Who is responsible for this garbage?

AllenBomber

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Why are there so many idiots in this hobby? I picked up a S.T.U.N. Runner as partial trade for a machine, and it plays blind. Okay, no problem. Come to find out that nobody bothered to plug in the video feed to the monitor. That explains that. But as I'm poking around in the monitor box, I find the marquee lighting has been cut. Despite the fact that there is a big Molex connector less than a foot away, they decided it was easier to cut the line. Fine. No problem there either. What I have issue with was the power lines that were still connected to the power supply. They wrapped the neutral with electrical tape and left the hot and ground lines stripped and exposed just bouncing around inside the cab! If this doesn't scream "I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ELECTRONICS" then nothing does.
 
it was a booty trap.
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Well, you gotta think how all this started, Allen. In about 1975 or so, a company started making these and selling them as "Oh, plug it in the wall at your store and people will drop quarters in them!" the manuals say things like "Troubleshooting: If your monitor doesn't turn on, check the fuse" and "If the button doesn't work, check the wiring"

So everybody and their brother bought these and just wheeled them in stores like they're big t.v.'s or something. Probably 90% of the people involved in the business never took any formal electrical or electronic education, they just learned, or didn't learn, by the seat of their pants.

I bought a game from an operator the other day, he couldn't figure out why it wouldn't turn on. The reason it wouldn't turn on is because the board was missing from it. There were wires and things hanging, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what the problem was.

Another game I bought from him, He couldn't figure out why the steering, brakes, and gas pedals wouldn't work. A simple check with a multimeter showed that the 5V wasn't hooked up to the pots. he'd been working on it for 2 years. Literally, it broke two years ago and they'd tried everything.

So a lot of these guys even today just have no clue about anything electrical. They buy games, when they eventually totally break where they can't earn another quarter, they sell them and buy more.
 
OH, same guy, bought a pinball from him, the machine would spit out 3 pinballs into the outlane everytime you played it. He couldn't figure out what was wrong, damn guess you're going to have to fix one of the boards, blah blah blah.

When you take the lockdown bar off, it says "Please install 3 balls" and of course he had installed 5. It'd been doing this for months, he couldn't figure it out. He's operating games, and has been for over 20 years.
 
Ugh. That's awful. You'd think if you made a living off of something, you might want to know a little bit about it.

Then again...

I was in Radio Shack last night (my regular electronics shop closes at 2 pm) looking for a header pin style connector for a monitor. I figured it was going to be a lost cause, but I tried anyways. The worst part was that I didn't even need the connector, just the P shaped pins for it. This wasn't some kid I was dealing with either. Guy had to be in his late 40s. I ask for connectors and he points me toward Molex connectors. To script out the exchange that occurred next...

Me: "I need a header pin style connector"
Guy: "Won't those work?"
Me: "No, header pin style."
Guy: (blank stare)
Me: "Do you know what a header pin is?"
Guy: (chuckling and almost reveling in his stupidity) "...Ummm, no."

I don't know, I just thought this was like a common knowledge thing if you worked in the electronics parts industry. Unfortunately Radio Shack is more concerned with selling phones lately.

Please everyone out there, if you claim a job title, could you kinda know something about your industry? It's very frustrating to a consumer when even as a hobbyist they are a fountain of knowledge compared to someone who gets paid to know this kind of stuff.
 
I was at Best Buy, wandering around while my daughter picked out her new camera.

The exchange...
Mr Joe Super-sales guy: Can I help you find something today, sir?
Me: I highly doubt it
Mr Joe Super-sales guy: I'll be right over here if you need anything.
 
I was at Best Buy, wandering around while my daughter picked out her new camera.

The exchange...
Mr Joe Super-sales guy: Can I help you find something today, sir?
Me: I highly doubt it
Mr Joe Super-sales guy: I'll be right over here if you need anything.

that's kind of how it is when I stop in the local radio shack...

