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[Miguel]

I totally expect a "fuck Gamespot" post in a couple of months.

:lol

 

[MC Safety]

We're talking about summer and fall semester weekend work while I'm going to college. Most of my shit's gonna be paid with student loans anyways. I just gotta make enough money to pay some of my bills til they get off my ass, put gas in my car and afford some beer. This isn't a 'career' opportunity... at least I don't see it as one yet. It's just someplace relatively fun to work at for awhile.

I mean, shit, as far as college jobs go, you can't get much better than Gamestop.

Uh-oh. Be careful what you tell your new (potential) employers. They might not care to hire someone for just weekends -- or for a few semesters -- or who's just there for a while because it's fun.

I think those places usually want slaves who will work a lot of hours during the week, nights, and have no plans to seek alternate employment.

 

[whytemyke]

Uh-oh. Be careful what you tell your new (potential) employers. They might not care to hire someone for just weekends -- or for a few semesters -- or who's just there for a while because it's fun.

I think those places usually want slaves who will work a lot of hours during the week, nights, and have no plans to seek alternate employment.

Yeah, I know. I'm not gonna tell them the truth.

Oh well...

Update after the interview today: New district manager means interview is postponed til next week. Right as she told me that I immediately thought of GAF giving me a resounding "SEE?!". Oh well. Money's money... and I need some.

 

[AssMan]

Usually nerds work at GS and EB, and "wannabe" GS/EB employees who hang around the counter. If you're not a hot chick who doesn't know anything about games, then don't get your hopes.......unless you're a nerd. =P

 

[Hero]

You felt this was thread-worthy? I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but it's not like getting a job at a Gamestop or EB or anything like that is something special.

You will wind up hating the place.

 

[Tabris]

I agree.

This is equal with "I just got a job at mcdonalds!!"

I mean come on now. You should be embaressed about this, not proud Well you should never be embaressed about working, I didn't mean it like that, just not something to be like "I've achieved something" but more like "I gotta do what I gotta do".

 

[AniHawk]

This isn't really as bad a job as people are making it out to be. I guess it depends where you are. I am in a good area (relatively low crime), and everyone who works there is cool and knows their shit about games. Yeah, you'll have to push subscriptions and reservations, but compared to other jobs you have to start out at, it's not bad.

 

[Uno Ill Nino]

I say take everything these people have said and simply keep it in mind. Don't let it scare you out of working there, but just keep an eye out for red flags.

I worked at a Funcoland right as the Gamestop merger was happening. Our store was terrible. I was 3rd key and the manager would have me work open to close a couple nights a week. I didn't mind that at all, but he was supposed to come in and support me from like 2-9 each time. He would fuckin come in at like 6 and stay until 7 before bailing. And while he was there, he'd just play Tony Hawk for a while. I have no idea how he became manager. He was seriously as bad as I am telling you.

That said, it wasn't that bad. You get other jobs and start to realize just how much of a fucking cakewalk Gamestop really is. I have worked at a sporting goods chain for 2 1/2 years now. Just a couple weeks ago, they demoted me from my management position that I had been in since day one. Not only that, but I'm still doing the same jobs, just without the title and less pay. This is going on all over the store right now. 2-3 years ago, the store was preparing to open and they hired all these people who were really experts in their fields to run each department. Each person got like $30,000.00 a year to run ONE department. Doing orders, displays, etc. etc. Fast forward a couple years and now they've chased each of those people out. I am one of the last ones to be chased out. They currently have like half the employees that they used to and each one runs like 3 or 4 departments for like $20,000.00 a year. Its totally stressed out there and many people fucking hate their jobs. So much talk of quitting. Its like the most negative place I've ever worked. The upper management is constantly looking down their noses at the other employees and bullying them around. Its just ridiculous. You've got all these douchebags in upper management who just haven't had any responsibility before and now they're powertripping. Worse yet, I see them take all these younger guys like age 19-20 who are willing to do anything, and they make them hate themselves.

One of my friends started out just managing one department there. Now he runs 4 for the same amount of money. Worse yet, they have totally snowed him into thinking he can make upper management. They have him "spying" on the rest of the people there and reporting on other people's shops and that kind of thing. I've totally lost faith in him. Its like watching somebody turn to the darkside of the force or something. They promise him promotions and fortune etc. etc. and he turns into a douchebag who starts telling other people how to do their jobs. *sigh*

I've hated working there for a while now because the management team is a bunch of assholes and they totally fuck their employees over. I had a guy under me who was the definitition of model employee. He was awesome. His work was flawless, he was responsible, and just great all around. They hired him as part-time and told him he could make full-time and climb the ranks to management really easily. 1 year later, he's still part-time and making the same amount of money as when he started. No matter how much I praised him, they wouldn't do shit for him.

