Time For A Round Of Introductions

[KAWLIGA]

Hi... KAWLIGA...
Worked there for 5 years..."Comped over LY" every year (they haven't done it since).
I attended an "ALL GM MEETING" where Antiocho was going to be there and answer questions from us.
One of the questions was, "So what do you think about Netflix?"
After conferring with his "friend/puppet-master" that was on-stage with him...he responded, "Netflix is a niche company and they are no threat to us".
(Mind you... 25% of our customers, including myself, were already "burning" your discs).
As he said this, I looked at my fellow GM's and 2 of them had the same expression on their face as I... I can only describe it as "WHAT THE FUCK DID HE JUST SAY???!!!"
Because of this...and the horrendous treatment of the GM's, and the entire staff, by the DM's is the reason I quit.
A business model that relies on instilling fear just proves that you don't believe in your product. If YOU believe in it, others will be happy to sell it for you.

[Big Dog]

Hi everyone! My name is Big Dog and I'm an alcoholic! Woops, wrong group!

I was a SM for bb for almost 6 years. I came on board as a movie loving, friendly, positive employee and left hating bb, movies, idiotic sales goals, and stupid customers.

During my time with bb, I got to meet many people in corporate from Jim Keyes (shook his hand and talked to him), Tom Kirchoff (he did visit in my store), and someone from the Games Department(English guy) I can't remember his name (bb hired him afor his idea for Top 20 movie and games section, then rolled it out improperly, then let him go, then hired him back to fix it).

My district was one of the many test markets throughout the US (except ours was one of the successful ones, so they changed it). Our test market was suppose to only 8 weeks, and we continued it for almost four years before they went national to those STUPID TERMS. The last part was the best, we did all movies for $2 for 1 night, and 5 days for $5. Our TNR was the best, the movies were returned every day so we always had movies in stock, and our customers loved the options and price. Even though we had 5 redboxes within 3 miles of the store, we were packed with customers in the store.

I left bb this fall when I saw the writing on the wall. As I explained numerous times, bb kept making me change items that made money so every store could be the same (and they did exactly that, they almost closed every store). My store was in a small town, and I tailored the store to meet the needs of the customer (happy customer, increased sales, everyone happy except bb). Since we didn't have any game stores in our town, and our walmart was an old tiny one, I sold every game available. I was number one in game presales even though we were the smallest store of the district. I had midnight releases on every big game title (even some smaller ones), and I kicked butt in TRADES! I asked for anything game related, went to other stores on my days off and took all the other stores games that wouldn't sell and MADE LOTS OF MONEY. How did bb reward me and my store? They would make me transfer all the games out to other stores. And if I didn't, I would get yelled at for not hitting transfer compliance. They wouldn't send me games I preordered, and would only give me one copy of the games if I got any at all. I also had a game trade table by the counter and I would sell no less than 40 ppg's a week. Table wasn't "in the MAP" so I had to take the games down and put them inline and on endcaps. We dropped to under 5 games a week sold.

Other examples of bb "bad decisions" include moving PRP to areas that didn't sell, telling us what soda pop we had to carry (I sold cases of cherry coke each week), taking down confection tables and displays (I was number one in country per active member prior to changes), telling us to put horror movies on kids endcap, and kids endcap next to action section (It had to be that way to MAP), shoving promotions down the customers neck, bb not changing rent codes on movies before they come out(coded bsi), COMPUTER SUPPORT(come on and get some english speaking people!), putting retail out live in high theft areas, and on, and on, and on.

I would get upset with my DM when he would come in and make me change something that made the store money, but wasn't in the MAP. I stopped arguing and started to make the store look just like the MAP. Shortly after these changes I closed my store. I transferred to another store 30 minutes down the road.

