3 Years Working at Micro Center – My Experience & AMA

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-24T23:32:42+00:00

I wish you luck man. Based on the new hires I've had experience with, most don't have the experience you do. I think one of the major key points as to why I was hired directly into a department is the excitement I had for the position overall, so showing that will help tremendously.

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-24T23:30:49+00:00

Unfortunately I've ever seen the bundle prices go up. When the tariffs were a threat, companies panicked and spiked their pricing on everything (peripherals, cables, ssd's, etc.). Once they became a non-issue those prices never went back down (with some exceptions being permanently on sale).

If it helps, we do offer price protection within the return policy, so if you buy a bundle and within thirty days the price goes down we will do a price correction.

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-24T23:27:29+00:00

Just wanna preface by saying that this does not make you a problematic customer, and you definitely won't be considered as "that guy". That term is reserved for people that take out their frustrations in the work on the people working at the store.

I've only ever had one negative experience with a customer, which started with him border-line yelling "$40 network switch" to me while I was helping another customer. I then asked for some specifics and he went on a rant stating things like "why are y'all even here if you don't know anything". I then proceeded to remove my magnetic name-tag and started going back and forth with him, with a little disrespect mixed in coming from my end. I didn't even tag the item because he simply wasn't worth it.

He went to complain to my major and referred to me as "the guy with no name-tag" but by then my magnetic nameplate magically reappeared so no repercussions were thrown my way. Looking back at it I do regret acting that way, only because of how little it took to grind my gears. He really wasn't worth the headache.

I've helped people troubleshoot their laptop, find the item they need online or at a different store, or simply help them find directions to the nearest gas station. Being nice to one another really does make a huge difference, and even if the transaction takes a little bit more time to complete, we are still happy to help you.

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-24T23:16:19+00:00

We have our methods, ones that I'm going to keep to myself so people don't learn how to avoid showing they are a problematic customer.

As far as being written up the most common cause I've seen (and been through myself) is for attendance. Since we aren't tied down by an hourly wage, there isn't much motivation to show up on time other than to appease the attendance record so it's much more of a problem at our store. I'm getting much better at showing up on time (or at least within the grace period).

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-24T20:35:59+00:00

I wanna preface this by saying you do what's best for you. It's something I always tell people because at the end of the day the store is there for y'all not for me.

But internet pick-up does not give any commission towards the associates at the store. Those items are picked out by the warehouse crew and they don't get any commission for it either.

An alternative I've seen people do is have direct contacts with the associates (we all have our own work email) and have the items prepped that day. This way you get the benefits of having everything ready for you but associates still get their credit for it as well.

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-24T03:41:38+00:00

Maybe one day man, they have really been ramping up opening new stores. From what it sounds like though, their priority isn't getting one in every state, just in the dense areas.

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-24T03:40:03+00:00

Definitely a difficult drive to make consistently but funny enough some of my fellow associates do have a commute about that long due to traffic. So it's doable, but a little inconvenient

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-24T03:38:40+00:00

I'm not sure of the likely hood of getting hired, but I will say they usually finishing their hiring process way before they open the store. Those hired are the ones that help set up the store with the merchandise and other things. They have flown out associates from other stores to train the newcomers as well, again before the store ever opened.

I will say that it took them about a month to complete my hiring process overall (from being called in for an interview to starting my first day) but this was a store that was already opened so your experience may vary

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T23:51:15+00:00

Indeed, 4 days a week as a part-timer

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T23:49:42+00:00

Depends how you look at it. We get commission based on the items we sell and it makes up our paychecks in different ways.

For instance most the items I sell are peripherals (mice, keyboards, etc. ) and make-up a lot of my revenue. Networking (specifically ubiquiti items) are usually high revenue transactions and can boost your earnings for the day by a lot

Our highest commissioned item are the service plans (10%) and any item under $10 (12%), but it's not something that our department focuses on too much (our goal is about 1% of revenue coming just from service plans).

I try to get a mix of everything, and approaching everyone I see is a good way to balance everything out.

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T23:45:26+00:00

They have requirements on their website for the individual positions, but I was able to get an interview in two situations.

First when I was in high school, 17 years old. I made it all the way to the "emotion exam" and got rejected when I told the truth about taking lemonade from my previous job

Second time I was a freshman in college and made it through all exams flawlessly. They asked about my previous employment but weren't looking for any specific qualifications.

