technical support specialist

sales associate

delivery driver

delivery helper

home helper

Best-Buy

A day at customer service started with making sure everything was clean and organized. You had to make sure that the Store Pickup section had all of the items there for the morning and that all returns and downtime forms were taken care of, as well as double checking with the warehouse team to see if recycling and PRC were handled properly and put away/shipped. During the day and further in to the afternoon, you want to make sure that all counters, desks, computers and surfaces are clean and presentable for the customers. You will take the majority of returns during this time and when received you want to inspect the items, and if open, open them and see if all of the required return items are present for the return. When the inspection is complete or the item was not open, you would make sure to put them in the right tote for returns or shipping according to the tags printed for the product (applies to open items only). At customer service, you would also make exchanges and price adjustments. Both are similar to the return process, exchanges being a return with the added purchase, and an adjustment requiring you to either apply promotional coupons or look up online prices for both Best Buy and other online competitors. Store pickup transactions are another duty you have as a customer service rep. When the customer approaches, you ask three questions to start the interaction; "What is the last name for the item you're picking up today?", "May I please see your drivers license or State ID?", and "What is the item that we are picking up today?" You'll use this information to complete the transaction and get the customer their online order. You'll scan the order QR, the UPC (serial numbers if required) and then print the receipt for pickup. If any item is too large for a customer to handle themselves, you would ask if they would like the item carried and loaded for them. Moving on to the evening near closing time, you will repeat the majority of your opening tasks minus the Store Pickup Audit. Take out the trash and vacuum your department and ask management to walk your area to make sure you may head out for the night. I would always make sure the opener had it easy for the following day. With all of these tasks and responsibilities, it had taught me volumes of business practices in the customer service position.
       In this position, I had learned better communication skills when talking with both customers and my coworkers alike. I had also learned to work quickly and more organized. I would have liked to say I learned to work better with a team, but as were are the smaller store in Brighton, we are typically one in, one out in this position. Help from the front lanes, Geek Squad and Phones employees can help towards saying that I had gained team oriented skills, but it was very minimal. Although no stores outside of Best Buy use the same systems, I have gained an amazing basic knowledge of how register and order management systems work than any other job I have previously worked that I am now more confident moving forward in my future career prospects. During this time, I have also learned the importance of maintaining a more professional look for both myself and the environment that I work in, and it has made me think that
you are a more respectful, responsible and serious character. I had previously lived and worked in the "farm" parts of the South and most of my jobs were a great deal more lax so I am thankful for the time I have at Best Buy for helping me learn these important employment skills. Everything I have learned at Best Buy, I owe to my co workers and management.
       My review of management is strictly limited to the Brighton store and in no way is pointed towards any other Best Buy as every management team in any store is completely different. On one hand, I really do enjoy the management and admired how structured it was at times, as well as how I could ask questions and report concerns while getting serious answers with quick reactions. On the other hand however, at times it was slow, some were not as serious as the others, did not care and would always breeze past issues and casually lie to get themselves out of a difficult situation at their own benefit, and not to the company's or the customer's. This all fell on who was scheduled at the time and who I could interact with during my shifts. At times when management would listen and take me seriously, business was simple and I would learn more about my job and how to interact with customers on a different level. Moments when managers were in that did not care, did not respond to radio calls, or would try to blow off customer issues that required over rides, customer interactions were stressful and would negatively impact the transaction. It would perturb the customers, as well as me. It slowed down anything I would work on, and since I am the associate attached to the transaction, it would affect my ratings and my NPS, not theirs. They thought that since it wasn't their initial problem then they would just ignore you until another manger spoke up to come and assist. I have a mixed review of the management here as I both loved and hated it at different times. But whether the good managers were scheduled or the bad, it's all what made the experience at Best Buy my own experience here.
       The work culture at this store was very chill, could be fast paced and was overall a wonderful place to start work after moving up North from the South as the hospitality is very, VERY different to what I was used to. It helped greatly that I had the opportunity to work at the smaller store so I could interact with everyone at a nice pace. Your experiences may vary, but from what I drew up from my time here, you didn't have to have the world's greatest knowledge of every single product while in Customer Service since each department had their own training and e-learnings on product. The experience is built around getting to know the customer and their needs and then selling the products and services that benefit them the best way possible. The only things you are pressured on are getting Geek Squad Protection plans attached to products (these are hit or miss as it is up to the customer if they feel like they would need this attached. Most will say no just on the sole fact that they don't want to spend more on something that seems like a gamble to add on), credit card applications that would open up our customers to more buying options with added rewards certificates and financing (More rare than GSP; Understandable as well because not everybody wants/needs a credit card or to take a credit hit in the case that they do not get approved), and NPS which is a customer rating taken via survey based on the time they had spent with you at the store (If you were helpful, polite and the customer got what they wanted, you'd get a good score. You got the opposite score if you did all the opposite actions during your time with the customer. Simplest item to acquire out of all three since the majority of all customers leave a review during a moving experience). Other than that, it is a nice and relaxing place to work and is great for someone in school or who is just getting in to/back into the work force.
       This wraps up the impression that Best Buy has left on me as a Part-Time Customer Service rep. Although I feel as though I may have left out some details about the job, I believe this should suffice for a basic review about the company I have worked for in my department, and I hope it has a positive impact on your decision to apply to this store! Through the good and the bad, I don't think I could ever forget my time working here, nor the people I worked with, as it was an involvement that will impact and shape my future career decisions and how I see people in this field differently.

