Radio Shack

[SeerSGB]

Radio Shack is a odd one. I still shop there from time to time for the odd bit of kit, but if I'm in need of a serious supplier of electronic part....well it's been years since The Shack has been able to meet that market, at least at the local onces.

I applied for a job at the local one (at the time) as part of my work requirement for some classes I was taking. Got told I knew to much about electronics, that they weren't comfortable with hiring someone with a knowledge base greater than the customers. Yeah, as a customer, I know what I want when I ask an associate a question is for them to shrug and say "I don't know, try Circuit City"

^ Eh?

I haven't been into a RadioShack in years. I always hated the way they insisted on taking down my name and address for every little thing I bought. So I started making them up. Once I told them my name was James T. Kirk and they didn't even flinch.

Meh, most of them seem to be either stoned or on autopilot judging by the blank stares and slacked jaw "duh" faces. I know, as the result of a particularly snarky later teen years, there should be several enterires in the local Shack's compe for Mr. Suck My Cock, on 123 Fuck Off Lane in Ass Bandit Tn.

 

[Roger Wilco]

^Can't. Atheist.

You don't have to buy the person inside the jersey.

 

[MANT!]

I worked for one part time till recently, The store Manager actually orders the small parts..if you got a lazy manager, he'd slowly eliminate the parts drawers..(stupid as they were VERY profitable)...until he didn't have to order em again..now they are more like "Cell Phone Shack" than an electronics store..the corporation gets kickbacks from the cell companies for each contract they sell...and we'd get $5.00 extra for each..really sad how they do it..but heck..I'm glad I no longer work there..

 

[SeerSGB]

I worked for one part time till recently, The store Manager actually orders the small parts..if you got a lazy manager, he'd slowly eliminate the parts drawers..(stupid as they were VERY profitable)...until he didn't have to order em again..now they are more like "Cell Phone Shack" than an electronics store..the corporation gets kickbacks from the cell companies for each contract they sell...and we'd get $5.00 extra for each..really sad how they do it..but heck..I'm glad I no longer work there..

I was in The Shack befor X-mas looking for some connectors and of parts I needed for a rewiring job I was doing on the house phones. All I got was the hard-sell for Sprint cell plans. I told the guy that Sprint, and most other cellphones, doesn't work in our neck of nowhere and the ones that do are unreliable and crappy signal quality.

I was informed that I was wrong (snarky prick, with a smug smile) that Sprint and AT&T had 100% coverage and hade 0 deadspots I pulled a AT&T pamphlet off the counter and showed that, SURPRISE, dead zones and we were right smack in the middle of one. He then asked me if AT&T had dead zones how was I going to make my landline work. I just rolled my eyes and walked out the door without saying a word.

 

[John Picard]

I worked for one part time till recently, The store Manager actually orders the small parts..if you got a lazy manager, he'd slowly eliminate the parts drawers..(stupid as they were VERY profitable)...until he didn't have to order em again..now they are more like "Cell Phone Shack" than an electronics store..the corporation gets kickbacks from the cell companies for each contract they sell...and we'd get $5.00 extra for each..really sad how they do it..but heck..I'm glad I no longer work there..

I was in The Shack befor X-mas looking for some connectors and of parts I needed for a rewiring job I was doing on the house phones. All I got was the hard-sell for Sprint cell plans. I told the guy that Sprint, and most other cellphones, doesn't work in our neck of nowhere and the ones that do are unreliable and crappy signal quality.

I was informed that I was wrong (snarky prick, with a smug smile) that Sprint and AT&T had 100% coverage and hade 0 deadspots I pulled a AT&T pamphlet off the counter and showed that, SURPRISE, dead zones and we were right smack in the middle of one. He then asked me if AT&T had dead zones how was I going to make my landline work. I just rolled my eyes and walked out the door without saying a word.

Pure...fucking...comedy...GOLD!

 

[Alpha_Geek]

You should have grabbed a roll of 4 conductor station wire (if this frakkin' store actually had any force feed warehouse inventory remaining... 'member force feed, rat shack expatriates?) and brandished it above your head like Excalibur! LOL

 

[RoJoHen]

All the Radio Shacks around me closed several years ago. I figured it was a company-wide thing, but I guess not.

That said, they did have an awesome going-out-of-business sale where pretty much the entire store was about 90% off.

 

[SeerSGB]

You should have grabbed a roll of 4 conductor station wire (if this frakkin' store actually had any force feed warehouse inventory remaining... 'member force feed, rat shack expatriates?) and brandished it above your head like Excalibur! LOL

Nah...I would have probably strung him up behind the counter,and forced fed him every damn cellphone in the place had I been within reach of anything I could use as rope.

 

[Amaris]

All the Radio Shacks around me closed several years ago. I figured it was a company-wide thing, but I guess not.

