Update Thread and Other Ramblings by BushOklahoma

[Smash255]

Why would an electronics retailer need to send somebody hundreds of miles for training? I've done my fair share of retail jobs. You hire people who have an interest in the commodity (in one case, I had to take a knowledge of literature test to get a job at a bookstore) and then give them a week or so to see how the store is run shadowing a current employee. We don't have whoever this is in Memphis, but I sure as hell can't see Best Buy sending a generic low level employee out of town for training.

It's only 3 1/2 hours away for me.  The folks in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles) all go to Houston for their training and the stores in Austin and San Antonio go to San Antonio for theirs.  Dallas hosts the DFW area as well as the Oklahoma City stores.

As for why?  I can't answer that.

Sending a newbie entry level hire in retail 3 1/2 hours away for training??   That doesn't pass the smell test.

They're sending me to what I believe is one of their regional headquarters (the other two being in Houston and San Antonio).

It sounds strange, but at least they would be paying the hotel bill and reimbursing the gas and food at the end of the week.

I will say it again, it doesn't pass the smell test. 

[Smash255]

After doing a little more research the training does seem legit, but Bushie do you realize its a commission only sales position??

Now a commission only retail job probably does have a bit more security than a commission only job selling loans, real estate or hell Kirby products door to door, but do you think you can survive in a commission only environment when you need to be aggressive, meet quotas, etc?

[Smash255]

Bushie

I'm not sure if it was answered elsewhere in this jalopy of a thread, but toward the end of the new job thread, Gramps suggested you try to obtain unemployment.  Did you ever try to claim unemployment?

[Grumps]

Bushie

I'm not sure if it was answered elsewhere in this jalopy of a thread, but toward the end of the new job thread, Gramps suggested you try to obtain unemployment.  Did you ever try to claim unemployment?

I had to look at what I said, Smash....dang you   Yeah, I meant only as a stop-gap measure while looking for real work, not these sales jobs.....forget them.  I think I said it so that Bushie stops taking money from his family.......that is always a bad idea, always, always, always, and it's been documented here (and I think on FB) that it's used against him to make sure things are done other people's way.

So yes, apply and don't take money from your family.  Then get a real freakin' job from a company that doesn't sound the ripoff alarm when we type the company name in Google.

[BushKenya]

After doing a little more research the training does seem legit, but Bushie do you realize its a commission only sales position??

Now a commission only retail job probably does have a bit more security than a commission only job selling loans, real estate or hell Kirby products door to door, but do you think you can survive in a commission only environment when you need to be aggressive, meet quotas, etc?

I thought I read somewhere in the ad that there's an hourly wage to start off with plus commissions.  I could be wrong, but that's what I thought I saw

[Grumps]

After doing a little more research the training does seem legit, but Bushie do you realize its a commission only sales position??

Now a commission only retail job probably does have a bit more security than a commission only job selling loans, real estate or hell Kirby products door to door, but do you think you can survive in a commission only environment when you need to be aggressive, meet quotas, etc?

I thought I read somewhere in the ad that there's an hourly wage to start off with plus commissions.  I could be wrong, but that's what I thought I saw

Hourly + commission =



You're going to be sorely disappointed, again.

[BushKenya]

After doing a little more research the training does seem legit, but Bushie do you realize its a commission only sales position??

Now a commission only retail job probably does have a bit more security than a commission only job selling loans, real estate or hell Kirby products door to door, but do you think you can survive in a commission only environment when you need to be aggressive, meet quotas, etc?

I thought I read somewhere in the ad that there's an hourly wage to start off with plus commissions.  I could be wrong, but that's what I thought I saw

Hourly + commission =



You're going to be sorely disappointed, again.

Yeah, I've taken another look at it and it looks like I would have to sell $40,000 worth of merchandise a month as a quota.  I know it's an appliance and electronic store, but still that's a big quota.  I'm still going to wait for their phone call or e-mail today and investigate it further before I decide whether to drop them or not.

[Torie]

Bushie, if you don't give good phone (wasn't that established in the last episode?), how is this going to work out for you again?

[So the Heroes Fall]

I don't know why he just doesn't apply for unemployment like suggested earlier, his odds of getting it from his Sprint job are obviously better than Oklahoma Natural Gas as he didn't voluntarily quit.

[BushKenya]

Dad brought up an idea, which I think is a cop-out answer really, that maybe I should apply for disability for my Tourette's.  What do you think?  Apparently, they had thought about applying for disability for my Tourette's when I was a young child.

[??????????]

Whatever Jamespol.

