calhoun07

And this has to do with them having problems/closing down how?

UAIOE

I think he's trying to say that the free rental and candy caused the store to close down.

JimRochester

They are giving me credit when I never actually gave them any money. It's only a couple bucks but if they give credit everytime you do an instore exchange, essentially a defective new release exchanged for an older title, they are giving away money. My rental was paid via the online system not at the store.

I'm not saying this is a major reason for their troubles but they obviously have some accounting snafu's

zekeburger1979

I just found out tonight that 1 of the 2 here in Muskegon is closing down. I'm going to go over there in the morning and check it out. I suspect it'll be pretty crappy.

whotony

We just had a meeting Sat about a new system for keeping track of what we do and how managers inform us of what out daily jobs are.
Thats fine, maybe it will help with the day to day productivity.
We were also told no one can have a water container anywhere but the back room.
Not even allowed to hide it under the counter or in a cabinet.
Don't really understand what the big deal is with that.
I drink as much from 1 to 2 liters of water a shift, and it's not gonna be a good thing if I have to go to the back everytime I need a sip of water.

I just don't get it.

On the bright side we now get 10 free weekly rentals, up from 5.

sigh

X

I hope they also make you go to the bathroom to get rid of all that fluid.

Maybe making it harder to ingest huge amounts of liquid cuts down on bathroom breaks.

hindolio

imho, employees visibly not drinking or eating while working aint such a bad thing. may be just me though?

whotony

We don't eat, and why would it bother anyone to see someone drinking from a bottle of water or a bottle of soda?
Don't most places let people have a cup of coffee?

The problem with my store is that the air is extremely super dry and those of us in there need to drink water to keep from having a dry mouth.
We do have to speak to all the customers and it's a little tough with cotton mouth.

Not as if we are gulping down the water while A customer is standing there waiting for me.

UAIOE

I can understand a policy about eating food, but I have never understood the rational behind not allowing drinks.

This reminds me of when I worked at Best Buy. When I started there, we could purchase a drink and leave it at our department desk. One day they came in and said "employee's drinking on the floor looks bad" and banned all drinks from the floor.

My comment on the matter was "Drinking liquid is bad, but having an employee completely leave the department to go the back of the store, possibly numerous times during his/her shift, is a better scenario?".

I shouldn't be surprised this line of rational thinking didn't vibe with my department manager, he made a co-worker who got pink eye come into to work (we were not understaffed that night either).

Kory

Yeah I was out there last week and it's nothing special. 15% off Blu-ray prices when I was there. It was enough to make me pick up some of the ones Blockbuster just dropped in price that were still a little too high for me though, such as Semi-Pro, Role Models, Get Smart, and Baby Mama.

mike07

Not to say this would relate to you, but think about the insurance costs if someone was drinking a bottle of water/soda and forgot to screw the cap on tight and accidentally dumped it. That could destroy paperwork, computer equipment, and/or cause a really sticky mess which will make your store look unprofessional in the consumer's eyes, which could keep them from returning.

hindolio

im not in total disagreement with your frustration, but im just trying to look at all perspectives.

im not sure what you refer to as "most places", but from my experience, a lot of in-person and customer service-related positions generally do not allow consumption of any kind. and the larger the corporation, the stricter the policies usually.

this prolly sucks big time. imho, talk to the staff about working around the flexibility of being able to drink more liquids in designated areas. corporate can say one thing, but who is the person who really decides whats what in your store?

again, corporate policies generally lay a flat, across-the-board rule about something that only a few people may do, but ends up affecting everyone. but lemme give a lame example. perhaps you are well-mannered and tidy, but tell me you dont know one or two of your peers who is a bit gross with consumables?

zekeburger1979

I went back there today and the previously viewed DVDs were $7.99. Blus were still 15% off. I grabbed a copy of The Hurt Locker. Less than $15 after tax is better than $50 or more on a new steelbook Hurt Locker from an online auction.

I also got The Simpsons Scene It for $8.99. I now have about 6 different versions of that game!

TheNightFlier

For the Long Islanders on here the one in West Islip is closing. The guy said they would be open till the 18th. A lot of stuff left, but no real bargains.

whotony

This was the point I made on this.
they are doing things that should make for better productivity, but then they do this.
If I have to go up to the office every few minutes to get a sip of water, how does that help anything.

That could happen, I've never seen it happen.
Our compromise is that the manager has told me, at least, to keep my bottle hidden somewhere and to be as discrete as possible when drinking.

In other news we just shipped a box of 100+ new blu's back to distribution for what I guess would be credit.

highclassrob

Anyone seen any closing stores in Connecticut?

X

Admittedly, I don't drink a lot of water (I grew up in the desert). But can't you gulp a couple sips each time and cut those trips in half? Or four gulps and cut the trips in quarters?

whotony

Well sure, I guess, but it doesn't keep your mouth moist very long even if I gulped a huge mouthful each time.
This place has seriously dry air, so talking most of the day makes my mouth even drier, quicker.
I need water.

chuckd21

The employee/water situation is clearly what Blockbuster needs to be focusing on right now.

UAIOE

The sad part is, someone in the company *will* devote his/her time and energy on a non-issue "acceptable water drinking guidelines" instead of the overall problem BB is having.

calhoun07

It is obvious that allowing employees to have water in the past is what drove them to bankruptcy. Who the hell wants to watch an employee sip on water before they wait on you? Screw that, that's why they invented Redbox. Nobody drinking water around there.

UAIOE

Nah, you just have to deal with a kid drinking his Mt. Dew while leaning against the machine.

calhoun07

Well, that is what happens when you run your operating system in DOS. There is just no way Blockbuster's POS system is going to be able to catch things like this and flag it or prompt the employee to let them know they may be making a mistake. I am sure they did it for "customer service" but I also know that auditors and district managers look at this stuff from time to time and may question the employee about it and may even fire them if they keep on doing stuff like that over and over again.

I've seen some really boneheaded credits on the manager's part when I've worked there. And I've seen some people fired over stuff like that. I guess the cost of turn over is cheaper for Blockbuster than implementing a Windows based program that can flag and prompt an employee if they are doing credits for the wrong reason.

calhoun07

And make more money in a year doing it than most of us will at our jobs.

UAIOE

I know this, but my point about them being out of touch still remains.