Blockbuster

I typically work the evening shifts starting at 4 pm, ending my shift at 10-12 pm depending on day of the week. When arriving at work the manager on duty exchange information, giving instruction as to what needs to be accomplished before the closing of the store. I have exceeded expectations set forth by the store manager who finds me to be a detailed, precise, and task productive person so most of the "projects" fall to me. This is what I most love about my job and have been awarded a certificate for my Outstanding Job Performance. At the ending of the shift I count all of the monies from the tills and petty cash, filling out the bank deposit, insure all the daily paper work is complete and filed; computer correspondence are updated; cleaning, straightening of store, candy displays restocked, etc; delegating the different tasks as needed. Leaving any instructions for the opening shift lead, I then secure all monies in the safe, set the alarm and lock up the doors.

All my co-workers are enjoyable and we have a great staff of people at our store. We all come from different cultures, belief, and family backgrounds so it has been a joyful experience getting to know each and every one of these wonderful people. All of my co-workers say they enjoy working with me.

Most people would think that a video store would be laid back with a relaxed atmosphere, however this is far from the case. A larger corporation is nothing like the traditional small businesses. We are expected to meet sale goal's with candy, dish network (Dish Network owns us now) and rental passes. We are trained and encouraged to be very aggressive with the way we present ourself to our customers to drive up these goal's. There will be a reprimanded for not obtaining the sale goals set forth for each individual. All of which drives away some of our loyal customers. This I would list as the hardest and least enjoyable part of my job.

Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2011, resulting in Dish Network buying them out. In the process of this change I have been the team leader in closing two of the local stores, one in Phenix City. AL and one in Columbus, Ga. Due to these changes the future of the company is unstable.

I tend to be cautious, thoughtful and caring; very literal and aware of the physical world. I am uncompromising about my personal standards, diligent, conscientious, organized and decisive. The most important thing to me is living a stable, predictable life and helping people in real ways.

Blockbuster was my third job and one of the best jobs when it came to meeting different people on a daily basis.

I was working BlockBuster Video, Oasis Lakes at the same time before Oasis Lakes was bought out and most of us left.

I truly enjoyed working at BlockBuster video, from the day I started to 2003, I never felt like I had worked a day in my life. It was GREAT! I worked at five different BlockBusters in the area so, I got to meet people from all over, doctors, lawyers, court judges, law enforcement - including the State Trooper who had to rule on an accident I was in.

From 2003 to 2005 I did go to college for Multimedia Web Design.

I loved my FULL-TIME job. Why did I leave it. Once I started working at Connextions in 2006, it was 16 miles in the opposite direction and I'd have to race home (or bring my clothes with me) to change into my work uniform. I eventually was getting tired as I was working from 7 a.m. until 1 a.m. and going to bed around 3 a.m. Monday through Friday.

I was the Active Seller as no one else wanted to do it. I loved interacting with the customers. Though one or two were pranksters and liked to taunt me jokingly. It was a fun job. Some people loved me enough to bring food and such when I forgot my lunch and had to choose something from our assorted snacks.

I was young, so, it did not bother me, it creeped up on me. I eventually decided I need to be put on PART-TIME. I only worked Fridays and Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. It helped. I continued to work, but eventually, I wanted to have more time to myself and my BlockBuster Video paychecks did not even pay for the gas to get there. So I requested if I could work one day a month.

Other people had that schedule, so I assumed i could do it then. Keep in mind, I was denied vacation time.

With my request, it was denied and the only other option was to quit. So, January 2007, I quit happily. My 1998 - 2007 reign of happiness was now over, looking toward the sky.

You are usually working with only one other person, which was cool. However when things got busy, it was tough, especially if one of your coworkers were nowhere to be found. The beginning of your shift usually revolved around checking in all of the returns and getting them back on the shelf. It was tedious but it kept you busy. You take calls for reserves and price checks, it's simple and takes no time at all to get used to. The most time consuming part of the job is data entry, creating customer accounts from the registration sheet you hand to the customer. It's really tedious but if you are a fast typist you can get it done fairly quickly, most people are pretty patient with that step in the process. The worst part of the job in my opinion is trying to explain how they have no "late fees", but have a "restocking fee". There's no way to explain it without sounding like a liar, prepare for some dirty looks. Of course, there's also a lot of down time, times where there's no one in the store and limited to only playing G - PG rated movies in the store when you get sick of the promotional videos you wind up hearing in your sleep after a while. As cool as it may seem to be able to watch movies at your job, it's not as cool as you think when you consider how many movies you like that are under PG-13. I hope you like Disney movies, because for obvious reasons you can't play you own videos at the store due to the fact that the entire point of showing movies is promoting what they have in stock. Thank God for Jim Henson movies and Bill & Ted. That being said, you do get 3 free rentals per week (games count as 2 btw), the more movies you watch, the better you are at explaining what's good to the customers.

