Vinn TresOcho

New Chapter

So, I quit my job today. Well.. I gave my two weeks notice. I have another job lined up already so thankfully I don’t have to deal with the stress of finding something new. I’m very glad that I’m going to be leaving Best Buy. When I first started I honestly thought that I’d be there for much longer than a year, as in the very beginning I was getting solid hours, making pretty good money for a part time job, and everyone from my co-workers to upper management was very helpful and friendly.

Unfortunately, none of that lasted as many of the managers and co-workers that were there when I started had left over the time I was there, and it seemed that almost every one of them left in some type of ugly way. I won’t get into major details because it’s really not my place to, but as the new group of managers came in and took over, store morale quickly dropped, hours were cut (which dealt pretty severe blows to the already falling morale), the discount was altered (it used to be 5% above cost, so you could grab HDMI cables that were listed at $70 for about 5 bucks and change, but was later capped at a 50% discount, which meant those same $70 cables would now cost you $35 which still wasn’t bad, but also wasn’t great) and one by one people began to move on to other jobs.

I started there in February of last year, right after all the holiday chaos had died down and it seemed that the store was still very busy and people were happy to shop there, but as the summer approached it quickly died down and that’s when the hours were cut (also when the new managers began arriving and the old ones began leaving, but I didn’t make that correlation at the time). I was told from the people there that this was normal, the summer is always slower and that once we hit September/October things will pick back up.. but they didn’t. Once “Black Friday” hit, I figured that things would be getting better as this was the busiest time of the season for retail, but alas, they didn’t.

I wanted out much sooner, but my inability to find another job really put the breaks on that happening, and thus, I began to grow more and more tired of what was happening around me. I also started to develop a strong dislike for the company that I once loved so very much. After my winter break at college was over, I continually tried to explain to my managers that I had class on certain days and was willing to work shorter shifts, but twice as many as usual because of the awkwardness of my school scheduling. They told me I had to have a certain availability, and that the length of my shifts was to be the same as everyone else.

I finally accepted that this was the way the company worked, and that the managers hands were tied and they had to do things by the book. This acceptance didn’t last long as I was continually called in for short shifts (typical shift is 8 hours, I was being called in for 3 and 4 hour shifts) and this angered me as they originally told me they weren’t allowed to schedule me like this.

Eventually, my friend came to me and said that if I wanted to work for him helping to install fireplaces. With the summer approaching and my scheduling becoming wide open, I gladly accepted. So I start that in about 2 weeks and hopefully it’ll be a pretty long lasting job, as he’s told me the pay is good and it’s not the life-killing hours of retail.

So that’s where I’m at in my life. The end.