1989 Service Merchandise

[barengeist.livejournal.com]

This ad ran in October, 1989. They used to carry all sorts of cool stuff.

Comments

ACK! Flashback!!!

[misstia]

i worked at one that was open for not even a year in akron....answering phones....i never quite grasped the concept of the store---as nothing was OUT to pick up, just samples then you had to go over to another counter to wait for them to get things from the back---probably why it failed around here.....

my ACK! FLASHBACK!!! was because whereas i did my job fine, when i took my lunch in the lunch room i would sit and read a book and DID NOT TALK TO OTHERS and apparently they had an issue with that....i wasn't rude to anyone, i just sat in a corner and read a book and ate....i was off the clock, so??? but oh no, i was suppose to sit there and talk to people i had zero in common with....they even gave me a list of suggested conversation topics!!!! top one was 'sports', which i am not a fan of and oh no, i couldn't speak badly about sports!! then there was 'hunting', which i told them i was against, so no, i couldn't do that and a variety of other things i had zero interest in and/or abhorred.....

they did not, for whatever reason, think that i had the right to sit in a corner and read a book while i was off the clock in the lunch room....i was being anti-social---which i am....so i took to eating in my car in the parking lot and they threw a fit over that! so i just told them to basically take a hike! :D

Re: ACK! Flashback!!!

[noluck-boston.livejournal.com]

That is a horror story.
Sorry that happened to you.

Re: ACK! Flashback!!!

[misstia]

actually that wasn't the worst job experience i had....aside from my PTSD affecting me in jobs, i always seemed to end up in interesting? job situations....the last place i worked before i got on disability i was an office manager for a small office and there was only 3 guys in there--the owner and 2 other guys....one of the guys, who had worked for the owner for like 20 years, became bulimic when his youngest daughter went to high school---yes men in their 50s can get that---and it was a small office....i'd smell food cooking in the microwave....then about 30 minutes later hear him retching into his TRASH CAN then the smell of vomit! i went to the owner, cuz he had known him for so long, but oh no, i should talk to bruce...uh no dude....so he suggested i just buy scented candles and crank up my music!!!! the other guy and myself then BOTH went to the owner and he begrudgingly agreed to speak to bruce....well mike was a scientologist (if i only knew then what i know now about that! :) and apparently he suggested something scientology-ish to bruce cuz bruce started yelling at him that he was a christian and he wanted no part of his cult and HE QUIT....he stormed out....then mike came out and sayed "well i tried, you two should have talked to him"...i looked at greg who had the same look at me and i said "not our job dude, i quit too" and greg said "me three" and i doubt mike got a CLUE what he did wrong there....after that only his wife worked for him though! every time i think of this i smell the blue berry pancakes---both times ::shudder::

damn i had some weird job experiences!! i answered phones for an escort service too once...."what kind of lady are you looking for tonight?"....

we should have a weekend event, places i worked that i hated.... :D

Re: ACK! Flashback!!!

[zorinlynx.livejournal.com]

Holy hostile work environment, batman.

Seriously? I mean, if I were part of a gregarious group, I'd much rather someone who didn't want to talk to us sit quietly with a book than be FORCED to talk to us and make things awkward.

What was management thinking? You can't force introverts to be social.

If they had such idiots running the stores no wonder they went out of business.

Re: ACK! Flashback!!!

[misstia]

yeah, it made ZERO sense to me....did i do my job okay? oh you do a great job on the phones....then when i am CLOCKED OUT, what is wrong with quietly reading a book in the corner? you need to associate with other employees....why?...then they gave convoluted 'team work' talk and uh, talking about stuff i either dislike or have no interest in would do what? i wasn't rude to anyone, i just wanted to be left alone at lunch....

Re: ACK! Flashback!!!

[barengeist.livejournal.com]

That sounds like management had some sort of team building retreat with all of the wrong ideas being pitched at them. The whole point of a break is to get a break. From the customers, the work and by all means the co workers.

Re: ACK! Flashback!!!

[misstia]

yeah, they did use the word 'team work' so you're probably right about that....they probably thought if gabbed during lunch you'd be better co-workers or some b.s. like that.....never mind i worked alone, in a little closet by myself with the phone system!

[flummoxicated.livejournal.com]

I think the actual merchandise was kept in the back somewhere and it was delivered on conveyor belts...

[misstia]

yeah it was....that's why i think the store failed in my area, people didn't quite grasp the concept and honestly i couldn't either....you go to a store, you want to grab and go---provided of course you aren't getting a fridge, etc....

[noluck-boston.livejournal.com]

Man I remember them.
I remember the day they closed down at the Square One Mall.

[zorinlynx.livejournal.com]

Wow, I had forgotten how expensive and bulky some video cameras were back then.

I had an 8mm camcorder myself. It was compact, and you'd connect it to the TV to watch your videos. My friends had a VHS-C camcorder; you could take the tape out and put it in a little adapter to watch it on your regular VHS VCR.

It's easy to forget just how clunky things used to be. And I bet back then, people would think back to the 60s and 70s when you had to use actual movie FILM that you had to send out to develop! Oh man, these video cameras are SO convenient! :)

[bluebear2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those full size VHS cameras were considered small at the time. Before then there was a separate huge camera connected with a cable to a huge video recorder. Both very heavy. Two strong people were needed to shoot video.

People are now hoarding these old cameras to rent out to people doing period 1980s movies.

[ponitacupcake.livejournal.com]

I love that Discman!

[lifetaketwo.livejournal.com]

Loved 'em. My first wedding ring came from Service Merchandise in upstate New York. It accidentally got flushed down the toilet a few years later and the marriage itself went down the tubes as well. Not sure why I just went there, lol.