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OK, right off the bat I am going to fess up and admit that this post is mostly me venting about my trip to Best Buy at lunch time today.  I have unfortunately broken the last two cases I purchased for my Blackberry and stopped by Best Buy during lunch to see what I could find as a replacement.  I opted for a case that is really for digital cameras but it does not have that plastic clip that most phone cases have that I always seem to break getting in and out of my car.

So what was the issue?  I knew exactly what I wanted and where it was and I went strait from the front of the store to the section where the cases are located.  I was asked a total of 6 times if I "needed any help" or "was looking for anything in particular".  In fact I felt like I was being attacked by all the knowledgeable and helpful staff, there were blue shirted young people everywhere, I ducked a few on the way to the register.  Now some would say this is wonderful, help everywhere and Best Buy has invested a lot of money in making sure their employees know their products.  

It was all well and good until I got to the register!  Forty odd blue shirts running all over themselves to help people, 12 people in line waiting to pay and 2 registers open.  Finally a manager grabbed one of them to open a register and I drew the short straw and was asked to go to the newly opened register.  The total $9.73 but the young lady apparently missed "cash day" at Best Buy's Cash Register College, .  I handed her a ten and she rang up the order as though I paid the exact amount.  It then took her about 30 seconds along with managerial help to hand me 27 cents and a receipt.

Now it is easy to pick on retail chains and what was probably a new person at the register but there is a business lesson is all of this. What you have to ask yourself in your business is are you using your resources where they are most needed?  This applies to employees, partners, vendors, technology, websites and any other resources you have in your business.  I think it is important to constantly examine your business models and make sure you are always allocating resources in the best possible way.

To be clear I have no axe to grind with Best Buy, I will be shopping there again for sure.  They just happened to be a convenient target for this subject today and got on my bad side for a few minutes. 

~ Jack Spirko

Technorati Tags: best buy, blackberry, business, employee management, resource management

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