Why make him full-time? They're getting a GREAT deal with a guy like him. Pay him half the commission, no benefits, and keep him at just under 40 hours a week. PERFECT. Fuckers. So he told them that he was getting a job someplace else. THEN they offered a full-time position. He said it was too late. I was never more proud of him.

Two months ago, I had had it with the place. I started looking for jobs and ended up getting an offer to be an assistant manager at a local Gamestop. I passed because I would have made considerably less money than at my current job. Boy do I wish I would have taken that offer now. I'm making the same amount as that job would have me, only at this company there is nowhere to go, the people running my store are fucking scumbags, and I work around stuff I couldn't care less about.

Take the Gamestop job for me. I'm knocking down their door again myself, so maybe we'll have something in common soon.

 

[miyuru]

To put a positive spin on things, one of my favorite jobs ever was working at Playdium while it was still open. My job was to run certain attractions and walk around the complex basically making sure things are ok (you work on a rotation with each station being one hour at a time).

It was pretty sweet, because I only worked weekends during school. About half the day you'd be stuck running the attractions like 8-man Indy 500, etc.. You were encouraged (a lot) to talk on the mic and provide commentary for the races, and I did too since it was fun and helped pass the time. Pretty unique hey?

Even better was the other half of the day where you'd just walk around and make sure everything's cool, chairs pushed in, etc.. Best of all you were encouraged to play games with people (and obviously, told not to play games alone). This was my favorite part, as I'd meet weekenders and play Initial D with them (and always win, harhar!), or learn DDR with people and eventually get to their level.

Of course, I'm saving the best thing about Playdium Edmonton for last - the management. They treated me like gold, they really appreciated everyone. And since everyone working there was around 16-20, they really knew what was going on in our lives. Because I was going to university, I got paid more than the regular wage, and I could take as much time as I wanted off for exams.

Perfect man, that job was perfect.

 

[Maxwell House]

I can't imagine that working at Gamestop could ever be very stressful. For that reason alone, it can't be anywhere near the worst job you can get.

 

[whytemyke]

I can't imagine that working at Gamestop could ever be very stressful. For that reason alone, it can't be anywhere near the worst job you can get.

Haha, THANK YOU!

You felt this was thread-worthy?

Uh... you felt this wasn't thread-worthy and still bothered replying?

And Tabris, what's yer problem man? It seems to me like quite a few posts about work always have a nice reply from you looking down your nose at everyone else. Work is work... money is money, and I figure if you can find a way to get paid doing something that's rather fun, you may as well do it.

 

[Boogie]

You felt this was thread-worthy? I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but it's not like getting a job at a Gamestop or EB or anything like that is something special.

You will wind up hating the place.

Umm, this is GAF, almost anything is thread-worthy, unless it's old, or being posted by Star Power.

 

[ManaByte]

I can't imagine that working at Gamestop could ever be very stressful. For that reason alone, it can't be anywhere near the worst job you can get.

Not stressful? Ok, go work in retail from Black Friday until the first of the year and then come back and post again.

If you HAVE to get a retail job, try for anything other than videogames but avoid "big box" stores.

 

[AniHawk]

Not stressful? Ok, go work in retail from Black Friday until the first of the year and then come back and post again.

If you HAVE to get a retail job, try for anything other than videogames but avoid "big box" stores.

We did okay.

Actually, for some freak reason, I've never had to work on Black Friday, and I worked at Best Buy.

One of the busiest two days I worked at Gamestop was Halo 2 day. The night wasn't so bad. 1/2 of the customers came in and picked up their games and walked out. We had soda, music, and food. It was fun. The day after was terrible. The store was a mess and there were about 50,000 people crammed into the place while hoping against hope that there'd be an extra copy of Halo 2 available (there were plenty).

The other day I was asked if I'd work down at the Montclair mall Gamestop. I had as many transactions in the 6 hours I worked there as a register at my store does on a busy day. It was fucking crazy.

Also worked Christmas Eve, and it was pretty light. Guess it all comes down to location.

 

[whytemyke]

Not stressful? Ok, go work in retail from Black Friday until the first of the year and then come back and post again.

If you HAVE to get a retail job, try for anything other than videogames but avoid "big box" stores.

I've worked in retail before. Actually, my first day running a cash register by myself was at Best Buy ON Black Friday back in High School... the year that the Xbox and GC were released. Pretty shitty stuff. But I'm one of those rare people that actually ENJOYS people... I have no problem talking to people that I don't know who are stupid as a brick all day. Usually you can get a few people who are really cool. Sure, you always have the guy who complains cuz he didn't get the OST with his used copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne... but the few cool people make that kinda thing tolerable.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

if you're just trying to find a part time job to make some easy $$$ while you're in school, i would recommend trying to find some little hole in the wall store in the mall somewhere, like a sporting goods store or something. You get paid the same as you would at Gamestop or some other retail, but with way less work and stress. A buddy of mine works at a GNC store in the mall and says he doens't have to do shit. Its dead like 75% of the day and he sits around talking on the phone or hitting on chicks walking by.

