Working at Dick Smith, experiences please

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gjm

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#463382 28-Apr-2011 14:46

worked there a number of years ago when I went through uni. The pay was low but better than a kick in the head, esp since I didnt get a student allowance.

We were expected to be at work about 1/2 hour early to get the store ready for opening and then stay behind for cashing up the tills / balancing etc at the end of the day however we were not paid for this. Cashing up sometimes took up to 1 hour if the tills werent balancing properly.

The assmgr typically had to work on the weekend but got weekday off in return while the manager got the weekend off. I worked with a good bunch of people which made the job bearable but a lot of us were into the tech we sold and enjoyed playing around with stuff in the shop when we could. These days it seems that very few staff members know anything about most of the products they sell.

Finally, expect your feet to hurt like hell after work for the first couple of weeks if you are going from a sitting down all day job to a standing up all day one. Good shoes ftw here.

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blakamin

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#463389 28-Apr-2011 15:25

rscole86: I spent around 5 years work with DSE. Started off as a salesperson and worked my way up to Store Manager.

IMO DSE is not the company it used to be, and not the company that people may think of when they hear the name. They are now primarily run by DSE Australia/Progressive NZ/Woolworths Australia. With most of their management now done out of Australia. They also streamlined their discount model for employees to match that of Progressive Enterprises.

How long ago was that? I had a mate that worked for DSE in Oz in the early 90's and they were owned by Woolworths then! ( we used to use his discount :D)

jonherries

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#463518 28-Apr-2011 21:37

A word scramble, apologies but it had to be done.

If they offer Ass Man you should take it

insane

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#463542 28-Apr-2011 23:00

I worked part time for 3 years while I was at Uni, wasn't too bad as the store I worked at was very flexible with my forever changing Uni timetable.

I had several good managers over the years and one complete prat who got two part time engineering students fired for objecting to his questionable management qualities.

I completed all the training they had to offer with exception of their management program, however by the time I left the minimum wage was increasing at a faster rate than I was able to get through continuous training so relatively speaking there was less incentive to up-skill.

The best way to sum up DSE management was when the Northern Area Manager introduced himself to me while on a store visit just before I left. I smiled, called him by name as we spoke often and politely advised him I'd been working for him for 3 years...

oh, staff discounts were really good back then, and I've heard from friends still working their that they are going to bring back the cost price + 10% + GST model.

rscole86

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#464123 1-May-2011 11:57

blakamin:
rscole86: I spent around 5 years work with DSE. Started off as a salesperson and worked my way up to Store Manager.

IMO DSE is not the company it used to be, and not the company that people may think of when they hear the name. They are now primarily run by DSE Australia/Progressive NZ/Woolworths Australia. With most of their management now done out of Australia. They also streamlined their discount model for employees to match that of Progressive Enterprises.

How long ago was that? I had a mate that worked for DSE in Oz in the early 90's and they were owned by Woolworths then! ( we used to use his discount :D)

2-3 years ago they allowed DSE staff to get discounts at Progressive stores, and Progressive employees to get 5% off at DSE. Eventually DSE staff lost their cost+10% and got the same 5% off.
As for when management moved, I think it was 2 years ago. But I had already left by then so I am not sure on the exact time frame.

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

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#464261 1-May-2011 20:32

Seriously?
5% off?
Doesn't any member of the public get better than that just by asking?

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