# Can I go into Radio Shack one fucking time without walking out pissed off? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 13, 2012, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909 "2012-12-13T06:34:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/41 "2012-12-13T17:24:59Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > I later learned the abbreviation stands for “Society of Motion Picture Technicians and Engineers” and the jack was for keeping multiple devices in synch via an electronic “click track” of sorts. It’s actually the “Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers”. And the jack is to keep the baby snakes in sync. ---
**Author:** ![furdmort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@furdmort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furdmort)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/42 "2012-12-13T17:28:13Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > guizot sure seemed to. I think you need to re-read guizot’s post. He go treated to the same thing pkbites did - outrageous price marked on the item bin, but was going to pay it anyway because the item was needed. Got to the cash register, got a higher price. After the price was “changed” to match the bin price, the final ring up showed the item still priced higher and got a shrug off from the clerk - and this after the clerk jacked around and couldn’t get the register to work. Yeah, I’d say he had grounds to be pissed, and I’d have probably walked off and left the clerk to cancel the sale, too. ---
**Author:** ![furdmort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@furdmort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furdmort)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/43 "2012-12-13T17:29:50Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > I started a couple years ago giving a bogus postal code when asked; it seems as though fucking everyone needs to know your damned postal code. > > Here in Canada, our codes are 3 letters and 3 numbers in the sequence [A3A 3A3], so until just last week, I’ve given the (likely non-existent) code L0L 0L0. > > I’ve switched over to H0H 0H0. I do that too. Actually, I tell them I don’t want to give them my zip code. If they won’t accept that, then I make one up or give them one from south bumfuck. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/44 "2012-12-13T17:34:19Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > I started a couple years ago giving a bogus postal code when asked; it seems as though fucking everyone needs to know your damned postal code. > > Here in Canada, our codes are 3 letters and 3 numbers in the sequence [A3A 3A3], so until just last week, I’ve given the (likely non-existent) code L0L 0L0. > > I’ve switched over to H0H 0H0. Really? They’re only looking for information regarding where their customers are coming from. If anything it might help them serve you better by placing a store closer to your home. I don’t see any reason to be assholish about it. What possible harm is there in giving your correct postal code? ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/45 "2012-12-13T17:43:12Z")
> [@furdmort](#): > > The customer is bitching to YOU as the only available representative of the store. If shit is fucked up, his only recourse is to hope that you can fix it or that the manager can fix it. Or do you expect a customer who’s getting jacked around on the price (sticker says X, cash register says Y, catalog says Z) to thwack the CEO for dumbassery? > > Your job as a cashier is to be the interface between the store and the customer. When the store’s shit is wrong, YOU do get to explain it to the customer, and the customer will rightly tell you when shit is fucked up. You should then try your best (within the limits of your authority) to fix it, or else call in the manager. You should report problems to your supervisor/shift lead/store manager when the customers report them to you. > > ETA: > And if the prices are plumb out of fucking reason, expect your customers to tell you that, too - and you should let someone higher up know about it. Thank you for this. When you work for a company, you are a representative of that company. You absolutely have to expect customers to be able to vent about the company to you. To them, the worker in the store IS THE COMPANY. And please, spare me the “poor retail worker” comebacks. I worked in a Bass Outlet store for about five years, selling shoes and clothes to cheap-ass outlet customers. I know it’s a horrible, demeaning, awful, low-paying job. But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re part of a company. And likely the only breathing part of the company that happens to be in front of the customer. Also, Radio Shack sucks. Perhaps the only place that sells cheaper plastic crap at Christmas time than Wal-Mart, and that’s saying something. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/46 "2012-12-13T17:47:23Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > guizot sure seemed to. . . . do the second thing and not the first, based on my reading. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/47 "2012-12-13T18:13:58Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Sad thing is, 25 or 30 years ago you **could not** stump Radio Shack on anything. You could go in wanting to feed the audio from a WWII era wire recorder into a Maytag drier, and the clerk would hand you a cable with two alligator clips on one end, a volume knob in the middle, and a big suction cup on the other and tell you step by step how to attach it. And it would only cost $1.53. > [@Ludovic](#): > > And then around 10 years ago when it was sort of in between, you sometimes had staff who knew what they were talking about (and thus worth listening to), and sometimes didn’t. Right. Back in the day when they were a good store they could afford to hire knowledgeable people. Then as it declined they got less and less knowledgeable people and today it’s high school kids who don’t give a shit about knowing anything about what they are selling. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/48 "2012-12-13T18:16:09Z")
