Talk:Merit Badges (Thrift Store)

I made this Luiz 21:40, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

Pre-pre-beta categories

(This is the ongoing repository for tasks we want the merit badge system to explicitly cover)

• Wrapping (making stuff available for sale)
• Outbox (taking stuff out of the store; trash, recycling, adv testing, receiving, extra boxes, free table)
• Presort (simple sort)
• Sort (more advanced)
• Putting stuff away
• Pricing
• Cash Handling and Till
• Sales
• Dealing with crappy situations
• Answering the phone (?)
• Restocking
• Cleaning, tidying, and makin' pretty

we shouldn't forget to rewrite "running the store" if this gets anywhere

Task Dump

(Sorting above tasks into bins representing the level of difficultly)

Easy Tasks

• Wrapping
• Greeting
  • I really like this inclusion--allows for interaction without cust.serv. training. Tonyc 06:50, 15 April 2009 (UTC)
• Sweeping
• Neatening

Medium Tasks

• Sorting
• Stocking
• Selling Gizmos (not computers
• Customer service

Hard Tasks

• Pricing
• Answering the phone
• Cashiering
• Selling Computers

Putting out brush fires

(its own task, category, and merit badge w/ yoda)

Animals for Merit Badges

• Tobacco Hornworm Pupate
• Brine shrimp
• Banana Slug
• Gopher
• Armadillo
• Bobcat
• Lemur
• Wolverine
• Bonobo
• Yoda

I made this:Tonyc 06:48, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

Tony's Thoughts

I envision a similar system to this, but I've been thinking about it a bit differently.

I see this as a four-tiered path, based on the cub scouts' tiers of

• cub
• wolf
• bear
• weeblo

What we call them is irrelevant, really, but for time being I've been thinking of the tiers in terms of inanimate objects, with the actual merit badges (the small steps) being animals/puns/general silliness.

Here's my tier framework:

• mouse ball
  • basic tasks and general support of store operations
    • basic stuff (volunteer agreement, get on email list, etc.)
    • triage of incoming stuff
    • putting away triaged stuff
    • very basic pricing
    • neatening
    • taking stuff from the store to receiving/AT
    • gathering basic items from areas in FG (keyboards, mice, monitors, cards, power supplies)
    • stocking materials such as paper, labels, tape, shrink-wrap

• price gun
  • intoduction to customer service, till operations
    • pricing more items
    • printing from dead trees
    • basic till/cc operations
    • basic customer service training
    • stocking systems and tardis items

• abacus
  • continuation of training in same areas
    • pricing systems
    • researching oddballs
    • advanced till operations and closing procedures
    • advanced cust. service (selling systems, handling difficult customers, phone)

• The Whistle
  • the equivalent of knighting someone. Someone with a whistle can be scheduled to work a shift, solo.
    • Needs to demonstrate diplomacy,
    • project management
    • system-level improvements
    • effective and appropriate mom-jokes
    • brush-fire extinguishing (making an angry customer leave happy, without capitulating)
    • creating effective signs
    • suggesting and implementing procedural/structural changes (this may be asking too much)
    • documentation, etc.

Each tier would involve earning a set of merit badges, each representative of an area of training.

There would be required badges, and a set of elective badges at each tier. To advance to the next tier, the volunteer would need to receive all of the required (duh) and a set number of electives.

Electives could include things such helpful, but non-critical tasks as:

• making ethernet cables
• burning distro cds
• pckging mouse balls, etc.

implementation

Each trainee would have a sheet posted in a public place to display their progress.

The details of specific badges/requirments would live on the wiki.

each merit badge and tier earned would be recorded on the paper sheet, via applying a color sticker, (which involves the cooperation of our fickle mistress, Dazzle).

advancements of tier levels would involve a ceremony and a trinket. Woo-Hoo!