The cheapest HDMI cable I see in the store is the 6ft Belkin for $90.
This guy comes in, "Where are your HDMI cables?"
"We've got the six foot Belkin over here, it's our cheapest"
Guy "WTF?" *walks out*
The people that annoy me most, though, are the ones who ask about HD programming. I sell HDTVs. It's up to the customer to find a way to get their HD shows. I get all sorts of specific questions about digital cable boxes and whether you need special satellite dishes for HDTV, and I just don't know. These people should ask their service provider about it, not the guy selling them the TV. I mean, it's one thing if they ask me a simple question like "Will you need a separate HD tuner for this?", but when they ask me "Which satellite dish and reciever do I need to get the CBS in HD?". What the fuck? I'm wearing a shirt that says Circuit City, not DirecTV. I know that the service provider gives you a HD box and you plug it into the component video ports, and sometimes the TV will have a built in HD tuner.
Then there's the wireless speakers people. They act all disappointed when I tell them that we don't carry wireless speakers. They expect some simple solution to exist where they open the box, install the reciever, and place the speakers anywhere they want. Wireless speakers exist, but you either burn through D batteries like no tomarrow, or you plug it into the wall. They are all two channels, so you need preouts on your reciever if you want to get wireless surround. As soon as I leave, I know that they're heading across the street to bestbuy, then when they don't have them either, they wallow in self-pity because they didn't do their research and they have their hearts set on a product that doesn't exist. The engineers need to overcome the hurdle of amplification before wireless speakers will work. Class-D is a step in the right direction, with the near 100% efficency, but they still take either serious batteries or a wall wart, which defeats the purpose of not having wires.
Then there's the complete lack of anything to be interested in. The only fun toy is the Polk XM reciever in the back. Most of the TVs are stuck playing this dumb 30 minute sequence of advertisements. There's the preview for motorcucle people making a motorcycle for lance armstrong. There's the preview for the Dakota Fanning horse movie. There's the short clip of monster trucks driving through mud. There's the circuit city commercial with the chick trying to get shit off her camera into the photo album. There's the other circuit city commercial with the guy who calls his friend for TV information. There's a short clip of some rock band having a reunion and men in their late 40s jammin. There's the tennis player PowerShot video. There's the movie with the chick bonding with her parents. The only exceptions are when some guys put on the kung fu movie with the crazy surround effects (I think it's the Jet Li Hero one that I saw in the theater, not sure. They have all sorts of crazy scenes with arrows that make good use of the surround systems.) and when they pop in a DVD, during which it loops for the entire day. I was talking to the girl over in the MP3 department, which is right across the aisle from HT-in-a-box. She saw Spider Man 4 times in a row. I only saw it two, and it was boring. At least I can wander around the store, the MP3 department is like one row of shelves and on the other side of the aisle are the TVs playing the movies.
I was surprised at how fast ipods sell. The girl in the MP3 department got a big shipment in yesterday, 2GB, 4GB, 30GB, 60GB. By the time I was talking with her this afternoon, they only had black 2GBs left. We go through shit fast in HT, but not that fast.
Today also marked the first time that I didn't sell any Panasonic DVD recorders. Usually I sell one or two a day, but nothing today. Everyone was all over this $700 Sony DVD recorder with a 160GB HDD. We have none in stock, there are none in the warehouse, and no stores in New Jersey have them. I got asked like three times.
But all in all, I sold about $3500. My boss told me that 12% of my sales are extended warranties, which is apparantly pretty high.
Kickin' ass and taking names, as is my style.
I love this thread.
