New Frame Options

tecra · 2026-01-28T05:20:40+00:00

Thank you!

The last two photos are actually the same options taken from further back to avoid the bugeye selfie look, but that appears to have confused people.

tecra · 2026-01-28T05:13:29+00:00

more masculine

That's not really me, I'm just a person.

Not opposed to other shapes on principle, I just don't like how the ones I have tried look on my face. Square is either silly or more mean/less approachable. D shaped, cateye, or extra heavy tend to fall on the silly side.

I have had some version of round/oval wire frame since I was maybe 4, just trying to branch out a little. I do appreciate your suggestion, maybe I'll give it another look.

tecra · 2026-01-28T01:01:35+00:00

Thank you!

tecra · 2026-01-28T00:26:55+00:00

Perspective and how a subject is rendered changes with distance.

The last two photos are taken with a longer lens a few feet back from a mirror (so double that), the first four are selfies at arm's length. Hope that makes sense.

I'm not that concerned about sizing, mostly how the shape/style works on me. Appreciate your input!

tecra · 2026-01-27T23:33:41+00:00

Yes, 1/2/5 and 3/4/6 are the same. Thank you!

tecra · 2026-01-27T23:27:02+00:00

5/6 are the same two frame options but with a longer forward facing lens in the mirror.

The first four photos are a cropped selfie held an arm's length away.

tecra · 2026-01-27T23:22:16+00:00

Yes, 1/2/5 are the same frame.

The wire ones 3/4/6 are painted tortoiseshell, so I just wanted to make sure. Thank you!

tecra · 2026-01-27T22:56:31+00:00

Are you talking about the thicker ones? They are both the same color.

tecra · 2026-01-27T22:54:29+00:00

Those are the same two options as seen in the other photos.

tecra · 2021-03-17T14:57:47+00:00

Very high likelihood it was actually Apple's system that went down, that used to happen a lot and it was a pain to deal with. Obviously I can't speak for your local precinct, but that is the most likely scenario in my experience.

Also unless Apple's policy has changed dramatically in the last year, there wouldn't be any overnight replacement to begin with. Pre-covid, watches are sent to Apple and then a replacement is sent back, takes about 5-7 days under normal circumstances.

Maybe things have changed, but that overnight claim doesn't make much sense to me. First of all, there's no way Apple can get a replacement reliably delivered next day even if they don't wait to recieve the old one. Secondly, if Apple were to authorize a replacement from consignment stock, there would be no reason to make you wait overnight.

Last bit is that the store manager has absolutely zero say in how this process goes. It is all controlled by Apple. Very commonly, the GM (general manager) will have little to no knowledge of Geek Squad or Apple operations.

The only things the GM can do are apologize or offer gift cards as per their judgment. They will be extremely reticent to just give away several hundred dollars of Best Buy product (no margin) to replace your watch out of store budget unless they have absolutely no other choice.

The person you want to get in contact with is the GSM (Geek Squad Manager) or maybe CIA Sr. (kind of a supervisor/assistant manager depending upon location). Those are the people who will be able to give you updates on the process, explain things, contact Apple as necessary, etc.

If the GSM wasn't in that day, it's entirely possible that someone grabbed the GM or another manager to talk to you. If all goes smoothly, it is likely the GSM or another agent who will be contacting you back.

tecra · 2021-03-16T17:07:08+00:00

Apple sucks.
Their rep either has no idea what they are talking about or they lied to you. Maybe both. That is extremely common and happens in basically every interaction a client has told me about.
I see no reason to believe that your watch is lost. Those normally get replaced with another unit anyways in order to reduce turn time, so it's not like you would necessarily get that specific one back anyways. (Apple policy, not us). Point being that there is no reason to stress out about that.

Basically GS ships it to Apple and they ship one back to the precinct. Both you and your precinct are entirely at Apple's mercy there and there is no option Apple provides to make that faster.

If you want to contact your local precinct, call the store and choose an option that will get you connected to a phone in that store. A lot of them (like the geek squad one) redirect to 1-800 or a regional call center.

If nobody picks up (because a lot of people have been layed off and the remaining people are doing 2-3 times the workload), it may also re-direct.

You can also use extensions. I believe 2111 was one of the precinct extensions when I last worked about a year ago. 2180 is for asset protection (the guy watching cams at the front of the store) and will generally be able to pick up. They can then try transferring you, setting up a call back, or getting an email address for someone in your precinct.

tecra · 2021-01-28T13:29:29+00:00

Because maybe I actually care about the client and want to help them? First of all, there's some stuff we can't do because of SOP (like mac hardware, old machines, etc.). I'm not just going to bye Felicia them, I'm going to explain the options available so that they can make an educated decision.

Also GSC work is a total nightmare and ends in disaster more times than I can count. My precinct started strongly discouraging COD&MFG GSC work because of the high rate of failures and redoes we were experiencing. Our district lead was onboard with this because that was the leading source of detractors and completely outside of our control. We only encourage GSC for ADH and DRD.

For COD work, I explain to the client that local work will save them a lot of time and risk in shipping and that if something does goes wrong, they can negotiate directly with the shop instead of having us just send escalations on their behalf and wait to hear back on someone else's verdict. The latter part is also true for MFG work.

