You're at work... so... WORK!

[vecki]

Any chance of a macro/WORK hack?  I'm getting tired of chasing my sims around the lot as they try to play SSX3, watch TV, lounge on couches, clean up meals (that's what the MAID's for!) while they're supposed to be working at their home business, or even sometimes at a proper community lot!

[Lion]

Indeed. Why couldn't Maxis give us an "assign..." for business owners (and family members if any)? I get a  little tired of running businesses, not because the slow build-up of business, I actually enjoy that, but because you have to run after the owner all the time!

[Motoki]

Well I'm going to 3rd the sentiment. It's irritating. Pretty much the only thing you could have them do without a bunch of tedious clicking all the time is cashier and that's about as interesting as watching paint dry and gets your skill up much slower than the time it takes for paint to dry.

[cheriem]

I'm going to chime in with YEAH, too!  I was really frustrated by this.

[Lion]

Well I'm going to 3rd the sentiment. It's irritating. Pretty much the only thing you could have them do without a bunch of tedious clicking all the time is cashier

And restock, Motoki! But I have restocker most of the time, so not much difference!

[Li'l Brudder]

Well...

In Soviet Russia, business runs you!

[Verona]

I totally agree Lion.  Given a free moment, the owner of my business is heading for the pool table in the house.  Really is annoying.  Also noticed the employees frequently stand and do nothing when they have been assigned "sell items".  

Giving the owner a long string of  "show this item to" commands helps a lot.

[Motoki]

And restock, Motoki! But I have restocker most of the time, so not much difference!

Mine always seem to cancel out of restock for some reason after they've done one or a few things.   Honestly, I wish working was as appealing as playing those damned instruments for money is.

[Lion]

It's actually more fun if you take another sim visit the comm lot, and see the owner doing the management work! But I have a mixed bunch of owners. BlueSoup is the model owner. I had her own "The Corner Shop" to sell flowers and grocery. When she is uncontrollable, she would tell employees to do restock, sell, tidy up, or make flowers. It reminds me that she doesn't do much work herself   . But that's what manager is about right? Maybe I need to hire one more employee in BlueSoup's shop? Of course, when I actually play BlueSoup, she would grill hot dogs all day!

In contrast, Steinway single mother (Simmiecal, you know who she is right?) owns the "Just flowers blah blah" comm shop, but I transformed it to a garden hotel, offering both flowers and accommodation. She hired one employee, and assigned him to cashier. Next time I took another sim to visit, she is doing "sell items" the whole time! Such a good owner, hehe....

It never happened to me, Motoki. They always keep restocking until I had them do other things. Maybe it's not long enough? But definitely more than one or three items.

[angelyne]

I'll add my voice to this chorus of complaints.  That is the most irritating thing I found about OFB thus far.  This constant fighting with my sim to  have her work.  With me it's cleaning.  I don't know how many times I've yanked them away from cleaning a counter, the bathtub or toilet and ordered them back to work.  It's pretty bad when cleaning toilets is more attractive than doing your job.  If you could somehow have a business cleaning toilets I'd have it made.  Once I got so sick of it, I locked the door to the house, so she couldn't get back in. She cleaned the public toilet instead...then stared out the window. 

One thing I found however that helped immensely are snapdragon plants.  Since her needs are being held steady, she is happy enough to hang around her store and chat up her customers.  She's still not doing her job, but at least I am not looking for her all over the place.

I can't wait for the Soviet Russia management tool.

[Scotty]

And restock, Motoki! But I have restocker most of the time, so not much difference!

Mine always seem to cancel out of restock for some reason after they've done one or a few things.  Honestly, I wish working was as appealing as playing those damned instruments for money is.

Mine will usually cancel out on restock when some moron decides to complain to him. After that he will go do something, like watch TV.

[Sleepycat]

heh, maybe we need a StopComplaining hack 

[Scotty]

Oh I'm all for that. I know it's realistic, but it is VERY annoying. It happens way too much.

[dawnkeeper]

Oh I'm all for that. I know it's realistic, but it is VERY annoying. It happens way too much.

I disagree. I have put a ton of hours into my simmies buisiness's and the only time I recieved a complaining customer was when I set one of my employees to sell items. I found out quickly that customers view that as harrasment. So now my employees only restock or cashier. No one sells anything. At all. My business skyrocketed after that climbing ranks by the day.

I am confident that harrasing customers with sales tactics is not a good way to grow a business. I just ignore the customers unless they actually want something and my business goes crazy with happy customers.

It's actually quite effective.

