# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/101 "2012-12-14T19:18:06Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > so I entered my phone number as (area code) 867-5309, just like I’ve been taught. Thank you for paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/102 "2012-12-14T19:27:36Z")
Oh, you… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/103 "2012-12-14T19:34:08Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > If I were radio shack, I would become the headquarters for all things android. How, pray tell, are they to accomplish this? You can always get accessories cheaper online or go to a Best Buy or Wal-Mart or Target or mall kiosk for the same stuff at the same or lower prices. And the idea of a brick and mortar app store is asinine. They could build market share among electronics hardware of various vintages because there was no internet to make shopping easier and cheaper. That’s just no longer the case. Their business model is just plain busted. They’re just another in a line of retailers like CompUSA or Circuit City that’s on the way out. To be honest, I’m surprised Best Buy has managed to hold out so long, but even there the signs are pointing down over the long haul. I suppose Radio Shack could try to get Google to sign some kind of exclusive rights deal, but I rate the chances of surviving a fall from 30000ft without a parachute much higher. ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/104 "2012-12-14T19:34:13Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Heh. I went in once for the simplest thing I can imagine: [this](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Telephone_jack.jpg). I didn’t find it after looking on this shelves in the telephone area so I asked. Blank stare at my description. Went to Kmart and found one for $1.49. Maybe they were just shocked that you still have/use a landline phone. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/105 "2012-12-14T19:51:16Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > If I were radio shack, I would become the headquarters for all things android. > > If Radio shack can be for android what it used to be for ham radios, then hi fi stereos, then electronics and computers, I think they can turn themselves around. You mean the mobile OS Android, or androids in general? ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/106 "2012-12-14T19:57:55Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > Do those electronic toy kits actually teach much about how electronics work, or do they just provde plans that the kid builds by rote? You can build the circuit by rote, and it’ll work, but the manual (at least the one I had as a kid) explained _how_ the circuit worked, so if you put some thought into it, you can think of ways to modify it, and learn something that way. That’s how I learned electronics. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/107 "2012-12-14T20:39:54Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I have never been in a Radio Shack that is actually helpful. They are always either > > 1. super duper condescending, as in “little lady” (SERIOUSLY); > 2. completely ignorant and clueless; > 3. a combination of both; > 4. and douchebags to boot. > > And I never call anybody a douchebag. :mad: The RatShacks in my area tend toward “nice, but clueless” staff. Of course, when I’m walking in with part numbers and printouts from their website… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/108 "2012-12-14T21:12:39Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Later on I sought out the floor manager and politely explained to him that I as a customer do not like having people fill out forms (very slowly) at the point of sale, and I did not like thinking that Walgreens was bogging down all of the lines in order to collect customer data. I explained that the clerk had been very courteous and that I understood that this was company policy, but I hoped he would let his own management know that one customer was not happy with their process. Excuse me, are you disagreeing with the almighty Focus Group? ---
**Author:** ![jmwatts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jmwatts/32/17348_2.png) [@jmwatts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmwatts)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/109 "2012-12-14T22:56:20Z")
I went into my local Radio Shack about a year ago cause I needed a simple 12 volt relay to install something in our car. There was a 20something clerk there. I was all prepared with a part number, a layman’s description of a relay, etc cause I just knew he wouldn’t have any idea what I was talking about. I tell him what I was looking for, he walks right over to a drawer, pulls it open and hands it to me. I didn’t quite know what to say. I gather this experience is not typical nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/110 "2012-12-14T23:14:14Z")