THEN CAME CAM! When it was first introduced, I hated every part of part of it. We had to hit ALL our goals every week, no exceptions! All stores goals were the same, and even though we were a smaller store, we still had to hit the same goals as the large city stores. I had to write up one of my CSR's because she sold 35 candy bundles, 20 rewards, but only got 1 game presale for the week (not acceptable). I had conference calls at 7 am, on Sundays, and even on our days off. We had to call our store every hour to find out sales results, and call DM if we didn't get a certain amount for the shift. The threats were ridiculous. I later found out from the DM that most of the pressure came from the RDO. She(RDO) asked him how many managers he fired in the last year, and he said none. She said you aren't pushing your managers hard enough then. (Side note: He just quit after 20 years with bb)

The bankrupty came and I thought bb would make some changes to make the stores profitable again. Boy was I wrong again, and it was "business as usual". I thought that "Make the Day" would help, but after a couple of weeks, we were back to pushing the same stupid, unachievable goals. So I decided to look elsewhere for employment.

I took a position with a not for profit retail store that sells donated items. Within the last couple of months, I was able to use all my ideas to make the store successful (double digit increase every week, only store to beat budget, big increased check average, and even won an award). They have been so impressed, they are considering increasing the size of the location 50%. The lack of stress has been great, no phone calls and text every hour from work, and no pissed off customers because bb pulled some baloney without letting them know.

Sorry to write a book, but it's nice telling others about the bad decisions, and choices bb made to get in the situation it got itself in. I hope Dish takes care of the remaining stores and employees, there are a lot of good people stilled employeed. Thanks for reading!! WOOF! WOOF!

[deathbydanny]

Hi! I'm Danny!

I was formerly one of Blockbuster's ASMs. Our store took great pride in our sales, always optimistically. Even when the DM came down with "sell or be fired", we always did our best. Even if we fell short of our goals, our goals were so outlandishly high at times that we congratulated ourselves regardless of threats, as we knew in store that we did the best we could.

It's far too late for me, and a little too late for a few of the people I cared about in the stores, but there are a few left, including an SM with an outstanding work ethic I've seen go from genuine enthusiasm to "going through the motions for the paycheck." Still a hard worker, still a great guy, but if you compared him then to now, you'll have seen all the enthusiasm drain out of his face. People like this, people who have a drive and a work ethic, are seeing themselves threatened, not congratulated, and it's the ones who did perform great jobs yet are losing their enthusiasm that are costing business. And the biggest dampener of our enthusiasm is a refusal to recognize in-store employees with praise, raises, bonuses and a simple day at work without being forced to audition for their jobs. This is a man who, despite being left out to dry by corporate, still found the time to give to his employees. Corporate threw the SM a bone with a $50 gift card? He didn't hold on to it-- if a CSR topped his own sales, he willingly and gladly gave it to that CSR. Recognition for hard work. Severely lacking, nowadays.

Businesses are really only as successful as their front lines. Blockbuster's front lines have suffered heavy casualties, and you, Dish, are the cavalry. You have a chance to make the in store employees regain their enthusiasm, as long as you take the time to listen to and implement their ideas, as no matter how many data you see on a spreadsheet, it doesn't compare to in store reality. Make your front lines excited about work again, and see your business thrive. Don't repeat the sins of the past. It's too late for me, but there's still quite a few people I care about who've run through the grinder and deserve a break.

[TheAnomaly]

Hi! My name's Emerson. (Yeah, whatever. I don't work for you anymore, Sunday was my last day, so you can know my name.) I was with Blockbuster for 3 and a half years. Had 5 different "home stores," but worked at least one shift in over 20 different stores. Most of those stores are closed now.

Here's my advice. Be honest with your employees. They've been through a lot. And telling them "Oh, btw, you're closing in two weeks" never seems to go over well. There needs to be a lot more communication. How hard is it to say "Listen. We're working with your landlord to try and renegotiate your lease. We don't know how it's going to go, and there's a chance we may have to close your store if we can't get amenable terms." Oh no! I just used the words "close" and "store" in the same sentence! It's the apocalypse!

False.

But it'd be better than what they told my original store. We were told the landlord was doubling our rent. (Very possible. It's a richer suburb, and there are now two businesses where our Blockbuster used to be.) But, not to worry, we were all going to be placed at other stores "temporarily," and the store would be reopening in "a few months" down where the Hollywood Video had just closed. This was in the summer of 2008, long before the mass closings we see today, so we didn't know any better. We told all our customers it was only temporary. People still ask me to this day when they're reopening that store.