> [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > I started a couple years ago giving a bogus postal code when asked; it seems as though fucking everyone needs to know your damned postal code. > > Here in Canada, our codes are 3 letters and 3 numbers in the sequence [A3A 3A3], so until just last week, I’ve given the (likely non-existent) code L0L 0L0. > > I’ve switched over to H0H 0H0. I’m in the U.S. and I always give the ZIP code 17534. (It’s for Intercourse, Penn.) ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/49 "2012-12-13T18:24:29Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Really? They’re only looking for information regarding where their customers are coming from. If anything it might help them serve you better by placing a store closer to your home. > > I don’t see any reason to be assholish about it. What possible harm is there in giving your correct postal code? I don’t see any reason to be assholish about it, either. I cheerily give them a postal code when they ask. I agree that there is likely no “harm” in my providing the correct postal code, I just take issue with the fact that I, being the customer at **SportChek, WalMart, Carlton Cards** or any of a number of widely-dispersed franchises, am being asked to provide _anything_ other than my hard-earned cash. Can you imagine how useful this information must be, to the data-analysts at HQ? “Holy cow, **Joe**! A guy from _Parry Sound_ just bought shoelaces from a location in _Markham_!” “WTF?! We have 7 stores he could have shopped at, between _Parry Sound_ and _Markham_! Let’s look into this.” ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/50 "2012-12-13T18:31:20Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I’m not getting this. I assume he meant you couldn’t purchase the phone, but could only get it on a contract through Bell? And, why is this an issue. Maybe I’m dense, sorry. No, the clerk could not speak to the presence of that display in any way shape or form. Nothing. Price? nope. Buy/lease? nope. Is there someone here that does know? nope. It was surreal - a product so prominently displayed and no means to acquire nor inquire about it. (though there was a brochure dispenser, so there’s that). ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/51 "2012-12-13T18:33:01Z")
> [@furdmort](#): > > Having been there, the customer isn’t thinking of “you” the person but rather “you, face of the faceless conglomerate that is a chain store.” You personally can’t change the prices, but “you” the store should be (if the store were a real person, or if you were the owner+manager of a locally owned store) ashamed of the price. I don’t imagine anyone literally holds a clerk in a chain store responsible for the prices, but they do expect to be able to tell you (as the store’s rep) that the price is outrageous in the hopes that you will pass the word. Sure, the clerk can attempt to pass the word. The word will be ignored, though, and the clerk knows this from bitter, bitter experience. Telling a clerk about a problem that is company wide is just about useless. You need to contact HQ to make your comment. You can tell the clerk that there’s a spill on Aisle 6, and the clerk can actually do something about it. But the clerk has absolutely NO influence on company wide decisions…if s/he did, s/he wouldn’t be clerking, but in an office somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/52 "2012-12-13T18:33:08Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > It’s actually the “Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers”. And the jack is to keep the baby snakes in sync. I appreciate this. I should have known better than to trust my memory when posting on the Dope 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/53 "2012-12-13T18:49:18Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Back in the day when they were a good store they could afford to hire knowledgeable people. Then as it declined they got less and less knowledgeable people and today it’s high school kids who don’t give a shit about knowing anything about what they are selling. I know this is about Radio Shack, and in this very thread I praised Guitar Center, but… I get really pissed off at clerks who may or may not know what they’re talking about, but treat me like I’m completely unwelcome in their store. I’m looking at you, pimple-faced snooty geek in Guitar Center. I went in a few years ago, wondering what my options were for turning a guitar into a MIDI controller. I didn’t know very much about it. What I did know was that my synth has a 5-pin jack, and that my guitar doesn’t. PFSG pretty much dismissed me by throwing a 17-pin cable at me, and pretty much saying “Buy this and get out of my face.” When I tried to get a little more of his time, he threw a kit at me and said it was $600, buy it and get out. The kit was opened, there were obviously parts missing, and the instructions were gone. A few months later I was able to find a converter box that did exactly what I needed. Some time after that, I was back in GC for some other reason. I saw that clerk, and tried to tell him about the cool device, and how they could stock it and make some good money from it. Instead, he got really defensive and started in with some pretty abusive language. I hope they fired that pimple-faced fuck. ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/54 "2012-12-13T18:51:37Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Sure, the clerk can attempt to pass the word. The word will be ignored, though, and the clerk knows this from bitter, bitter experience. > > Telling a clerk about a problem that is company wide is just about useless. You need to contact HQ to make your comment. You can tell the clerk that there’s a spill on Aisle 6, and the clerk can actually do something about it. But the clerk has absolutely NO influence on company wide decisions…if s/he did, s/he wouldn’t be clerking, but in an office somewhere. This isn’t always true. Maybe the lowest worker on the totem pole can never change anything, but every store has a manager and one or two assistant managers, and those folks can in fact solve some (not all) company-wide problems, in their store. They also speak to district and regional managers who can also change things. Now, I’m not saying be rude to these people, but to say nothing just because you think the store-level workers can do “nothing” is crazy. Tell them what the problem is and give them a chance. If they, in fact, can do nothing, then you can move up the chain. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/55 "2012-12-13T18:56:51Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > A few months later I was able to find a converter box that did exactly what I needed. Did it have a synchronous multi-phasic transmission emitter jack? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/56 "2012-12-13T19:01:05Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > Did it have a synchronous multi-phasic transmission emitter jack? No, but it had six mini plastic transexual elves. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/57 "2012-12-13T19:11:24Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > No, but it had six mini plastic transexual elves. _sings_ Five golden rings. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/58 "2012-12-13T19:19:27Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > So where would I go to buy a diode? > [@kayaker](#): > > [There you go.](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_5?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=diode&sprefix=diode%2Caps%2C695) That is useless if you need the diode NOW. Please re-read the OP. Had I not wanted to finish the project last night I would have gotten my parts online and waited for them to come in the mail. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/59 "2012-12-13T19:34:39Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > No, but it had six mini plastic transexual elves. LOL! ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/60 "2012-12-13T19:35:45Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > That is useless if you need the diode NOW. Well, what if the project is a time machine? I will not have needed it NOW 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909.md?page=4)