I hate to give one of my favorite electronic stores bad press, but if this isn't Industry Bullshit I don't know what is. Earlier tonight I posted my personal experience with a Circuit City manager that told me straight out that the people lined up around the corner would not be respected in priority come 8am tomorrow morning and that, despite having only 20 units in the building, he's allowed over 30 people to line up and will let anyone that comes through the door to buy one. The exact words from her mouth was "Yeah, we're aware that there may be shoving". If I show up tomorrow morning to buy one, I'm almost certain that I'll see a fight break out. There have already been reports of guns drawn over this coveted equipment, so we can't stress the gravity of this situation.
As if that report isn't damaging enough, check out what Ron's friend [codename Huskydog] just went through in Northern California. An allegedly frustrated Circuit City store manager spontaneously annouced that they would not sell the PS3, he gets corporate involved, and moments later they almost get arrested despite the fact that he did everything right. Watch the video and witness how completely unprepared and disorganized this store is. Fantastic reporting, gentlemen. We can only imagine that uglier stories will follow tomorrow when the doors open and people stop being polite.
Yanier "Niero" Gonzalez is Destructoid's founder and guy-in-the-helmet.After 2,000+ stories posted and years of starting trouble on the front page he's now busy behind the scenes building the future of Destructoid. His story is our motto: "Living The Dream".
That is such BS. How is asking for information about the launch "impeding business"? If you're gonna be bitches about it, and not let people camp, then at least give information on how to obtain a PS3. The best part is when the manager threatens to tow their cars if they are there after hours, and then the cop says that she can't tow anyone. Classic.
i agree with payne, how does asking for information any threat. the cop was a total ass, there was no sign of the situation getting out of hand besides the shitty manager.
Again, just hand out tickets to the first 20 people....*cry*
You know there are big dumb asshats that are reading this and saying "I'm gonna' go down there and just bully my way through the line when they open the doors." It could happen, and it's all that dumb manager's fault.
It reminds me of last year when I waited outside a CompUsa for the 360. I was third in line waiting for like 5 hours in the morning. The employees, managers etc. start showing up for work. Another 2 hours go by, it's finally time to open, and the shithead manager comes out and announces to everyone that there are NO 360's available. HMMM, he could have said this 2 hours earlier when he showed up, but no, he had everyone wait for NOTHING. Well, people went batshit and the front door was broken and cops showed up.
It amazes me that people can't take a minute to think about the situation and come to a decent solution.
You'd think stores in 2006 would be well aware of customers' concerns over console camping. It's their duty to be organized, and whether it's shitty service at McDonalds, or not treating dozens of customers well in their 24+ hours of dedicated patience, then it's the stores fault.
the customer is always right - just because it's the 21st centuries and the majority of campers are intelligent and arrogant changes anything. They get paid to put up with this, and the dudes in the video went about things pretty professionally. boo on circuit city.
Brandan obviously hasn't been anywhere the day after thanksgiving where parents are punching each other in the face for a red power ranger because no child wants that damn blue ranger. Its not a "privileged white kid" thing. These people wanted the store information because they were told some bullshit. The squeaky wheel gets the grease ya dig? If they had tucked tail and ran, well lets just say thats how communism got started. The fact of the matter is managers shouldn't be total assholes, as can be seen by the worker holding her hands like she wanted to choke the dudes for asking some questions. "excuse me miss do you have any HD cables?" "ILL KILL YOU!!" Thats not how you do business, the dudes should wait till tonight, the manager should be rocked in the face, and I should get a smoothie...
As a former employee of Circuit City, I have nothing but degrading comments for them.
The truth is Circuit City is like a crazy circus where no one knows what the hell is going on. Even the managers are clueless most of the time. The biggest problem with the company is their network and register computers. They're 20+ years old. They've never been updated. Suposedly they'll get new machines that are competent to those of Best Buy, but they've put that off for years now.
Well, while I think they've got a decent complaint to be made about the situation there's some issues to be dealt with here.
They never got her permission to record her conversation, so everything she's saying during this phone call is completely irrelevant. CC reserves the right to strike anything she comments on during this conversation by recording this.
The kid needs to get over himself in his ability to complain to higher ups. I'm sure he's learned by watching mommy and daddy complain about melted ice in their soda and too much cheese on the pizza. Frequently these complaints are heard and then ignored. She's being about as proactive as a PR person would appear to be and her line can go straight to voicemail for the rest of the day and not give a crap about them at all.
God it's sad he calls what he's doing "social engineering". Social engineering involves some sociopathic tendencies. He's not exhibiting anything close to that. He's dialing an 800 number. Sociopaths will screw with people's emotions and not just by irking everyone they meet. I know 3-4 people who are tremendous at this skill and are amazing people to watch when they're running full steam. If a true sociopath were at work here, they'd have already gotten a PS3.
