Cashiers specifically can give you all the trouble in the world by simply fouling up what can otherwise be a simple financial transaction.  They can short change you by a quarter, shut their drawer, so either you have them get the manager over to open the drawer for a "measly" quarter or give it up.  They can ask you repeatedly for something and if you refuse make you feel like a dumbass for not giving in.  

Cashiers have this power, because they for a brief instant have access to all your money.  They can "accidently" run your card for $10,000 or $100 when it was meant to be run for $1000.  Whoops...ehehe...pushed the zero one too many times.  They are also generally the ones to tell you weather or not your card has been denied.  Thoroughly embarassing I'm sure.

Oh boy!  You have *so* got to have simpathy for those poor Best Buy employees.  Do you know what they are made to do in the morning?  Morning Best Buy meetings with a side order of "Go Best Buy" jumping jacks.  I kid you not.  They "brain wash" employees at best buy to like their job, and to enjoy doing all those things that are mentioned in the article.  I'm thinking of erasing this last comment, because I'm not sure I have sorted out *my* Best Buy brain washing. ;)

Best Buy may be the worst in trying to be your friend, but think about fast food restaurants, gift shops, and grocery stores. Ooooh, grocery stores, where they look at your receipt and say "Thank You, Ms. So and So".  Creepy.

Is it really the employees fault?  No, it's not.  Sure they might be ignorant about XBox fans, but cashiers aren't trained to be knowledgable about product...just money.  Besides, it's a job they probably won't have for very long, and maybe they're not interested in how the crap works just so long as it does.  

You know who the real evil is behind those fake smiles, fake greetings, and "friendly service".  Marketing people.

I hate marketing people.  Advertisments are one thing, but this?   <shudder>

My 2 cents,
Elizabeth

This is what I do every time somone asks me more than once to buy thier stupid extended warranty, or asks more than once to sign up for thier card, or makes me check a bag before going inside...

I go around teh shop, pick up a LOT of Very Expensive items, especially from the top shelves.  I go to the check out, wait patiently in line, and then when everything is rung up, I ask for the manager, point to the price on the register, and say, "This is how much money you lost today because your employees [wouldn't stop asking me to buy the warrantee/kept wanted me to sign up for thier store card/treated me like a criminal before walking in]"

The GameCube has two fans.  Two fans!  And I knew this.  Unlike the annecdotes about "my boyfriend's MP3 player broke and he got a refund", this was undeniably a lie.  She was lying to me about the product I was buying to convince me to buy an unnecessary extended warranty.

Now, I realize Best Buy and similar stores make some nice money off these warranties.  But I wonder how the manufacturers feel about buyers constantly being told their products are shit.  My grandfather was buying a printer and was told he needed a warranty because it was prone to breaking.  He said, "Wait a minute, why am I even buying a product that is prone to breaking?" And they backed down.  I was lured into a different electronics store once by a great price advertised on a stereo system, but was redirected by an employee to a more expensive model "because that other one always has problems and doesn't work right."  You can bet I left the store without making any purchase.  Had the employee not done this, I might've bought the advertised model.  Maybe I should've thanked him for alerting me to the inferiority of Aiwa products?

You told them that it was okay to do everything they did and more, because you bought the product.

The greeter is there to help you. Use him/her. If I don't already, know, I will ask: "Where can I find the MP3 players?". They usually know better than I do.

The cashier is doing their job trying to sell profit laden extended warrantees. Even at BB, s/he might get a commission. It's nothing personal. I just say "nope. Too much hassle. I always lose the paperwork." Credit cards get "I've got too much pastic.", magazines get "I never read'em & they clog my mailbox." When properly delivered, these are final.

Oh BTW, forget the bath-tub curve, you'll want to think hard about an extended warrantee for your laptop.

My method is on the second attempt to sell you a warranty is :

Thanks for all the comments everyone! Especially the ultra-negative, highly-sarcastic ones; it's comments like these that can only make us all better human beings.

And I mean that.

Sincerely.

Just to clarify a point...at no time did I get upset or raise my voice at anyone at Best Lie. I realize that these employees were just doing their job; however I do take issue with them lying to their customers...especially when I'm the customer! (Are these blue-shirters being asked/told to lie, or are they thinking this up on their own?)

As a few of you have mentioned, the 'Greeter' also wants to double check your receipt these days, especially around Christmas. I've never had this happen to me personally (at Best Lie), so I really don't know what I'd do. Not sure, but I think that 95%+ of missing items in any retail environment is due to employee theft. Obviously they don't want any of the Cashiers to "forget" to scan items for their friends.

Another negative experience...I went to Best Lie to pick up a hard drive that was advertised for a very good price. I deliberately got there early in the day, but unfortunately they were sold out. (Surprise!) When I asked someone about the drives, the blue-shirter said that as soon as he put them on the shelf, the other employees bought them...and that they would probably all be on e-Bay when their shift ended.

There's got to be something we can do!!!???

Who's with me????

My opinion doesn't matter though, but at least I'm not a hypocrite like you are.  You wrote a huge rant that made it to the front page lambasting a store that you then spent money at.  As they say, a fool and his money are soon parted.  And like a trained rat, you'll just keep crawling back to save a few dollars.