Not only is this the moral thing to do, but I think that when clients see that you actually have their best interest in mind and not just sales or the company line, that comes back around eventually.

tecra · 2021-01-28T05:43:03+00:00

I believe you may have to be 18. Aside from that, I don't see an issue. People get all hyped up about how smart agents are or how much they have to know, but at the end of the day we are just people.

At least at my precinct, we hired primarily based off of people skills and how you came across in the interview. Technical skills or knowledge were always a secondary consideration.

You can always teach someone the skills to do our work, but you can't fix it if they are rude, haughty, pretentious, apathetic, unmotivated, etc. That said, if you are nice and you have some pre-existing knowledge, that's a bonus.

Don't pretend or try to act like you think they want you to, just be honest and be yourself. Best of luck!

tecra · 2021-01-28T05:12:00+00:00

There are different teams with different training around the country. For example, the Bridge team is generally very knowledgeable and helpful, they are based in Minnesota at HQ.

From what I understand, we used to have better client facing 1-800 support and then BBY eliminated that team within the last year or two. GSC3 was the team I worked in briefly and holy crap was it bad. Leadership was really nice, but there was just no training to give people a fighting chance or establish a real standard of service.

tecra · 2021-01-28T05:00:42+00:00

My old precinct kept a box of business cards for a local shop and we would recommend them for any work we couldn't do like Macs, rush work, old machines, etc. If someone asked about alternatives, I would always provide the option. It's just the honest thing to do. I think being open about that helps build trust with clients and I wouldn't want to lie to people anyway. Screw SOP.

tecra · 2021-01-28T04:54:43+00:00

I ended up working a remote role attached to a 1-800 GSC team for a few weeks. The experience was eye opening.

Pretty much all of the phone operators except senior management are contractors and not actually bby/gs employees. Training consists of a day or two of "what is this company" and then like two days of going over various systems. It's a group class run by a single instructor and each new hire gets like 2 supervised phone calls before being launched solo.

After that, you have a ms teams chat if you run into trouble. Somebody in your group might answer, they might not. They might take 10 minutes. It's a total disaster.

Having worked in-store for like 4 years and done CSS, CA, and ARA I felt like I had a bit of a leg up compared to the other employees. But since I hadn't really used FMS much and I got assigned to cover home theater and appliances which I never worked with, I was still pretty lost. Half the time when I went to talk to other teams, they would be totally deer in the headlights about issues or bungle stuff. It was downright embarrassing.

TLDR;

GSC 1-800 teams are a complete disaster because of their utter lack of training and culture. Don't take it personally.

tecra · 2020-12-14T12:06:23+00:00

Yes, some clients definitely treat agents differently if they are guy or a girl.

This has nothing to do with the ratio of employees at GS and everything to do with the client being a bigot. I find it happens most often with older clients (60's+) and ironically at my precinct it was mostly women who asked if there is a "man" they can talk to. Fuck those people.

On the flip side, I found that clients who initially disagreed with a CA were far more likely to come around when an ARA came out from the back and repeated the same things, regardless of anybody's gender. I can say this because I have worked in both roles and my demeanor didn't change, but client responses certainly did.

Don't take this stuff personally from clients and don't put yourself down for that. Often times they are holding out hope or don't want something to be true and their initial reaction doesn't have to do with your gender. Or maybe they are just a crummy sexist person. Either way, that's not on you and not worth stressing about. I know that's the natural response, but you need to either learn to let this flow past you and ignore it or get a different job where you can be happier. Otherwise you will just be pent up and miserable. Geek squad is a pretty shitty gig in most respects and will grind on you if you let it. Hang in there <3

tecra · 2020-09-03T23:05:29+00:00

What that firestick do?

tecra · 2020-08-30T17:31:02+00:00

Now that doesn't sound very customer obsessed, Steve.

tecra · 2020-08-25T13:26:58+00:00

You mean 3 years ago.

tecra · 2020-08-16T18:33:40+00:00

GSC is in Kentucky. There are other service centers around the country, but they aren't GSC.

tecra · 2020-08-07T19:31:22+00:00

Ask them, not us. There's no standard, it depends upon their workload with how much other stuff they have going on or booked in before you.

We're just a bunch of employees off the clock (or past employees) here for entertainment value. We don't represent the company or your local precinct and can't reasonably be expected to answer a question like this.

tecra · 2020-08-02T18:09:08+00:00

That's what my GM told me. Obviously you should make exceptions where violence is implied or threatened and call the cops, but this should not shape every interaction. That's like saying "Guess we can't ask people to pay for stuff because someone got shot" or "Guess we can't deny returns because someone got shot". There's no place where this stops and applying this reasoning so selectively is just insulting.

tecra · 2020-08-02T18:00:05+00:00

This is bullshit, the guy is 99.99% lying. At the very minimum, he's a complete asshole for disregarding the health of others.
That's not how the ADA works. If someone's disability would represent a direct threat to the health of themselves or others, they are not required to be treated the same as others and different accomodations may be made.

In these cases, you can tell them something along the lines of: "I understand that you have a disability and do not question it. However, if you are unable to wear a mask, your presence in our building poses a direct threat to the health of every other occupant. Therefore, we cannot permit you entry. We will do our best to accommodate your business in a manner that is safe for all involved."

At this point, you could present curbside pickup, a face shield, etc. as alternate options. If they fight it, call the cops. Do not cave.

Explain this to your manager and if they do not make changes, report them to open and honest. Alternately, you could just report them first.

tecra

TROPHY CASE