 

[ChrisReid]

Take the Gamestop job for me. I'm knocking down their door again myself, so maybe we'll have something in common soon.

GameStop was very different five years ago when you worked there. Over the last three years, it's undergone the exact same transition that you're describing in your sports store. Some stores that used to have two assistant managers and a third key, now get by with just two third keys. Of course, the third keys have to work 40 hours, they just don't get "full time" benefits and only make a dollar or two over minimum wage.

"Black Friday" is a cakewalk stress-wise compared to the management crap going on. The person that said he can't imagine there'd be any stress in this situation is an idiot.

 

[Mr. Blonde]

Ha, this thread is great. If you guys didn't like working at GS, then why did you work there longer than a month?

I don't see how a job at GameSpot could possibly be hard or stressful. The only problem may be the hours if there are too many people working there, but there's no shit to be done but stand around, stock a few things, talk to customers, ring up a sale, and then stand around some more. Maybe some of you just have a problem with working.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

if you're just trying to find a part time job to make some easy $$$ while you're in school, i would recommend trying to find some little hole in the wall store in the mall somewhere, like a sporting goods store or something. You get paid the same as you would at Gamestop or some other retail, but with way less work and stress. A buddy of mine works at a GNC store in the mall and says he doens't have to do shit. Its dead like 75% of the day and he sits around talking on the phone or hitting on chicks walking by.

Haha, I've seen the same thing going on at the GNC across from the store I work in. GNS is such a small store that there really isn't much you could possibly do, not to mention that there is only one person working in the store at any given moment and only a handful of people go in there a day. Must be an awesome gig.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

It's amazing how this same thread comes up at least once a month. You'd think people would get the hint by now to avoid retail jobs completely, but it never happens.

Well, someone's got to do it. Good luck, and I'm looking forward to the "fuck Gamespot/EB" thread that always comes within the next one to four months. Hopefully more than 10% of your already irritable customers will listen to your obnoxious shill and actually buy Game Informer subscriptions and game accessories and then pre-order shit they don't want, or you'll be back to hurting for money again.

 

[ChrisReid]

I don't see how a job at GameSpot could possibly be hard or stressful. The only problem may be the hours if there are too many people working there, but there's no shit to be done but stand around, stock a few things, talk to customers, ring up a sale, and then stand around some more. Maybe some of you just have a problem with working.

Or maybe you're an idiot too. I worked dozens of 8-10 hour shifts without even a 2 minute bathroom break because I was just too damn busy to think about stuff like that. Why? That's completely separate from the issue of whether it was stressful or not. I started with the same intentions as the original poster, and things were fine for a few years. When things slowly and gradually get worse, you don't think to suddenly quit. The people I worked with were really great, and our management team was together for almost five years. You get to be good friends with the people there and don't want to leave them alone to handle the shit by themselves. As an ASM I was actually paid twice as well as any McDonalds type job would get you, but I finally did quit because the stress wasn't worth it. I don't see how someone who's read dozens of these threads here at GAF could say they don't think it's hard or stressful. Am I falling for a really obvious troll here?

How is it stressful? I think dozens of current and former game store personnel have already contributed bits and pieces here as to how. What I'm talking about is in no way specific to any one game store. GameStop, EB and GameCrazy operate under the exact same policies and principles, though the level of stress is dependent on how much the district manager enforces the rules.

1) Stand around: There is no "stand around." Every customer must be greeted as they enter the store. Furthermore, many districts have a rule that literally every customer must also be engaged and informed about the new big thing. So you're saying hello to every single person, then asking them if they know about trading in games or reserving Halo or whatever. There is never enough staff to do this. The first half of each weekday is just one person. Weeknights this changes to two people. Consider you have 40 people in the store, people lining up to buy things, the back door buzzer shipment buzzing, and multiple phone lines ringing, and it becomes incredibly stressful to acknowledge every customer coming in. Don't forget to keep an eye on all the shady people in the back shoplifting by opening up stuff and shoving it in their jackets. Also better not hope some angry customer is going to come in and start bitching about doing a return for some six month old, no receipt broken item. And the person behind them as a bag full of trade-ins you need to test out. Keep greeting the people as they constantly stream through the door too.