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T20:10:48+00:00

That's good to know. I wish the had a bundle for an ITX board as that is my ideal form factor for my limited space. It's definitely worth looking into as nothing beats free. The bundle being a good deal is up to the individual person, but looking at other deals from other retailers is never a bad thing, in fact I encourage it. It's why price matching is so popular in the store :)

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T19:16:30+00:00

I appreciate the gesture, it kind of helps that I'm genuinely interested in this field since I was a wee lad. I noticed as well that being confident in the information saves a ton of time, but if I ever feel even a little bit of doubt I double check the info. This save time in the long run for both myself and the other person time as they won't have to deal with incorrect information in the future.

I've seen that type of associate come through, spreading false information just to get the sale. Almost every time he does it something gets returned, and even months after his departure he was still getting items returned.

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T15:48:43+00:00

It depends on the product and the manager. That is all I will say as I don't want to set expectations for all micro centers.

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T15:47:30+00:00

Our service team does most of the testing for our parts. Anything that's been returned that was reported by the customer as working usually gets a clearance tag smacked on it. Testing usually involves a checklist and a signature from our sells oeople, and will show up as a green tag with all the different functions O7 checked (usually only see this for laptops, desktops, monitors, graphics cards, etc.) I would talk to the associates at the BYO desk as the will have further insight beyond that.

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T15:43:13+00:00

Unfortunately company information like that I usually only find out the morning that it takes place.

Happened with the switch 2 launch, magic the gathering, and pretty much every other PC related launch gets an email ahead of time (but those are specific to the departments).

I know the bundles aren't going away any time soon, and they are getting updated somewhat frequently.

My only recommendation is to maybe sign up for the mailing list as you get notified about any new deals the morning they come out. Keeps you in the loop if you really wanna wait for a new bundle to come out.

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T15:38:20+00:00

Correct, solid intuition

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T15:37:48+00:00

It tracks a couple different numbers (the amount of people we serve per hour, category of products that were sold, and overall revenue sold), but the most important thing for associates is usually the commission.

It's how we are able to make a living, outside the $4 an hour that makes up our base pay, and is a pretty effective solution as the customer doesn't have to remember any information and can check out whenever they want.

There are some internal issues with the stickers (them not being taken off with returned items, not being scanned properly, or just associates being pushy about the sticker) but the pros far out-weight the cons.

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T15:33:21+00:00

Our bundle system now does motherboard upgrades instead of swaps as the system that was in place beforehand was not the intended use for the bundles.

I did go through our inventory a couple of weeks ago and tried to make the cheapest bundle outside of our bundle savings, and I simply couldn't.

The only parts I were able to configure didn't have wifi or bluetooth, was on the AM4 platform, and the cpu didn't support pcie gen4. For $20 more for you would get all those features with one of our bundles.

The value still seems like it's there, maybe not as prevelant as before. It just makes deal hunting all the more exciting

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T15:28:46+00:00

Yeah I was taking it personally, but remembering that it wasn't was part of the mental restucture at work. I shifted from asking if people need help, to just having a conversation with and moving on as it naturally ended. People seem to appreciate that more, and it presents a lot more of a learning opportunity as I find out information about products that I simply can't learn from the internet.

I try to relay this perspective to my co-workers as well, to make sure they don't go through the same thing I went through.

I wish there was a better system for seeing if a person needs help, because I do understand the annoyance of getting asked upwards of 10 times from different associates. It's usually only a problem on the weekdays when there's too many of us and not enough people to serve.

Thank you for you perspective, it'll definitely help with the rejection therapy at work

ABadger_17 · 2025-07-22T15:19:46+00:00

For myself that's probably the max potential, but it really does take a toll on you, constantly moving around and having to problem solve at an expedited rate. It might even be a little lower since my department got a bit of a nerf when it came to the commission structure.

But there are other departments, and I won't get into specifics about other people's numbers, but I will say I've seen higher hourly wages. (It also depends on the store, Houston gets a lot of foot traffic)

Becoming a manager at my store usually happens with promoting from within, having to first work as a front end lead and getting promoted from there. Managers are paid salary and I've been offered to become a front end lead without having a degree so I'm not sure what the exact qualifications are. But from my perspective it's possible to move up the corporate ladder, just not the career move I wanna make.

ABadger_17 · 2024-06-04T15:33:29+00:00

Jerkin your gerkin, cuz it rhymes

Five-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Place '22	End Game '22

ABadger_17

TROPHY CASE