How did WE find out you had no intention of reopening? We called the number on the hollywood and asked. Blockbuster hadn't even contacted them. Nice.


Here's another little tale for you. Based on a true story. (I just got this information today, so some of the facts may be a little off.)

Recently, our district merged with the neighboring district. Our DM was reassigned to the closing stores. Their DM became our DM. Whatever.

In the middle of all the closings, we found out that another one of the stores in his original district was going to be closing as well. (They found out when the boxes showed up.) We knew he wanted to place all of those employees.

Would you like to know where he placed them? Spread around to multiple different stores? Nope.

They just replaced the entire staff at one of our stores. All of them.

Did he at least tell them himself? Not even. He's on vacation in Europe for two weeks. (And as a full-time part-time employee, I can't even get a week off?) Our old DM was the one who had to tell them.

Rumor has it that, once the closing of his store was announced, one of the employees rented an apartment behind their new store. Meaning he made this decision a month ago.

And that's why I left. (I mean, not that specifically, as that happened today, two weeks after I gave my notice.) There's this huge communication breakdown between Corporate and the Stores. And it's the massive game of telephone called Middle Management.

Sometimes, we get information directly from the corporate office... communications updates, messages of the week, box office info, etc. And the DM will tell us the RDO wants us to do the opposite. Blockbuster says "Don't push Tangled." DM says "We MUST have 5 Tangled presales this week or your store is getting written up."

And sometimes, the information we get is so arbitrary. Our RDO wants us to get rid of all the waterfall shelves and go to strictly flat shelving. I mean, really? Is it that big of a deal? Fine. Whatever. But in my second store, there's no way to make their game section flat shelves... and keep the charting where it "needs to be."

Whatever. Sorry. Didn't mean to derail the thread with a rant. Um... what were we talking about again? Oh, right, what they said. Bundles, and pickles, and whatnot.

[AbandonedDreams]

I would like the story behind your sig (middle line). Feel free to PM me.

[koi]

Hi my name is koi and I used to steal loads of shit from work them sell on for a profit ,also I used to replace all the Disney films with hard core porn just to see if anyone would notice but they never did .And if the big wigs are reading this then stop fucking of your staff they are the blood that makes you money don't blood them dry .

[johnlow71]

hi im johnlow71 i will bleed tigers blood for your company. many on here know this. godspeed!

[getoffmybeach]

Hi, you can just call my Beach, it's pretty close to what my old DM calls me now. I was a SM when I left, after 7 years with BB. During that time I worked off the clock, climbed rickety ladders, babysat my DM's son (on company time) and helped my DM put a table into his car, which it turns out he was stealing. I made the mistake of being honest with my DM in telling him I was looking elsewhere for a job. He also found out that I was questioning some game transfers that he got at another store that never made it to mine. When I left he told the district I'd been stealing. I guess the two days of calling me at home, trying to get me to come back after I resigned to go to my current job, were in my imagination? And then he told the Labour Board I was on final written warning for posting here. Sadly, for his sneaky ass, there were no warnings OR derogatory posts until after I found out what a liar he was.

Just a thought, but don't let DMs in outlying areas act like tyrants and treat their staff like shit. He forgot how many of his staff and my former customers I have on my Facebook.

[Thanatos]

Been free from BBV for almost a year now. Started in 97 as a CSR left in 2010 as a DTSM. Took this job while I looked for a "real" job, had been spending money on rentals weekly anyway thought it would be good to save on that and get some pocket money. The work was easy, sometimes mindless with tasks (anyone remember sidebinding sections at night for dayshift to clean and reset?). Discovered I really enjoyed it and moved my way up to SM in a bit over a year. Took a few more for DTSM and turned down the next offered promotion in 2007 I had watched other DM's turn into Zombies and I wasn't interested. Don't get me wrong I like a good zombie movie but I didn't want to star in one.

