Maybe I live in the area of the magical Best Buys, but both places within 15 minutes of me have never asked me for a magazine subscription. I have never bought (and probably will never buy) a big ticket item from them, but I usually buy CDs, DVDs, blank CDr's, wire & cable, and other accessories from Best Buy and I've never been pressured to get any magazine, reward zone membership, best buy credit card, or anything else, either on the floor or at the register.

Interesting way to get noticed at Best Buy: Before last Christmas I was walking around with a pen and clipboard writing down various things for my Christmas list. This included things from almost every department, like CDs, DVDs, computer parts, and model numbers and prices of audio/video equipment I wanted. A manager approached me with a clipboard of his own, and asked me to please sign the Vendor's List. I replied, "I'm not a vendor." He said all vendors have to sign in on the clipboard and asked me again to sign the list, to which I replied again, "I'm NOT a vendor." Since he never actually asked me what I was doing, I never told him. He then walked away and talked to another manager, and BOTH of them never strayed more than 50 feet from me the rest of the time I was in the store.

Ha ha!! That's great. From now on, you and I have the same phone number and live in the same neighborhood.

I refused to give out my demographic info and the REFUSED to sell me what I wanted to give them US Currency for.

I work at blockbuster and i know one thing we have to put up with is that we HAVE to sell or offer certain things or we get killed/fired. It makes us look bad but ultimately it's THE SYSTEM that poops all over us.

When it comes to personal info I know it's a pain in the butt too, when we sell a movie pass people have to scan their credit card twice and hit the agree button three times in order to buy it, on top of this we also require a valid debit or credit card before you can get a membership...

We can also bring up accounts simply through last name but it's store policy to require picture ID should a person forget their card, I live in an area where everyone is pretty well off and many customers get frustrated/angry/defensive with having to bust out their DLs. When it's an easy shift with a cool manager I never card, but on the weekends we have pressure to SELL crap to people they usually decline and CHECKOUT their stuff in a very awkward pre-written order ~ if we don't we risk "mystery shops" or getting chewed out by the manager/district leader, again makes us look bad but its corporate that poops all over us.

We go through this emoional struggle for a measly .20 raise a year btw.

I'm pretty sure the employees at bestbuy are simply under pressure to be pushy and obtrusive, for those stores that aren't it's most likely a "cool" manager on duty who could care less.

How far back do you want to go . . . Radio Shack? Toys R Us? I never give out my phone number unless three conditions are met: 1.) The female cashier is cute, 2.) She writes it on a piece of paper and does not enter it into the computer, and 3.) I get her number as well . . . . I've always wanted to call these stores' customer service lines and tell them how I was victim to unwanted sexual advances by their cashier . . . .

. . . . As far as the fridge behind the TV thing, I've got one in each room of my house . . . that way I can watch a movie and not have to get up to go to the kitchen! <sarcasm>

. . . . and in an attempt to make Tarantino proud (and since you didn't mention me!): take it easy on the CSRs. Don't walk in wanting to be an arsehole . . .

really? interesting. i wont really argue that but even if it was 20 bucks, they still had no cash in the cash drawer regardless.

First, about the personal information thing....

ZIP codes are fine. They use this data to see who shops in their stores, so they know what newspapers to put their ads in.

But addresses are another thing. I remember someone asking a clerk at Radio Shack why they needed his home address and phone number when he was just buying a pack of batteries.

But I, too, am sick of stores badgering me about shit I'm not interested in. If I want to 1) change my phone service, 2) get a new internet service provider, 3) get a credit card -- I'LL ****ING ASK FOR IT IF I WANT IT. IF I DON'T ASK FOR IT, I DON'T WANT IT, SO GET OFF OF MY DICK ABOUT IT. And it's not so much the hapless clerks, but their corporate overlords. It's still annoying.

The thing that I hate most about Best Buy is the hard sell for their over-priced service plans. The last two major purchases I made at Best Buy were 1) a DVD player in 1998, and a Compaq Presario in 2000. Both times, I was hit up multiple times to buy an extended warranty plan. I was told that the DVD player would stop working within a year, that it needed to be taken in and cleaned out, that it was basically a piece of crap. My computer, a Compaq, would also break down. It had a bad power supply, that every technician knows that Compaqs are the worst computers and that I would regret it if I didn't buy the plan. The hard drive would also stop working, that these models were well-known for doing that.

Guess what, kids? It's 2004, and I'm still using that same DVD player almost every day. And I'm typing this post on that Compaq Presario.

Next time -- if there is a next time -- I'm going to ask them why they sell this merchandise if it's all a bunch of shit that's going to break down on me the day after the 90-day warranty expires. "Well, do you carry anything that ISN'T going to break?"

The service plans are pure profit for BB. It's this very reason why the corporate presses their employees so hard to sell them.

I remember when I bought the cheap Toshiba notebook computer a couple of years ago. The guy kept on pushing the service plan to you. Damnit! That wanted to sell me a $200 service plan for a $500 computer (after rebates). Kept saying that the battery would die after a year, that if the screen had bad pixels, they wouldn't exchange it unless it's more than 5 pixels in a row (their criteria for defectiveness)...BS like this. I kept saying no, and after a few attempts, the guy finally stopped.

When it comes to service plan, just say no. Be firm but don't use profanity.