2) Stock a few things: This was my favorite thing. Everything has a place and efficiently and accurately checking in a couple dozen boxes of shipment every day is one of the things I always took pride in. Four years ago, someone could stay in the back room and peacefully check in a pallet of stuff. At some point, this became an up-front duty to add to the list of things the single working employee must do on the sales floor in addition to greeting customers, ringing sales, preventing theft, etc. As used games became a higher priority at all the game stores, sending and receiving haphazard assortments of single item product became more common. "A few things" might mean ten boxes, each with a hundred different games/DVDs. You're checking in a couple items at a time while credit cards are dialing out to authorize a transaction or when nobody is standing in the doorway to be greeted.

3) Ring up a sale: Everyone here should be used to the annoying littany of things the game store clerk harasses them with. Reserve a game, get the discount card, subscribe to the magazine, buy a warranty, strategy guide with the game, buy a used version instead of a new version, trade in your old games. During times when we expected surveillance secret shoppers to spy on us and rate our performance (eh, which could really be any time, all the time), we'd literally do each one of those to every customer in every transaction. Also don't screw up the change because you're also checking in a box of product at your feet and saying hello to the mob of people at the door. And the phone rang in the middle of that transaction. And always be on the lookout for people with stolen/fake credit cards/checks. Somehow over the years I was able to get a bunch of people arrested by stalling during the transaction and getting the police called when I noticed something was fake. You can't just mindlessly throw reservations/magazines/etc at people either. Percentages and ratios for each quota were tracked constantly. Store generating less than 7% trade ins relative to sales? You could expect a visit from the DM who'd ride you to assault every person who walks into the store with a trade-in conversation. And so on.

4) Stand around some more: HA!

The crap that the corporate office had us do was actually just 50% of the stress. The angry customers and thieves were the rest. Not a day would go by without someone extremely pissed off that we wouldn't give them cash for a stack of obviously stolen merchandise or refund their $2.99 for a game boy carrying case they bought last year whose zipper had been stuck. You wouldn't believe someone is capable of screaming in your face for almost ten minutes over a three dollar GBA bag, but something as crazy happens every day.

Here's one such story I posted several months ago:
http://www.ga-forum.com/showpost.php?p=1065982&postcount=141
"Couple weeks ago we had almost pushed everyone out as the clock hit closing time. One last family was ringing up their thing and the gate was half-way down. The rest of the mall was closed already. One guy runs up to the gate: "I know what I want, I just want to buy one thing!" So we let him in, and he starts browsing the XBox section. He starts asking me what new games came out and shoots down all the ones I mention. After almost ten minutes of helping him, we get him to the register and my associate is transacting him, gives him his change, and the guy gets all icy and mean. My associate asks him if there was something else he needed, and the customer asks if he's an asshole or if he's just stupid. The clerk is just dumbfounded and speechless.
So I'm running over, and the customer is calling my associate a bitch/motherfucker/etc for making him break a dollar for the $x.02 balance and giving him $x.98 cents in change. I physically place myself between the two and wave the associate away, and he starts calling me a bitch/motherfucker/etc for getting into his business. I tell him it's my business when customers become abusive with my employees, and it's time for him to leave. He's not moving, so I grab his game and start walking to the door while my associate calls security on the phone. After sufficient yelling, I get him to the doorway where I can force him back by slamming the gate down. He's telling us how he's gonna be waiting in the parking lot with his friends to kick our asses now. Wonderful end to a long hard day. This isn't the first, second or tenth time I've been burned for trying to help a customer at closing time. Yeah, stores should always leave one register open till closing like me, but all of you people claiming retail experience and still preaching that "the customer is always first" crap haven't worked where I've worked.
Never did find out if he was actually waiting outside or not. Since it was a Friday night, there was a police car parked outside the mall entrance where we were exiting, so if there was anyone there, they weren't going to try anything with a cop and a bunch of mall security patrolling. Oh, and we also never did figure out why he got mad in the first place. Turned out the change was actually 60 cents, not 98."

How dare you suggest some of us just have a problem with working in general?

 

[TheDuce22]

You sound like you care too much. At the end of the day does it really matter if you forgot to greet a customer at the door or forgot to ask if they want a gamecard? That doesnt sound like something anyone would ever get fired for.

 

[Brian Fellows]

It's amazing how this same thread comes up at least once a month. You'd think people would get the hint by now to avoid retail jobs completely, but it never happens.

Well, someone's got to do it. Good luck, and I'm looking forward to the "fuck Gamespot/EB" thread that always comes within the next one to four months. Hopefully more than 10% of your already irritable customers will listen to your obnoxious shill and actually buy Game Informer subscriptions and game accessories and then pre-order shit they don't want, or you'll be back to hurting for money again.

LOL. I never offered subs or reservations when I worked there. Which caused my boss to whine like the little bitch he was. Which eventually led to me just no showing up one day.....or ever again. Plus you dont make enough money actually buy the games they're selling and the whole "you get to take games home and play them" rule is suspended half the damn time.