A typical day as a Sales Associate at Blockbuster is a fairly simple one. The bulk of your time is spent working the cash register and attempting to hit sales goals. You will be expected to run stock every 30 minutes or so, and to remain up to date on all new titles and specials in the store.

Personally, while here I have learned the value of patience. There are many challenges that one can have with a customer, whether there is a discrepancy in their bill, a language barrier, or someone who is just simply unhappy. Patience will prove not only to be a required attribute for the position, but a skill that you will become well versed in.

Management leaves some to be desired. While the management there is quite personable, it seems as though there are often times where managers will forget (or simply ignore) tasks given to them by their higher ups, ultimately hurting the store.

You can expect a very diverse group of co-workers at Blockbuster, nearly all of which are a blast to be around. In all honesty, the co-workers that you have will be one of your favorite parts of the job.

The most challenging aspect of the job is meeting sales goals, specifically selling Dish Network. Very few people know that Dish Network purchased Blockbuster and started to use the stores as a place to sell their services. Unfortunately, it seems to most everyone that works at the stores that customers are uninterested in purchasing television service while shopping for movie rentals. 

The most enjoyable part of the job is the regulars. Not every person who makes Blockbuster a part of their daily routine is spectacular, but there are several who brighten your day every time they come in. You can expect to make connections with some of these people, and possibly lasting friendships.

A typical day at work is sometimes hard to predict. We have slow days, where we focus mainly on the store and improvements that can be made, or the fast paced days where you hardly have time to think. My kind of typical day at work? Customers buzzing, staff productive, things running smoothly all the while having little time to second guess decisions. 

What I've learned from my time with Blockbuster is that no one customer is a-like. Certainly, they may happen to fall into like categories, but every customer has their own wants, needs, and goals. I have learned to address those wants and needs, while encouraging promotions and sales based off the customer's personal interests to not only help the customer reach their goal, but to help us reach ours. 

I would like to say that the hardest part and the most enjoyable, happen to be the same thing; the people. Working with management, co-workers, and customers can be draining, or it can be engaging and enriching. I like to make the best of my day and keep people happy, keep people smiling and laughing, and keep people on task. To do so, to tailor to each individual persons wants and needs, is what I love so much about my job. I get to know people, I suggest things, I help them.
I get to analyze a person in 30 seconds and suggest several movies off the top of my head, no? None of those movies, sir? Well have you read this book? Bingo. He likes sci-fi. We have a promotion on new releases. My job is to connect those two things and encourage him to want to rent out that movie, to buy that popcorn. The same while running a shift, I present challenges and conversation to help motivate, enthuse, and encourage sales, production, and productivity.

I felt very lucky to be apart of a business from the ground level and to build it to be a large company with 15 stores in Alaska at one time.  Our owner(s) were always up for new ideas that would set us a part from other stores in the lower 48. In a lot of ways, that was the main reason for our success throughout the years. 
   I was always one that believed in leading by example and to appreciate every employee by letting them know.  Employees need to feel that they are important to the company whether they are Customer Service Reps or Store Managers.  
  My typical day at work was coming in at 8:00 am and looking at the previous day numbers for each store; comparing them with last years; and the other stores.  Then, I set up a "Recap" for all the stores to break down their sales and email them out to the store managers.  After that, I answered  emails, Facebook, and phone messages personally.  I also worked at one of the stores throughout the day; dealing with any issues that may occur  (customers, computers, or any other technical problems).  Twice a week, I would drive to the Wasilla, Eagle River, and Huffman stores to have a one-on-one meeting with the managers.  I called the outlying stores at least once a week for an over-the-phone meeting.  Communication was a cornerstone of our success. 
  I would say the hardest part of my job was not being able to be at all the stores on a daily basis, and trying to come up with new ideas to keep the business strong.  The most enjoyable part of my job was the challenges, customers, and employees.  I truly enjoyed working for Blockbuster for the past 27 years.

