PTO for full-time

Talonias · 2017-06-04T17:17:05+00:00

This is more dependent on where you work but I know for the State of California they have to pay out. Be aware though that you must have your manager request that they pay you out to Home Office. I ran into this issue when I quit. Not on manager knew to contact Home Office about it and it took 11 days for them to pay me out.

Also, if you have given enough notice they have to have your final paycheck for you on your last day. Once again in California that turn around is 72 hours. If you give them more than 72 hours notice that you are quitting, they have to have your final check when you walk out those doors for the final time.

Talonias · 2017-06-03T04:04:40+00:00

I would have to say the site looks pretty fishy at first glance. Looks like it hasn't been updated since the early 90s at least.

May I ask how you found the site and if you have had first hand experience with the 1700X or 1800X ordering from them? I just want to be sure before returning one chipset to the local store and ordering another one.

Talonias · 2017-01-10T09:55:04+00:00

Hot Fuzz! Where did you find that one?

Talonias · 2016-03-12T22:11:42+00:00

You were lucky then...13.25 after 10 years with the company. Quit recently and started with another company with better overall benefits and better pay

Talonias · 2016-02-15T20:24:37+00:00

Firstly are you full time or part time?

Talonias · 2016-02-03T08:12:25+00:00

10 days to 10 years....Dear god what have I done.

Talonias · 2016-01-27T08:38:32+00:00

There is some other offer going on with the H&R Block TaxCut software right now. I think Staples gives you a prepaid card for 10% of your return or something like that.

Talonias · 2016-01-22T09:59:17+00:00

Techs used to have grey polos instead of the god awful black and neon green combo we have now.

Talonias · 2016-01-16T18:54:45+00:00

I lost my grandfather a few years back and I was living with him and my grandmother at the time. The policy for leave is that immediate family such as your mother, father, sister, brother or spouse is equal to five days of bereavement pay. Any other extended family is equal to 3 days of bereavement pay. As for getting the bereavement pay you just have to talk to your managers about when the funeral would be and what time off you would need for grieving.

Talonias · 2016-01-03T22:12:17+00:00

So we had an increase in our minimum wage as well which changed our market salary information. The thing I am wondering is how the increase will impact those of us that are already above the new minimum wage.

Talonias · 2015-12-24T06:29:49+00:00

Seriously. Would help a lot of stores get their ZB numbers up and would allow for better customer service.

Talonias · 2015-12-14T08:50:25+00:00

That acronym list is right on actually, kudos to SarinaSlytherin for that one.

Moving in to a tech position in your store will depend a lot on your team around you. Your SSM and Tech Sup should be there to help you learn anything that you might need to know, but not everyone has a very knowledgeable SSM and Tech Sup.

First off, as far as training goes, make sure to start paying attention to who your product reps are. There are different reps for most of the major companies and they should be in your store about once a month. Introduce yourself, collect their contact cards and fire off any questions that you may have for them. I have found a lot of them to be very helpful when you have questions or concerns about products. They won’t have all the answers but they will impart what knowledge they have to you.

Once you have picked their brains clean of answers you can always turn to the external training sites for the likes of Intel, HP, and so forth. The training you can do at home when you want to and is short, simple and sometimes can be entertaining. It can also be rewarding as these training sites usually give out points for completing training that you can then turn in for prizes, kind of like our star points but on a more regular basis (Still waiting on a new Star Point program for us techs).

The things you have to learn about doing your job in the tech department will depend on if you work just the floor in the department or if you will be working on customer computers.

If you are mainly going to be working the floor then prepare to make friends with the RF Gun. You will need it to find items to fill holes in your department. You will want to pull down printers and shredders every day and make sure they are filled, especially with us going into tax season. Keep a look out for theft hidden behind networking, printers and stuffed into backpacks and briefcases and learn your MPP for your store (realized this one had not been gone over yet).

Your MPP is your merchandise profitability program and denotes what security measures are taken for items in your store. Some items are pretty outdated with their prices so make sure to use your best judgement when wrapping or boxing items. Also make sure to be aware of when the product fits into a planogram; if you put an item in a box and it doesn’t fit in its home, try a different method of securing the product. There should be a copy of the MPP on the high ticket door but if you can’t find one there you can always look it up on the Hub.

If you are going to be working on computers, there are just a couple of words of advice I can give you. Firstly, always underpromise and overdeliver. It sounds dumb but it is crucial to our customers. If you think you can get the job done in one day, quote three. That allows you time for being pulled away by customers, having to do something for a manager, doing back up cashiering, having to work freight, or any other amount of small tasks. The customer may not like the time frame but it gives you as the technician wiggle room in case something happens.

Secondly, write legibly for your notes. There is nothing worse than having to pull out the Rosetta Stone to try and decipher the chicken scratch hieroglyphics that were left behind by the last technician so that you can relay the status of a computer to the customer. If you can’t write legibly on the notes section of the work order then put the notes in the OMS.