[Chareth Cutestory]

There's no reason not to take disability if you qualify for it.  You need some kind of income and if it's being offered, it's stupid not to take it.

[BushKenya]

There's no reason not to take disability if you qualify for it.  You need some kind of income and if it's being offered, it's stupid not to take it.

The thing is, though, and this is my pride speaking out, I don't want the taxpayers paying my bills, because that's ultimately where it comes from.  I'd rather ask family, and that's even only a select group.  I guess I need to shed that pride.

[Sibboleth]

You think that scamming people is more honourable than claiming benefits?

Yeah, I refer to my earlier point about the dangers of trying to encourage a certain sort of person to pull themselves up by their proverbial bootstraps.

[I left.]

There's no reason not to take disability if you qualify for it.  You need some kind of income and if it's being offered, it's stupid not to take it.

The thing is, though, and this is my pride speaking out, I don't want the taxpayers paying my bills, because that's ultimately where it comes from.  I'd rather ask family, and that's even only a select group.  I guess I need to shed that pride.

It's not like the government will actually save the money at any rate....you might as well have it from that perspective.

[Chareth Cutestory]

There's no reason not to take disability if you qualify for it.  You need some kind of income and if it's being offered, it's stupid not to take it.

The thing is, though, and this is my pride speaking out, I don't want the taxpayers paying my bills, because that's ultimately where it comes from.  I'd rather ask family, and that's even only a select group.  I guess I need to shed that pride.

That's not on you.  If the program's there, nothing's gonna change from you not taking it.  As long as it's there you can take it and still oppose it.  But not taking money when you need it because you feel bad is just silly.

[BushKenya]

Thanks to the forum (especially Smash and Gramps), I'm starting to smell a rat with Conn's.  It's smelling like a commission-only job.  I haven't been contacted, yet, but I'm almost betting on that.

My grandmother made a good point today.  She said, "it's true you can get a job before Christmas, but be very, very careful in what you select, because you don't want to forgo your Christmas vacation for a job that may only last a week or two.  You've been through a rough year, you need this vacation to get away from it all.  Three weeks is not going make all that much difference, especially when there are two big holiday weekends in the middle of it." 

I'm going to keep looking through next Thursday, December 16, but I'm going to suspend it starting Friday, December 17 so I can start getting things ready to go.  Then, Monday-Wednesday, December 20-22, I will be too busy cleaning and packing and stopping my mail and getting my cat ready to stay by himself for 4 nights.

[Grumps]

My grandmother made a good point today.  She said, "it's true you can get a job before Christmas, but be very, very careful in what you select, because you don't want to forgo your Christmas vacation for a job that may only last a week or two

Granny's bolded point is a good one anytime.........

[BushKenya]

My grandmother made a good point today.  She said, "it's true you can get a job before Christmas, but be very, very careful in what you select, because you don't want to forgo your Christmas vacation for a job that may only last a week or two

Granny's bolded point is a good one anytime.........

She also said waiting three weeks might be well worth it if you can get a good, steady career rather than jumping at the first one that comes along, being desperate, and ending up in another bait and switch.

[Smash255]

After doing a little more research the training does seem legit, but Bushie do you realize its a commission only sales position??

Now a commission only retail job probably does have a bit more security than a commission only job selling loans, real estate or hell Kirby products door to door, but do you think you can survive in a commission only environment when you need to be aggressive, meet quotas, etc?

I thought I read somewhere in the ad that there's an hourly wage to start off with plus commissions.  I could be wrong, but that's what I thought I saw

Hourly + commission =



You're going to be sorely disappointed, again.

Yeah, I've taken another look at it and it looks like I would have to sell $40,000 worth of merchandise a month as a quota.  I know it's an appliance and electronic store, but still that's a big quota.  I'm still going to wait for their phone call or e-mail today and investigate it further before I decide whether to drop them or not.

Commission only and Hourly + Commission jobs in retail can actually be decent, ( I have done it and made more $$$ than the hourly folks, and made the most when it was straight commission), but you need to know what your getting yourself into.    You have a better chance of making $$ and not walking away with nothing n that then you do in other commission jobs.  With that being said based off everything you have previously mentioned, the quotas involved, the lack of a truly specific commission structure, its not a good fit.

As has been said if you can qualify for unemployment or disability go for it.  The programs exist for a reason, and if you legitimately qualify you should take advantage of it.

[BushKenya]

After doing a little more research the training does seem legit, but Bushie do you realize its a commission only sales position??

Now a commission only retail job probably does have a bit more security than a commission only job selling loans, real estate or hell Kirby products door to door, but do you think you can survive in a commission only environment when you need to be aggressive, meet quotas, etc?