a typical day in the life of blockbuster store manager consists of daily paperwork including finances, payroll, emails, sales goals. taking care of bank deposits before opening of the store. ensuring store cleanliness and addressing any training or corrective needs. The most important part of my job is customer service and ensuring all my customers enjoy their shopping experience but making sure team is trained, store is clean and organized, merchandising is according the standards and all team members are knowledgeable
of all goals and promotions to help better serve our customers with anything that will make their experience with blockbuster a great one. Also it is my #1 responsibility to resolve any conflict issues either with team members or customers. As a manager I have learned that if you lead by example and take the time to understand and empower your employees they will do anything that you ask of them sales goals, day to day duties, and customer service. The hardest part of my job is to not take things personnel when a customer is unhappy with a new policy or just having a bad day. Also sometimes overwhelming tasks or changes with no notice (although challenging also rewarding when you overcome them). Also on a day to day basis I deal with inventory management receiving's and transfers of product to ensure no loss to the store profits. Also had close communication with my regional director of operations to help with any needs of other surrounding stores that may be struggling.

 

Working at Blockbuster was not a great experience. Granted, I've work there for about three and a half years and I met some great people, it's not what you expect. The number one problem was that the company was slowly going down and corporate tried all these things to try to save the business that just never worked, including threatening employees with lower hours and/or termination if the ridiculous goals of what they wanted to sell was not met. They didn't understand the average customer or took into account the location of certain stores. One of there biggest problems would have to be lack of communication or communicating a lot of things at once. I did enjoy talking to customers about movies, recommending movies and vice versa. The coworkers that i got along with was another great part of the job, but there were a lot of unsavory characters, as with all jobs. But you would think being a video store you wouldn't have such awful people working there, but it happens. Even though I didn't agree with what the company was doing, I tried to make it like a normal video store. Come in, talk about movies, what was good, what was bad, etc. However, I still had a job to do so I would make sure everyone came close, met or exceeded their own individual sales goals. I would handle the safe and give change and meet with the armored guards who would pick up the deposit that I would prepare in the morning. I made sure all got along well, customers and employees alike. Any disputes I would handle quickly and efficiently.

I loved working at Blockbuster. If the stores hadn't closed, I'd probably be a store manager by now. I loved the people I worked with, the management was great and supportive, and the perks were awesome as well. I advanced to a shift leader within only four months of working with the company. The customers were mostly regulars in the smaller town I worked in, so even they were great. This was my first time in a management position, and I had definitely taken advantage of every moment to learn something new. I even took it upon myself to create schedules when my store manager became ill and was in the hospital and our assistant store manager had already quit and changed jobs due to the announcement of our store closing soon. I did not know how to do schedules, so I took a crash course with the aid of the recently resigned ASM via phone and ensured that the store ran smoothly for the two weeks the Store manager was absent. I even stayed in contact with the regional manager and ensured him that we were doing good and I had everything under control. I stayed in an interim assistant store manager position until the store closed due to my proactivity and leadership. I was even invited to attend regional store manager teleconferences to stay updated on store and regional progress. Though I found that learning on the fly was stressful and difficult at times, I felt massively rewarded by the gratitude I received for my efforts. I was not monetarily compensated or anything, but the recognition was not unnoticed. I was proud to work here and wish it hadn't closed.

At Blockbuster, a typical work day includes mainly register work with checking customers out. It also includes scanning movies and games in that have been returned and returning them to the shelves to be rented again. Since it is a retail store, a lot of cleaning is expected so there is always something to do. Managers have extra duties that mainly includes a lot of paperwork and store projects.

Since this was my first job out of high school, there was a lot to learn about the business and retail world. I learned about customer service for the first time, money handling/cash register experience, as well as keeping the retail store organised and meeting deadlines with projects.

In management, you didn't experience much of the corporate management, but mainly just your own stores manager. The store managers that I have worked with have all been enthusiastic and exciting people to be around. 

The co-workers I have experienced have also been friendly and fun to work with. Most employees have had a good work ethic and are all respectful of each other.

The hardest part of the job is if you are working with only one other person and that person calls in, you are left to handle all of the work by yourself. This requires working a lot more efficiently and prioritising things well. 

The most enjoyable part of the job is meeting all of the different types of customers that you encounter. In a retail business (especially a video rental business), you have a lot of "regulars" that come in almost every day and you get to know them very well.

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