devils advocate

Sure. It's always easy to make fakes of reward program items..... It's there to be an incentive for people to shop, and for community goodwill.... And sometimes even, because someone believes in the cause. LOL People can counterfeit money too, but we still use currency. What I mean I suppose, is that you can't stop a cheat, but sometimes the good results outweigh the few negatives. Also, quite honestly, if it draws more sales, the store sadlly, wouldn't be concerned. But .. It IS still there, to reward the few I suppose. I have a mom and pop drug store in my territory that gives the kids of their customers 10$ gift certificates to Mcnally Robinsons on their birthdays... It's on an honour system , and it works for them. The owner is sure a couple kids that look ten are actually 30, because they have so many b-days..lol Again, it's a cause (literacy) that the owner loves, so he looks the other way..... If they actually WANT the books, he'd give them more... A nice guy I suppose...

I totally agree with this... Maybe instead of something negative, the store could turn the whole situation into something positive by implementing this. So in the end, while going about it the wrong way, the employee had a hand in creating an excellent program that caters to the children, and ultimately garners some of the same effect he was looking for.

In every job I've had, training consisted of spending a week working along side someone who does what I was hired to do, at which point you were on your own. From Goodwill to Viacom/MTV Networks. It's not like they got paid extra to train me, and it's not like I wasn't producing work results during that period. None of them had to buy new/extra equipment, or training materials or send me to a training camp or anything else. Aside from the few extras hours of work someone in HR has to do to file paper work, and the 5 minutes it takes someone in IT to delete one old account and create a new one. Besides, new employees are making less money any ways. Which offsets any such costs in the cases where they may exist. There are companies out there that specifically work on this very basis. Employees let go before any significant anniversary date and replaced with new hires. So raises, benefits, etc.. don't have to be handed out. I think Walmart is even one of the companies accused of this practice. I've personally done it before. Wasn't that hard. Also had a direct hand in the recommendation of termination of another person. Both were at Viacom/MTV Network. Honestly, it's not only not that hard, but satisfying when you're talking about total screw ups who are dead weight where their elimination makes everything better for everyone else. Considering the guy was the store manager, he's obviously been there a while. You'de have thought he would have been reasonably "developed" by that time, and would have suspected that's why he was manager and still in some lesser position. No, employees are tools to the company. They are making THEIR OWN choices by choosing to take it apon themselves to do things they know they aren't supposed to be doing. If one is going to be a risk taker, then they need to accept the consequences of their actions. Subjective. Pharmacists who refuse to sell birth control think they are doing the right thing too. So don't care what he thinks or his intentions were, not important. As a store manager he should have a little more common sense then this. It's not as if this is some big fuzzy gray area. His job is to manage store operations, not personally dictate store policy that violate civil rights and consumer laws. We're not talking a little mistake here, but a complete failure of reasonable thought process. Why do you think that? Have pay reductions been banned in the USA recently that I'm unaware of? I guess you don't really agree with much I said then? LOL I'm not going to bother replying to each thing individually. I'll just leave it at people have differences in how they manage. I've been very successful my way, and will continue it. I believe strongly in positive reinforcement and development, with termination being the last resort. Obviously some things are an instant dismissal. My experience and record, along with many other peoples teachings show that in a society like ours, it is the best method to get production. My experience is; commerce grad 1992. extended learning through 98. various mgmt postions through 2000. Area mngr for a telecom through 2003, area manager for a leading ag company through 2005 and currently a T rep for a large pharmaceutical company. Oh yeah, and mgr of a radio shack while in university..lol So, my experience is good, and at a hands on level. No "upper echelon"boardrooms here .lol. And I enjoy it. Most of the time. I find it sad that you said you could enjoy dismissing anyone. Even "dead weight and screw ups" are often created by their environment. In fact, you would be surprised how often that is the case. I've had the displeasure of releasing 17 people directly in my time..... I can count every one of them. They were the 17 worst days of my life..... Even the gross negligence/criminal cases. I also remeber the 12th vividly. She was a real problem. I let her go. She committed suicide a week later. Obviously there were real issues there, and the termination wasn't the cause. But one always remembers.. And I don't like it. I've had to go to court over 2, and have adjudications with the labour board on some. Horrible experiences. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.... or employee. As for employee aquisition? It's very expensive. Most companies know their exact cost. My cost for the telco was about 2500. That was for a 9 dollar per hour sales associate. It varies some, but I would guess a franchisee game store to be around 1500 after all is said and done... At least in Canada. I won't bother breaking down aquisition costs, you could probably google them I suppose. But you left out piles of stuff.. And it all adds up. eg; Who did the hire? How did you hire? (postings etc) How many interviews? Where did you interview? How many hours spent looking at resumes/ phoning/emailing/ setting appts/ in person interviews etc; Do you have more than one round? do you have 2 people mandatory in the room to eliminate issues as is currently recommended. How MANY resource staff do you need if you have a high turnover? The list could go on, most companies have a cost worked out. And that's right, I'm in Canada... Not the U s of A, as you presumed. Don't worry, I know my provincial/federal employee standards quite well. Here, unless an employee signs off on a demotion/pay cut, you'll be discussing it with labour standards quickly. If they refuse, and leave/quit etc; They could look into wrongful dismissal. One thing I will say though for the guy at question here. Maybe he'll get those kids grades up, and instill the value of schoolwork in them. Then, they won't have to work for any of the people or places you described to me! I sure wouldn't want to work for a company/employer who only thought of me as a tool. LOL My last comment: I hope this guy kept his job. At least from the way it was presented t me. Maybe we don't know all the facts. I do hope he: a) Apologizes to the kids, parents for overstepping his boundaries. b) Truly realizes that he lost the company sales, and understands his place in the order of such. c) Doesn't expect a promotion for a while>>LOL d) Focuses his good intentions on another project, to be worked out with the company. e) Does not lose his drive to go above and beyond his employers expectations, but learns to channel them appropriately. Good luck buddy.

