Well-Paid Professionals Draw Unwelcome Attention

Computerworld ^ | June 30, 2003 | Carlos Tejada and Gary McWilliams

[discostu]

The article doesn't tell us what department averages are. Maybe in his section a $30,000 employee brings in $750,000 in sales. Layoffs are a brutal numbers game.

[madison10]

Unions basically suck, but they are good for one thing: Keeping the "fire-the-guy-to-hire-the-cheaper-guy" thing from occuring. Of course they go the opposite direction...keeping the lazy butt, nepotized croney and firing the hard-working, loyal person for no reason.

[Maximum Leader]

What's odd about this article is that its basically the same story (with the same employees and companies profiled) as a page 1 story in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago. Not sure if Computerworld just reprinted the WSJ article, or if these reporters are uncommonly lazy.

[Maximum Leader]

oh, just checked the source page, it is a reprint from the Journal. So I'm the uncommonly lazy one for not checking the source page first. :o)

[moehoward]

Nothing new. Retail has operated this way forever. When the part time clerk works their way up to management the end is near. The day you buy that new USED car, you have about a month left.

[KC_Conspirator]

That was my complaint as well. There is nothing here to prove or disprove of CC's actions. My bet is that it is not working; doing more with less is good before you start demanding someone doing everything with nothing.

[discostu]

At this juncture I don't think there is anything they can do. CC has developed a solid reputation for bad service, even if they did a major overhaul of workers and corporate ethic they'd still have the old reputation to overcome. If I were the big man at CC I'd be calling BestBuy and seeing how many locations they were interested in buying. Of course if BB national is anything like I've seen in Tucson they've planted so close to CC stores the answer would be none.

[MarkL]

I remember seeing a 60 minutes that told of a textile manufacturer who had a fire which destroyed the plant. The owner of the company kept all of his workers on their normal salary until the plant was rebuilt and operational again, which I believe took more than 4 months. He paid this out of his own pocket. I believe that although the company was successful, foreign competition, and the fact that they never patented the product that they devoloped and made (polar fleece), the company is going through bankruptcy.

Mark

[shotgun]

I feel your pain...

My wife and I have been in our local CC store twice, once to buy a high end laptop, and the next to buy a high end home theater system (seperate components, not pre-packaged) and both times we could not get any help, let alone acknowlegement that we were in the store.

The only time someone even said something was when we started to walk out after standing in there for at least 30 minutes each time!!

[MissAmericanPie]

When the democrats speak of the rich, this is who they mean. Any family with both partners making 50 to 60 grand, are the "rich" the democrats curse all the time.

[gitmo]

Then he turned around and left. No other questions. No other "Can I help you with something else". No anything.

I couldn't spend my money in there no matter how hard I tried.

It sounds like their quest for less skilled salesmen has succeeded.

[sarasmom]

True, but "free advice" is now strictly limited to paying customers.
No "public" showrooms, no free training on equipment not purchased from me,call Best Buy or Walmart, when it breaks,
or you dont know how to make it work properly.
Now if you are MY customer, my number is all you have to know and I am the only person you have to deal with.And I deliver and install,dont sneer at you for not reading the manual, and I put up with surly tech repairmen for you.
But I refuse to deal with retail customers, who want the same level of service, at discount warehouse/internet prices.
Ah, the difference a "CTS" at the end of your name on a business card makes.
People get what they pay for.
I always forgive,and welcome back my customers who tried to save a few bucks, and wound up spending more.
They tend never to stray again!LOL!

[longtermmemmory]

isn't circuit city owned by radio shack?

[Mears]

That was Malden MIlls in Mass.,the makers of Polartec!

[Jhoffa_]

Fact is, that electronics consumers are now savvy enough to choose their own products with a bare minimum of assistance from the sales staff.

Couple that with inflated prices, limited selection and inferior service.. and it's no wonder CC is laying it's high end salesmen off.

They simply aren't needed.

[Dianna]

Then, I have seen Loyalty demonstraged at another company that I have never heard of before.

My brother works at Home Depot. Shortly after being offered a promotion, he was badly injured in a car accident. One of his legs was broken and pinned back together.

Home Depot kept his insurance premiums paid, never squawked about the time off, and although they did have to give the new job to someone else, he kept the pay raise and stayed in his previous job until another job opened up.

[Libertina]

LOL

[XEHRpa]

Everyone seems to be missing the point of the story... What we're being told here is that George Bush is screwing the struggling worker by fouling up the economy. Expect to read increasing numbers of these kind of stories leading up to '04. It is exactly the model used leading to '92, even though the economy was already on the rebound.

And as soon as Slick was elected, the news stories did a 180 and the homeless were taken out of the newspapers (though not off the streets, mind you).

[Oatka]

Good point on the "extended warranty" scam.

One guy who worked there quit because he was under pressure to sell these worthless warrantiea as they had the highest profit margin. He had seen some salesmen walk away from people who didn't want warranties as the commission from just the goods was too low.

Before I quit going there and was presented with an
"opportunity" to buy I'd ask them "Is the product so shoddy I have to buy a warranty?" They never had an answer.

[NotQuiteCricket]

I read recently that CC turned down an offer to be bought by the guy/family who bought CompUSA