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Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 1:13 pm
by lukpac
Well...I don't have a machine running with Solaris. *At the moment.*

Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 1:36 pm
by Rspaight
I've been Linux-free for a few years now. That requires too much free time. It was great fun when I was unemployed, though.

Ryan

Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 1:39 pm
by lukpac
Rspaight wrote:I've been Linux-free for a few years now. That requires too much free time. It was great fun when I was unemployed, though.


I don't have any for desktop use at the moment. Two servers though.

And of course this machine.

Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 1:53 pm
by Rspaight
I'm too antisocial to have a server.

Ryan

Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 5:29 pm
by dudelsack
I already have three - windows laptop, mac mini, linux server. The dvd burner and the massive HDD are in the linux box, though, so it would be easier to deal with doing things on there.

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2005 7:18 pm
by Xenu
Microcenter has 10 for $20. Best Buy gave me grief about pricematching, but eventually did.

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 7:00 pm
by Xenu
The cancer has spread to OfficeMax.

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:15 pm
by dudelsack
Que?

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:47 pm
by Xenu
The $20 for 10 deal.

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 10:41 am
by dudelsack
Nice.

Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 10:40 pm
by Xenu
Yeah, especially because Best Buy gave me SO MUCH SHIT about pricematching Microcenter.

a) "Sir, Microcenter isn't an area competitor." (your manager said "within 40 miles." It's within 40 miles)

b) "You need the real ad, not a web printout. How do I know you didn't change something?" (Dude, uh, firstly, your policy says "proof of price" not "actual circular." Secondly, you can go to the motherfucking website yourself and check).

c) "I'm not allowed to check online." (Sure)

To echo the sentiment posted elsewhere: it's like Best Buy gets a commission each time they renege on their pricematching guarantee. They were hassling me about the fucking OFFICEMAX pricematch, but eventually caved (the girl was actually trying to convince me that OfficeMax is an OFFICE STORE...and they CAN'T PRICE MATCH TO DEDICATED OFFICE STORES...meanwhile, of course, OfficeMax is actually one of the default competitors listed in the system!)

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:59 pm
by dudelsack
Guarantee that every store manager gets bitched out by his regional superior every time the price match tally goes over a certain dollar amount. Hence...

Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:45 pm
by Xenu
Do they lose money when they pricematch, or are they able to wrangle the original "deal" out of the offer?

If they lose money, I'm going to start pricematching some pretty petty shit.

Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 11:22 am
by dudelsack
I really don't know for certain, but this seems likely based on prior retail experience: the corporate budget includes a set amount per year of price-matching money - ie, money that comes to the stores from corporate HQ to make up the difference in the store's budget sheet. If this money didn't exist, a rash of price matching would force the stores that had the most occurrences to cut hours for their employees (the first thing that happens in a retail store slump).

Now, because this money comes from Corporate, there's someone in charge of the program at Corporate (or regional managers, possibly) - they've helped to set a target (or been dictated one, depending) for total price-matching dollars in the afore-mentioned yearly corporate budget. Said budget is broken down into weeks, quarters, etc. If price matching goes over in a given period, the store manager gets a nasty phone call. Reading reports, making nasty phone calls - this is what retail corporations' middle managment does. Hell.

Store manager then meets with the front end manager, who instructs the cashiers to be damn sure that they're pricematching within the stated policy, and instructs shift supervisors to make sure this happens. Cashiers are generally stupid/lazy (I was one, and even if you're not generally this kind of person, the job makes you become that way), so they just start harassing everybody.

I bet they even have a training video for new hires.