The following is the comment i left @ bestbuy.com at the end of one of their surveys... you know, your receipt prints, and then there are three groups of letters/numbers and then, if you are somehow miraculously picked from the hundreds of thousands of other survey entrants, you win $500 redeemable for goods & services at your local best buy. it's a long shot, but, once in a while i feel the need to try, and since i wanted to say something about all this "my pal, the staff member" crap, i went for it. so, here, as vaguely promised, is my comment... take it for what it's worth, i just don't want to be called a deadbeat blogger again.

from 09-28-04:
I know it's your new strategy to have the employees try to get friendly with the customers, but, come on... enough is enough... I love best buy, and I'll most likely continue to shop there as long as you're in business (which, i assume, will be for a very long time yet), but, i can't help but feel just a bit accosted by every employee coming up and not just asking me if i need help (which would be fine) but then practically engaging me in conversation (or actually doing just that) just to let me know that they are there for me. I know they're there. I can see their bright blue shirts. I have no problem with customer service, but i don't need to listen to a speech about how available these guys are every 2 minutes. I wouldn't mind hearing it once every time i'm in there, but i actually end up hearing this thing like 5 times everytime i go into your store. I hate to sound like this is a total complaint, because it shows that you want your customers to feel welcome. I appreciate that aspect, because most stores, it's impossible to find help if you need it (like home depot). But as a customer who already knows what he wants or just wants to browse and be alone with his browsing, i have no options. and it's not like i can be rude and ignore them, but i do find myself looking around for an area where no employee is present, and also leaving areas earlier than planned on when i see one coming, just to avoid the small talk. I do a lot of impulse buying when i've only gone in to browse, but that has really stopped lately. I usually buy something at best buy at least once a week, but now i make sure i know exactly what i want before going in so i can get in quickly, find it, and get the hell out of there. I'm sure that this isn't exactly the result you had in mind when telling your employees to get friendly with the customers, but it is the effect it's had on me. Anyway, sorry to make this so long, but I wanted to make sure it was understood that while this is not totally a complaint, i do think the system needs some fine-tuning. maybe communication between the employees about who's been talked to and who hasn't. I'm sure i'm not the only person who goes in and doesn't need to be informed where to go when i need help. (maybe some shy people aren't comfortable approaching strangers with questions, i don't know.) Anyway, i hope something can be done without the loss of the class-A customer service you guys have always provided. As long as you don't bump it up to hugs at the front door and in all the aisles, i will continue to shop at best buy no matter what (probably just no more impulse buys). Thanks --Dan

(notice i made several attempts to butter them up, in the hopes that they would take my suggestion to heart. (also, i have a hard time yelling angrily at people i don't even know, and about something so trivial))