Tonight I was completely disgusted by the lack of customer service I received at Best Buy; specifically the Best Buy on Harbison Blvd, Columbia, SC Store #264. Normally I wouldn’t use my blog to discuss things like this but I am very angry about the lack of who the customer is at big box stores I have to put fingers to keys.
I returned an FM transmitter to Best Buy tonight and decided to look at car stereos. I was willing to spend about $250 on a new stereo and installation. No, not the top of the line but in this economy any spending is GOOD spending. When I walked in to the car audio section there was a young lady working. I thought she was helping customers at first but it ended up she was just yucking it up with two boys. I was looking through the different stereos and turned to look at her. She didn’t even ‘notice’ me. So I turned back and thought I will give her a few more seconds to notice me. Well, the conversation with the little boys who can barely shave became more in-depth. She was very interested in where they went to high school and what kind of cars they drove. I decided to turn myself in her direction. I was practically in her conversation circle. The boys finally became uncomfortable enough with me giving the teacher stare that they decided to go. Of course it took 5 MINUTES for them to go! The young lady then turned to me, smiled, and said, “How may I help you?” I looked at her and said, “um… there is nothing you can help me with now.” I walked myself straight to customer service.
At this point I can almost excise teenage customer service… (almost) but then when the manager came to me I explained to him what happened. He looked concerned and I told him the store lost a $250 sale tonight because of her lack of action. He told me thank you and he was going to take care of it right then. I thanked him and began to walk to the door and he began to walk towards car audio. But instead of leaving the store I decided to go in to the CD area just to see if he was actually going to say something to her. Guess what? When he thought I was leaving the store he did a b-line towards the front of the store! He never had any intention of talking to her.
This angered me and that is why I am hear writing. Both of their actions made it very clear to me that customer service means NOTHING at Best Buy. It also showed me that the customer is an inconvenience for their time at work. It doesn’t matter that I drop 12 miles to the suburbs (I live in the city) to their store and chose them over other electronics stores or even online shopping.
My experience at Best Buy tonight is just furthering my determination to help the local small business owner who cares who their customers are. Maybe I should thank Best Buy #264 for their actions tonight because now maybe I can help someone on Main St. stay open a little longer.Best Buy don’t expect my business anytime soon….
Over the last week and a half, I have been thinking about all of the changes in my life over the last 6 months. Specifically, the changes in my professional life have made me a little reflective.
Change #1
I am no longer in public education. Its been a month since I left my position as a technology education specialist. The transition to Education Consultant for The WH PLATTS Company has been relatively smooth. I am learning the ways of the business world and the differences being out in the “real world.” (As opposed to the world of being a state employee) One thing I realized is that “I fit” in this position and I am on the verge of creating some great things. My new “family” tells me the sky is the limit and if I can make it happen, I can do it….which leads me to #2.
Change#2 – HUGE moment in my professional career
At this years SC EdTech I was honored to receive the SCAET/ISTE Making It Happen Technology Leadership Award. I was nominated by one person but a panel of my peers across the state chose me to receive this award. There are moments throughout the last 10 years that I have thought, “Why do I do this?” or even “is this what I am supposed to be doing?” The answer to the questions are: I am doing this to help everyone around me make a difference in a child’s life and yes, it is what I was supposed to be doing.
October 15, 2009 was a day that my peers said thank you by choosing me for this award. I have to admit, when I found out I was chosen, I thought, why me? What makes me so special? I am just me and I still feel that way but throughout the conference many people made me feel special for all of the times that I helped them out, shared a resource, brought people together to share experiences, or just listened.
I have never seen myself as a leader. I am just the girl who plays entirely too much on her computer and shares what she finds. I hope to NEVER utter the words, “Don’t they know who I am?!?” Who I am doesn’t matter, what matters is was I able to help further your understanding or skills. So I want to thank all of you in SC and in my PLN who helped me reach this point in my journey.
All of this has made me think about Seth Godin’s Tribes. One quote from the book that resonates in me is “Leadership is a choice. It is the choice to NOT DO NOTHING (p59).” By that definition, we can all be leaders in South Carolina and beyond to further technology integration in to our schools. If we choose to do nothing or not “make a ruckus (p19)”, we are hurting our students. We aren’t preparing them for the world they will live in.
It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do. SHARE with one another! Join learning networks… explore options for your own learning… I would not know half of what I know if it had not been for all of you who shared or asked questions that challenged my knowledge. So I challenge everyone who reads this, share something you do with technology with a colleague this week, show someone something new, or try something new. If you are bold enough to cause ruckus, why not challenge the internet filter or the evaluation committee’s decision if it didn’t turn out the way you wanted. Make a conscious choice to NOT DO NOTHING.
