So I'm going to go ahead and match this column with my own experiences. I'll probably addm ore to this on future columns in the coming weeks.
For the record, EB Games is what Electronics Boutique was rebranded in Australia after Gamestop bought out the brand in the US.
I'd wanted to work at EB since I was about 17. That was when my interest in games really took off and I considered this a viable part-time job option. It looked like fun. The guys were always joking around with each other, talking about games, and getting to take games home to try them out - not technically allowed but I had a friend who managed another EB and he told me it was just one of those undocumented perks. As long as the game is returned by the opening of the next business day there's no harm done, right?
I didn't seriously apply until I was about 18, and needed the job to support myself at university. I'd usually drop a resume in about once every six months, but mostly worked in a warehouse driving forklifts during my holidays and gaming was only a hobby. I left university at the end of 2001 just before I turned 19 (I had to drop out as I couldn't find part time work that fit around my university schedule). I worked a year in security, then a year at Kinko's before the company closed down in Australia.
I never got a job at EB - the store I kept applying to had a habit of only hiring friends, or people known to the current staff. People who already treated the store like a second home and would help customers with the game selections for fun. I don't know why alarm bells weren't ringing at this point.
I finally got my chance at the end of 2004 when my "usual" EB Games had a change in management and changed their hiring policies. I blitzed the group interview and quit my job at Kinko's for what I perceived to be greener pastures. After two days of "training" shifts at a new (and not very busy) store, I started working at my "usual" store.
Myself and one other guy, a kid of about 17 (I was 21 - almost 22 at this point) started in the same week.
I was available for as many shifts as they would give me as I was in my summer break.
In my first week I did two shifts (the other new guy got given four). I was given the gutting task as detailled in the article. I also had to face up the stock, print price-tags for preowned stock as well as gut those too. As well as being attentive to customers I had to maintain constant vigilance to make sure none of the floor stock walked out the door.
I was criticised for not stopping the assistant manager walking back into the store after his lunch break, picking up a set of speakers, and walking out the door with them - which was done purely to test me. Apparently, he decided, anyone could have walked in and done the same thing. My view is, he was the assistant manager. What was I really going to say to him if he wanted to carry stock somewhere. For all I knew he was carrying it for a customer.
A Gamecube went missing. I was accused of stealing it - or more indirectly "maybe I took it out to show a customer and forgot to put it back". At that point in my life I had literally never touched a Gamecube, not even recreationally. I categorically denied their suggestions.
I was given housekeeping duties to perform after closing. I was expected to spend at least an hour vacuuming, mopping dusting, facing up shelves, and tidying up the stockroom.
Did I mention this was off the clock? No one gets paid past 5pm. I was expected to stay until 6, sometimes 7pm. Soem of the guys would stay until 8 or 9. Sometimes they had stuff to do, other times they were just hanging out. I didn't want to commit that kind of time, especially since I wasn't being paid for it. I had a girlfriend to get home to. She worked full time in a "real" job (health insurance claims) so I was usually responsible for cooking dinner.
I started to notice I was drawing contempt for my lack of dedication to the role, but what was I going to do? Get home at 10:30pm every night because I was doing unpaid overtime in a job that didn't pay very well to begin with.
In my second week I got sick. I went in for the two shifts I was rostered for, and was asked to come in to do the late-night shopping shift on Thursday. Unfortunately I had to turn it down - I knew I wasn't feeling well and thought it best if I rested. More contempt, open sneering from my manager.
It turns out I was so ill I was actually bedridden until Sunday due to a nasty chest infection - fortunately I didn't miss any rostered shifts.
I was given my roster. Two shifts again. The other new guy had five - over 30 hours. Obviously I was on the manager's shit list.
I asked him why I was only getting two shifts - two shifts in a week was barely worth working for the amount of income I was earning. I was barely making as much as I had been pulling doing Sundays at Kinko's. This whole thing was starting to sound like a really bad idea.
In response to my query my manager said something indistinct about "bad numbers".
Numbers aren't just sales. They're upsells. What percentage of warranties you attach to new or used game sales or consoles. How many games you sell with a new console. How often you move pre-owned as an alternative to new - everyone knows Gamestop make their money off of pre-owned sales. What a lot of people don't realise is jut how open they are about it. They tell you on your first day what the profit margin is, and how badly we want it. If you sell new over pre-owned you're made to feel like you're stealing from the company.
Anyway, the point is, any time you upsell you get another point in your favour.
My numbers weren't good. The other new guy was much better at this than me. I pointed out how many more shifts I'd gotten since day one, how the other guy had been given more opportunity to perform - maybe if I was working 3-5 times a week I'd be doing well too.
This argument failed to move him.
In my 4th week I got no shifts. Zero. Nada. Zilch. This was right before Christmas, when we were supposed to be getting more hours. I knew this was EB giving me the finger.
I let it go, then I got no shifts in the 5th week. I went to another EB (closer to home) to buy a game and was informed my staff discount was no longer active - they'd gotten a bounceback on it the last time I'd bought from there.
I called my manager asking him what was going on. Was I fired? All he said was "I don't have anything for you this week."
I explained my discount was rejected, asked him again "am I fired?"
Again, all he said was "I don't have anything for you this week."
After a pause he added: "Your numbers need to improve if you want more shifts."
I asked how I get better numbers without any shifts.
Want to guess what he said? That's right: "I don't have anything for you this week."
I never resigned from EB. I was never officially terminated. I just stopped getting shifts.
It's an annoying milestone in my life, the three weeks I worked at an EB. I see the agony on the faces of the people who work there now, the subtle shifts in body language and tone of voice between manager and employee that identify poor performers and high performers.
Just last week I was in an EB to enquire about the possibility of pre-ordering the collector's edition of Fallout: New Vegas. The manager was all smiles, told me everything I needed to know. Could I preorder it? No, but there might be a way to secure some overstock if you're real lucky, here's how..."
Then as I headed out the door he turned to the girl next to him and asked her why a non-gutted game someone had traded in was sitting on the counter in reach of customers.
She said with alarm: "I don't know how I missed that one!"
I almost felt ice forming as he lowered his voice and said: "I'd like to know too."
I wonder if he'll have any shifts for her next week.
I look forward to the next
