Eighty People Dress in Blue Polo Shirts, Wreak Havoc at Best Buy

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=57' target='_blank'>http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=57</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The idea for this mission was submitted by a stranger via email. Agent Slavinsky wrote in to suggest I get either a large group of people in blue polo shirts and khakis to enter a Best Buy or a group in red polo shirts and khakis to enter a Target. Wearing clothing almost identical to the store's uniform, the agents would not claim to work at the store but would be friendly and helpful if anyone had a question. There aren't any Targets in Manhattan, so I decided to go with the two-story Best Buy on 23rd Street. I staked out the Best Buy a few times leading up to the mission. I wanted to figure out the exact shade of blue they used for their uniforms. One detail I noticed is that all employees wore belts and black shoes. I figured it would be against policy to film in the store, so any cameras we used would have to be somewhat hidden. In addition cameras could also be "hidden" in plain sight by using Best Buy's demo cameras to document the mission. All we would have to do is bring in blank tapes and memory cards to insert in their own video and still cameras."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/138534910_fce0ad4315.jpg" /> <br /><br />If you've ever been asked "do you work here?", you'll really appreciate this one. Gotta love it. This was my favorite part: <i>"...at one point [the cops] said that they would be writing both Agent Shafer and I summons for trespassing. Fortunately, Agent Shafer knew the law and kept turning the officer's statements back on themselves: "I'm not trespassing until you ask me to leave. No one has asked me to leave yet." "Are you disobeying a lawful order?" "Are you asking me to leave?""</i>

[OSUKid7]

That was hilarious. :lol: I mean, wow, what a great idea. Still, that must have been incredibly aggravating to the Best Buy.

[Chris Gohlke]

I bet they were more knowledgeable and helpful than the actual employees.

[Vincent Ferrari]

I was actually going to say the same exact thing. In that short time they probably helped more customers than the actual employees (who are usually useless).

Damn I hate that store. And Circuit City isn't much better. In reality, though, you have little choice because you either get screwed royally by the local mom and pops, or you get a great deal with utterly no service from the big shops.

As the saying goes, you can't win for losing.

[Jason Dunn]

Oh man, that's TOO funny! :lol: Only in New York!

[Vincent Ferrari]

Jason,

Next time your here, look me up and I'll show you a few other "only in New York" type things :-D

[Jason Dunn]

Before that I had told her once politely, then given her a deadly glare.

Uh, maybe next time just walk away? 8O

[Jason Dunn]

Next time your here, look me up and I'll show you a few other "only in New York" type things :-D

Hey now, remember that I'm married! ;-)

[Vincent Ferrari]

So am I! :lol:

[Damion Chaplin]

One lady once went to go tell my "boss" when I told her to f**k off.

I don't know about you, but if I were in a CompUSA, and someone who I thought was an employee told me to f**k off, my very first inclination would be to look at their chest for their name tag. At that point, it would be obvious to any observant person that this person who just told me off did not have a CompUSA logo on their shirt or an employee name tag. That's why the first thing you're supposed to do is look for the logo and nametag before asking your question. As a preamble, "Do you work here?" usually works pretty well.

My favorite is when the opposite happens: I'm standing there on the salesfloor in full uniform and a person approaches me, looks at my uniform shirt, then at my nametag, then at the radio in my ear, then at me, then shirt, nametag, radio, face again and then asks "Do you work here?" :roll:

[Vincent Ferrari]

When I worked at Staples, we typically had to wait a month or two for a shirt, so we were given regular Russell Athletic red sweatshirts and basically told to make do while we waited.

Basically, logos aren't always a dead giveaway.

Come to think of it, neither are name tags, because there were plenty of times people would forget them and we had no spares.

Just sayin'.

[Damion Chaplin]

vincenzosi, you guys obviously never had secret shoppers come in to grade your performace/appearance. We'll get nailed big time for something as simple as forgetting your nametag.

I also must question any office supply store that can't print you a new name tag when you forget it... :wink:

[Vincent Ferrari]

We were lucky we ever saw anyone from corporate in our dumpy little forgotten store. Realistically, though, they wouldn't punish us for the shirts we wore if the company wasn't sending them to the store.

As for the nametags, well, those were really complicated. Stupid pin with a label from a P-touch stuck to it :-)

[Jason Dunn]

vincenzosi, you guys obviously never had secret shoppers...

Secret shoppers! I remember those from back when I was working for Blockbuster...gee, 13 years ago now! Man, thinking about that makes me feel old. ;-)