 

[AniHawk]

You sound like you care too much. At the end of the day does it really matter if you forgot to greet a customer at the door or forgot to ask if they want a gamecard? That doesnt sound like something anyone would ever get fired for.

Depends who your manager is, and the people you work with. As I said before, thankfully I work in a good area with good people. Usually the greeting at the door is something like "Hi, can I help you find anything?" and they usually say "no" and start browsing. And when they get to the counter, I ask if they've heard about the gamecard before (to save us time if they don't want it), and ask if there's anything they were looking forward to. Then, if they were interested in the card or the reservation, they get one. If not, then ten seconds have passed.

Then there are the managers that scare the fuck out of you. One I heard of writes up his employees if they don't get one reservation AND one subscription/gamecard for the day. Three write-ups and you're fired.

Working in a mall at Gamestop's probably the worst place to do it. It's much more of an impulse decision to just stop by the store and see what they have, and they're not as likely to listen to what you have to say. Plus, the store gets trashed easily by customers that LOVE to rearrange the shelves for you.

But if you can get a job at a place in a small shopping center, or basically somewhere where most customers would have to know something about games, it's not that bad. There are days when it's slow, and everything's been done and cleaned where you can talk to people about video games and what they like, and that's cool.

 

[Belfast]

retail business sucks.

you will soon realize this.

you will hate customers and the everyday consumer.

you will also hate soccer moms

this job will most likely not be fun for you.

Welcome....to the Real World

peace

I already hate those things and I've never worked retail.

 

[bean breath]

I came in here thinking you had an interview with GameSPOT, the website, lol. I always get the two mixed up.

 

[ChrisReid]

You sound like you care too much. At the end of the day does it really matter if you forgot to greet a customer at the door or forgot to ask if they want a gamecard? That doesnt sound like something anyone would ever get fired for.

My own boss, the store manager, was written up for missing a greeting/trade-in mention that got noted on a secret shopper survey. If he gets another, he will be fired. I finally left after they fired the supervisor under me. He was excellent at greeting people because his voice carried so well. That wasn't the issue. He was consistently first or second in the store for reservations. But the DM wanted to make an example out of someone a few months back and noticed he was at the bottom in magazine subscriptions for two weeks straight. You might think that there had to be other underlying issues, and I will guarantee you there were not. He was never late, never called in sick, never missed a shift. He had an excellent work ethic and did excellent in the reservation areas. He had multiple 100% secret shopper surveys to his name. But the district itself was performing lower than some of the outlying districts and the DM decided to make some examples of people to light a fire under the rest of us. Two consecutive weeks at the bottom of the subscription rankings at a time when the DM was gunning for fresh meat did my third key in. He was there for six years for everything from Dreamcast launch through PSP launch, and they canned him for a minor two-week deficiency. What a horrible loss for the company. My state has annual minimum wage increases that counteracted his raises year after year. The company was getting such a bargain working this guy to the bone. Thinking they can't get you for something stupid or minor is like thinking there's no stress at the job.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

You sound like you care too much. At the end of the day does it really matter if you forgot to greet a customer at the door or forgot to ask if they want a gamecard? That doesnt sound like something anyone would ever get fired for.

It actually is something people get fired over. I don't work at Gamestop, but KB Toys is very hard on people that don't do "GIMIC."

Greet the customer
Introduce three items
Meet the customers needs
Introduce tie ins (batteries, extra Yu-Gi Oh board game for someone buying the cards, etc)
Close the sale.

There are a lot of people waiting to snatch up your crappy retail job you have, so you better damn well make sure you can do all of this with a smile. I would have been canned months ago if I wasn't good at selling. I've seen many of my friends who started during the Christmas season get the axe because they just couldn't do it all. My manager is great, but of course they want to make sure they have people who can drive sales, cause the manager has a district manager above them asking for more $$$$$, and then there is someone above them asking for even more.

I can't get away with just saying "Hi, is there anything I can help you find?" For me it is always "Hi, how are you doin today? Well just so you know we have a great sale going on right now with 3 for $10 on Beyblade, Mega Man, and Teen Titans. So what exactly can I help you find today?" Now this isn't so bad...except imagine saying that at least 100 times a day (on a normal day like Wednesday), and even more on weekends.

What pisses me off is people that leave their kids in the store like we're a fucking daycare. Can you believe that in the year 2005 there are parents that leave their children (I'm talking under the age of 5 here) alone in the store, and then walk off to shop elsewhere. Who the fuck are these people? Would any of the parents here leave their child alone in the mall? I'm sorry but this isn't 1965, people need to start thinking about the age we live in. And it's not like I can stop them from leaving their kids because they never tell you, they just walk away. So i'm left babysitting kids (which isn't anywhere in my job description) to make sure they don't get snatched. Cause I would feel pretty bad if a kid got kidnapped while I was there, even though it wouldn't be my fault to begin with...