First of all show up to an interview that is supposed to be for full time and was offered part time for some reason but I had to accept. Everyone dropped the ball from day one. Managers had me in on a day that I specified I needed off because I had a wedding rehearsal to be at where I was best man. Literally before day one. I go in there just to find out that they aren't even prepared or had the necessary tools somehow to complete my new hire paperwork, even when a manager came in to try to help on his day off. Also they had on my paperwork from day one until the day I left that my first name and middle name were one in the same, which caused all sorts of confusion and avoidable mishaps and despite my efforts was never able to get it corrected. I believe this to be the reason why I was more than 2 months late on receiving my travel expenses reimbursement for the pointless training seminars they somehow deemed necessary. All of that confusion and a work week out of my life away from home is not worth the little amount of training provided. It did not really benefit anyone, and it just overall seemed like a mismanagement that with a few shifts could be less expensive and more cohesive for the company. It got to the point where I had to go to a manager to get my reimbursement, she ended up pulling it out of the cash drawer because I got a notification that I was about to miss out on it entirely. I never fully had access to this portion of the HR website to report my spending because of the fact that my identity in the companies database was not correct. These are all things that I brought up so much that I probably sounded like a broken record. Nothing was ever resolved from their end and is the definition of poor management. The culture there is so unbelievably flawed as well. While I made a lot of friends with co workers and had a couple of managers that I really enjoyed working with and appreciated their feedback, it is a high school culture. I have seen more spoon feeding of sales than at a used car lot. To not go into it too much but to shed light I have one perfect example: I went in to pick up a switch on my birthday when i had the day off. I was going to buy it from my buddy who is awesome but I knew his numbers were a little bit low that month so I wanted him to ring it out. We were looking for an accessory that came with it at the time and a manager needed to put the code in to authorize the bundle. In the midst of this with other customers around he told my friend to go help people find a TV antenna while he did the 3 second code, and had one of the top sellers (who is constantly spoon fed deals by managers) ring out my switch with a protection plan I already knew I wanted. I found out that that friend of mine is no longer there because his numbers were too low. It truly is a culture where the people who are liked by a certain few are groomed into upper management. I heard from co workers after I left that a particular person with some authority and the groomed salesman that sold me my switch were on a training trip with one of my friends who still works there and the guy who I wanted to sell me my switch. Apparently my two friends and them were all at the same place and they asked if they all wanted to dine out together. The supervisor and the groomed salesman said they would rather stay in. That same night my friends were out with some of the other folks from training and spotted the two who said they wanted to stay in dining in a food court. Just another example of petty politics in the works and a toxic community of those who would rather shoo out people they dislike than be civil and show mutual respect. I would also like to point out that my friend that still works there has said that the supervisor has talked trash about a few people no longer there including myself, saying things like thank god they aren't here anymore. This individual with his little authority was never pleasant to work with at least in my opinion. He was blatantly rude at times and while we kind of warmed up to each other just before I left, it was apparent that he did not like me and would prefer to talk to other people in the workplace with respect. With little structure in breaks and when people went on them, I got quite a bit of grief for breaks alone, mainly about the time in which I took them which was a lot of the time out of my control. My one and only bad review from a customer ended up being my first and final warning, and I was let go in an event that only stemmed from hearsay, to this day they have not been able to provide subsequent details as to what was said and who said it, and upon investigation they deemed the event as means to let me go. It was hard to work for a place that clearly did not have my best interests prioritized from the get go, and the audacity that upper management had to let someone go based on false pretenses rather than actually hiring a manager with a half of a wit to get the job done. Seriously a garbage environment to work in if you're not a fake, there is a reason why there turnover rate is so significant. Recently, I go in there to return exchange something and to pick up a game. I'm up front where the games are at normally. Girl calls out to salesman to check the floor real quick rather than me go to the gaming section because she said the system said there were some in stock. Guy wanders to the middle of the store and doesn't return. I go to the game section and sure enough right in alphabetical order exactly where it should be is God of War. I grab and head to the front, look over and the guy is looking right at me. Haha when I worked there, people got helped, things got done, and i guess a select few didnt like me and now I'm gone. Haha and now you have people working there that don't know the letter between F and H ;)