Case in point what happened to me today while I was purchasing Goodfellas.

I went to the checkout and the cashier guy didn't even let me put the dvd on the counter. He just pulled out his scanner and started scanning. That was fine with me, so I took it and put it on the security deactivator after he scanned it.

He asked if I wanted a bag and I said "yes."

I took out my debit card and I was going to swipe it through the card swiper. I was about to do it and he snatched MY card out of my hand and said "I"LL DO THAT!"

I gave him a F you look and said okay.

He said "PUNCH IN YOUR CODE!"

I punched it in and he said "IS A LITTLE BAG OKAY? A LITTLE YELLOW ONE WITH HANDLES?" very sarcastically.

"Yeah. That's fine."

"DO YOU WANT A RECEIPT?"

"Yes."

"GOOD! 'CUZ YOU GOTTA HAVE ONE ANYWAY."

It took him forever to hand me the receipt as he was talking to somebody behind me that worked there.

He handed me the receipt and I said "Fuck you fat ass".

He was extremely rude and sarcastic and I do not like rude cashiers. I don't care if they are having a bad day or whatever. Either you just ring me up and say nothing or you say how are you doing, give me my total and leave it at that.

I was going to tell those people that stand at the door, but I knew they wouldn't do anything about it so I just walked out.

Bastards.

I disagree.

As demographic info it is nearly worthless. Even if a high percentage of people give the correct zip code, in my area there is really only one newspaper that people advertise in.

As for where to build stores? What if I shop from work? what if I shop while visiting friends?

Retailers would do far better training their people than trying to collect suspect data just to fill up some marketing guys database.

Do you sing the phone number as you read it off?

I just wanted to mention that this was funny in many ways.

Drive around your town and buy the Sunday paper. There are often different ads in papers sold in different areas. Also, the Sunday paper isn't the only way stores distribute Sunday circulars. I have a Rite-Aid and Target ad thrown on my doorstep on Sunday mornings.

Whenever anyone who has no right to ask asks for my name (like, for instance, Disney hotel cops down here in Orlando), I just tell them "Abe Froman."

That's the funniest damn thing I've heard in a long time.

Thanks! I'll be using that one next time. It'll be interesting to see if they get it.

There is one major daily newspaper in my metropolitian area.

Having worked in retail for many more years than I care to remember ad copy is very consistent and would not be different unless a specific area or store did not have the ability to sell a particular item.

Zip codes are worthless as a demographic tool and annoying paying customers seems like a poor business model.

Guess Los Angeles works differently than your town.

I wonder if this is just a US thing. I was in a Best Buy this weekend and I talked to two cashiers there and mentioned what has been brought up in this thread. They said they NEVER ask for anything and are, in fact, instructed to just answer questions the customer asks and ring them through. They heard nothing of magazine suscriptions and both would feel strange if they had to ask for phone numbers. Hummmm.....

It's a shame. I would consider moving to Canada if it weren't for the oppressively high taxes.

When the store services rural areas or bigger cities with no store (example, the Ft. Collins, Co store is the only best buy within a 50 mile radius to probably 5-6 cities around here.) I would agree that the zip code helps. I'm from Cheyenne, where we have a circuit city, but no best buy, so whenever I'm in Ft. Collins(usually once every two weeks or so), I stop in to get things that just aren't available here--and there are things. Amazingly enough, I always seem to get a best buy flyer in the paper on sunday.

I went to Best Buy this weekend because it was a brand new store and I wanted to see what they had. I was just browsing around with a friend. Every damn department one of their morons came up to us and said, "How is it going? Can I help you with anything?" Or "What are you guys looking for?" Or. "Whats up fellas, Looking for a new TV today?" It was pathetic. Finally my friend says to one of them." I'd be better if you people would stop bothering me. You are the twelth person to ask me how I'm doing!" Then the BB guy just walked off. I can understand being polite and trying to help the customer but when you have 50 employees roaming the store, at least 3 people in every department with nothing to do asking you if you need help it gets a little tiresome. If I need help I'll ask for it. I don't need those BB prostitutes coming up to me every 3 seconds to sell me their shit.

Circuit City's stock is up 30 percent since the beginning of the year, while Best Buy's is down 7 percent. Doesn't matter what the price is at; it matters where you bought it at.

AH yes, time for another one of Abob Teff's Random Page 3 Thoughts . . .

. . . (Ad print from the TV/fridge) "Gather your family around the kitchen table with a built-in LCD TV in a top-of-the-line refrigerator. Now you can peel the carrots without having to peel the kids away from the TV or sacrifice vital family time." That line in and of itself is very disturbing . . . Oh yeah, and it has a sleep timer for those of you who fall asleep in the kitchen every night! . . .

. . . I guess I am chanelling the spirit of Tarantino here (scary thought): Mopower, you would probably be in here bitching about how bad the service was if nobody spoke to you. As someone who comes from retail management, I would rather have EVERY employee in the building say "hi" to you than hear that nobody did. They were new employees at a new job in a new business trying to do the right thing and impress you. They don't know who did and did not do what . . .

. . . Abe Froman . . . damn brain block, what was that from?! . . .

. . . anybody ever look up the phone number for the store before you go in? Then give the clerk the store's number when they ask . . .

. . . Conscience, wow . . . he can't have a bad day but you can? (Damnit Tarantino, get out of my head!) . . .