Jon Furniss

Okay, so yeah, after my post on Thursday, the founder of the Geek Squad, Robert Stephens, e-mailed me.
Here’s what he said:

Jon,

I don’t make it my business to mess with people’s private lives, unless they: a) mention geek squad publicly on a publicly available blog, and b) seem unhappy perhaps because of The Geek Squad.  I spend a lot of time surprising customers and Agents letting them know that we care.

You have not asked for my input or opinion, but since you posted it and sent it “out there”, I’ll give you the same response I give to every customer who does the same as you have.  I ask them if there is anything I can do to help.

When I founded The Geek Squad, one of my main goals was to attract and retain the best talent.  I care very much about every Agent who wears the uniform.  I am aware that not every day is a bed of roses, nor every leader as inspirational as George Lucas.  However, we are in a marathon, not a sprint.  If we persist, things always get better over time.

So I’ll ask: Are you happy with your job? and is there anything I or your leadership can do that we are not already doing?  Yes, I really do give a shit.

Since this is your personal blog, you have no obligation to respond.  I just wanted you to know.

Regards,

Robert Stephens
Founder and Chief Inspector
The Geek Squad

http://www.geeksquad.com

“Serving the Public, Policing Technology, and Protecting the World”

I spent the first half of Friday after reading this wondering if I was going to get fired, or what. But then I remembered that I hadn’t said anything worth getting fired over. (Saying my GM is Satan is not termination-worthy, I don’t think…) But yeah, anyway, so here’s what I sent back:

Mr. Stephens,

First off, I’d like to say thank you, it’s good to know that somewhere up there in the high clouds of Mount Olympus (I mean, Corporate) that I someday (maybe) aspire to, there’s at least one person who cares.
As for whether or not I’m happy with my job… I don’t know, it’s a tough question.
I’ll start by saying that my post in was in no means meant to bash Best Buy or Geek Squad. As retailers go, I think that Best Buy is leaps and bounds above the rest, and my favorite part of Best Buy is the Geek Squad. (Although I am slightly upset with the whole bundling up of all the services in the store into Geek Squad… But branding is branding, and you, sir, created an awesome brand.) My blog entry was meant more to complain about the state of humanity in general, and was meant primarily for humor. And I know, saying that my GM is Satan might be going a little overboard. He’s not the Dark Prince, he’s just immature, overemotional, and doesn’t know how to act towards human beings. But that really is a different issue, and aside from those facts, he is a good GM.

So as for whether or not I’m happy with my job (I’m writing this while not paying attention to economics class, so if I accidentally start writing about supply and demand, I apologize), I definitely don’t hate my job, I love (most of) the guys that I work with, I love being constantly surrounded by computers, and I love being on the Geek Squad. I also, however, hate having to work at all. I also suffer from what I like to call “Life ADD,” because of which I get tired of too much routine and monotony after a certain period of time (which makes me terrible at relationships, but again, that’s not the subject at hand), and after fourish months of being on the Geek Squad, and generally working 2-10 every Monday – Friday, I’m just tired, and slightly bored of my life. So it’s nothing that’s wrong with the work itself (except for, of course, my GM maybe showing his employees a little respect, when that is all he expects back), it’s just me. I do have a week off (and a birthday!) next week, so hopefully that will be enough relaxation and not working to get me more cheerful about it all.

Also, my DCI wanted me to let you know that he’s been in his position for over four months now and still hasn’t received his badge, and was wondering what he could do about that. (He also wanted me to tell you “he gets +50 for saying “i really do give a shit” in a corporate e-mail”).

Also, also, am I allowed to blog the fact that you e-mailed me? Because, well, that’s pretty damn awesome, and bloggable, and you know, I’m all down for whatever will get me more hits.

So thanks a lot again, you managed to at first fill my heart with fear (did I write anything that I can get fired over?), and then brightened up my day.

Jon Furniss
http://jonfurniss.wordpress.com

P.S. If you take a look at the next entry after the one you wrote me regarding, there’s some pretty sweet pictures of a Dynex battery tower.

And a couple hours later I got back:

Jon,

Well, you seem like a perfectly normal 20 year old. Just hang in there. My hardest years were 19-21. It does get better…way better. It all about persistence.

As for the badges, I detected this problem a few weeks ago and over 700 orders were pushed through.

Take care,

-R.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with this correspondence. I’ve learned a few things:

1. The founder of Geek Squad surfs the internet for anything regarding his creation late at night and then responds to it, and defends it with a passion.

2.The Geek Squad has a motto “Cura et Celeritas,” which means “Speed and Accuracy.”

3. And that Robert Stephens really does give a shit.

And I think that’s pretty awesome.

Although just because George Lucas is a fearless leader does not mean that he does no wrong…

So yeah, that was my cool happening for yesterday.