I pray to the great god of gaming (Nolan Bushnell and his mighty Beard and Pipe) that no one dies tonight or tomorrow from either frostbite nor gunshot for a freaking game system. We have Wii to buy on Sunday and it'd be hard to play it with bodily injuries from Friday still healing.
Whoa... that link in this post to the Kotaku article about the Gamestop that got held up for their PS3's and Xbox 360's... its like a mile from my house!
I don't think a collar of her rank would say anything to a customer that she wouldn't want heard by everyone else.
And I don't get this priviliged white kid thing. What? I've had plenty of middle-aged white American male assholes as customers in the past, and these kids are hardly trouble. They're just excited, and all this excitement is generating a chaos that's driving the managers up a wall.
I think they could have approached the manager a little differently... "So, um, like, you know what I mean?" They're just excited is all.
What's worth pointing out is that some other stores have already addressed the lines and will have a process in the morning to usher people in order, or have (GASP HOLY FUCK) taken pre-orders and will fill them in the order received. This bum rush at 8am and wild lines with little paper promises is utter bullshit. The point of the article is this -- they didn't take it seriously and it is going to get out of hand tomorrow in some places.
Okay guys an update on the story: Today I went to make sure they were kicking out people from line, and they weren't. There were four cop cars outside and all the cops came out right as I arrived
They handed out raffle tickets to everybody in line, and promised one to the people there yesterday
The raffle will be tomorrow at 7.00 AM and I will be there
I'm trying to convert the video from my phone so I can post it as well, thanks for your support
first of all, we weren't in masses, there was eight of us
The sidewalk was a pretty decent place to camp too, we were out of the way BEHIND A PLANTER, there was even another enterence on the other side... we weren't blocking anything
We're not leaving garbage, there was eight of us, we weren't being loud, you could hear my speaker phone, we aren't drinking alcohol - quit relating this to other shit and get a life
I didn't learn how to complain from my parents I actually learned how to complain through my own experiences
brandon I realise where you're coming from, but if you think i'm such a privilaged annoying white kid why are you spending all your time posting replies to this?
Niero: "This bum rush at 8am and wild lines with little paper promises is utter bullshit. The point of the article is this -- they didn't take it seriously and it is going to get out of hand tomorrow in some places."
I suppose I sympathize a little with both sides. Circuit Shitty is maybe one of the worse-run chains I've ever been to, and I can't believe if the manager was actually threatening the people to leave she'd start the day before the console is launching. However, these people are not up-to-date, and hell, if it was the first time people lined up in front of your store for days on end, wouldn't you be a little confused, maybe even scared? Even when the campers are well-mannered (as the one in the video seemed), its also confusing to the average customer who doesn't know or doesn't care about the PS3 launch.
We don't need to be arguing over who's to blame, because the answer is obvious: Sony. Shame, shame, shame on them for springing a half-assed launch just to make the Christmas season.
And by the way, as bad as that Circuit City sounds, this seems worse.
"Atlanta Fry's - Home of the Bastard Employees"
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/ps3-launch/atlanta-frys--home-of-the-bastard-employees-215476.php
I can second the remarks made here about Circuit City AND Fry's. Both the Circuit City and Fry's in South Bay in LA were literally like middle schools. No lie. The Circuit City employees from the manager down to the people on the floor could not perform even the most mundane task without gathering in groups of four or more to consult on every keystroke. Truly pathetic.
And the employees at that Atlanta Fry's openly mocking the customers? I can totally see that. I've witnessed it before. Often these corporations hire kids with zero training and then just turn them loose. They act like you're entering their clubhouse instead of a place of business.
The Fry's (in Manhattan Beach) was far, far worse. There were employees EVERYWHERE. I've never seen more employees in a store and they ALL went out of their way to run away, hide, avoid your gaze, or just angrily stare you down when you caught one. The employees were gathered in groups chatting or just staring into space. It was seriously like lunchtime at a local high school or middle school. A complete and total free-for-all. I've never seen anything like it.
I especially like in the video how the manager sees that the argument is going against her and immediately tries to up the emotional ante by getting shrill and saying her "business is being impeded." Then the rent-a-cop steps in to "control the situation."
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Contest:
11:47 PM on 11.16.2006
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You know there are big dumb asshats that are reading this and saying "I'm gonna' go down there and just bully my way through the line when they open the doors." It could happen, and it's all that dumb manager's fault.
It reminds me of last year when I waited outside a CompUsa for the 360. I was third in line waiting for like 5 hours in the morning. The employees, managers etc. start showing up for work. Another 2 hours go by, it's finally time to open, and the shithead manager comes out and announces to everyone that there are NO 360's available. HMMM, he could have said this 2 hours earlier when he showed up, but no, he had everyone wait for NOTHING. Well, people went batshit and the front door was broken and cops showed up.