Part time hours at the discretion of a leadership team generally in their 20's with maybe a bachelor degree or maybe going to school - for the most part, the leaders in the store I worked for had been with the company since high school. My immediate superiors were 19, 20, and 26 when I was hired for a seasonal position. 

Promotion ONLY from within, but one must sacrifice their lives for the store location to first achieve full time status and work a minimal time period [2 years or so] as a full timer prior to even being considered for any leadership position. You will work multiple areas whether one has the knowledge to sell in the department or not, and you will always work the weekends no matter what if you wish to succeed - I listened to my peers complain of missed weddings, funerals, birth of relative's children, concerts for which they requested off and purchased tickets well in advance and ended up having to cancel their plans under the threat of losing their jobs...these all were the full timers...meanwhile, one supervisor missed approximately 2 full months of time during my tenure only to come back and be promoted to another position in the store - and miss another 2+ weeks within a month of the promotion!! The "fix" is in, at least at this location...they know who they're promoting as soon as the position opens.

Sales and customer service experience is appreciated, but all developed personal skills are laid to waste for a customer intrusive sales technique where one is required to ask personal questions and write down the information on paperwork that will be filed and kept. This behavior totally deconstructs the rhythm and interpersonal nature that allows non-commission sales to work, and seriously turns off customers more than it assists them - I personally have shut down the sales staff when they use this technique on me and have told them to put their notes and clipboard away or I won't buy from them - I want your undivided attention on me, not your clipboard.

I more than held my own as far as sales production using my own techniques and knowledge of product to hit sales goals when provided a shift that actually allowed for foot traffic in the store, yet I was constantly dogged about my production, and reminded that I was paid "handsomely" considering the hourly nature of retail pay...

Product knowledge is through osmosis unless the team works together to make the sale, or folks actually go online and study the product. The training application provided is absolutely useless, yet one is required to spend hours in front of a monitor and learn about products in 20 minutes or less, test your knowledge, and then probably either never use that info or need it well down the road when leadership throws you to the wolves in a department you really don't have the expertise to work. Many of these trainings would not allow you view video or other footage or even to take the test to complete the training, I received absolutely NO true coaching during my tenure - we were too busy selling, or we were by ourselves because foot traffic was excruciatingly slow.

While there are no commissions, employee ID numbers are used to keep stats that are not measured properly because you're not to share your ID with anyone, but if you helped out on a sale, that person can't add you to the sale because the "system" that should allow you to do this is not sufficiently updated [I was never entered into this system during my tenure]  and when it does work, it is too time consuming to use while the customer waits for you to check them out. While you're able to physically share your number in that instance, usually you've already moved onto the next customer and don't want to interrupt that sales presentation. Thus, while you are constantly reminded to ring up your own sales [whether foot traffic allowed it or not], you were also yelled at if you weren't assisting the next customer in a timely fashion. There was simply no middle ground.

Leadership is hot and cold in your personal treatment; during my tenure I was verbally insulted both on the internal radio network by the GM multiple times as well as another member of the management team; I was insulted and verbally attacked by other management members to my face while on the sales floor, after store close, and behind closed doors. 