I have known a couple of electrical engineers that moonlighted at Radio Shack as Christmas temps. Not sure if it is still the case, but at one time they got paid commission. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/111 "2012-12-15T00:59:32Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > What a silly retard you are. Don’t take it so personally. IRL it was just “No thanks.” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/112 "2012-12-15T02:05:57Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > I have known a couple of electrical engineers that moonlighted at Radio Shack as Christmas temps. Not sure if it is still the case, but at one time they got paid commission. And Tandy _reduces_ the commission rate from Thanksgiving to New Year (or at least they used to). Management refered to this time as “The Golden Quarter”, but the employees all called it by the name above. Another Christmas Miracle: The sales floor got flooded with part-time cute teenage girls who knew _nothing_. The fulltimers got to answer questions about, and ring up 3 amp fuses while the teenyboppers rung up $100’s of sales of RC cars. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/113 "2012-12-15T04:29:09Z")
> [@LeeshaJoy](#): > > Maybe they were just shocked that you still have/use a landline phone. Heh. This was back in, oh, 2002ish. But yeah, the house I lived in still used fuses which blew if you plugged in more than half an appliance. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/114 "2012-12-15T06:09:42Z")
Eh, I went to one recently for the first time in years to pick up an off-contract iPhone rather than order it online through Virgin America. The young man behind the counter was helpful and professional, and had me quickly in business. ---
**Author:** ![Bouncer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@Bouncer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bouncer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/115 "2012-12-15T07:20:42Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > So where would I go to buy a diode? Fry’s. I walked into Fry’s for the first time out of sheer desperation to find a fiber optic ST to SC conversion cable. No fucking way would they have it. I was fucked. They had it. Gob. Smacked. I’m fairly certain if you need a part for a Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator, they probably have that too somewhere. Regards, -Bouncer- ---
**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 15, 2012, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/116 "2012-12-15T07:29:27Z")
> [@Bouncer](#): > > Fry’s. > > I walked into Fry’s for the first time out of sheer desperation to find a fiber optic ST to SC conversion cable. No fucking way would they have it. I was fucked. > > They had it. > > Gob. Smacked. > > I’m fairly certain if you need a part for a Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator, they probably have that too somewhere. > > Regards, > -Bouncer- Uh huh. And what do you do when you’re in a town that’s big enough to have a Radio Shat but not anything else? I was doing a project at my brothers [house](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bend,_Wisconsin). ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/117 "2012-12-15T09:34:30Z")
Open up his stereo system or TV, and yank the part you need. He watches too much ‘idiot box’, anyway. He don’t need a TV. ---
**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 15, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/118 "2012-12-15T16:40:49Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Open up his stereo system or TV, and yank the part you need. He watches too much ‘idiot box’, anyway. He don’t need a TV. Uh…!:eek: I was setting up a home theater system for his newly remodeled rec room. Your plan would kind of not work. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/119 "2012-12-15T17:11:24Z")
> [@Bouncer](#): > > Fry’s. > > I walked into Fry’s for the first time out of sheer desperation to find a fiber optic ST to SC conversion cable. No fucking way would they have it. I was fucked. > > They had it. > > Gob. Smacked. > > I’m fairly certain if you need a part for a Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator, they probably have that too somewhere. > > Regards, > -Bouncer- Yeah, well… Fry’s Electronics is certainly deserving of their own Pit thread. Although they have a reasonably good selection of electronic components, their prices are too high, and their sales staff is at least as clueless as Radio Shack’s. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909/120 "2012-12-15T17:27:58Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Yeah, well… > > Fry’s Electronics is certainly deserving of their own Pit thread. Although they have a reasonably good selection of electronic components, their prices are too high, and their sales staff is at least as clueless as Radio Shack’s. Huh. I’ve had mostly nothing but good experiences there, and if I don’t feel like mail ordering electronics, that’s the cheapest place around here, as long as you stick to their sales items. The only real idiot I came across was years ago when they had a $150 desktop sale; thing came installed with some sort of Linux flavor–I think Linspire. The guy warned me about this. I said it’s okay, I’ll just install Windows over it. He seemed to think that wasn’t possible. I don’t think he was trying to upsell me, I just think he didn’t know what he was talking about. Confused, I walked over to the hard drive department and asked the guys there if there’s any truth to that. They laughed and said “no, you’re fine.” So I bought it and had no major iissues installing Windows over it (although I do remember a minor glitch at first, which briefly caused me to doubt myself.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-go-into-radio-shack-one-fucking-time-without-walking-out-pissed-off/643909.md?page=7)