As soon as I walk towards the parts drawer, they seem to shy away
 
A lot of employees of places like BB and RS aren't trained worth a damn.And it seems they just hire someone as a warm body more than an expert in something.Seriously,most of the employees I see at my local BB or RS are college students so I expect their product knowledge to be little to none.And on a side note,it's pretty sad that a lot of people hired in the customer service industry have poor to flat out zero customer service skills.But in defense of customer service people,they do take a whole lot of BS from a lot of shitty lowlifes.
 
You'd think if you made a living off of something, you might want to know a little bit about it.

Then again... I was in Radio Shack last night

I wasn't always that way, but now Radio Shack is a joke. I went in the other day and asked to see a copy of his parts substitution guide. Clueless look. I described it, etc. He checked the computer, still clueless. A few days later I went in with mine and showed him what one looked like...
 
yeah, radio shack is a joke. we needed a speakon cable for our band's PA, which has been the pro audio standard for at least half a dozen years now, and nobody in the store had a clue what i was talking about. they sell them on the website, the in store workers are just clueless about what they are selling. i havent been back since, i buy all my parts online.
 
I think it was a bad move for them to try and go heavily into consumer electronics. Their size guarantees that their pricing and selection won't compete well, and they have moved outside the niche that made them who they are.

I'm not sure how the could have re-made themselves in this age of disposable electronics. I've got to give them some credit for still being here, but I think it would have been better for them in the long run to find a way to specialize in electronics like they always have.

As for the employees, that's just a disaster. You may not be the parts store anymore, but to sell specialty products yet have no skilled employees is ridiculous. Imagine going into an Ace Hardware and getting someone who didn't know what a hammer was....
 
I think it was a bad move for them to try and go heavily into consumer electronics. Their size guarantees that their pricing and selection won't compete well, and they have moved outside the niche that made them who they are.

I'm not sure how the could have re-made themselves in this age of disposable electronics. I've got to give them some credit for still being here, but I think it would have been better for them in the long run to find a way to specialize in electronics like they always have.

As for the employees, that's just a disaster. You may not be the parts store anymore, but to sell specialty products yet have no skilled employees is ridiculous. Imagine going into an Ace Hardware and getting someone who didn't know what a hammer was....

15-16 years ago they tried to get into the huge electronic store chain business as they had stores called "Incredible Universe" These stores were massive and even had their own McDonalds in them but they were definately before their time as they closed down beginning of 96. This was right when Best Buy opened up their 2nd store in the Columbus Area.

Radio Shack, ie Tandy failed because although their stores were unique, their strategy was 1 store per area and everyone would drive 20-30 miles to shop there. Its funny as i went to my first Fry's in December and my instant thought was OMG this is Incredible Universe!
 
Ugh. That's awful. You'd think if you made a living off of something, you might want to know a little bit about it.

Then again...

I was in Radio Shack last night (my regular electronics shop closes at 2 pm) looking for a header pin style connector for a monitor. I figured it was going to be a lost cause, but I tried anyways. The worst part was that I didn't even need the connector, just the P shaped pins for it. This wasn't some kid I was dealing with either. Guy had to be in his late 40s. I ask for connectors and he points me toward Molex connectors. To script out the exchange that occurred next...

Me: "I need a header pin style connector"
Guy: "Won't those work?"
Me: "No, header pin style."
Guy: (blank stare)
Me: "Do you know what a header pin is?"
Guy: (chuckling and almost reveling in his stupidity) "...Ummm, no."

I don't know, I just thought this was like a common knowledge thing if you worked in the electronics parts industry. Unfortunately Radio Shack is more concerned with selling phones lately.

Please everyone out there, if you claim a job title, could you kinda know something about your industry? It's very frustrating to a consumer when even as a hobbyist they are a fountain of knowledge compared to someone who gets paid to know this kind of stuff.