No benefits as a part timer, and with little opportunity to become a full timer, and a pay rate not commensurate with affording the benefit package, it was unlikely I'd ever see the benefits..

If you're looking for only a part time seasonal job which allows a great employee discount, yeah, this is the job for you. 

Career wise...unless you start at 16 or 17 and stick it out, I'd suggest getting a job with corporate in Minnesota...but be aware they have had a great many layoffs in the past two years as well.

A lot of people seem to like working there, but it definitely takes a certain type of personality. You need to be pretty outgoing, able to handle a busy environment, and able to learn and keep up with a ton of information in a short amount of time. If you can't do even one of these things well, the job will be torture for you--especially if you're in sales--and you will not keep your job or get very many hours. Even if you can do these things, you have sales quotas to meet if you're in sales. If you don't, your hours will be reduced or you will be removed from the schedule completely as they keep hiring new people. Some of the areas of BB seem understaffed, too, like Geek Squad and the Computer Sales areas, and this adds extra stress in those areas--especially since a lot is expected from these two areas and they both tend to be among the busiest.

In my opinion, the training does not put you in a position to be successful at BB. For a job that pays as little as BB does, they sure have a lot of picky rules to learn, and you have to be familiar with so many products--especially if you work in Computer Sales. They sit you at a computer for hours for about two weeks to "learn" a completely ridiculous amount of stuff that there's no way you're going to learn that way, and then they basically throw you out on the floor without making sure you know where everything is in your department or giving you time to learn about all the specific products on the floor customers will ask about (or any of the other NEW ridiculous amount of things you're told you need to know in addition to the online training when you get on the floor). You're supposed to "job shadow" for about a week, but some of the people you get stuck on a shift with don't give much of a care about teaching you anything, will bolt away from you in a second and will try to force you to just jump into doing things from day one without having ever done it and no one walking you through it as you do it.

Plus, the store gets too busy, and customers assume you are just as knowledgeable about everything as the people you're supposed to be learning from are and approach you. Then they get mad at you because you "don't know anything." It's hard to just tell them you'll get someone else to help when everyone else has disappeared or is busy helping other customers. They will get irritated with the wait, and I have seen people get irritated and walk off from waiting too long. In either case, these people are not going to come back to BB, and if they do they're not going to trust you if they see you--it hurts the store and the perception of BB. I know I have often thought as a customer that BB workers don't know anything, and now I see why they don't--they're on the floor too soon and without all the tools they need to be successful. Job shadowing simply doesn't work, and even if it did, with as much as BB wants you to know/learn, a week wouldn't be enough. 

And when you're on the floor as a sales person, you're almost really expected to produce sales results and keep track of them on a daily basis from day one, even during the job shadowing. 

Co-workers really were a mixed bag. Newer people seemed to generally be more friendly than the employees who had been there a while. Most of the managers and supervisors were cool, but, like I said, most of them seem not to "get it" about a few things, i.e. the training, for one. It also seemed like they were not around enough, and there just wasn't enough communication among them about scheduling new employees or letting people you'd be "shadowing" know ahead of time that you were coming. 

And I think part of the problem with some of the employees who'd been there a while not being that friendly (aside from being expected to help train new people) was when new people are hired their hours get cut. It just seems to me like BB tries to slowly push employees out the door (or at least the store I worked at). Most of the sales employees don't follow most of the sales tips BB wants them to use, and that probably affects their sales. The managers where I worked were very honest about the fact that they'll cut your hours if you're not meeting their quotas and are not selling the items they want you to. But when you get on the floor, you're not going to want to do the types of things BB wants you to do, unless you just love being busy and/or interacting with everyone you see in the store area where you work. It's awkward when you know half the customers don't even want you to approach them but you HAVE to and are expected to use certain lines on them.

I was hired on via York Companies to work 2nd shift at the Best Buy Warehouse in Shepherdsville, KY during their peak 2014 holiday season.  

The Shepherdsville, KY warehouse is organized into two Departments:  ".com" & "PRC".

".com" refers to the department that processes customer's Christmas present orders placed via bestbuy.com for shipment, and "PRC" is the product returns department.

