What better way to find out more about working here than to read about it in the words of some people already here?
Why buy it?
A Day of Living Dangerously
Well, I’m on the train back to Hertfordshire, having fulfilled my childhood ambition of working in a shop (and a record shop of that!) realised today. I swapped with the second winner of the Shadowing Competition so I’ve been behind a counter at the Virgin Media Concession in Portsmouth town centre. And what a day!
First day nerves
Okay, I have to admit, it didn’t start well. After a leisurely hotel breakfast, with plenty of time to get to the store, I order a taxi from reception. "It will be 45 minutes I'm afraid." What! 45 minutes. I’ll walk. But with a sorry look outside at the bucketing rain, I sit down resignedly and text Scott my excuses. I start to suspect there is only one taxi in Portsmouth and then, witnessing the abysmal traffic, only one road. So, it was with slightly shaky nerves that I finally arrived at the zavvi record shop, in which Virgin media has a concession.
Getting started
I’m met by Scott, given a health and safety tour and shown my uniform. Ah. A fashion crisis moment. Do I tuck the t-shirt in or wear it out? If not careful, this t-shirt would look like a minidress. So with my T-shirt tucked into my jeans, I walk on the shop floor. Scott is at the counter (shirt out) with his colleague Dan Parkinson (also shirt out). I quickly untuck mine and my day starts with stock taking.
Scott explains he and Dan give nicknames to everyone working in the store. He's Scotty-Be-Cool, Dan is Danny-Be-Dangerous and so on. It's beginning to feel a bit like High Fidelity. Then my sales training begins and slowly it dawns. They expect me to sell to actual members of the actual public - I can’t possibly do this.
Getting on with it
I operate the till under extremely close supervision, apologising to one customer saying, "I'm really sorry, I'm training." "I can see that," came the swift reply and I feel about ten years old. As the shop got busier, there was a dreadful moment. Dan and Scott with other customers, a third customer heads purposefully towards me. Unless I look busy within the next 0.25 seconds, she’s going to ask me to help her. Ahhhhhh!!!! Do I say "I'm sorry, I'm the Managing Director - I've got no idea". No. So I stood there, paralysed as the customer repeated the request several times. “So, have you got any copies of Grand Theft Auto 4?" A huge wave of relief flowed through my body - a zavvi customer. Panic over.
Getting better
In no time at all, it was my lunch break. When I got back, Scott decided to see if I had learned anything. Thrusting an already dialled phone into my hands, he says "here you go, order a replacement e-top up card for this customer". I speak to a very helpful person in Trowbridge and all goes smoothly. It feels a bit strange asking the customer for details like their address and password and I’m surprised when they actually supplied the information. But I get the thing ordered in the end.
I was beginning to feel more comfortable about things, when Scott asked "Do you fancy handing out some leaflets?" - "Yes" my mouth said ("No" my head thought). Either way, a handful of leaflets are thrust into my hand and off we go. One thing you need to know - I’ve a 100% record of never accepting anything handed to me on a street. You could offer me £50 notes and I’d cross the road to avoid taking one from you. So this is WAY outside my comfort zone. Pathetic I know but I bottle it. After a relatively short stint leafleting, we return to the now very safe environment of the store.
Going home
Time really does fly, and after a whole day in an electronic games environment, I impulse buy a Wii for the children - a bribe so they don’t keep asking for a tortoise. All in all it’s been a successful day in the Virgin Media concession and a fantastic learning opportunity for me. Thanks Scott and Dan for all you taught me and your great company - not to mention such great sales people.
Steve-Be-Nervous