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Comment by sharkweek | Hacker News Reader

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sharkweek·

There was a post on HN a few months ago from an employee at RadioShack retelling his horrors of working there:

http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy...

I think this is a better explanation as to why RadioShack is folding

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> There is a part of me who isn't comfortable with talking this way about an employer who provided my income for three and a half years, but I, along with most people I worked with, put in far more than we got back.

Unfortunately, this is how you make money. Getting more for your investment than you put in. RadioShack received far more back than they put in, and when that happens in a labor transaction it really is a zero sum game. What a great system we have in the US.

Your comment, while informative, puts the cart before the horse. High work stress and poor employee treatment are usually symptoms, not causes, of a business going under.

I would argue otherwise. If you know for a fact that you are not valued, you aren't going to care. If you come into work and find that not only are you mistreated, you are ACTIVELY despised, you are going to put the absolute minimum effort in. And it will show. Employees are humans. Abused humans do not make good corporate interfaces.

It's not just treating employees like shit. He has a first-hand look at all sorts of incredibly stupid management decisions.

The very first story was getting rid of advertising in newspaper inserts, staffing up like crazy for Black Friday, only to sell maybe $200 worth of stuff that whole day. Other ridiculous things include stocking up on remote-controlled cars based on PT Cruisers and on Brum, which essentially no American recognizes. [1] Next to these, the CueCat seems like genius.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brum_%28TV_series%29

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