It amazes me that people can't take a minute to think about the situation and come to a decent solution.
the customer is always right - just because it's the 21st centuries and the majority of campers are intelligent and arrogant changes anything. They get paid to put up with this, and the dudes in the video went about things pretty professionally. boo on circuit city.
The truth is Circuit City is like a crazy circus where no one knows what the hell is going on. Even the managers are clueless most of the time. The biggest problem with the company is their network and register computers. They're 20+ years old. They've never been updated. Suposedly they'll get new machines that are competent to those of Best Buy, but they've put that off for years now.
CC is bullshit. It's foundation is bullshit.
They never got her permission to record her conversation, so everything she's saying during this phone call is completely irrelevant. CC reserves the right to strike anything she comments on during this conversation by recording this.
The kid needs to get over himself in his ability to complain to higher ups. I'm sure he's learned by watching mommy and daddy complain about melted ice in their soda and too much cheese on the pizza. Frequently these complaints are heard and then ignored. She's being about as proactive as a PR person would appear to be and her line can go straight to voicemail for the rest of the day and not give a crap about them at all.
God it's sad he calls what he's doing "social engineering". Social engineering involves some sociopathic tendencies. He's not exhibiting anything close to that. He's dialing an 800 number. Sociopaths will screw with people's emotions and not just by irking everyone they meet. I know 3-4 people who are tremendous at this skill and are amazing people to watch when they're running full steam. If a true sociopath were at work here, they'd have already gotten a PS3.
I pray to the great god of gaming (Nolan Bushnell and his mighty Beard and Pipe) that no one dies tonight or tomorrow from either frostbite nor gunshot for a freaking game system. We have Wii to buy on Sunday and it'd be hard to play it with bodily injuries from Friday still healing.
http://kotaku.com/gaming/ps3-launch/the-great-ps3-robbery-215467.php
http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=21616
Methinks a visit is in order tomorrow...
I don't think a collar of her rank would say anything to a customer that she wouldn't want heard by everyone else.
And I don't get this priviliged white kid thing. What? I've had plenty of middle-aged white American male assholes as customers in the past, and these kids are hardly trouble. They're just excited, and all this excitement is generating a chaos that's driving the managers up a wall.
I think they could have approached the manager a little differently... "So, um, like, you know what I mean?" They're just excited is all.
Okay guys an update on the story: Today I went to make sure they were kicking out people from line, and they weren't. There were four cop cars outside and all the cops came out right as I arrived
They handed out raffle tickets to everybody in line, and promised one to the people there yesterday
The raffle will be tomorrow at 7.00 AM and I will be there
I'm trying to convert the video from my phone so I can post it as well, thanks for your support
The sidewalk was a pretty decent place to camp too, we were out of the way BEHIND A PLANTER, there was even another enterence on the other side... we weren't blocking anything
We're not leaving garbage, there was eight of us, we weren't being loud, you could hear my speaker phone, we aren't drinking alcohol - quit relating this to other shit and get a life
I didn't learn how to complain from my parents I actually learned how to complain through my own experiences
brandon I realise where you're coming from, but if you think i'm such a privilaged annoying white kid why are you spending all your time posting replies to this?
Exactly.
We don't need to be arguing over who's to blame, because the answer is obvious: Sony. Shame, shame, shame on them for springing a half-assed launch just to make the Christmas season.
Then they could collect the REALLY big money (not PS3 eBay chump change) when they brought a lawsuit against the local PD and Circuit City.
"Atlanta Fry's - Home of the Bastard Employees"
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/ps3-launch/atlanta-frys--home-of-the-bastard-employees-215476.php
I can second the remarks made here about Circuit City AND Fry's. Both the Circuit City and Fry's in South Bay in LA were literally like middle schools. No lie. The Circuit City employees from the manager down to the people on the floor could not perform even the most mundane task without gathering in groups of four or more to consult on every keystroke. Truly pathetic.
And the employees at that Atlanta Fry's openly mocking the customers? I can totally see that. I've witnessed it before. Often these corporations hire kids with zero training and then just turn them loose. They act like you're entering their clubhouse instead of a place of business.
The Fry's (in Manhattan Beach) was far, far worse. There were employees EVERYWHERE. I've never seen more employees in a store and they ALL went out of their way to run away, hide, avoid your gaze, or just angrily stare you down when you caught one. The employees were gathered in groups chatting or just staring into space. It was seriously like lunchtime at a local high school or middle school. A complete and total free-for-all. I've never seen anything like it.
That's American customer service in 2006.
Come on, be NICE.