I did not start until Dec. 5th, but those who were hired just prior to "Black Friday" in the month of November as I understand it had to work 12+ hr. (4p - 4a on 2nd) shifts, for a couple of weeks over that timeframe.  So lots of potential hours, and lots of mandatory overtime = pretty good pay, for those willing to do this type of work.

For me, it was just what I needed to get me through a period of unemployment until I was able to land at my next full-time job.  Just enough money to pay for my own family Christmas, mortgage, bills, etc.

Buy the time I got onboard it was already after the tip of the peak seaon, with 10 hr shifts only 6 days a week, and quickly 8 or even 6-7 hour shifts later into December.

On January 4, 2015 I was moved from the ".com" department over to the "PRC" department as the peak period was effectively over as you would expect after Christmas and New Year's for customer orders.

While in the ".com" department the jobs I had included "singles" packing (small packages) "non-con" packing (larger packages up to 50 lbs. and some TVs, etc.), and gift cards.  All of these jobs are very simple.  

My favorite job among these was "non-con" as it was the most like "exercise", since it involved lifting some heavier (but not too heavy) merchandise.  It was a nice departure from typcial my desk job(s), and enabled me to lose 7 lbs. and feel a little healthier.

"PRC" jobs to me were more boring as you essentially sort, then resort again, and put away returned merchandise coming off of coveyor belts.  On the "PRC" side I worked the "state line", "flow put away", and general "put away" type jobs.  Very simple, very repetitive work.

Each day would start in the break room with a quick meeting where coordinators and shift leaders would review some general production numbers, talk about safety, and other warehouse daily goals or expectations.  Following that, you would do some light stretching exercises, a bit of cheerleading, then off you go to the warehouse floor to work.

Breaks were 10 minutes every two hours, with one 20 minute break for lunch and they were all "on the clock" and paid.  Break rooms had microwaves, refrigerators, water dispensers, some soda machines, sandwich vending machines, and candy/chips vending machines.  There were also a couple of TVs and billiards/ping pong tables in the breakrooms.  I brought my own packed lunch daily and a water bottle.

Cell phones are not permitted in the building, and you must also pass through a security check with where they inspect your employee badge, driver's license, etc. as you enter.  As you exit, you must go through a metal detector, and they also go through your personal belongings like your lunch box, or purse, etc. if you brought one with you upon entry.  Ladies were required to use clear see-through type handbags.  

There is a lot of expensive merchandise, and these precautionary measures are taken, of course, to assure loss & theft prevention.

During the initial 2 hour orientation the security staff will re-iterate their security policy, and tell stories of those who had stolen, gotten caught, had been send to prison, etc.  

York performs pre-employment drug screening, which is appreciated, as it helps to assure a safer workplace.  Even my latest employer in Corporate professional America has not drug test me, so go figure.

All in all it was a good experience working for York and Best Buy.  The shift leads and coordinators were some very nice people.  The co-workers were nice and pleasant to sit with and talk to during lunch.  As long as you do your job, work reasonably hard, do what you are told, and show up for your shift, not try to steal anything, do anything stupid or unsafe etc. you will do well and enjoy working here.  

I enjoyed working here and the people more than I have at some of my more "professional" jobs.  I particularly enjoyed the physical nature of the work, as it was a nice departure from my typical desk jobs.  I would not hesistate to work here again during a future peak season if I either needed extra money or was otherwise unemployed.

Merch team is  morning shift. During nonholiday hours, we are at the store at around 6AM to 7AM. Ending hours vary on labor for that week. I know our full time individual doesn't leave until around 2 or 3pm. The rest of us are part time. We are a smaller store. Part time folks leave anytime between 12-2PM. 

A typical day can go like this: You come in, check for corporate batch pricing (they dont have electronic signage yet), team up with your coworkers, if they are scheduled, to put out the price tags, open box pricing, and scan the bulk stacks with your hand held system. At 8AM, you check for final corporate pricing, print it and put it out. From there, you and another team member will began checking functionality of in store displays and turning on TVS and Laptop/Desktops. Anything that is not working will be logged on the handheld. Depending on the work load, you will begin working on planograms or downstocking until your shift ends. At 10AM the store opens. While you are doing planos or stocking, you will have customer interactions that may or may not happen. It can get annoying when you are working on a task and you get interrupted, but remember, customers first!

