We REALLY need to stop supporting this company.

[alembicguy]

In your fantasy world, business is all powerful and Unions never existed, regulations never existed.............................

Union guy here for 30 years.

 

[yakmastermax]

I, under no circumstance or in any regard, would ever claim that "your life has been easy". Such a claim is entirely out of the purview of both my knowledge and the topic of discussion.

I will make the claim however that the markets and the working class were healthier back in the 80s and 90s.

Be it on stage, or on the sales floor of Walmart or Guitar Center, we will improve our situation in life only by meet g and /or exceeding expectations.

This attitude of absolute self determination is one born out of privilege, the privilege of working in an economy where a manager at a bike store makes 15% more than the starting salary of a mechanical engineer.

Regardless of whether or not that GC employee kisses your booty, he or she is going to be stuck with that $10 an hour sales position with a much smaller opportunity to move up than was available in previous decades. The meritocracy is dead. As a young man having worked in retail from 2012-2014 I can attest to this.

You don't need to tell me thing are tougher now. There were plenty of ups and downs for me, and there continue to be. Not wanting to write out my life story here, I wanted to give a high level view of my situation.

But, since you seem to think it was all rainbows and unicorns for me since it all happened so long ago, I'll fill in the details.

So please, go on about how easy my road has been.

You'll forgive me if I tell you to eff off.

Once again I'll make no such specific claim about your life Sir, however I must reiterate the fact that in 1988 there were manager positions at bike shops that paid $77,000 annual (Adjusted for inflation, 2016 dollars)

Such a position and it's requisite market conditions simply do not exist anymore. The self determination of yore is gone. Today Guitar center managers make around $50,000.

One can also consider the ever increasing cost of higher education. The middle class is shrinking and the oligarchy will put another Clinton in office.

 

[Bigbri]

I live in Canada and am nowhere near the border, so I will likely never have the opportunity to shop at GC. And with the Canadian dollar in the toilet I likely won't be doing any cross-border shopping via the Net anytime soon either. But just the same I am glad to have this info, because I have just mentally crossed GC/MF/ZZ/M123 off of the list of online retailers that I may, at some point, buy products from.

I used to shop alot at Steve's music in Toronto.

 

[Bigbri]

If all the Guitar Center employees get fired for not signing the paper, wouldn't Guitar Center actually lose money from not having any employees working?

I think every employee should call Guitar Center's bluff.

Strike. It seems almost everybody here just goes right on strike before they negotiate. Especially the teachers. Every few years just like clockwork they're on strike.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Strike. It seems almost everybody here just goes right on strike before they negotiate. Especially the teachers. Every few years just like clockwork they're on strike.

Uh... pretty sure the last teacher strike in NY was 1968.

 

[Geekydad]

Strike. It seems almost everybody here just goes right on strike before they negotiate. Especially the teachers. Every few years just like clockwork they're on strike.

And they'll just fire them- they're not union, after all, and new retail workers are easy to find.

 

[Shortie]

There are plenty of reasons not shop at GC, but this isn't one of them. They can employ who they want, on whatever terms they want: It's their business and their money. If a worker doesn't like the terms, let them find another job (if they can) - otherwise, comply with the terms of their employer - they don't owe anybody a job. And from what I've seen of people working at GC, they probably could not get another job that was any better, if anything at all, so they ought to be grateful they have a job - Period.

I've been working in IT for 25 years. No unions, a zillion NDA's and non-compete agreements you have to sign. If I don't comply - I don't get the job. I like the job and the money and so I sign. I don't have to - I can flip burgers - I just won't get paid as much. My clients and employers made their businesses - they set the terms under which they pay me.

Why is this hard?

 

[Shortie]

I really like Guitar Center. Where else can I go to try out gear and then order it from Sweetwater hah. The company is a complete joke.

I never find anything to try out at GC - they stock 50 $400 basses, 100 Squier kits, 10 run of the mill Fenders and 10 run of the mill Music Mans - that's it. Nothing is ever set up correctly, it's always noisy and nobody pays attention to you. Their used and vintage stuff is all rip-offs. They pull stuff out of the garbage, shine it up, call it vintage and sell it for 10x what it's worth.

You go onto their site, they have EVERYTHING listed but virtually nothing in stock. They also default to showing you used instruments from all over the country.

I now go only to Sam Ash, which is actually a music store, not a big box guitar store, even though it's harder to get to than GC. I'd rather buy an instrument at Walmart's than GC.

 

[Bigbri]

The union i was in was rediculous, I don't remember them doing anything for us at all except for taking 5 grand out of my pocket and putting it towards their new skyscraper.

 

[Bigbri]

Uh... pretty sure the last teacher strike in NY was 1968.

Could be, but in Toronto it was 5 months ago.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Could be, but in Toronto it was 5 months ago.

Cuz in Canada the unions do something other than just take their members money?

 

[Bigbri]

Cuz in Canada the unions do something other than just take their members money?

Nope, the time I was in a union, by the time I left they had taken 5 grand out of my pocket, not got us a single raise, and built themselves a new skyscraper.

 

[Bigbri]

Uh... pretty sure the last teacher strike in NY was 1968.

Strangely enough Canadian autoworkers union (not mine) is a very good healthcare workers union. The unions that call themselves healthcare unions are crap, and seem to know nothing about healthcare.

 

[Shortie]

Uh... pretty sure the last teacher strike in NY was 1968.

Striking has nothing to do with. They extort the public by threatening to go on strike.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Striking has nothing to do with. They extort the public by threatening to go on strike.

???? I have no idea what any of that means.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I can sue you for damages (in a case where you had actually caused me damage). And you're totally avoiding every point I made, btw.

As I understand it the Bill of Rights applies to government, but many laws have been passed which impose similar requirements on individuals or companies with regard to some of it. So a bar doesn't have to give you a platform to espouse your views regarding our alien lizard overlords, but you won't get very far running a bus company that won't let Mormons get on.

 

[Shortie]

I have no idea what any of that means.

I guess you'll have to think about it.

 

[asands]

This!

Being a crappy employee because you are paid a low (yet reasonable for retail) wage is complete BS, and self defeating for the employee.

I was hired at a bicycle shop at a crap wage as I needed supplemental income (I was trying to make a living as an audio engineer) and was passionate about bikes. It only took six months before I was an assistant manager, and about nine more months later I was a manager. I was making $38,000/year with benefits at the age of 23, 1988, BTW.

I having reached a plateau there, and not wanting to get into being a sales rep for a national company, I jumped ship to the telecoms biz. Was able to utilize the skills I learned in retail management to help me work my way into a management position in telecom. (Side note - I eventually left telecom and run my own business now.)

All this after being a solid C-/D student/stoner in high school, and never even applying to college.

We write our own ticket people, period.

This times 1000!

 

[ThePresident777]

Hyperbole much?

Not hyperbole at all. Employees are cost. Rights are cost. Freedom is cost.

 

[ThePresident777]

There are plenty of reasons not shop at GC, but this isn't one of them. They can employ who they want, on whatever terms they want: It's their business and their money. If a worker doesn't like the terms, let them find another job (if they can) - otherwise, comply with the terms of their employer - they don't owe anybody a job.

Business Uber Alles. shag The People.