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Author Topic: AKA, you suck! the Radio Shack floorstaff Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 09-03-2005 12:50 PM                        I've flown down to the July hamfest in Ft. Tuthill, AZ (since relocated to Williams) a couple of times. Lots of fun looking at other people's junk at the swapmeet and a great excuse to get out of the heat of Sin City for a weekend. And eat and drink and be with like-minded electronics/computer/RF geeks. Parked the plane on the edge of the ramp at FLG, walked 20' into the pine forest, rolled out the bag, and slept under the stars. What a way to unwind. And the W6TRW ARC Swapmeet still carries on too every month in the parking lot of 1 Space Park (now owned by Northrop Grumman) in Redondo Beach, CA. We've always had alternatives to RatShack for components here, though now we're down to just Kiesub, Amateur Radio Supply, and Fry's (and maybe Grainger or Gaybar). Lafayette, Metcalf's, Hurley's, and Sandy's are all gone now.  |  IP: Logged Jon Miller Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 973 From: San Diego, CA, USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 09-03-2005 02:08 PM                     Sandy's...in Canoga Park, CA? When I was young and growing up in the San Fernando Valley, I visited the Sandy's store out on Saticoy Street quite a few times...that place (and its sister North Hollywood branch, for that matter) was literally a supermarket of electronic parts! Even though my needs were rather basic at the time, Sandy's always came through. Granted there is more to find on the Web nowadays, but a store like Sandy's was very hard to beat. Almost anything you needed was in stock and you got the goods right away, and the sales staff was friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, the concept has become somewhat of a dinosaur...  |  IP: Logged Jason Miller Expert Film Handler Posts: 241 From: Little Rock, AR, Registered: Mar 2004 posted 09-03-2005 04:43 PM                    I worked at a radio shack in Golden, CO when I was going to school there. I had to quit becasue I kept getting in trouble for fixing people's things instead of sending them off to the repair center. probably was for the best anyway.. after a while I think word got out in town that we were fixing things for free and too many people would just come in for repair and not buy stuff. this made the manager upset. then he cursed at me in russian. ahhh... those were the days...  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 09-03-2005 05:15 PM                        Yup, the same Sandy's as in N. Hollywood. The 'Vegas store lasted about 10 years and was done in by the opening of Fry's.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-03-2005 05:45 PM                        Golden CO is stupid. I wish they could be wiped off of the map. They think that if we put up transmitters for HDTV, the whole town will be fried, so they are blocking it. Morons.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 09-03-2005 06:15 PM                  Relax Joe... they are right! They don't like the idea of having to wear tinfoil hats 24/7 to ward off the harmful radiation that broadcast HDTV produces.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-03-2005 08:15 PM                     Joe, You need to tell Colorado to just go ahead and erect its OWN mountain for TV transmission!! They can certainly fit in another one someplace... perhaps OVER Golden..... Thats sorta what Utah did... and so we have Farnsworth Peak at about 9,000 plus feet... sure beats even the Sears tower for TV transmission . Mark  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-03-2005 09:59 PM                        We want to use Lookout Mountain which is right by Golden. But every single person who lives in Golden without exception is a freakin' 'tard and is opposed to the FCC mandated tower. http://www.santellaproductions.com/dtv/denverdtv.htm  |  IP: Logged John Walsh Film God Posts: 2490 From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way Registered: Oct 1999 posted 09-04-2005 08:52 AM                     It should be noted that RS has bailed me out while installing several booths, so they are handy to have. My first 'real' job during high school was working for a RS that opened near me. This was the early 70's so I don't know if things are different now. I knew about Ohm's law, and reading resistor bands, blah, blah. I though I could really help someone with a problem, or project. But they made it clear that there's no money in helping people like that. So, you are told to sell receivers, speakers, 'big items' and don't waste time on little things. It was the first time I heard the expression, "... if ya got time to lean, ya got time to clean.." long before McDonalds. You were encouraged to make up little things to make the sale; for example if a customer asked why one receiver was a few dollars more than another, you would (off the top of your head) say it had better sensitivity. It didn't matter WTF you said; just make the sale. They gave you a commission (1-2% if I remember) on your personal sales over $500. Even back then they wanted to collect your name and address, which they used to send catalogs. I'm also sure they would sell their mailing lists. When I saw how reluctant people were to provide their address, I would say; "It's just to send a catalog- you can skip it if you want." I was too naive to think they would sell it. When my boss saw this, I got yelled at. He said, don't give them an 'out'- get the damn address unless the customer looks you in the eye and says no. At that time, the business plan of RS was to sell products (stereos, radios, etc.) with a lot of features, even if the overall quality was poor. People who don't know any better about an item will assume that the more buttons and dials it has MUST mean it's high quality. To be fair, the price for their stuff was not too high, but high quality it was not. For IC's and such, I felt RS sent someone into Texas Inst. during the night, swept the floor and packaged it. It's a good thing that they force you to buy 4-8 connectors in a package (when you really only need one) because 1-2 are not going to work. I lasted there 6 months; I couldn't take lying to customers any more. But one good thing came out of it; it taught me to only take jobs that I actually like.  |  IP: Logged Sam Graham AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues. Posts: 1431 From: Waukee, IA Registered: Dec 2004 posted 09-06-2005 12:58 AM                        quote: Randy Stankey ZIP Code - 99950 (Ketchican, Alaska... The highest ZIP code in the country. It really screws up their marketing databases!) Ketchikan, Alaska's ZIP code is actually 99901. I lived there for ten years. And they really do have a Radio Shack, although it's just a department in a video rental store. Back when I lived there, it was actually called "The Music Shop" and, aside from selling the complete line of Radio Shack wonderment, they sold records, songbooks, and band instruments. It had probably four times the floor space of any modern Radio Shack. A perpetually old guy named Stan owned it. He lived in an apartment upstairs. The store died with him. (About this time, Randy screamed "YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT!" and hung himself from the ceiling in frustration.) Here's how I go about shopping at a Radio Shack on the occasion I need something only they would have... 1. Go to radioshack.com and look up the item. 2. Use the website to check store stock for my local store. 3. Write the item number and description on a post-it note. 4. Walk two blocks from house to store. 5. Give Smiling Counter Girl the post-it-note I wrote and say "Your website shows you have this in stock." 6. Watch Smiling Counter Girl get nervous as she spends several minutes trying to find the item. 7. Say "Found it!" after I find it first. Of course, just ordering from radioshack.com always works too...  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 09-06-2005 01:26 AM                     Course, I remember hearing stories on Rat Shack's line of audio equipment (Archer, Realistic, and others) was coming from the Japanese manufacturers that were either of a rejected product, or built with substandard manufacturing practices, and this was during the 70's and mid 80's. Many times I've heard people who would say that their stereo component system would crap out and find out that it had a RS badge located on the front panel. Course, I really don't know how the Tandy line of computers was back then since I wasn't into computers when IBM shot out with the PC 8088 back in '81 and it didn't take long for clones to emerge running DOS software as with Compaq and Tandy. But I know that Tandy didn't get a chance to survive past the era of the I486. Even today, when one sees computer supplies at RS, one can see that they are so overpriced and lesser quality when comparing to CompUSA and other computer suppliers. -thx Monte  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 09-06-2005 02:19 AM                        The TRS "Trash" 80? We had a couple of 'em to play with on the production trucks at TAV. Had to start learning some flavor of DOS somewhere. Up 'til then I had been an Ohio Scientific (OSD) guy.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-06-2005 06:12 AM                     quote: Joe Redifer We want to use Lookout Mountain which is right by Golden. But every single person who lives in Golden without exception is a freakin' 'tard and is opposed to the FCC mandated tower. Yea, that is really retarded! I think about how many people live in both the Sears Tower and the John Hancock building in Chicago and how many 100kw transmitters there are up there..... It doesn't affect those folks..... it hasn't affected THEIR adnoids! I quite agree, this Golden CO thing is really retarded... Isn't there another mountain laying around that would serve this purpose near there? What the group of folks in Golden needs is a diversion..... something like a massive flood of say 80% of the town or an earthquake to divert attention AWAY from the DTV stuff. Then the TV folks can slide on up to the top and install the stuff on the mountain while the mop up occurs . The other ploy is to just switch of the NTSC stuff and leave em hanging wiithout any TV at all..... then lets see how fast that DTV stuff goes in..... OK, Here's the view from Lookout Mountain, I think thats Denver in the background isn't it??? his is not a very good location if you ask me... This mountain really need to be up higher... you have a couple of large foothills over there that would shadow the signals..... but that service road is handy for getting up there. It should be possible to flood that valley!! And by the way Joe, Whats so Golden about Golden anyway.... I've been there and its definately NOT golden around there. Mark  |  IP: Logged James Bjarnason Film Handler Posts: 6 From: Victoria, BC, Canada Registered: Jun 2005 posted 09-06-2005 06:16 AM                     quote: Joe Redifer We want to use Lookout Mountain which is right by Golden. But every single person who lives in Golden without exception is a freakin' 'tard and is opposed to the FCC mandated tower. That's Golden, Colorado not Golden, British Columbia right? Some of us small town folk who grew up in a Golden might get offended. PS: My Golden has a lot of Birch trees on the mountains and in the fall it looks quite "Golden".  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 09-06-2005 06:55 AM                     Joe: Have the transmitter towers painted in hippy colors. That will satisfy them.  |  IP: Logged

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