Four on the floor

Yes, I know that's a reference to a manual gearbox, and no, I'm not going to be talking about cars. So fuck you.

What I will talk about was my first full day on the floor at (name of national electronics chain removed for the protection of the guilty). I actually sold stuff today, like over 1,000 dollars worth of stuff, too. The difference between e-learning and actually working the floor is like night and day. I actually felt good about today, even though my manager treats me like I'm an idiot.

There were some open box TVs that he wanted me to write price tags for, and the first one I wrote wasn't good enough. He said, "Is that your best handwriting?" I wanted to say, "Yeah, actually it is, and if you're so goddamn concerned about the fucking price tags, do it yourself, douchebag." Instead, I rewrote the tag much slower, but my handwriting is my handwriting, and my handwriting is inherently shitty. If he doesn't like it, fuck him. I don't care what the fuck he thinks, cause even if I fuck up the piddly shit he tells me to do, it isn't going to get me fired. After all, they didn't ask me to demonstrate my handwriting ability before they hired me.

But anyway, I was able to help 3 or 4 people find what they were looking for, and rung them up accordingly. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I'm not a salesman. I sold stuff, but I didn't tell them to get all the shit that my manager wants me to push. But the way I look at it is that at least I'm selling stuff. My goal isn't to be the top performer in the department by selling stuff I make people think they need, but to do my job the way I want to and help people get the stuff that I know they need. It's a subtle difference, but an important one.

I mentioned in the previous post that (name of national electronics chain removed for the protection of the guilty) is not a good place to work, but didn't elaborate. Here's a few reasons:

1. The managers don't manage very well, if at all. I've got a training book that says I'm supposed to go over a bunch of things with my manager like ringing up sales and whatnot. But we haven't done any of that, because he's "too busy." Doing what, I don't know, but it's certainly not managing. Maybe that's why they're so stingy with promotions, since they can only afford to pay 4 people 10 bucks an hour to jerk off all day.

2. While the majority of my coworkers are extremely helpful, there are a few who are extremely unhelpful. Either they forgot what it was like to be a noob, or are simply too much of a selfish prick who's concerned for their job, since they're completely unwilling to explain or help out with anything. Especially this one guy, who derided me for not knowing how to do an audio demo. It's a good thing I didn't have my pocket knife with me, or I would have stabbed him in his fucking eye. (EDIT (10/10/2005): The cocksucker also got my name wrong. He saw me across the floor, and walked up, peering at my nametag. He called, "Health? Is your name Health? Or Heath?" Lemme ask you a question: Have you, or anyone you know, ever heard of someone named Health? I didn't think so. Apparently this douchebag had, or he was just a fucking idiot. I'm leaning towards the latter.)

3. Holy shit, my feet feel like they're on fire. I need to get some of those gel insoles or something before I go back to work, cause I'm not going through this shit again. Repeat after me: 5 hours straight on your feet is not healthy. That's the kind of bullshit that fucks you up for life.

4. I'm a product specialist, not a fucking janitor. So why, then, was I spending time today cleaning up garbage from the registers, moving shit (TV stands and TVs) around, and stocking shelves? Don't ask me. The guys from the warehouse move shit for a living, get them to do that shit and stock the shelves. And I throw my garbage away instead of leaving it at the register. Make the fuckers who were too lazy to do that clean up their own damn garbage.

That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure there's probably more that I haven't experienced yet. Goddamn I wish I was working full time at COP IT.