They don't pay their employees enough to find and hire the people who know all of the techno babble that every Joe Compugeek could possibly spew at them. Nor would it be worth Radio Shack's time to provide training to bring a new hire up to speed on every piece, part, and jargon that could be thrown at them, only to see the new hire quit within a month.

Everyone knows this is the case so there's a few options:
1. Shop online
2. Find what you need online, print a nice picture of it, and bring it to them, maybe that helps
3. Take matters into your own hands at the store and just look for it yourself--if you cant find it, go to #1
 
I disagree entirely. Home Depot employees have roughly the same turn-around rate as RS, but those guys tend to know (or have a good idea) of where every friggin thing in that warehouse is. Lets say I walked into HD and asked for a toggle bolt. That's roughly the same level of "industry-speak" as a header pin... But they'll know, and be able to point you to it, or at least point you to the department where they will definitely know what you're looking for.

I knew exactly what I wanted, and I even brought in the connector, so your "technobabble confusing the employee" argument is out. The problem isn't poor training, the problem is that Rat Shack's entire "parts department" has been condensed to ~15 drawers, and that includes 2-3 dedicated to every size battery holder, 2-3 dedicated to every fuse size, and 2-3 dedicated to buttons. That doesn't leave much space for the real parts that they built themselves on. If it isn't on the floor, then the employee isn't responsible to know about it, and they can revel in their ignorance.

Training isn't the issue. They're more than happy to train their employees on every damn cell carrier's rates and every phone's specs. Radio Shack has just shifted their focus. They went from a niche market to running with the big box stores selling disposable consumer electronics. We already saw Circuit City go under a while ago. I don't think Radio Shack will be far behind if they keep this up.

Who out there remembers "Short Circuit 2"? Do you think Johnny 5 could have been rebuilt at a Radio Shack of today?
 
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Radio Shack back in the day. Was actually not a bad place to work.

As a salesperson, they used to make you take Electronics tests, Parts:Basic Electricity:Home Theater:phone and Communication and other tests. They usually ranged from 45 to 150 questions each. You had to fill out bubble sheets and everything. It was quite a trip. I learned a lot by taking those tests.

But then I guess (long after I left) they became lax on that policy. Started to Jipp/bump down the managers salaries/re modified the Sales persons commission and wage. And then became Ultra obsessed over Cell phones.

Now for some reason, they want to be more of a Best Buy rather than a unique Store. There measly excuse for parts that they have down sized from. And the ridiculous high prices for parts. I mean $8.99 for a 3.5 headphone splitter? Really??? $21.99 for a RCA to S-Video adapter?

I guess, the latest rumor(from the manager anyways) is that Best Buy is looking into buying out Radio Shack. Which would be kind of cool, but sad, as RS has been a unique store. However, given what RS is now. A Best Buy may do it some good.


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I've also heard Best Buy wants to buy them. They said that RS is on it's last legs, and that it would be really easy for a company to do a hostile takeover by buying all of their stock, lol. So best Buy is thinking of doing it.
 
I've also heard Best Buy wants to buy them. They said that RS is on it's last legs, and that it would be really easy for a company to do a hostile takeover by buying all of their stock, lol. So best Buy is thinking of doing it.


Could you imagine all the stores that it would have to close, if Best Buy didn't want to keep them all running. There are a sh*tload of Radio Shacks.

I wonder what would happen to the many RS Dealer Stores that are in small areas/towns.


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15-16 years ago they tried to get into the huge electronic store chain business as they had stores called "Incredible Universe" These stores were massive and even had their own McDonalds in them but they were definately before their time as they closed down beginning of 96. This was right when Best Buy opened up their 2nd store in the Columbus Area.

Radio Shack, ie Tandy failed because although their stores were unique, their strategy was 1 store per area and everyone would drive 20-30 miles to shop there. Its funny as i went to my first Fry's in December and my instant thought was OMG this is Incredible Universe!

The Fry's in Wilsonville Oregon is housed in what was formerly an Incredible Universe.

Their theme? Abandoned Incredible Universe.
 
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