On Tue, 23 May 2017, Carter wrote:

On 5/23/2017 3:47 PM, Foxs Mercantile wrote:

Middle management was draconian at best. Always grinding
on the store managers to meet constantly changing quotas.

Yup, had a GREAT manager at the local RS -- helpful, knowledgeable, a really
nice guy. Sadly, they fired him because of the bogus quotas.


That's some of the mythology of the place.

People complain about "Got questions? We've got answers", because they
took it literally. When in reality it wasn't that they'd be a source of
information, but having that adapter fo solve a problem.

I don't think the chain ever deliberately hired "technical people". But,
lots of people need jobs, and retail often means flexible schedules. So
the teenager interested in electronics would apply for jobs at Radio
Shack, since it was in line with the hobby. And I seem to recall
something about an employee discount, which had to be good.

So in the seventies I certainly had friends who worked there.

But I think with time, it became a less interesting place to work, more
about consumer electronics than hobby type things, so the hobbyist was
less likely to apply. Or maybe it's that "electronics" became mainstream,
so any kid with a cellphone applied, fancying himself as a "stereo whiz"
or something, so the hobbyist had competition.

Michael