They should represent themselves in a way that says "I'm really good. Why don't you ask me to work for your company because I can make positive things happen?"
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How can US carrier employees be so misinformed?
- Thread starter Iwavvns
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I get that and I applaud you for taking the high road.
I had someone in my check lane one day criticizing my Spanish because it didn't sound Mexican. I turned to her and in my best Spanish soap opera voice said (in Spanish) "No one can speak Japanese." 😆
A particular problem Apple seems to have solved at some point after the release of the Titanium PowerBook. My TiBook was always garbage with WiFi, yet my aluminum PowerBooks and MBPs had/have no issues.
I had a McDonalds cashier tell me once that their coffee sizes were Medium, Large and Extra Large. I'd complained that I'd ordered a large coffee and I got a medium.
It took me a few seconds to realize he wasn't kidding and rather than waste 20 minutes trying to explain to him how wrong he was (it was even on the menuboard), I just asked for an extra large. Just was not worth the time and effort.
Then companies need to pay people enough to care. Many of these jobs are less than people need to survive at a bare minimum standard of living. Not everyone is motivated by knowledge and that’s ok. The way these companies train is also very poor, they don’t give people the tools they need to succeed.
What the hell is 'a local carrier'?
I wish people would consider that there are members from many countries on the forum.
I don't know what it is you do, but that sort of potential would probably be the driver for me to work as well. If I could get paid well for it, then that'd be the bonus.
Alas, the sum total of my jobs since 18 has been either for spending money or to pay the bills. At some point and for 14.5 years I had the ability to come and go as I pleased as long as the work was done. The majority of the rest of my time could be spent doing whatever I wanted. My department was one person (me) and I had a large area to myself.
Between 2019 and Covid that was not the case and after Covid working from home became a primary driver for me. I work because in order to enjoy what I actually want to do, the bills have to be paid first. As I've mentioned in another thread, if not for a job I'd be a Dungeons & Dragons playing homeless bum somewhere - but doing what I enjoy!
I come here and to other forums to help and make a difference if I can.
Self-motivation should have been instilled by your parents. It's not up to a company or a school to build you into a person. When I was working retail or fast food, I got the 10 minute training session.
I know exactly how it is trying to survive on minimum wage. I also have seen the 18-20 year olds going on and on.
"I can't pay my bills. Hey, I saw this tattoo at a shop and I really want it."
"How much is it?"
"Oh, it's $500 but he's giving me a $50 discount."
"That's a lot but it's worth it."
The major US carriers are AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Five years ago, Sprint also would have been a major carrier.
A regional carrier is a carrier that serves a region, usually a few states. It's not national, but it operates and maintains it's own network.
Then we have MVNOs, Mobile Virtual Network Operators. Those are carriers that are mainly national, but are not majors because they do not have their own network - they use other carriers networks.
A local carrier would be a carrier that's local to where you live. Not big enough to be regional, probably not big enough to even cover the state it operates in. Maybe just a county or two. I'd guess they have their own equipment because otherwise they'd just be an MVNO.
Then you have my son who is 20 and about to begin the last year of a four-year IT degree. Doesn't mention his health problems to us, doesn't talk much (except maybe to my wife) about his problems at all and tries to survive on campus on breadsticks and the free water that Starbucks will give you. When I found out (I assumed he was using his tuition money) I started making him take the cash I was pushing on him for lunch.
He lives at home so he doesn't have to worry about meals at home or eating while living in the dorms. But he absolutely agonizes about the debt that student loans have put him in.
I would be proud of him for pushing for a successful future.
Who of us had it easy?
I see the homeless here every day and wonder if they have had a job in the last ten years. We have one who tells someone that she needs food, specifies what she wants, and then, yells at the person that it isn't what she wanted.
For every one of the unfocused retail workers who don't want to go to school to be better, there is already an example of their future that they passed in the parking lot.
so they don't make minimum, so what
depending on where they live they probably don't make a livable wage either
reading the second comment as a response to the first sure makes it look like the second commenter is completely out of touch with the socio-economic realities of the current world
You knew how to survive on minimum wage when you were on it. Minimum wage now is worth far, far less than it used to be. Housing costs have tripled or quadrupled in many parts of the world, healthcare and food costs have at least doubled. No amount of budgeting is going to get you out of a home costing triple and minimum wage not going up in over 15 years. You realize not every 20 year old makes minimum wage right?