It's just a lot of small shit that builds up to stress you out. I can see how Gamestop would be hell.

I enjoy my job sometimes, but it does get sorta lonely. It's hard to explain since I'm surrounded by tons of people in the mall, but I feel so alone. I guess it's because I don't get to have any "real" conversations. I say the same thing about the same toys all day, eat lunch alone, and then come back to do it for a few more hours. What really makes me feel bad is when I'm trying to tell a customer about a sale, or even when I say "Hey" and they don't even acknowledge me...like I don't exist or something. Anybody else that works retail feel like that?

 

[AniHawk]

What really makes me feel bad is when I'm trying to tell a customer about a sale, or even when I say "Hey" and they don't even acknowledge me...like I don't exist or something. Anybody else that works retail feel like that?

Could it be that they thought you were talking to someone else?

But yeah, it happens to me a lot too.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Could it be that they thought you were talking to someone else?

But yeah, it happens to me a lot too.

No, I've had people look me in the eye and just kinda scoff while walking away. Even before I started working retail, I'd never do that to someone working at any store.

I never let them get away with it though, I just follow and make them hear me. Of course most people like that won't say much. Usually I just keep ramming the different sales into their ass. I guess it's possible that some people just thought I was talking to someone else, or did they?! Could be trying to mind fuck me so they can shop in peace.

Sometimes I see people get that look on their face while I'm talking, the "why won't this guy shut the fuck up look," and my natural relex is to stop talking...but my job is to keep bothering them.

I feel bad when the people at Gamestop start telling me about all those add-ons when I'm buying something. They know I'm not going to subscribe to Game Informer, and I know it, but it has to be said. I feel your pain...I feel your pain.

 

[ChrisReid]

It's just a lot of small shit that builds up to stress you out. I can see how Gamestop would be hell.

I enjoy my job sometimes, but it does get sorta lonely. It's hard to explain since I'm surrounded by tons of people in the mall, but I feel so alone. I guess it's because I don't get to have any "real" conversations. I say the same thing about the same toys all day, eat lunch alone, and then come back to do it for a few more hours. What really makes me feel bad is when I'm trying to tell a customer about a sale, or even when I say "Hey" and they don't even acknowledge me...like I don't exist or something. Anybody else that works retail feel like that?

Oh yeah, it's kinda dehumanizing. I don't have a very loud voice, so I'd get that a lot. It's not that people didn't hear me.. you can see someone twitch or their eyes jerk when you say hello to them, but they keep their heads straight forward and don't acknowledge you. Sounds minor, right? But after a thousand people straight-up ignore you saying hello from two feet away, it starts to make you feel weird. You already have to get into a certain mechanical repetitive mindset to constantly be talking and pitching and all, so at the end of the day you're exhausted. I'm only 5'6" as well, so over the years I had all manner of obese 5'10" bitchy moms call me a "little man" and all kinds of silly things for refusing to exchange the controller that their baby ate through. It's so incredibly petty to have a 45 year old woman scream at the top of their lungs across a crowded store that she hopes I enjoy my minimum wage job, because it's all I'll ever amount to in life. Man, if I wasn't there, I wouldn't believe a supposed adult twice my age would actually say, "Wooo.. I make so much more money than you and I have such a better life than you" in response to me following the reasonable policies of the store I worked at. People will stoop to such horrible depths over something as dumb as a $6 Playstation 1 game that their bratty kid used as a coaster for six months. On the other hand, my boss was 6'4" and fairly intimidating looking, and you could see the drastic different tone people would take with him. Ah well, after years of daily abuse, it all starts to blur together.

 

[AniHawk]

No, I've had people look me in the eye and just kinda scoff while walking away.

Oh, ouch. Yeah, that never happened.

I feel bad when the people at Gamestop start telling me about all those add-ons when I'm buying something. They know I'm not going to subscribe to Game Informer, and I know it, but it has to be said. I feel your pain...I feel your pain.

One time this guy bought a subscription. He actually just ASKED me for it as he bought a used game worth about $30 because he wanted to save 10% and get the magazines for a year. Then he looked at his receipt and noticed that I had charged $14.99 for the subscription/gamecard and cancelled the transaction and redid it without the sub. The two managers in the store and I were really puzzled that he thought it was free.

And usually... I can tell the type of people who aren't going to buy a sub or reserve a game. If someone's buying two games at once and they're from the same genre or series, then I know that they *might* be interested in something coming up.

 

[mrklaw]

It actually is something people get fired over. I don't work at Gamestop, but KB Toys is very hard on people that don't do "GIMIC."

Greet the customer
Introduce three items
Meet the customers needs

I like how 'customer needs' is now number 3 on the list, below pushing other things on them.

That fucks me off when I call GAME to see if they have a game in and they go 'hello, GAME, where you can preorder blah blah'.