 I had never done merch when I transferred to the department. Everyone on the team and management were super helpful and patient with me as I learned how to do planograms and become functional in my position. You learn the following: how to do and read planograms, construct and deconstruct displays for said planograms, organizational skills, time management skills, problem solving skills, and down stocking. You will use a hand held system to help with down stocking. You will also use paper and a tablet for planogram work. You also learn how to use simple hand tools like drills and screw drivers. 

Management at this Best Buy for me has been phenomenal. They always have great attitudes and are willing to help unless things are really busy. Customers do come first as they should. The store is small and at this time we do not have an Operations Manager. So you have one GM, Assistant GM, and three to four supervisors. Schedules for these individuals do vary but they are good about showing their availability so folks know who to expect and when. Let me first state that you will never have another GM who believes in you and can bring you back to center like our GM. He is extremely knowledgeable and great to talk to when you need a little pep or direction. Our assistant GM keeps me laughing, but I can have a serious conversation with him when I need to about what I need to do. I can always count on these two to be open and honest with me. My direct supervisor is the Inventory supervisor. He is easy to talk to and knows how to do his job. He will jump in and help with the tougher merch jobs or even if you ask. 

Workplace culture is pretty well defined. Most of the employees are young to about middle age and they are passionate about some aspect of the Best Buy brand whether it is gaming or movies or audio sound. There are departments that host game nights and we usually have a monthly potluck where we celebrate a holiday and the birthdays for that month. There is great work life balance and very understanding management. 

The hardest part of the job is more centered around the increased work, stress, and expectations during the holidays. This is typical retail in that regard. As a merch person, there is so much expanded assortment in the store that it will feel cluttered and overwhelming, but that is only for three months out of the year. Getting the store back to normal after the holidays can also be stressful. There is a special audit that is done randomly every month and worrying about those scores plus the added merchandise and planogram integrity could make you pull your hair out depending on the type of worker you are. Now, I view it as a good challenge all around. 

I love merch and inventory over sales. We are way more laid back despite the work we do. Sales honestly has higher expectations and specific stats they are suppose to meet. Our measurable performance comes from the random monthly audit. I love the freedom and ability to manage myself. I also love the hands on work we do.

A typical day at work at Best Buy was to clock in and go to my department. I would make sure there wasn't any customers that needed help and I would check my sales for the previous day and what I'd like to do for that day. I would then go around and check with the other team members how their numbers were and motivate them to do more and increase in all areas and see if they needed help with anything. I would also ask them if I could improve on anything so as a team we would be able to grow and accelerate faster. I would help customers in my department through out the day as needed. When other departments would get busy I would see who was available and send the best qualified person to help that department, sometimes it was me. If there was any down time I would take educational courses on products or services we sold and do some research on the products we carried in our department and in others. I would also go around cleaning the department and making sure all the demos worked. Sometimes I would head to geek squad and help out the tech bench, go to customer service and help with returns which became one of my favorite positions. Other times it would be the cell phone department, cashiering, home theater, etc. For a closing shift I would also make sure there was stock of the product we carried and a facing for it, correct pricing, make tags etc. Other days I would set up displays and work on schematics or plan o grams. 

I learned a lot at Best Buy, this was probably one of the jobs where I grew the most. Here I honed my selling technique which for me was just delivering excellent customer service and no being pushy. I would treat people as family and relaxed as if they were in my own home, yet still in a professional matter and this is what allowed me to become one of the top sales people in the store continuously. I learned about computer hardware from the fixing it aspect and diagnosing, I learned about televisions, networking etc. essentially all the modern day technology we've come to live with and love now. I was able to solve a lot more customer issues and complaints and turn their negative experiences into positive ones that had them coming back as a regular. I also learned how to pitch a complete solution to increase the basket and attachment sales overall.   

Management here for the most part was excellent. The upper management was excellent, extremely supportive and helpful. Always there for you and willing to help you exceed and grow. 

Co-workers at Best Buy were all great. The store had great cohesion and functioned extremely well together. 

The hardest part of the job for me would have to be the lack of flexibility in my schedule for school. It was really hard to get time for school even as a part time employee. Also I was offered a few positions for lateral growth to learn more aspects of the company and be a more dynamic part of the Best Buy culture. Unfortunately each time a position was offered and received it would be revoked soon after as that position was eliminated by the whole of the company. I understand Best Buy is a big company and needs to adapt to the ever changing market to keep growing and support itself it just became a little disheartening to have it happen a more than once for positions that I worked hard to get. 