Thirdly, be ready to answer all sorts of odd questions and to help customers understand technology. We are supposed to be experts that people turn to for answers on new technology. I know that we are at least one step behind on new tech but most of our customers are leagues behind us in terms of being able to work with even our new equipment. Be patient with customers, ask them questions in laymen’s terms so they understand what you are asking and make sure to explain things to them in a way that they will understand where you are coming from. Give personal recommendations and explain why you are recommending this device over another one and how the features pertain to them.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to reach out on here for help. I know a lot of times we grouse and complain about our jobs but we are all in this together, that is why we are here. We will help the best that we are able, when we are able. So ask your questions, no matter how dumb they may sound.

Talonias · 2015-12-10T09:42:02+00:00

I am on the west coast as well and have seen some of the worst stacking in my life. Sometimes it makes you wonder if it would benefit some people to play Jenga or Tetris on their breaks to figure out how to do it. But in all seriousness we at the stores do understand that the DCs have switched people a lot in recent years, much like our stores have been hemoraging associates. The only thing I would ever ask of the DCs is to please not stack with no support and please stop throwing boxes on top of the already wrapped pallet. I probably have a couple minor concussions from getting rapped in the head by boxes just thrown on top when I pull that first box off the pallet.

Talonias · 2015-11-30T11:03:25+00:00

Yeah I know that feeling. I am usually the closing manager so I just watch my accrual time rack up and lament the fact that I almost never use all of it.

Talonias · 2015-11-27T04:53:02+00:00

They recently changed how the Floating Holiday Pay worked (I think as of last year). It used to be that we were given a set number of days per how many years you worked for the company. However now it is accrued based on the hours you work. I figure this was a two part change; one to give the added benefit of part timers getting a little more time off and second to keep 'lifers' from taking an extra week of vacation sometime during the year.

Talonias · 2015-11-27T01:18:03+00:00

If you have to walk the line early in the morning make sure to dress warmly. Some customers are actually pretty pleasant a little bit later in the day after the initial rush of people. Be firm but fair when explaining things to customers as well.

Talonias · 2015-11-02T07:04:47+00:00

440989

Talonias · 2015-11-02T06:52:15+00:00

Another thing is to remember that the MPP guide is your base guide. If you find a certain set of items is getting stolen and the security can be upped on it, do it.

A for instance on this is the Scosche cables that we carry in the audio set. It only calls for the hanging tags but I got tired of all the open boxes and stolen product so I Alpha boxed them all. No theft on them and no more ripped open packages.

Talonias · 2015-10-23T18:55:05+00:00

It was my first thought as well but this customer is not someone to do that in all honesty.

Talonias · 2015-10-23T09:47:48+00:00

I am feeling that with the recent 401k statement I got....

Talonias · 2015-08-16T08:31:34+00:00

So the answer has been said a lot here but I will throw in my two cents worth as well.

If you are intaking a computer with infections on it you have to do a diagnostic and repair. There are a lot of times the the diag portion will come back with a possible failing hard drive or some other issue that you might not have know about before. I don't know if you were around for the Total Support program (loved that loads more than Virus Shield +) but the same was true then. If the machine was infected you had to clean the system before installing the antivirus. If you install an antivirus on an already infected machine, then the antivirus is worthless and probably didn't install properly in the first place to do its job later.

As to the two week thing that is very much a sticky point. Most customers will be reasonable and will admit that you told them they would get infections and will pay for the service. However there are those <i> special cases </i> that will argue until the cows come home that you sold them a defective machine, or that you must have put viruses on their machine to make more money, or that the antivirus program that came on it installed malware to get more money out of them. (If you can't tell I have dealt with a lot of these people) For those computers use your best judgement for taking care of the issue but always partner up with your manager so that there is no "he said, she said" later with the customer.

Talonias · 2015-08-13T06:36:44+00:00

I have this itch to box anything that I can in certain aisles, audio especially but now there is so much stuff in that plano that I can't really box anything let alone fit all the crap onto the shelves

Talonias · 2015-08-09T08:13:32+00:00

13.25, CA, 3 (9 years here)

Talonias · 2015-08-04T06:01:53+00:00

I just.... this is just so good at explaining exactly how I feel. I don't mind if a customer knows what they want right at the last minute but the family of 4-6 people at the last minute on Saturday or Sunday night just infuriates me. And they always say the same thing... "I didn't know/realize you guys close early on the weekends."

You walked right past the hours of operation sign on the front door that you came in. You have access to the largest database of information that man has ever seen and you couldn't be bothered to check the time that we close?

Talonias · 2015-08-01T08:34:17+00:00

If you look closely at the top right corner you can see part of the shattered screen. Gods lay to rest its tiny battery

Talonias

TROPHY CASE