Dunno if it'll help, but tell Kyle in pro-audio I said hi.

I've never worked there, but I have a friend who is a dealer for Sweetwater, selling high-end pro tools stuff. He told me about Guitar Center. Basically, get ready to deal with some really stupid kids, asking lots of stupid questions.

Good guitar center employees:
* ones who tell you the truth when something sucks
* ones who let you test the equipment before buying it, especially microphones.
* ones who let you poke at the ICON control surface, and explain how it works, when they know that you're not gonna buy one

Bad guitar center employees:
* ones who convince you that some piece of equipment is good, when it's actually a piece of crap. When you find out it's crap and return it, they change their story, claiming that they warned you how crappy it is. :evil:
* ones who don't know anything about anything, and pretend that they do :evil:

I hear you get a nice-sized discount if you work there. Good luck!

P.S: you gonna work at the one in Lincoln Park, or is there one in the suburbs?

Massive Mastering wrote: Dunno if it'll help, but tell Kyle in pro-audio I said hi.

John -

That's funny... :lol:

Everybody seems to trash GC on this board and yet so many of us go...

Thanks for making your statement - it proves that even the bad-assest of us make regular treks there - enough to know the staff by name.

I love GC and I have some friends who work there and they love it. I've thought about a part-time job there myself (if for the discount only, but also to help out as much as possible)

The ONLY things I don't like about GC are:
1. It's making business hard for some of my friends who own local music stores
2. They close at 8 when the rest of the mall closes at 9.

J.

Yeah, GC is somewhat of a neccessary evil around here... The (Arlignton Heights) location is the only place you can run to for a lot of stuff - Cables, mostly...

But for sure - Building a relationship with the staff can take a lot of crap out of transactions... It's rough though - Trying to find someone who's been there long enough (that may actually STAY there long enough) to really get to know can be difficult.

hey, we all go to GC- there's three of them not too far from where I live so... there is also a Sam ash but I don't go there much-

One just opened in my city and my stepson works there. He's bitching that the sales people are basically babysitting kids whose parents drop them off for a while to run around the store. Mom and dad will gladly buy junior whatever guitar, amp, or latest home studio gear just to shut them up. None of the salespeople there know their butt from a hole in the wall about the gear...just what they are trained to know...."ignorance is bliss", so to speak. Sorry, I know that there HAS to be someone at these chains that DOES know gear, but not enough to bother with.

Guitar Center is good for playing around with synths / guitars, and you have to know what you want. Don't ask the salespeople any questions. They have exclusive deals with certain manufacturers, and they'll try to sell you their products, even if it's not the best for your purposes. (that's what my friend from Sweetwater told me; he's familiar with how GC functions)

John,

If I see Kyle today I'll tell him you say hi. Kyle is a good guy...I normally work with Bud because he gives me awesome deals without any BS.

It's pretty sick when you call Guitar Center and they know your voice on the phone....I've been a VERY frequent shopper for about 10 years now.

When I went to buy my Brick months back....one of the guys was like "why do you want the Brick? Get the Eureka instead...it's a much better pre." When I laughed in his face they decided to try out the Brick that night, and now the Brick is the new low price/high impact pre they are pushing. So I agree....not too many people really know what they are saying there....they make up their own opinions about gear based on nothing.

Hey Rasputin your friends at sweetwater do that exact same thing. You ever notice they hang from digidesigns nutsack and only push their products. I called one day with some questions on the motu 192hd, the conversation went on for maybe 2 mintues before the salesperson was pushing pro tools hd. Then he went from accell one or whatever and tried saying i should just spend the 14 grand and get the accell 3. I went from looking at a 2000 motu device to talking about a 20,000 dollar pro tools rig. No matter where you go someone is going to push a product that makes them the most money. So Arthur I guess we'll have to lump you in with all the GC employees that supposedly don't know anything and blindly push things they don't know about. Thats a pretty overgeneralized comment. I know plenty of GC employees that know a shitload about recording and gear.

personally, I usually buy recording gear online at sweetwater. Certain items, i'd go to guitar center..like a cheap keyboard stand or anvil case or moongels for drums, mainly odds and end stuff that id prefer to buy in person.

I dunno....I'd rather walk into Guitar Center and buy a Brick for $325 new out the door than pay full price online. Then if something goes wrong I don't have to deal with the BS of having to send it back.

I've never paid full price for a single thing at Guitar Center....I'll only buy something online that I can't get in person.

The two guys I deal with at GC also never make me pay full price for anything. However online is taxfree as long as the place your buying from isn't in your state.

Working at GC is no real fun. It is a very aggressive high pressure sales enviornment that thrives on competition of one sales person to another. If you are in a busy or flagship store, there is little to no time to use or learn the products you are expected to know. You get a montly employee guide of the products that you are expected to push, and in some cases you even get a free item or cash kickback for specific gear that you sell. Only the upper top performers have the ability to make money and it is ALWAYS at the cost of BSing the customer and stepping on your fellow sales person to get there. In most cases it is difficult to get two days off in a row, and forget about normal regular scheduled business hours or weekends and any holiday time off as that is the normal demands or retail business.

Stock on hand is mostly the cheap and junk stuff you are expected to push. Any real pro gear is a special order which is a big time consumming and complete pain in the ass for the little return it provides. No matter how good a deal you try to make, most want and expect a better deal. And since you are expected to make your own business based on commission with repeat customers, you are almost forced to rip-off those who don't know any better to make for the majority who grind you into the ground.

Working at GC is for losers, those who don't have any skills to do anything else and those who can BS and exploit customers on a daily bassis and still sleep at night.

Ya, that's a real job that commands respect and is gonna be the catilyst of a master career move.

Ariund here we refer to it as the 'Evil Empire'.....It would be a better place to shop if they'd just set up the guitars...even a little. And the vintage prices???

Would it be wrong to work there simply for the discount? I have a good job with minimal hours and would love a hefty discount for a few days of BS.

With what you get paid, you can't afford to buy anything. Or I should say anything decent. The discount takes a min of 6-months to qualify and then you need to graw-vel and whine to the store manager, who based on your performance, can make you jump through extra hoops.

i duno, i like the guitar center here (san bernadino) as far as the pro audio dept it prettie mutch the same. if you dont know what you want you wont know what you need when you leave. basicly i knew the manager, who didnt know mutch about recording, but if i asked for something he knew i knew what i was talking about and has never tryed to steer me to something else. now for the vintage guitar section, its a litle priced, but its got an ac30 a bassman half stack and plenty else to make me wish i had the money to spend in there. oh yea and its all set up and ready to be played.

guitar center is a joke

Yes, I buy stuff there. I have spent a lot of cash there the past 3 years however. I learned to hook myself with one salesman(if he knows his stuff). I always go to him. I get a very good price, I dont have to deal with the othere idiots being Mr. Cool salesman acting like he has been your best friend for the past 10 years. Vintage prices on audio gear(when they have it) or guitars is insane

Id like to add one more thing.

Working in retail is hell. The End