That said, they did have an awesome going-out-of-business sale where pretty much the entire store was about 90% off.

90% off? Not bad, those prices would be about retail value.

Anyway, I went to a RadioShack a couple of months ago looking for a 3/4" to 3.5mm converter cable. I had checked beforehand online whether they had them in stock at my local RadioShack and they confirmed that they did. So I went in to find one and I had taken 3 steps in the door before the sales guy was asking me whether I needed help. Seeing that he was going to follow me even if I said no, I said "Sure. I'm looking for a 3/4 to 3.5mm male conversion cable for stereo input." After a blank stare, I said "it's an audio cable". He seemed to understand that, and we walked back to the audio cables. He starts looking and as soon as he starts, I find it, but it's the 20ft, and I only need 6ft. He finds the one I'm looking at and says "here it is." I say, "I need it in 6ft not 20ft, if you have it". His answer: "Nope, we don't carry anything shorter than 20ft". So I look below the cable and see behind a 20ft cable package, a 6ft cable. I move the 20ft and say "here we go" and grab the 6ft cable. He says "I don't think that's the right cable for your needs". I told him "I didn't tell you what I need it for, just what I needed." He looks at me, probably wondering whether he should try to sell the 20ft, and just sighs and puts it back.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

HAHAHAHAHAHA Nice one Axiom!





(but you mean 1/4", yes?)

 

[Amaris]

HAHAHAHAHAHA Nice one Axiom!





(but you mean 1/4", yes?)

Eep. Yes. I'm so tired I'm not even paying attention.

 

[CaptainStoner]

That was both a sad, and hilarious, article. The end line about the "crappy Tandy desk calculator" took me back to the days of the old Tandy 1000. Which were decent, if stupidly proprietary, machines.

I don't see how they do much business in their digital cameras - it's the odd and DIY stuff that brings me there - odd audio connectors, gadgets. The radio controlled dragonflies were a huge hit last summer. They just have geeky stuff no one else does. Best Buy doesn't fill the niche, I'm glad it doesn't.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I only go to Radio Shack when I need some odd cable or connector or other doodad, and I always go to the one at the South Shore Plaza. My experience has apparently been very different from most. Usually, I go in and tell the sales guy what I want and I barely get the words out of my mouth before he's found it and put it in my hand.

 

[Dingle Fritz]

The one in the former Ames plaza had a tube tester. Came in handy when I worked down the road at a certain factory... they had a 1960s vintage Toshiba ISN series molding press that used tubes. We'd be down there at least twice a week diagnosing tube faults.

Never did learn what happened to the tester when that store closed. The one at Kamart Plaza doesn't have a tester.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Th...the old Tandy 1000. Which were decent, if stupidly proprietary, machines...

Hey, wait five and a quarter minutes there... The Original 1000 was pretty darn standard, as was the slightly hopped up 1000SX. It was the 1000 HX and TX that started getting wierd iron.

The 2000 was ahead of its time, and hence not IBM AT compatable, but a nice machine.

Ah, memories of repairing TRS-80s and the later Tandys!

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Last time I went to Radio Shack was a couple years ago, in search of a particular kind of fuse. Naturally, they didn't have it... they never have anything.

It was something like 12 years ago that I last found something (and someone) useful there. Whoever said they're like a mini-Best Buy is dead on. They used to have engineering students and such working there, who could talk shop and help you get what you were looking for. Now, they're just your typical retail sales droids.

 

[SeerSGB]

The Shack around her is always hiring. Maybe I should take another whack getting a job there

 

[Gertch]

Th...the old Tandy 1000. Which were decent, if stupidly proprietary, machines...

Hey, wait five and a quarter minutes there... The Original 1000 was pretty darn standard, as was the slightly hopped up 1000SX. It was the 1000 HX and TX that started getting wierd iron.

The 2000 was ahead of its time, and hence not IBM AT compatable, but a nice machine.

Ah, memories of repairing TRS-80s and the later Tandys!

What about the short yet awesome RLX? I loved that machine.

Five and 10 Meg hard drives. When multimedia first came along (92ish?) we had to add the CDrom and soundcard (that creative parrot was so much fun) and then install all the buggy software.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I only go to Radio Shack when I need some odd cable or connector or other doodad

Same here. A few years ago, my in-laws gave me a Radio Shack gift card with a couple of hundred bucks on it because I "seem to like that kind of stuff."

But it was a generous gift, regardless, so I just break it out whenever I need something like that. It's the gift that's been giving for a few years.

 

[JonathonWally]

^ Eh?

I haven't been into a RadioShack in years. I always hated the way they insisted on taking down my name and address for every little thing I bought. So I started making them up. Once I told them my name was James T. Kirk and they didn't even flinch.

I say the same thing whenever a store asks for that kind of info:

No.

I have no problems giving my zip code since that's just for corporate to chart out their store's range.