Fuck off. If you have a special offer, whack up some POS to tell me about it, don't rely on forcing staff to annoy me.

 

[AniHawk]

I hate it when people say "THAT'S IT?!" on trade-ins of old games that are worth $1 in store credit. Yeah, Madden 2002 tends not to be worth much after being out for 4 years. And then they try to haggle with us. Gah.

Or worse, people try to talk us down on set prices. Guy got pissed off at us on Tuesday because Half-Life 2 costs $50.

And as far as the stupid acronym shit goes, thank GOD Gamestop doesn't do that (at least to my knowledge). Best Buy had us memorize Customer FIRST along with 2-3 other things that I was never actually tested on, but was told I had to know.

 

[ChrisReid]

I hate it when people say "THAT'S IT?!" on trade-ins of old games that are worth $1 in store credit. Yeah, Madden 2002 tends not to be worth much after being out for 4 years. And then they try to haggle with us. Gah.

Or worse, people try to talk us down on set prices. Guy got pissed off at us on Tuesday because Half-Life 2 costs $50.

Yeah, they actually get mad because they can't talk you down. These are universal prices at a company with thousands of stores. Do they think there's just a special secret discount for people who ask? I'd get a lot of pissed off people when I wouldn't give them a discount or a free game because they were buying something like a gameboy and a game for it. Nobody EVER understood it if I tried to explain that the systems weren't sold for profit.. we sold them so that people would buy the games with the system. And yeah, nobody's ever happy with the trade-in prices. They go and see Chaos Theory or Forza or whatever on the wall for $40, and they expect Splinter Cell 1 or Project Gotham 1 to net them $30 in credit. They'd just scoff when I told them they got $3 because we only sold the games for $6. The concept that everyone already traded in the last madden/racing/splinter cell game to buy the new madde/racing/splinter cel game is totally lost on people.

And as far as the stupid acronym shit goes, thank GOD Gamestop doesn't do that (at least to my knowledge).

Are you kidding? Everyone in my district was required to have a business card in their wallet with some "wheel of customer service" on one side and ACT on the other. Acknowledge, Communicate, Thank is your acryonym. Prior to that, it was GUEST. Everyone does the acryonym thing, especially GameStop.

 

[goodcow]

We should all come up with shitty sales acronyms!

Mine would be MOO!

Maintain
Optimal
Openness

... YEAH!

 

[AniHawk]

Are you kidding? Everyone in my district was required to have a business card in their wallet with some "wheel of customer service" on one side and ACT on the other. Acknowledge, Communicate, Thank is your acryonym. Prior to that, it was GUEST. Everyone does the acryonym thing, especially GameStop.

Oh yeah, I have that. I practice it, just never read it. Heh heh.

 

[atomsk]

i pick up 6-8 hours a week at gamestop in addition to my 40h a week job. it's not so bad. but then again, all the managers are buddies of mine. so i mostly just straighten up, and answer questions.

pretty much just working there for the discount

 

[gblues]

I worked in EB (Store #671 in Lloyd Center, Portland, OR) for the 98-99 christmas season and the 99-00 christmas season (and kept my job until I found a full-time job in May 00). I survived the Half-Life and Baldur's Gate release, the Zelda 64 launch, Donkey Kong 64, but just missed the Dreamcast launch.

Yeah, stand around and play video games. Only if you want to be fired. This was a high-traffic store so the shelves are always out of order, the gutted boxes have to be put back out, new releases have to be gutted and shrinkwrapped, stock needs to be checked in/priced, trade-ins need to be shrinkwrapped (this was mainly the PC game trade-ins). Pre-orders need to be called--oh yeah, and there's actually interacting with customers, too.

If you close, expect to spend time closing the registers and making sure your register comes out even, cleaning the fingerprints off the glass, and cleaning the store. If you open, you get to make sure the store looks good (and waiting for the guy with the key to show up is fun, too).

Sound like a lot of work? It is. I enjoyed it because I had awesome co-workers and a manager with decades of retail experience.

Your experience at GameStop will be as positive or as horrific as your boss/coworkers make it for you. The legwork and sales is pretty easy.

Nathan

 

[Mr. Blonde]

You sound like you care too much. At the end of the day does it really matter if you forgot to greet a customer at the door or forgot to ask if they want a gamecard? That doesnt sound like something anyone would ever get fired for.

Hahaha yeah exactly. The only time I ever get greeted at a GS or EB or KB is when the place is practically empty. And I still don't get what's so hard about standing there and saying hello and quickly pitching something.

If you worked 8 hours without a break, either your state needs to fix its labor laws, or you need to stand up for yourself and demand them to comply with the labor laws.

 

[Mrbob]

I just returned X-Box Star Wars III and got $26 at Gamestop... there was a cute young girl working there with an incredible body...

