Yes, I had a bad experience at Best Buy
It’s true. I’m proud and unabashed about trumpeting our customer service successes and I’m always happy to call out helpful Blueshirt employees by name (via Twitter) when they live up to the promises of the Best Buy brand. But, if I hope to have any credibility at all, I have to be willing to talk about less-than-stellar experiences, don’t I?
Before we dive into the details of my experience heavy on the lousy, I am going to say that the vast majority of interactions I have at Best Buy are overwhelmingly positive, and make me feel good about the company for which I toil.
Far more often than not, the Best Buy person I encounter on the sales floor takes the time necessary to answer my questions and help me find the product(s) I’m looking for (one went so far as to go out back and pull a CD off the delivery truck before it was unloaded; another consulted the store product map to find an obscure cord I wanted that was “21 feet from the aisle”), to make sure I’m fully and completely satisfied with my shopping experience.
(I should point out that I never tell store employees that I’m a Best Buy employee – until it comes time to claim my discount – so there is no “favoritism” of any kind. I am a regular Joe looking for something cool).
But for every rule, there is an exception.
So long, Aunt Pat
I’m saddened to write that my aunt, Lorraine Patricia Connelly – “Aunt Pat,” died Sunday morning, Jan. 17, 2010, in Hoffman Estates, Ill., at the age of 86. Aunt Pat was the last living member of my dad’s family, having been preceeded in death by three brothers (most recently my dad, in 2004) and two sisters.
Pat was a wonderful, thoughtful, caring and absolutely fun person to the very end. I remember Pat used to threaten to give me one, “Pow! Right in the kisser!” But of course she never did.
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Like the new new look?
I’m no employment expert, but …
Got a call from the local chapter of the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) several weeks ago, asking if I’d be willing to be interviewed about the communications job market for an article in their monthly News & Views publication. They must have figured since Best Buy is a big local company with a well-regarded communications function they could pass even me off as a subject matter “expert.”
I must say I was uneasy playing the role.
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Jesse James Bike Tour – I did it!
It’s true. I rode my new Surly Cross-Check 63 miles less than two weeks after picking it up at the local bike shop (an insurance money replacement for my Cannondale mountain bike that was brazenly heisted right out of our open garage in August). My training regimen was brief, which means I rode as much as I could in the two weeks leading up to the ride, and squeezed in 100 miles. That ain’t bad considering that
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Twelpforce
Best Buy has launched a Twitter help (“twelp” -- get it?) initiative called Twelpforce to give customers a way to ask questions about products and receive instant, or near instantaneous, response from the company’s customer-facing employees, be they blue shirts, Geek Squaders, customer service call center reps or even corporate headquarters types like yours truly.
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