Video store

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Friendly atmosphere, staff discount
Disadvantages:	Very few other staff benefits

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I've been working part-time at Choices Video in my home town since September 2001, and I have to say that, most of the time, I really do enjoy my job. The people are friendly, it's quite flexible, but the pitfalls are a real pain sometimes.

BACKGROUND
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Choices Video is part of the Home Entertainment Corporation, which aside from video rental shops also distributes rental products to local shops such as Alldays and independant ones. They have their own film distribution arm, Mosaic Entertainment, which buys rights to video and dvd of films. HEC was founded in 1985, and the first Choices Video rental store was opened in 1986. There are now 213 branches in the UK.

WHERE I WORK
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I work in the smaller Ipswich branch of Choices (there are two). We're situated in a row of shops on the estate where I live. We currently have eight part-time staff including me. The shop is relatively small considering that several of the shops around the country have two enormous floors with enormous amounts of staff to match! As I've said, I started working here in 2001 and joined a close-knit team who, without exception, were very friendly and welcoming, and were happy to help the newcomer.
We do video/DVD rentals (obviously), as well as gamecube, XBox PSOne and PS2 games rentals. We sell DVD's and a few videos, and playstation games for both the PSOne and PS2. In addition to this we sell mobile phones, E-Top-Up credits and sim cards for mobiles.
And, of course, there is the obligatory ice-cream freezer and drinks fridge along with a large confectionery section.

MY WORKING EXPERIENCE OF CHOICES
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Choices advertise their job vacancies in the shop window with a poster - huge and bright yellow so you couldn't possibly miss it! I called in for an application form, (although I could have applied at their website) which was standard fare as application forms go, dropped it back in and waited. Since I've been working here we've had to advertise for new staff four times, and realised that if your application isn't successful, you won't be called or sent a letter to tell you so - obvious from the amount of people coming in to enquire about whether the job they'd applied for was filled or not!
Luckily I was called for an interview which was very informal. This may vary in different stores due to different managers having different interviewing techniques, but the then-manager at the store I applied to made me feel quite at ease. It was a few weeks until I was actually phoned to say I'd been successful, and I was invited to start two days later. My contract was only to be for 5 hours a week, but during the first two weeks I came in for about twice that, for training on the main aspects of working at the shop.
When I first started here I was on a three-month probation period, which is standard practice. The computer system at the time was of the type where you can add new members/rent films/ sell items with your eyes shut if you were used to the system, but a complete mine-field if you were new! I learned all this quickly, and also had to watch a training video from the VSC which played out scenarios of underage people attempting to rent a film, to get me used to the type of excuses and ploys which were commonly used, and how best to say no without causing ructions with members.
At the end of the three-month period, I was set an induction test, which included questions on how to access certain areas of the computer such as a member's account page, or the search page for a rental or retail item, questions asking me to explain how to add new members, or how to access details of overdue charges, and general questions about the company. There was also a section on the different film classifications (PG, 15, 18 for example) and on the penalties applied by the body of the BBFC (British Board of Film Classifications) for breaching the law which states you cannot rent or sell a rated film/game to anyone under the legal age limit. In addition I had to complete a section asking informal questions such as what would I do if someone I suspected to be underage tried to rent/buy an age-rated film.
I passed, and was sent a certificate which sits with everyone elses' on the office wall, and was issued with a badge saying "Sales Assistant" instead of "Trainee" which was a marked improvement - customers ignore trainees, they want someone with a badge which has been earned!

The store I work in, because of it's size and traffic-flow of customers, has a shift-pattern I have never seen in another shop - from 10am when the shop opens there is only one member of staff in the entire shop until 7pm when due to insurance reasons, and the fact that evenings are generally busier, there must be two staff until closing at 10pm. If the shop is in the throes of medium-busyness, or there is something specific to do such as stock-checks, this isn't really a problem. However, if it's quiet, and the only job on the list says "clean shelves" then it can get extremely lonely and boring.
The other end of the spectrum is when the world and his wife walks through the door and floods the counter with questions - "is this good?" "what's new out" "do you have any of these left?" ad nauseum et infinitum! The most common times for this is late on a Sunday afternoon when there's sod-all on telly, and all the DIY shops have closed. Some bright spark, while flicking through the 90-odd channels on Sky and finding nothing interesting suddenly remembers that the video shop is open until 10pm! There is a dedicated helpdesk for most computer-related queries though, and the shop manager must be available to be consulted on problems at most times on his/her mobile. In practice I usually call another shop with queries if I can, as I hate disturbing people at home for work-related crap!

There are three TV's all hooked up to one video, which we can play films on for the benefit of the CUSTOMERS ONLY *smirk*. The main problem with this is that until 7pm we can only play U and PG rated films. If you're planning on working here, let me warn you, if you're caught idling away with someting funny on the telly to watch, you're in big trouble - likewise, if you're caught sitting down. When I joined, the manager informed me that sitting down was a sackable offense, and to this day I'm convinced he was only partly joking. If there isn't really anything to do, you are supposed to get out a bucket, hot water and J-cloth and clean the shelves - a tedious job, considering the amount of shelves in your average video store!