I might have to return NBA2K5 tomorrow just to stare at some nice TA-TA's

Damn dude weren't you the one who wanted to set up a camera to tape your wife's 16-17 year old sister in the hot tub?

As for retail, it sucks. Such is life though.

 

[AniHawk]

Well... that was interesting.

I walked into work for the beginning of an 8 hour shift when I see two people working at my store that I've never seen work there before. Someone came in from a local store, and someone else came in from Rancho Cucamonga or someplace pretty far away. Anyway, the manager from Rancho Cucamonga had been checking the shelves all day, and he wanted me to start redoing the drawers where we keep the games like how they do theirs. So I do it pretty much for show. A customer comes up and talks to the local ASM who had been called in as well. The ASM gets a subscription and goes off to talk with a couple other customers while I clean up the back counter.

Well these two middle school twins come in and want to trade in some games. They end up getting The Sims 2 and reserving Conker Live & Reloaded. So they they leave and the ASM tells me that he doesn't usually let Game Advisors do trade-ins, but if I could get another sub or reservation off a trade-in, he'd back off for the rest of the day.

He told me this. In the store I work at. In the store I've BEEN working at, for the last 8 months or so.

Anyway, the guy from Rancho gets pissed off at the ASM. "You don't let Game Advisors do trade-ins?" he asks.

"Well, it's because Game Advisors don't usually know how to get reservations or subs. They don't know how to push a customer when 80% of the time they'd be willing to reserve a game," he replies. Nice.

So then he leaves for a smoke break, about an hour and a half into his shift. In the meantime two people ask for reservations, one guy asks for Sly 3 off of a trade-in he did. The manager from Rancho and I talk about what he said about Game Advisors and we both conclude that he's just an ass. When the ASM comes back in, I tell him I got another reservation off a trade-in, and he just nods. The guy pulls out his cell phone and starts talking as he clocks back in. About this time, a coworker of mine comes in from his other job just to hang out. The manager had been trying to take his break, so he just asks the ASM what he was doing in a nice, non-threatening way. The ASM walks to the computer, types in "I quit," and walks out the door.

So now we have to call just damn near everyone and let them know what's going on, since the Rancho guy had to leave soon. Our manager who wasn't supposed to be working that day and had worked a six hour shift in the morning had to come back and finish up the day because of this guy.

But for the rest of the day it was pretty slow. The store pulled some good numbers, and the place was clean and organized.

 

[Wendo]

Go work in a grocery store. Screw this bullshit "SELL SELL SELL BUY BUY BUY MAGAZINES REBATES TRADE INS LOLWTTFBBQ!!!11111111!" crap.

Grocery stores are where it's at (and no, Wal-mart doesn't count). Awesome benefits, good hours, and great pay.

 

[Prince of Space]

Yeah, that was pretty typical of some SameStop employees where I worked.

 

[ManaByte]

Grocery stores are where it's at (and no, Wal-mart doesn't count). Awesome benefits, good hours, and great pay.

Well, that's thanks to the Union. Get in with any Union job and you're set...until the Union strikes.

 

[Wendo]

Well, that's thanks to the Union. Get in with any Union job and you're set...until the Union strikes.

Go Go UFCW!

Yeah, Wal-mart is killing off the unions slowly by proxy. Since they're non-union, they get more buisness due to their lower prices. Then in turn, places like Albertsons cut benefits, causing the union to strike. Albertsons is like, "fuck that" and doesn't match their requirements, then the union members give in and come crawling back.

But I work at a CO-OP! So I'm free of this vicious cycle. I even get year-end profit sharing, 401k, and gainshare!

 

[ToxicAdam]

Go work in a grocery store. Screw this bullshit "SELL SELL SELL BUY BUY BUY MAGAZINES REBATES TRADE INS LOLWTTFBBQ!!!11111111!" crap.

Grocery stores are where it's at (and no, Wal-mart doesn't count). Awesome benefits, good hours, and great pay.

Don't forget the chicks. Grocery stores are usually a 50/50 split of girls and guys. Game stores are a big sausage fest.


The UFCW was such a weak union. By the mid-90's anyone hired into a grocery store really missed out on the good benefits (It's why you see alot of 60+ yr old people still working at grocery stores .. thier contract rocks).

 

[BojTrek]

Damn dude weren't you the one who wanted to set up a camera to tape your wife's 16-17 year old sister in the hot tub?

SOOOOO... I'm horny... the wife is pregnant and I haven't gotten any in a while...

The hot tub videos came out great...


...


...






I kid!

 

[Brannon]

I just returned X-Box Star Wars III and got $26 at Gamestop

Oooh, you could've gotten 35 bucks at Blockbuster

 

[BojTrek]

$35... NoooooOOOoooooo! :lol