Wackiness at Best Buy

[ghostsofgiants]

http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=57

I sent out an email to my mailing list to recruit agents. I didn't want to give away the exact nature of the prank for fear of word spreading to Best Buy employees ahead of time. I had to be as vague as possible and still make sure everyone wore the correct clothing:

In order to participate you must arrive adhering to a very specific dress code:

1) Blue Polo Shirt. Short sleeved. Any brand. Preferably with no logo. As Close to Royal Blue as possible. As close to this exact shirt as possible.

2) Khaki Pants. Any shade of khaki is fine. No shorts.

3) Belt. Any belt is fine.

Other Instructions:

-If possible, please wear black shoes. This is not required, but please wear them if you have them.

-You must also bring a NEWSPAPER (Any newspaper is fine--just grab a free one on the street.)

-If possible, do not bring a backpack or any type of bag. This is not a huge deal, but it will work better without bags.

-Do not bring any type of camera. This mission is, as all IE Missions should be, participatory. We are covering it with our own small staff of camera people and do not need any more cameras or journalists. Only show up if you are wearing the proper dress and ready to participate and have fun!

Funny stuff. Agent Shafer and Agent Natty's videos are both hilarious.

[Hugin]

1. I did that by accident the other day...

People kept asking me where stuff was.

[Left Is Write]

2. Next time, try a red polo with your khakis...

and head to Target!

[Hugin]

3. What's interesting is that the polo/khaki combination seems to be...

more important than the color of the polo.

I've had to resist asking employees of other stores
shopping in a different store questions.

They have a name plate.
They have corporate bling.

Maybe I should run some experiments by wearing some primary
colored vest around.

[Left Is Write]

4. At Target it doesn't actually have to be a polo.

My daughter worked there, and she could wear any red shirt - button down, t-shirt, short- or long-sleeved, sweater, polo.

[nickgutierrez]

11. I'd agree with this

Combine this with any sort of obvious identification on your person, and it becomes an inevitability that somebody will stop you somewhere to ask for something, no matter how obvious it should be that you don't actually work there.

[KitchenWitch]

7. OMG I have done that at Tarzhay!

:blush:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

5. Customers can be dumb.

When I worked at a health food store (we didn't have a dress code or name tags, so you looked for someone that appeared to be working), I would routinely have customers ask stuff like, "excuse me, do you work here?" Oddly enough, this only happened if I was doing something like wandering around with an invoice, already assisting a customer, climbing a shelf while carrying a case of some product, signing for a delivery or standing in the stockroom doing stuff (yes they would just wander on in...). Meanwhile, if I was just in there shopping, everyone seemed to immediately know that I worked there and start asking for help...despite the fact that I was blatantly shopping. I would always help them though. It's an industry filled with crazies and asshats, but the customers that are cool are legitimately very cool. I left, but I'm still in contact with some.

I also couldn't go shop in Whole Foods or Trader Joes without having a customer ask me for help (knowing me from the other store) even though there I blatantly do not look like an employee. I've also been asked questions a few times about stuff from customers while shopping in the mall.

[tigereye]

6. I've never had a problem with being waited on there

husband says it's cuz I look like I have money ( which is actually not true, I look like an aging lefty/ punk mom)

[Deja Q]

8. Given some people ask me where things are in Best Buy,

and I look nothing remotely like a BB or Geek Squak employee, I needn't do a thing.

[ghostsofgiants]

9. Did you read the link I posted?

This already took place, and the results were pretty amusing.

[Deja Q]

15. I just did - and I had no idea Steven Weber was involved!

:)




And this camera angle is disturbing:



Also, BB ususally doesn't hire anyone who looks over 18 and typically not heavyset folks (though these days they'll have to live with the latter...)

Calling 911 for videotaping?! Gee, I thought murders and rapes were bad, but not when compared to videotaping the layout of a cheap store. :eyes:

worst of all, management tells the fake blueshirts not to help customers? I agree. Quality service is a no-no in our society.

[NewJeffCT]

17. While I think it's a good joke

and calling 911 was ridiculous, what if one of these pseudo BB employees gave bad advice & somebody got hurt with a product bought on the advice of one of these pseudo employees? I can see asking them to leave from a store manager's perspective.

[ghostsofgiants]

10. Bah, you guys suck.

[uppityperson]

12. now that is funny, not being asked to leave (but please leave)

[LynzM]

13. Dude, this is hysterical....

Proof that you can get in trouble for doing just about anything.... :rofl:

[Hugin]

14. Kick for the laid back Sat Morning Crew.

This is funny and well executed.

I like how they made extensive use of the equipment on
hand at Best Buy.

[ghostsofgiants]

16. Haha, thanks.