1. Walked in. Say "Hi" to greeter after he greets me. I do it as I walk, not a problem, nor does it take any huge deal of effort.
2. Another employee spots me and asks if I need any help. I tell him I'm looking for where they keep the capture cards. He takes me to them, asks if I have any more questions and I state, "No".
3. Obtained item: ATI TV Wonder USB 2.0
4. Walked to the front counter and politely looked the gal at the register in the eye and told her I did not need a magazine subscription or an extended warranty. Without giving her the item I continued to stare at her till she gave me a confirmation: "OK".
5. Handed her the item, my credit card, and my Rewards card because I frequent Best Buy often enough it is worth it.
6. Walked out and returned a "Good night" to the greeter.

The key here is eye contact. I doubt you ever established any. It's ok to be firm yet polite when dealing with Best Buy staff.

Maybe this is your first experience with Best Buy and you find it scary. For the rest of us, it's really pretty easy. If you know they are going to ask you if you want an extended warranty, tell them ahead of time you don't want it. If they bug you again, ask them if they didn't hear you clearly the first time.

Once she realizes that I'm not going to bite, she further complicates things by trying to get me interested in a magazine subscription.

After the Gestapo-like interrogation, I felt like I had just been handed back my passport, having barely made it through another checkpoint. I still had to get past the Greeter, but at least I was on my way.

When I was 17-24 years old, I worked for several large consumer-electronics chains, in succession. A few of them (those with commissioned salespeople) would display the profit margins of products on their terminal screens. (This was so salesmen could push the few profitable items.) In addition, managers would carelessly leave around printouts that indicated the margins on extended warranties.

After reading that data, I learned something interesting about the chains. The chains make no money from selling products. Zip. They sell consumer electronics items at cost. Or, when they're lucky, they sell those items for very slightly above cost. The only money these chains make is from warranties. Indeed, one could argue that the products are just for show. The products are there for the sole purpose of generating sales opportunities for warranties.

For example, a typical breakdown of costs would look something like the following. Margin on products: 0%; margin on warranties: >80%. The chains can't pay for salespeople and advertisements and buildings by selling things with a 0% markup. Thus, they push the warranties.

When you think about it, pushing warranties is the most effective sales model. Pushing warranties allows you to charge a lower price for the products--and people only compare prices of products, not warranties. Nobody compares prices of warranties since nobody anticipates buying them.

LOL just kidding. You have no dignity. You were tricked into believing that you need an mp3 player by the same faceless corporation you now mock, and your hard-earned money was blown making them richer. Even your refusal to buy worthless extended warranties and magazine subscriptions helps them refine their technique for fleecing you. Think that over when you are listening your $329.99 mp3 player on the way home to watch Best Buy commercials on the hi-def TV you bought from Best Buy.
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I've worked in retail, and I recognize the treatment. When you get up right next to a person, make sure to make personal eye contact, try to make the person feel uncomfortable, you're making sure the person doesn't steal anything. You only do this when you're sure someone's shoplifting, because it chases honest people off, too.

Well, I've been chased off.

Although it would be impossible to verify the events you describe actually occurred, I have had similar experiences in Best Buy, and also CompUSA.

In fact, I once had the temerity to inform the greeter that she couldn't search my bag, containing my merchandise, which I paid for with my money, by telling her to "fucking fuck off".

2) When their "associate" comes up to you trying to hock their extended warranty, say "I don't want any fucking extended warranty. Don't ask me again if you want to keep your spleen."

3) Enjoy! (What the fuck are they gonna do? Spit in it? It ain't a restaurant.)

I seriously hate overbearing customer service where someone is always asking you if you need help finding stuff. It doesn't make me feel special. It makes me feel like a shoplifter.

----------------

It sure must be satisfying to treat people like crap, though. By all means, unleash all hell's fury on the struggling teen just trying to make some cash to have a little fun. It must make you feel really great, knowing that you're so much better than them, huh? Did ya ever wonder if that has anything to do with your belief that nobody ever just goes happily onward?

Ignored the greeter on the way in - good
Failed to ignore cashier - bad
Failed to ignore cashier accomplice - bad
Ignored greeter one the way out - good

And I think you have a fairly warped view of how the Gestapo interrogated people.

Why do people argue with the salespeople?

Here's a clue : They already know the extended warranty is crap.

You do not have to convince them. They know better than you do the depth and intensity of the craptitude of the warranty. You only suspect, they know full well what will happen later on. Engaging converstaion about said warranty is only viewed as an open door for further sales activity. In the sales brain, that says, He's asking questions! That means he must be interested. And even if he's not interested, I can look good in front of my manager, because I'm pushing the warranty, just like he told me to!

On the first round, don't even make eye contact. Try to communicate that getting that peice of lint off your wallet is of infinately greater importance than any discussion about the warranty. If they ask again, smile, hold your wallet open in front of you (cash showing) or offer them your credit card, make direct eye contact and say "Not interested. Thanks, though". If they push past that, you are dealing with a prick, so fire away. My weapon of choice is biting sarcasm, but that's just me. I did like your comment about paying for a hassle free checkout, though. I might borrow that someday....

In other words, the Japanese implementation seems to have a human to human element, even if it's in the service of commerce. In the US, its between two fictional entities (corporation to abstracted consumer statistic).