I've been meaning to get this off of my chest....
Okay so I normally leave the anti-establishment musings to Ashish because he's more knowledgable and just plain better at it...
BUT my time working at retail giant Kohl's has gotten me thinking about all of the insane things that big companies do to bullshit people into spending money. For example, right now at Kohl's we have a HUGE buy one get one free sale...sounds awesome right? not really...see the catch is that let's say you want this pair of jeans. The regular price of the jeans is $40 but since they always list the "regular" price of things as being way higher than they are actually worth, Kohl's ALWAYS has those jean "on sale" for 19.99. So then along comes buy one get one free and you're not buying one pair of these jeans for 19.99 and getting the other free, you're buying one pair of these jeans at the regular price of $40 and getting a pair free so you're actually not saving ANY money....yet people don't seem to realize this and come to my cash register as happy as if Oprah invited them to one of her "Oprah's Favorite Things" show
This now brings me to my second gripe, like most major retailers Kohl's has its own credit card and getting credit card applications is very important to the managers and since its proven to be something I'm actually decent at they often put me on the register to solicit applications. Just between you and me I actually feel dirty doing it. I can tell when someone comes to my register if they're going to apply and I'm just being honest but it's usually young minorities who apply and then get themselves into more debt (our lovely card has a 22% interest rate) and I feel bad about asking them to apply...Most other register people in my store do not seem to have this crisis of conscience and often get really competitive about who can get the most applications....
that said I need this job to help pay for Costa Rica so I won't be going anywhere but I'll be very happy after June is over and I never have to go back
BUT my time working at retail giant Kohl's has gotten me thinking about all of the insane things that big companies do to bullshit people into spending money. For example, right now at Kohl's we have a HUGE buy one get one free sale...sounds awesome right? not really...see the catch is that let's say you want this pair of jeans. The regular price of the jeans is $40 but since they always list the "regular" price of things as being way higher than they are actually worth, Kohl's ALWAYS has those jean "on sale" for 19.99. So then along comes buy one get one free and you're not buying one pair of these jeans for 19.99 and getting the other free, you're buying one pair of these jeans at the regular price of $40 and getting a pair free so you're actually not saving ANY money....yet people don't seem to realize this and come to my cash register as happy as if Oprah invited them to one of her "Oprah's Favorite Things" show
This now brings me to my second gripe, like most major retailers Kohl's has its own credit card and getting credit card applications is very important to the managers and since its proven to be something I'm actually decent at they often put me on the register to solicit applications. Just between you and me I actually feel dirty doing it. I can tell when someone comes to my register if they're going to apply and I'm just being honest but it's usually young minorities who apply and then get themselves into more debt (our lovely card has a 22% interest rate) and I feel bad about asking them to apply...Most other register people in my store do not seem to have this crisis of conscience and often get really competitive about who can get the most applications....
that said I need this job to help pay for Costa Rica so I won't be going anywhere but I'll be very happy after June is over and I never have to go back