I'm making California's minimum wage right now, working in retail. I rent a room for almost as much as my two bedroom apartment in the same town 10 years ago.
I sold my 4 bedroom, tri-level house in another state to return to California. I didn't owe anything on it and I got a little more that didn't pay for all the updating I put into it.
Here, I went homeless for a few weeks. That's why I'm working in retail now.
I would hope that some 20 year olds are making more than minimum wage, and I have seen some furthering their education, thankfully.
Want me to feel sorry for you?
I learned as a teenager, doing retail sales, the job is to sell. We had to sit through training sessions on how to convince customers to buy more than they came into the store for. I cannot recall much if any time spent on learning what we sold. This was at a national electronics retailer. Luckily I wasn’t there long.
Prior to the internet making it so fast and easy to research products I developed a technique to test a salesperson. I would ask a question I already knew the answer to. If they got it wrong I knew not to waste my time asking further questions. Car sales people may be the worst, they’re typically under much more pressure also. I worked first as a lot boy, then a parts delivery driver at a dealership, so I saw a piece of that behind the scenes.
Now I just assume I know more than they do and I’m there to buy or put my eyes & hands on the product to make my final decision.
Prior to the internet making it so fast and easy to research products I developed a technique to test a salesperson. I would ask a question I already knew the answer to. If they got it wrong I knew not to waste my time asking further questions. Car sales people may be the worst, they’re typically under much more pressure also. I worked first as a lot boy, then a parts delivery driver at a dealership, so I saw a piece of that behind the scenes.
Now I just assume I know more than they do and I’m there to buy or put my eyes & hands on the product to make my final decision.
How many hiring managers in your company hire a retail employee they had a 15 min interaction with?
The occurrence of that is so rare that as a reason for going above and beyond at a job that treats you like crap it’s utterly absurd. Life isnt a Hallmark movie
If you want them to be motivated to get better go support the picket line the next time a store unionizes
Dude it’s just a sentence, don’t get all bent out of shape over it.
Moreover, for a salesperson at a phone store, the job is to sell contracts for mobile service. The phones are a mere courtesy detail, if not a loss-leader.
You'd hope that the salesperson understood the pros and cons of the plans they were selling, but if you've done 30 minutes of research into the actual phone model you're interested in that's likely 29 minutes more than the salesperson has. Of course, there are always exceptions, I wouldn't want to tar everybody with the same brush, but the thing that will earn commission/bonuses/promotion is pushing the things that make the retailer money.
Its true in other areas, too - the real money and incentives are often commissions from selling finance packages, extended warranties, overpriced accessories etc. Last time I bought a new-ish car it was pretty clear that the dealer didn't give a wet slap about trying to upsell me to a more expensive car and was only concerned about selling me finance (despite me having the cash figuratively sitting there on the table) premium bodywork treatments and anti-minor-damage insurance. (Oh, and the bit of theatre where the salesperson goes out to check with their manager before accepting your offer - I have it on very good authority that what they actually do in the UK is put the kettle on. Presumably in the US it's staring the coffee maker).
I think I really confused one PC sales assistant by asking for the second worst Chromebook in the store... (I wanted to test some apps on "realistic" hardware)
...a privilege enjoyed by those of us who (a) have sufficient money not to stress about it, (b) have worked for people who notice and respect that sort of thing and (c) work in a field where "helping" someone doesn't mean browbeating them into buying more than they actually need. Even then, today's "something" often turns out to be something tedious, annoying, ultimately pointless and not what you studied/trained for.
Ha people that are willing to do this kind of work in their lives are not working as a Best Buy or Verizon/AT&T salesperson. I am in the same boat. I always know more than the people on the floor. It's not a brag, just most of them are trying to get by and don't really care the same way you do.
I think the worst for me, at least right now, are door-to-door sales people. They start off by telling you they aren't there to sell you anything (they are), they try to make an 'in' by telling you they were talking to your neighbor (I don't know my neighbors) and they keep talking while you're closing the door. After telling them several times you don't want anything.
Rather than posting a 'No Soliciting' sign, which I know will just be ignored, I've taken to doing what some blogger suggested and just ignoring them. I've let people not in my contacts list go to VM or answering machine since 1996, so I can ignore a knock or the doorbell. In Phoenix heat, they don't stay on my porch for very long.