The most enjoyable part of the job was honestly everything. Best Buy was one of the funnest jobs I have worked and one of the greater companies I have worked for. Customers at that location for the most part were extremely interesting people that I got a long with really well. It was a pleasure to help them. The employees and managers were phenomenal to work with and be around. Training was a little dull but still the best I have received with any of the companies I have worked for. I enjoyed being able to float around and help all other departments, I enjoyed the variety of tasks.

1) The location. If you want to work at Best Buy, the Lancaster PA location is the place to work. The management is amazing and genuinely cares about the well being of their employees. In particular they have been extremely accommodating to employees with learning disabilities, mental illnesses, and those in the midst of family crises. That's very much not the norm in retail. Two and a half of those three stars in my overall rating are the result of management caring about their employees, and mitigating the damage from Corporate's shortsighted decision making. The remaining half a star is the rest of the job, which would be two full stars if not for Corporate. 

2) The job. On paper, Product Flow consists of some combination of:
Picks - locating, tagging, and staging orders for in store pickup, curbside pickup, or delivery, as well as packing orders for shipment. 
Curbside - bringing items out to a customer's vehicle and often loading larger items
Truck - unloading trucks, sorting the contents, and stocking product on the sales floor. On non-truck days, you usually are required to replenish stock on the floor in between tasks. The workloads are very manageable *in theory,* even if you have to help out another role once or twice in your shift. 

The reality is that you likely will do at least two out of those three roles on a regular basis, sometimes two in the same day, plus a selection from various roles that are not in your job description, such as watching cameras, hosting the front door, working the registers, helping out the sales floor, filling in for absent Geek Squad field members, stocking restrooms with supplies, etc. You get the point, "Not My Job" isn't part of the job, because right now it simply can't be part of it in order for the store to function. Strictly speaking, helping customers who are shopping in store is supposed to be a tertiary part of the job, but every ten minutes a customer will interrupt the job you are meant to be doing to ask for help because

3) There simply aren't enough staff, not even remotely. The workload would be manageable and customers would be more consistently satisfied if there simply were enough people to perform the remarkable amount of work it takes to keep a store operational. In 2021, Corporate cut back significantly on in-store resources and staffing in order to invest in ecommerce without our margins taking a hit. They saw ecommerce as being most of the company's future, and they saw themselves as potentially rivaling Amazon. Any customer-facing employee will tell you that corporate blew it. Once COVID restrictions eased, stores were overwhelmed. Corporate totally underestimated how eagerly the public wanted to shop in a physical store, with products they could hold in their hand, and with employees they could talk to face to face. What used to be a slow day feels like a busy day, what used to be a busy day feels like a crisis. 

It's just incomprehensible. Corporate mandates stores layoff a minimum number of full time employees, part-time employees pick up the slack, two people burn out and leave, only one of those positions is allowed to be filled. The warehouse team I left was about a third the size of the team I joined. Between the ridiculous maximum headcounts from Corporate and starting wages stuck in 2020, there simply are not enough people to make the job worth the stress.  

Frankly, unless there is a change of executive leadership at Corporate, the whole ship is going to sink. If they would just allow stores to hire more people and pay wages that were competitive, I'd probably still be working there. 