Hmm. I find some of the responses to what this employee did to be pretty harsh. Having managed an entire division of stores for a period of time, I thought it was an interesting read. I've never had to deal with the exact scenario, but ones similiar I suppose. I'm guessing that the people who wanted termination have never been in management, save for store level. Termination should always be the last resort. For lots of reasons. 1. The cost of reaquisition... Employees cost money to train. 2. Staff relations. Nobody likes to work for the firing squad. 3. The thought that perhaps, developing people, not disposing of people is managements job. 4. This is a HUMAN BEING you're making these life choices for.. Better be the right choice. I think it's apparent that this man tried to do the right thing. He did it the wrong way. It's an easy fix. Ask him if he understands why the results of his actions were detrimental to the growth of the business. If he doesn't, then sadly we're through. If he does, then it's time to look at the do's and dont's of being an employee. Then we move on to the fact that this case isn't a "3 strikes" rule.. It's one. DO it again, and you'll be unemployed. Finally, we need to have some discipline. I think that a suspension would be fair. Perhaps a loss of future advancement for a set time. I don't know about other areas, but where I am demotion is a tough thing. Useless really. You can't lower their rate of pay. And sadly, I wouldn't pay 2 manager salaries. To all the people who condoned termination. Wow, I wouldn't want to work for you.

Why does it matter? Having it on multiple systems, just means more people get to enjoy it, doesn't it?

Thanks to everyone who bid!

Go0od luck Tempest!! Thanks for the bid. If you win, it will come well shipped.

Hi guys, I'm just trimming down my collection a touch, and know there is usually some interest for this game. It was originally deathtrappommegranites, and I got it from him. I've listed it starting at 9.99 with no reserve. So, it goes for what it goes for. Good luck!! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...p;rd=1&rd=1

Sure 1 person with 2 postives = 2 positives BUT one person with multiple negatives..... raregamergirl is infamous!!!! http://crazyebaylady.ytmnd.com/ Biggest rip off artist in the Ebay world. Type "misrepresenting mint games" or her name at DP..... The legend speaks!!! PS Sadly, she really is a girl. Sara is her name. On a more positive note, her feedback percentage drops about one tenth of a percent per month. Soon enough she'll lose her power seller status. On a more sour note, here are some things she has been accused of; 1. Retaliatory neg feedback... Duh. Check her "left for others" or the nice diarama from the above post. 2. Misrepresenting items continually. 3. Providing false or non existent tracking numbers both to her customer and paypal. 4. Blackmailing users with the threat of negs. 5. Changing auction prices after auction ends. 6. Feedback extortion. 7. being a "total fu**ing c**t" (one of my favorites!) 8. Rarely does a returned item actually make it back to her. Usually lost in the mail...No refund. 9. #8 only occurs if they have actually received their misrepresented item to begin with. Now, I am not accussing her of this.LOL She may try to summon me for liable. Doubtful I would ever receive the summons though, if she sent it. And if I did, It would take years to receive and be mostly illegible, and probably ripped.

Sure 1 person with 2 postives = 2 positives BUT one person with multiple negatives..... raregamergirl is infamous!!!! http://crazyebaylady.ytmnd.com/ Biggest rip off artist in the Ebay world. Type "misrepresenting mint games" or her name at DP..... The legend speaks!!! PS Sadly, she really is a girl. Sara is her name.

raregamergirl is infamous!!!! http://crazyebaylady.ytmnd.com/ Biggest rip off artist in the Ebay world. Type "misrepresenting mint games" or her name at DP..... The legend speaks!!!

I'll give you my four headed Pinata snake Foxy. Just don't tell Starscream.

Hey guys, I'd love one of these if someone would pick me one up. I'm in Canada, but I'll pay all the shipping etc; My daughter wanted it for Xmas, but it's still 60 bucks here. I've got feedback here, DP and Ebay if need be. PM me if you could do it. Thanks, Julian

That's because it has. It's been almost a month.

I sent you a PM last night. Just wondering if you got it?