I left because we were no longer trying to make money we were actually being punished for making changes that made us money, changes to the store, staff, priorities, map, the list goes on and others have hit them all on the head already. We stopped making money. The upper pencil pushers changed tactics so fast no one ever had time to tell if what they tried was effective or not. We went from terms, to new terms, to late fee's back to something resembling terms. I can't even remeber the last set since I was calling it the "everything but" plan, cause it did everything but work for anyone.

In that last year I witnessed people get fired for the most idiotic reasons, and others get away with complete idiocy. People working 3 days a week or only 35 hours a week were alowed to stay while others were termed or documented for what really amounts to an air freshner hanging from the rear view mirror. In that last year I watched people get away with theft of upwards of 30 games because it was inconvienent to let them go just then, but others let go for less than a buck because of HR. In the last year I saw a store that ran so far outside any form of LP control that the prior manager should have been killed, fed to wolves and then fired. When it along with everything else wrong was brought to my DM's attention I got cut off from what had been my role in the district, ignored and left unable to do my job. In that last year I realized it didn't really matter what the hell we did anymore I stopped caring and stopped doing what I was supposed to. I decided to leave felt better in general started doing my job again got things in order, got a succesion plan in place for my store and left. Basically I stopped sticking my head in the sand next to my peers and my DM said my goodbyes to a few and moved on. Some of them are still there, still drinking the Kool-aid. If you happen to be one of them stop drinking it and get the hell out putting your hands over your ears squeezing your eyes shut and humming isn't going to help. If you happen to be one of the ones who fought, backstabbed, decieved and ass kissed to keep your job. Well your prize has almost arrived just give it a bit more time. Hear thats sound? Thats your career dissapation light, and it just went into overdrive.(name that film).

So Dish network people here, if your watching. The people you have left, get rid of them there either just collecting a check, or are broken by now from to many years of no help from above, no one direction for longer then 2 months and threats from all levels as the game of "save my own ass" was played out. If BBV wants to keep stores they need small footprints not huge ones. they need to stick to "any" program for longer than 2 months to find out what its doing. I'd say give them a raise too since none have seen one in 3 years but honestly, hire new people I'm sure there are exceptions, perhaps using some form of screening or standard other than "I know this person". Honestly though BBV should just go digital close the stores and be done, this horse is dead get a new one. you want store fronts get some Kiosk's in a mall would be more effective.

Oh and one other thing, having been the trainer for many years I know most of the Managers. I know who was asked to stay, for the most part you dont want them. If your being told you got the "best" ask to look at the DKP for the last year for all the stores, ask to look at the SM labor report, ask to look at the complaints, and take a good look at who stayed and who left. I know you'll be as confused as I am. Its ok though thats called "Business as usual" at Blockbuster so its ok.

You bought yourself a sinking ship and most of the people left crewing it are the ones chopping the holes in the bottom, doubt I'd laugh if I was still there. Pretty happy I'm not though, I like laughing.

So thats my bit of knowledge. The good parts? I like the people I worked with, I liked the customers I'll have great stories about them for the rest of my life. Remind me to tell you about the Dominoe vhs suprise one day and the follow up of police tape the next day. A bathrobe and an angry mother. The door alarm and the customer. The Easter egg hunt gone horribly wrong. Wiffle ball in the parking lot after hours. A train ride with peers to see a basketball game. A man and his pie. The frozen body (kinda creepy and sad but its a good story). The Christmas eve Fly flicker. A dirty whore. The Love Monkey. The homeless Elf. On second thought, you go first.

To all of my former employee's and peers, THANKS! Yes even the head in the sand DM, glad you finally pulled it out and left too. All of ya can hit me up on FB. If you dont know who I am and just want some of those stories.. send a PM we can swap tales lol.

Good Luck to those of you left. To everyone on this board thanks for the hints, help, advice, info and all around laughs I got over the years. A few times it made all the difference.

Former Blockbuster Drone
Thanatos.

P.S. To those of you still there, in other jobs.. they have windows that open. Its nice!

[orbitdvd]

I would love to hear from more people not working at the store level. I know you guys are out there, and there's really no reason by this point to hold back.