Over all I've loved working at Best Buy. I have worked in store as well as for corporate as a tier 1 customer service representative for their phone systems working from home. I preferred working in store a little purely because I was trained for most positions so I could work front lanes or customer service one day and then work Connected Home or Home Theater another day. So I really enjoyed getting to do new things throughout the week. And if you have good management at your store like I did, moving up in the company can be super easy if you really do what you're supposed to and really show initiative, they are more likely to promote within the company rather than bring in an outsider which I found awesome! Working phones is stressful, we get yelled at by customers a lot and while they tell us we can hang up after warning the customer to calm down they don't like it if you do that too often. Plus if you're a female there is a high chance you will be hit on if you sound nice. It's awkward and I hate dealing with it. Customers over the phone are very entitled and can be very rude. While they train you pretty well both in store and over the phones I always felt more prepared working in store because at least at my store everyone (for the most part) were always willing to help each other out. With phones they do a lot of online training but over the year and a half I've worked on phones they have consistently been changing protocols, systems, and more and it gets a bit confusing because some leaders will tell you one thing and then another will tell you something totally different. On top of that they use teams as a way to communicate for when you need help on a call, but I honestly hate using that "resource", if you can call it that, because they don't have enough people helping and you have to jump through like 3 hoops to finally get help which causes your call times to get long sometimes over 10 minutes because no one is answering your question. Or they tell you to look at the resources available when you've already done that and that's why you're asking them. Just gets overwhelming at time. 
Over all their benefits are great for full timers but leaves some to be desired for part timers. Pay is decent for where I live but I honestly don't think $16hr is enough for working the phones, it's mad stressful somedays and there were so many times I just wanted to drop it all and quit because of customers and lack of communication from leadership. Can't rave enough about my in store experience though, but I had a great management team there and I know that other stores are less lucky with that. The in store community can he so fun at the right stores too! We had game nights in store after hours that our manager would get approval for. We would all bring in game systems and stuff that we would sell in store so everyone could try everything so we hand hands on experience with the things we sell. My store also did a lot of charity work that we could volunteer for which our community loved us for. Also a very LGBTQ+ friendly work place and company!! All the way up to the top people there is representation 👌🏻 can put your preferred name and pronouns on your emails, name tags and more and my management backed me up if any other employees were being discriminatory towards me after changing my name. You can wear pride pins and stuff while working in store too. My store even participated in the pride parade! 

I worked at my Best Buy store for 3 years as a Computer Sales Associate.  One of the best parts of the job was that my managers were very supportive, good at their jobs and did their best to make my store a good place to work.  There definitely was opportunity for advancement at my store if you were willing to put in the work.  I did get employee discounts but I mainly found them useful if I needed to buy cables or some other PC or video game accessory.  Sometimes employees to get very good deals on open box items.

I liked my co-workers but in my department, I often worked by myself so being understaffed was an issue.  I often worked weekdays at night and it was difficult to handle multiple customers in the department when there was sometimes no one else to help me.  The training for the job was very good.  We got a lot of training in store and we also got to go to sales training at a separate location in Albany and Best Buy paid for our hotel and for food and that was pretty awesome.  However, employees were expected to know quite a bit and a lot was expected of them and I don't feel that employees were at all fairly compensated for the work they did.  We were getting paid less than fast food workers and we had to develop far more knowledge and have much more of a skill set than someone working in fast food.  One of the worst parts of the job was that there is no commission and there should have been.  When I first started at the store, we got bonuses at the end of the month that were around $100 or more depending on how well the store did but no long after that, the regular bonuses ended and any that we did get were tiny.  I don't know if things have changed since I stopped working there almost 5 years ago but I wanted Best Buy to understand that there was no motivation to perform at a top level if there was no incentive such as a commission or a big bonus.  The incentives we got to perform at a top level were kind of pathetic.  Like "Hey, if you do well, you'll get this sweet jacket at the end of the month for all your hard work and maybe a pizza party!!!".  The managers did the best they could with what they were allowed to reward employees with but again, there really should have been commission and bonuses.  One of the most infuriating things is that when the store did really well (sales associates being a big part of that), the managers got all the credit and financial rewards as a result of the store doing well.  That isn't fair.  You don't only reward the managers and then screw over the employees.  Another thing I didn't like is that sales associates got raises once per year and they were tiny and new hires would start out making a higher hourly pay than sales associates that had been there for several years.  You don't screw over your loyal employees that have been there for several years by paying them less then new hires.  This causes employees to leave and store revenue to suffer as a result.  This shouldn't have been hard for Best Buy to understand.  

As far as the customers, they were alright for the most part.  Most were okay but occasionally we'd get some very difficult ones but it's like that in any customer service job.  The job of sales associate at Best Buy is best suited to high school or college students that enjoy tech, people and selling and just need a job.  I will say that Geek Squad employees get paid better and there are some really good opportunities there if you wanted to do something like be an "advanced repair agent" or be one of the Geek Squad employees that goes to homes and sets up computers and other tech.  Overall, in spite of its flaws, I liked Best Buy and my managers but I wish that sales associates were much better compensated for their work.



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