Best Buy Blues

There’s something I don’t quite understand. How do places like Best Buy stay in business? They have the most expensive products and the worst customer service. Take today for example. I went in there looking for the DVD of the movie “Rat Race” (which is absolutely hilarious…I highly recommend it if you want a good laugh. One of the many stars of the cast is John Cleese. What more do you need to know?) I scanned the 5 aisles of movies and naturally couldn’t locate it. And naturally there was no one in the video department to help me, despite the fact that every other person in that store wears the blue shirt with the yellow Best Buy logo.

So I went to the customer service desk, located right next to the video department. There were no fewer than 9 employees behind the desk. Eight of them were kibitzing, laughing amongst themselves, just having a grand old time. One of them was helping a customer. A few of them met my eye and ignored me. The one that was helping a customer finished what he was doing and asked if I needed help. I told him I was looking for “Rat Race”, and could he check the data base to see if they carried it. But my hopes for service were quickly dashed.

“I don’t work in that department,” he informed me. “Let me get someone.”

As I waited in the video department, I heard an announcement over the store P.A. system: “Employee to video,” the voice announced. “Code Blue.” Yikes! I’ve asked for assistance and suddenly it’s a Code Blue! Who knew that my expectations would create such a state of crisis? An employee appeared at my side and asked if I needed assistance.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m looking for the movie ‘Rat Race’ but I don’t see it here. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong place.”

“Oh. That’s an old one,” he replied, making a cursory glance at the shelves where the DVDs with titles beginning with “R” were located. “We probably deleted it. Sorry.”

I got the feeling that he had never heard of the movie, and since it didn’t jump up and bite him when he looked at the videos in the “R” section, he surmised that they didn’t have it, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to investigate the matter any further.

The last two times I went into Best Buy, on the recommendation of employees I bought items to use with my videocamera, which at 5 years old is evidently a relic. I ended up returning both items they didn’t work with my videocamera. To Best Buy's credit, they didn't hassle me about the returns.

I did consider buying a Star Wars DVD while I was at Best Buy today. It was $14, which seemed cheap. I figured that despite appearances, it could not possibly be a good deal so I didn’t buy it. So I went to Costco, which is one block away from Best Buy, and found the same Star Wars video for $9.99. I bought it.

Best Buy is just one of those places where against my better judgment, I walk in and say to myself, “I should be able to find it here. They have everything.” But something always goes wrong, I have to hunt for an employee to help me, no matter what department it is, and 90% of the time I return whatever I bought because it’s wrong.

Hence the opening question: How do places like Best Buy stay in business?