the $5 in case you lose any of those rare and valuable construction paper/oak tag documents.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

See, if I a corporate suit at Toys R' Expensive, sitting in on the meeting where this protection plan for board games was announced, it would fail my laugh test something awful.

Me: (practically wetting my pants)
Other Suit: What's so funny Irv?
Me: (wiping away tears)Oh, nothing--except that we're going to start asking all our customers if they want to buy a protection plan on an item that is not cost-prohibitive to fix or replace and requires no specialized repairs if something breaks or goes missing.
Other Suit: You're fired. Leave now.

At a certain point, this mad pursuit of profits becomes laughable.

[bigjimaz]

The people I usually work with (not all, just two in particular) are elderly women, somewhere in their 40s I think...

Why do I feel so old all of a sudden?

[csdrone]

Why do I feel so old all of a sudden?

I had the same thought.

[TNT]

Really... I'm only 47, and now I'm elderly?

[blas]

I think he meant to say middle aged ladies or older ladies....

I am glad you feel so confident in your job and your knowledge, but if you are just seasonal help, why are you so against being let go at Holidays' end? That's what seasonal help is, isn't it? Not a permanent thing.....just like being a temp where I work, you can be let go at any time for practically any reason.....

[BlaqueKatt]

well for the video games I can see it-for example-

"I see you're buying x game for $60.00, you may or may not be interested but we do offer a protection plan on games that covers X,Y, and Z, it's only $3 which is much less than having to rebuy the game should x,y,or z happen to said game-only you know if you need it so I just thought I'd mention it"*

It's not pushy, and it makes it seem like you're concerned about protecting the customer's purchase, and interested in saving them money in the future, and by starting out with "you may or may not be interested"-you're letting the customer know you're not pushing it on them-it's called "soft sell" and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't but the customers usually don't complain(bonus you don't feel like a shill, as you aren't pushing anything-you're just allowing the customer to make an informed decision by presenting facts they may not have known about.)

I'm a good salesperson-I just don't do sales. Every phone order I took usually had several accessories, insurance and added features-due to using this approach-we got nothing for add-ons at the time, I just genuinely wanted my customers happy, and to get the most out of their purchase, I usually just asked if they knew what accessories were available for their phones, and if not would they like to know, usually prefaced with "I just want you to be informed on what's currently available to pair with your handset in case sometime in the future you decide you want to utilize some of the lesser used features of your purchase." I was actually known for calming down customer's who were upset that new "better" phones were released after their purchase, by going through the features/accessories to optimize their current equipment usually better than the "new shiny" they thought they wanted, and for a much lower cost. (I actually sold several pairs of Motorola bluetooth headphone/sunglasses-and no one could sell those things.)

*at this point if they seem interested I'd mention one of my friends that had a mishap with a game disk that would have been covered under the protection plan, as accidents do happen-and personally I'd rather have the protection and not need it than have something happen.

BlaqueKatt-who has extended plans on everything she owns if it's offered-heck I even pay the $0.25 "rental insurance" at my local video store every time I rent-who knows I'm pretty klutzy I may slip on something on the way home and break the dvd but not have to pay for it due to paying that extra $0.25.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Maybe he is seasonal, but he could get a chance to interview to retain a permanent position.

That's what my store does: After the holidays any seasonal person who wants to stay on can have an interview. Some years all or most of the seasonal hires who interview after the holidays get a permanent position. Other years we don't hang on to any of them.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

well for the video games I can see it-for example-

"I see you're buying x game for $60.00, you may or may not be interested but we do offer a protection plan on games that covers X,Y, and Z, it's only $3 which is much less than having to rebuy the game should x,y,or z happen to said game-only you know if you need it so I just thought I'd mention it"*

I can too. A video game is about 60 bucks and would have to be replaced if for some reason it failed. A protection plan only makes sense to me if the item is costly to replace or fix--if your $3,000 plasma TV shits the bit, it's a good thing to have.

But a board game....? If you lose one of the pieces, you can just substitute a button. If one of the Chance cards in your Monopoly game gets lost, it doesn't affect the game that much. If you lose some of the play money you can always make your own. Plus you're only paying 30 bucks at most for the game, if you really have to buy a new one.

I also find it curious that the protection plan on video games is 3 bucks but the protection plan for a board game is 5.

[Seshat]

I'm one of those 40-ish 'old ladies'. Being 40 now means you grew up at the start of personal computers in the home, probably played space invaders and galacta, and could well have been one of the comp sci students who learned prolog, modula-2 or pascal, and C (with no ++ or other features). We learned about object oriented programming - it was a shiny new methodology!

Anyway, my point is that being 40-ish now doesn't have to mean knowing nothing about gaming. It does mean, however, that you may have refined your tastes.

[TNT]

I'm one of those 40-ish 'old ladies'. Being 40 now means you grew up at the start of personal computers in the home, probably played space invaders and galacta, and could well have been one of the comp sci students who learned prolog, modula-2 or pascal, and C (with no ++ or other features). We learned about object oriented programming - it was a shiny new methodology!

When I was in college, we had a state of the art computer... reel to reel tape, a teletype keyboard, and a professor who was firmly convinced that if we were ever going to find a computer useful, we would have to write our own programs.

He even had to write his own textbook on BASIC program.

As mentioned, I'm only 47.

During the time I was in school, Radio Shack came out with the first truly affordable computer -- something like $500. About all it could do was play blackjack.

I found a $1.00 deck of cards about as useful.

[matty]

To be honest, as a customer, I really don't see any value in protection plans or extended warranties for an extra charge.

For most items, you are already protected by both consumer laws and a standard, free, 12-month warranty in any case (at least, you are here).

The only times I would consider paying the extra would be things costing several hundred dollars or more, like PCs, expensive televisions and so on.

And on board games?!