I thought I read somewhere in the ad that there's an hourly wage to start off with plus commissions.  I could be wrong, but that's what I thought I saw

Hourly + commission =



You're going to be sorely disappointed, again.

Yeah, I've taken another look at it and it looks like I would have to sell $40,000 worth of merchandise a month as a quota.  I know it's an appliance and electronic store, but still that's a big quota.  I'm still going to wait for their phone call or e-mail today and investigate it further before I decide whether to drop them or not.

Commission only and Hourly + Commission jobs in retail can actually be decent, ( I have done it and made more $$$ than the hourly folks, and made the most when it was straight commission), but you need to know what your getting yourself into.    You have a better chance of making $$ and not walking away with nothing n that then you do in other commission jobs.  With that being said based off everything you have previously mentioned, the quotas involved, the lack of a truly specific commission structure, its not a good fit.

As has been said if you can qualify for unemployment or disability go for it.  The programs exist for a reason, and if you legitimately qualify you should take advantage of it.

Well, so far they haven't gotten back with me, and it's 2:00 on a Friday evening.  I'm thinking they may crossed me off their list.  There's still time, but every minute goes by without a contact makes it less and less likely.

[Smash255]

My grandmother made a good point today.  She said, "it's true you can get a job before Christmas, but be very, very careful in what you select, because you don't want to forgo your Christmas vacation for a job that may only last a week or two

Granny's bolded point is a good one anytime.........

She also said waiting three weeks might be well worth it if you can get a good, steady career rather than jumping at the first one that comes along, being desperate, and ending up in another bait and switch.

As someone was was laid off last year and since then have just been working part time and collecting partial benefits I have to disagree with this.  Its tough to find a job right now, looking for things just career oriented makes things more difficult (believe me I have been there).  

Granted what I come from is different than you, I was in a very specialized field in the finance industry (Pricing for Mutual and Hedge Funds) and those jobs simply aren't out there or have been combined with others.  However, if you pigeonhole yourself at looking for just something career oriented, you make things even more difficult.   However, the take anything and everything mentality is not a good one either, as we have seen.  You need to find that happy medium.  Does the job make sense?  Do you think you can meet the qualifications?  (you need to be extremely honest with yourself when you ask this question)  

[Big DaddyTX]

My grandmother made a good point today.  She said, "it's true you can get a job before Christmas, but be very, very careful in what you select, because you don't want to forgo your Christmas vacation for a job that may only last a week or two

Granny's bolded point is a good one anytime.........

She also said waiting three weeks might be well worth it if you can get a good, steady career rather than jumping at the first one that comes along, being desperate, and ending up in another bait and switch.

As someone was was laid off last year and since then have just been working part time and collecting partial benefits I have to disagree with this.  Its tough to find a job right now, looking for things just career oriented makes things more difficult (believe me I have been there).  

Granted what I come from is different than you, I was in a very specialized field in the finance industry (Pricing for Mutual and Hedge Funds) and those jobs simply aren't out there or have been combined with others.  However, if you pigeonhole yourself at looking for just something career oriented, you make things even more difficult.   However, the take anything and everything mentality is not a good one either, as we have seen.  You need to find that happy medium.  Does the job make sense?  Do you think you can meet the qualifications?  (you need to be extremely honest with yourself when you ask this question)  

I agree here too. I wouldnt waste anytime searching for a job. If I got an offer, I'd take it, as long as I was qualified and know I can do the job. If you feel you cant do it, dont take it.. your just going to get laid of. I too, was out of work for nearly a year,  and it was hard finding any kin d of job in my area of Finance. Up here, the jobs just werent there, but luckfully I found something (dispatching, not my ideal job), but it pays well, and its what I need.  I was lucky though, because I still was able to do some consulting and working on primaries and some general election jobs to be able to make a few bucks. Find something either in your skill, or something you can do.

 Nobody wants to flip burgers at Burger King, but if you can do it, and the job is there, its better to make 8 bucks an hour, than 0.

[BushKenya]

So, Dad and I just came up with a crazy, off the wall idea.  Why not try to become an Electrician's Apprentice?  I've got several friends around here who are electricians and my brother is also an electrician.  It would take me 4-5 years to complete an apprenticeship, but the money could be worth it.  Electricians are one of those industries that will always be needed, especially as things are turning more total electric.  I've always wanted to learn a new skill.

I can just imagine the entire Oklahoma City Power Grid shutting down!!

[Chareth Cutestory]

Unless you really see yourself doing that, I wouldn't.  Do make an entire career decision based on the money, especially one that you'd have to commit 4 years to right out of the gate.