Remember, its not about the awards or celebrity. Its about the students. Let’s Make it Happen for them.
Today marked the day that Ashton Kutcher reached 1 million followers on Twitter and Oprah sent her first tweet. What does this all mean? To me, not much. Other than I am afraid Twitter will break more often. I am happy that people are finally catching on to Twitter but Twitter has been a special place for me over the last 18 months. I sent my first tweet October 16, 2007. When I did I wasn’t sure what I was doing or what it all meant. I didn’t realize that maybe I was being a digital pioneer in education. But what it turned in to is this wonderful community of people who help me, support me, and challenge me to continue exploring how technology can impact education.
I noticed recently, (before the Ashton and Oprah bandwagon) there was a change happening in Twitter. It was subtle but it was happening. When I first joined most people used comic avatars or images that symbolized themselves instead of an actual picture of themselves. As our education Twitter community has grown a personal touch has come to Twitter as well. Now when I log in to TweetDeck I see more people than avatars. This has been really great. Of the people on my network I probably have only met 20% of them face to face. So now with this transition to real images for avatars helps me connect a little more with the people on my screen.
So to my Twitterverse, I just want to thank you for helping me become a better advocate for technology in the classroom.
Over the last week I have been able to spend a lot of time learning from those people in my social network because I have been laid out with a back problem. Surfing the internet helped hours of time pass. One of the things I was intrigued with is how my network has grown in the last year. Not only grown but expanded outside of education. When I first started growing my network, it was only educators but now I think I have a little of everyone in it. I use tools like Twitter and Facebook to organize and communicate with my network.
Facebook has a great app called Friend Wheel. The app allows you to connect all of your friends in Facebook. When I refreshed my Friend Wheel it reminded me of a Keynote session at UTC last summer. Ewan McInstosh talked how teachers/educators are very comfortable talking with one another but not with others. Seeing my new wheel shows that I am finally taking that leap outside the education world.
You don’t have to be able to read the names. Just look at the connections. Are you connected? What are things that you do to build your network and connect with others?
This video is making its rounds on the internet. I saw it on Chad’s blog. Not only did it get me thinking… It reminded me of every student I have taught in the last 10 years and how proud I am of all of them.
This morning I have been trying to catch up on some journal reading … I have a stack of educational technology journals on my desk and the stack seems to be growing and I think it may over take me soon. Anyway, I just finished reading Young Minds, Fast Times from the June/July 2008 issue of Edutopia. Marc Prensky discusses how important it is to invite students to the technology conversation. He compares it to the corporate world asking consumers what they want. After all aren’t students our consumers? Prensky asks all schools where he presents to invite panels of students to the presentation. The students see the presentation Prensky gives and then he turns it over to them and asks three basic questions:
1. What experiences in school really engage you?
2. How do you use technology in school as opposed to outside of school?
3. What are your pet peeves (about how tech. is used in school)?
This article really got me thinking. When I taught, I was fortunate to have a technology-rich classroom. I did my very best to expose students to the content as well as new technologies but you know I never asked if it was what they needed. It makes me wonder now if it was. Maybe I can get a few of my past students to answer Prensky’s panel questions.
When we discuss technology changes, strategies, etc. in our district the idea of using students always comes up… but it is never initiated. I wonder how different things would be if we did involve the students in the decision making process?
I would love for students to answer Prensky’s questions in the comments. PLUS, for any of you who have used students in the decision making process what was it like? What were your outcomes?
Hey there. I am gathering information on how you can use Skype for education. Could you please comment and let me know how you use it in education? I am looking at ways you can keep in touch with “the network” or use “the network” to help you integrate technology in to the classroom.
This is probably an easy question to answer but what do you prefer TeacherTube or YouTube? For me, I have to say its YouTube. Unfortunately, YouTube is blocked in my district so I can’t use it to its full potential.
I like YouTube because the quality of videos I find seems to be higher. When I work with teachers its easier for me to find something to capture their attention or get them questioning aspects of technology in the classroom. Of course this means me planning at home (who doesn’t in education) and using a site like ZamZar (again blocked at work) to convert the video so I can show it in my workshops.
One thing that has turned me off to TeacherTube are the advertisements that show up on the bottom of the videos when you stream them online. The last thing I want to do is click off an ad. I see ads everywhere… this is the last place I want to see them. I know ads are all over web pages but they just seem so obtrusive here. A few months ago I was all over TeacherTube but it seems times have changed. Or just I am a woman and I am allowed to change my mind!
What do you think? How do you think I could get YouTube unblocked? What could be my rational?
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