Workplace Training/Safety Video Archive

I've never seen a job training video portray the job you just got hired for as awful as this one does. If you had/have this job, I'm sorry.

Listen, kid. Corporate is riding us because our numbers on these smart plans are down. You gotta watch this video and push the hell out of this.

Enjoy this training video that stars a Blockbuster employee with mental health issues that imagines a man on their in store TVs telling her how to do her job that no one else can see. The imaginary man on the screen also makes fun of customers in part 2 of the video, so there's that.

If you worked in a video game retail store around 1992-1993, you would've received a training video from Nintendo to show you how to properly use the NES, SNES and Gameboy in-store kiosks. Let Jake show you around.

Boy, this is fantastic. This is a training video from 1992 designed to train local Pepsi distributors to convince the retail stores they partner with of the longevity of the Crystal Pepsi brand. At the end of the video it runs through scenarios of store managers giving you pushback and it gives you responses for them. I wonder if these local sales people felt guilty convincing small business owners to invest tons of money and store space to this.

Learn how to serve questionable buffet food to your guests. I get some weird vibes from Fred, the dude manning the ham cutting section.

You've seen Wendy's teach you the ways of serving hot drinks, so here's how you provide your customers with quality cold beverages. The song isn't as catchy as the Hot Drinks song, but I'll take it.

Probably the most famous workplace safety video ever made thanks to RiffTrax, this film from Caterpillar goes through various scenarios in which you can die while doing boneheaded things with heavy machinery. It also has fantastic ongoing narration to remind the audience of how stupid these people are, but the thing that I believe has given it such infamy is the song that plays throughout. It isn't creepy like the THIIIIIIIIIIIINK ABOUUUUUT THIIIIIS video I posted before, this is more in line with a traditional country song, if country songs were written as a warning by a man named Three Finger Joe.

Wendy's most famous (or infamous?) training video is the one titled Grill Skillz, but the key song for this training video on how to properly serve the tea and coffee beverages at Wendy's is legit good and catchy as hell. If the lyrics weren't about filling cups to lines and how long you're supposed to let coffee sit before you make another pot (30 minutes, by the way) I think it could've been a radio hit.

Ames was a regional department/discount retail store that was pretty prominent in my region of the United States prior to the 2000s. There are several stores like Ames, but Ames was the one in my town so it's special. Someone has uploaded a ton of Ames training videos and material online. The video above is part 1. Part 2 should pop up in the "Up Next" section and there are more videos about other elements of the job such as loss reduction. Enjoy your new career in retail!

Here's a training video for people who were hired to play the IRL Chuck character at Chuck E. Cheese locations in 1991. This one primarily focuses on costume maintenance and preparation, but there are others that focus on the "acting" side of things that I'm sure I'll get to. What I can say with almost 100% certainty, though, is that I seriously doubt any of the locations went to these efforts to clean this costume and that I bet that costume smelled like human ass.

This video, even though it is literally designed for the workplace, is something I'd designate as NSFW. Featuring some ambient, creepy as hell music, we are witness to the deaths of several industrial workers who decided to cut corners instead of following safety policy. Lost limbs, toes, and a death count of at least ten people. They don't really hold back with this and I think that's what makes it effective. If I was in this industry I'd want this imagery in my head to remind me of what happens when you shake hands with danger.

In 1991, Nintendo had an incredibly strong retail presence. They maintained this partially by strongarming their way into managing how retailers displayed and sold their products. This video highlights how you, a highly qualified retail associate, should handle customer concerns and returns.