[momtogirls]

I have a home salon, with the wife as the stylist, and the husband doing sales (when you charge over 100 simoleans for a makeover, there actually does need to be sales) I would like to assign him to "sales" rather than have to cancel out the silly "lounge" on the couches I placed for the customers.  She, on the other hand, stands behind the chair, and will do so, until she pee's herself, or falls asleep

[vecki]

Wow.  I use 'basic sell' pretty much all the time.  No complaints yet.  'Can I help you' if the sim is looking lost, and then basic sell if they're taking their sweet time making up their mind whether or not to buy the thing.  One employee Cale to man the cash register (although as business has been picking up, I've just added a second register to use when things are busier) and Cass and Cale restock after closing.

Cassandra and Darren Goth's home florist/robotics shop has been steadily climbing a rank a day

[Jysudo]

Turn free will off if your business is on a seperate lot from the house.
That really helps in getting the sims back to work.

[Pegasys]

With my most successful business I haven't had that many problems chasing my Sim around because I put very few fun items on the lot! I purchased the Little n' Local, which is now a growing TV/Appliance shop. The only fun I let my Sim have is watching TV, and the break room is very small and close to the showroom so it's easy to get him back to work. Also judicious use of locking doors, on a few occasions I lock the break room to all Sims, including my playable Sim.

[nectere]

I also use the locking doors. I have a break room in the main part of the business (also with doors which I will lock if needed) and a doored stairway leading up the residence on top of the shop(s) which remains locked for all until closing time. I dont keep anything fun around in the business either except a radio. This seems to work quite well and dont have to chase my sim around all the time. Assignable locking doors will be needed once I start a family on the home business lot, but at that point my sims may have enough to purchase a business and have it off the home lots so I dont have to worry about the locked doors. I am still running without custom content at this point, so I havent ventured to try out Inges doors on any of the lots, I have a few more things I want to try and break before I put any custom content or mods back in. (plus I am really enjoying the lightening fast load times right now)

[akatonbo]

I am still running without custom content at this point, so I havent ventured to try out Inges doors on any of the lots, I have a few more things I want to try and break before I put any custom content or mods back in. (plus I am really enjoying the lightening fast load times right now)

You too? It takes me longer to get through the EA and Maxis logos than to load the game, with no custom content in. I am about to put in a few sanity savers (phonehack, and the ones to kill what's this and do chores, definitely) and my custom defaults, I think, but otherwise I'm still testing. I haven't been able to duplicate either of the major lot errors yet, so I thought I'd settle down for a little mostly-clean test play.

[skandelouslala]

Definitely share these sentiments.  I have learned not to put anything on the lot besides those items necessary...stuff for sale and counter and a cash register heh.  Heck, I even tried putting a living chair in my car dealership office just so my owner could sit and rest occassionaly and noooo...it became an obsession.  When I wasn't telling him what to do he automatically made a beeline for the chair.  I was having to x it out every 10 seconds.

NO CHAIR FOR YOU!

[veilchen]

Dizzy's individual free will still works for me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will keep on working. I can turn off free will of one of my playable sims and leave the others to go about their own silly business. It makes running a business easier, plus, I only have one sim standing around like a log 'waiting for orders' the others can continue to amuse me with their silly antics.

[nectere]

I can tell you it definitely pays to get your business owner a flower kit and get the gold badge...no matter what business he/she is in, also getting the servo badge is a good idea as well. Servos work a lot harder and longer than sims do, they also dont need the breaks that sims need, and none of them have quit on me. I build them, after I acheive all the badges I want them to have and the added skills (servos inherit skills and badges apprarently - at least in my game), then I have them move out. I invite them over and hire them on the spot, place a few special flowers here and "there" and viola, hassle free business and employees. I have my business owner help in all areas, but most of the time she/he is free to roam as the system I set up has worked out rather well. I also tend to really only stock at night so that the store is pretty much empty by then so I can turn over all my inventory, some of which is cheap (which naturally goes first) and some of which is expensive...

Anyway I am having fun with it so far. The only thing that really bugs me right now is the certain trouble making loitering townies, its the same ones every time. They also refuse to buy anything and want to just stand around annoying/distracting actual customers and drive down my ratings. I ask them to leave and they are right back 5 mins later...I wonder if I can get a sentry bot to stop this issue. hmmm.

I will have to look into selective free will when I get around to putting CC back in. Thanks!

[veilchen]

The Sentrybot? I'll try that one, it would be great if it actually worked. Great idea Nectere. I have the same problem with those loiterers, and I don't want to keep on using the teleport shrub to clear them off. You're right, like bad money, they keep returning. I was contemplating the cowplant, but I think I'll try the sentrybot first. Sounds like fun.

[syberspunk]

Btw. I just browsed through this thread but then I got bored. My brain's a bit fried from teaching lab all day and pig dissecting all night. Maybe I might actually vegematate and play the game finally. Anyways, I vaguely recall Pescado mentioning something about working on a work businessish type controller so employees will hopefully be less stipud

Ste