While I'm on the subject of cleaning, I have a cautionary tale to relate - when you are working alone in a shop and someone treads dog muck over the carpet, it is YOU who has to get down on your hands and knees and scrub it off (marigolds, thankfully, were in the cupboard!).

Problems with local youths used to be a major headache to us before we forced our head office to install CCTV. I've mentioned our opening times - 10am to 10pm seven days a week - so after all the other sensible shops in the row had shut, or on a Sunday, we were the target of teens with nothing better to do than come in and shoplift sweets, throw boxes around, and generally give the poor sales person a headache. Part of this was due to where the shop is - a council estate with an unsavoury repuatation, and a quiet street of shops. Since the CCTV went in though, we have far less of that, although it's still not uncommon. We have the authority to ban people if they cause trouble, and if they walk in again after being given a verbal ban, we can call the police to put them out.

As far as flexibility goes, our store is excellent. If you need a night off, then as long as someone is willing to exchange shifts or work yours as extra, it's no problem. Similarly, if it's only occasional, people are easy-going about staying on for a bit if you let them know you'll be late, or popping in to cover for an hour while you take the car to the garage/kids to the dentist/dog to the vets. It all depends on the people you work with, we're extremely lucky in that all except one of us has kids, and is understanding. If you're really sick, then it's also no problem as long as you let someone know ASAP (i.e. not five minutes before you're due in!) and don't take the piss.

As a general rule though, if working alone I find it can be quite peaceful, and if I'm working in the evening with another staff member, we usually have a laugh, gossip etc. Like I said, everyone is friendly. Even madhouse hours come to an end, and when the last customer leaves after a rush, I can go and shove the kettle on for that most English of pastimes - a cup of tea!

STAFF BENEFITS
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Ok, the bit most people are interested in when considering a new job!
Well, sorry. This section is short and not very sweet. There is a staff discount on new films, games, console software drinks, ice-cream and sweets of 10%. For previously rented items which we sell a lot of, the discount is 15% and for mobile phones and games consoles the discount is only 5%. No discount on sim cards or mobile phone top-ups.
There is also a discount of 30% on anything bought directly from the company's website where they sell films at massively reduced prices. While this sounds good in theory (and looks good on paper) it's actually a discount of the RRP (Recommended Retail Price) which is usually about £24.99 for new DVD's. It works out cheaper to buy from the site as a customer, where the discount can be as much as 55%.
I have heard tell of a bonus scheme linked to store performance and targets, paid out twice-yearly. Our store has never once gained a bonus since this scheme was introduced, and it's my personal (though quite probably uninformed) opinion that our store targets are way too high.

But wait, I hear you cry. What about free staff rentals?
Er, nope. We used to get them, but company policy changed as of the 1st of Jan this year, and we now have to pay £1 per item, for one night only, any extra nights are charged at £1.50 each.
This applies to all our rentals, which seems stupid since customers can rent films over about 9 months old for £2.00 for an entire week. Not to mention the fact that customers expect us to have a knowledge of the films we rent.

PAY AND OTHER MATTERS
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Standard rate for a sales assistant has just risen to £5.00 per hour, but if you're 20 or 21 it will be £4.70, and under 20 it seems to be £4.00 judging by a 19-year-old colleague.
We are paid weekly, but two weeks in arrears, on a Friday. This can be somewhat confusing, as the pay I will be getting this coming Friday is for the hours I did the week before last. Once you get used to it, it's simple enough.
Holiday pay is the equivalent of four-weeks-worth per year, running October to September, and based on weekly contracted hours. This means you need to be Johnny-on-the-spot if you take on extra shifts, and make sure your manager has informed Head Office. Amended contarcts, like your firtst one, will be sent to your home address.
Sick pay is paid to you if you're off on one of your contracted shifts, but in my experience they're awfully slow about making sure it's put through the system in the head office pay department - I've never been off sick, but others I work with have had problems.
One irritating gripe with Choices is that you have to pay for your own uniform - black trousers of your own, Choices blouse/shirt (most unflattering shape I've ever seen in a blouse, just to add insult to injury) which is sent from head office and for which £8.00 will be removed from your wages, and name badges (I think they're currently £3.00, so woe betide you if you lose it).

WOULD I RECOMMEND WORKING HERE?
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It depends on what you're after really. If you want a job which is fairly easy to do once you're used to it, don't want to watch films that much, and are more concerned with whether you'll get on with fellow workers, you'd be fine. If you wanted a lot more out of a job though, I'd advise you to look elsewhere, as for what we do, we don't get much in return. You are a sales assistant, but also a security guard, problem-solver, cleaner, and a complaint handler too!