274: Confessions of a GameStop Employee - Part Two

[Scott Jones]

Confessions of a GameStop Employee - Part Two

In the second installment of a four-part series, Scott Jones relates the story of "Ben," an employee from a New York City-area GameStop who reveals the truth about trading in games.

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[Onyx Oblivion]

I've never had bad used copies from my Gamestop...

And nice tip with the disc. Does that work for Bluray, I wonder?

And I've always understood why the trade in value is dirt low for old games...because Gamestop wants to make a profit, and no one is going to buy your damn copy of Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad.

 

[Jedoro]

Wow.. Is it just me or does 'Ben' kind off come of like a bit of a dick in this article?

He does, but that's stuff I'd be pretty pissed about, too. I'd also have the subtle "fuck you's" when dealing with retards.

 

[VulakAerr]

Yeah, he kinda does but it's entirely understandable to have such contempt for people who are, frankly, behaving like MAHASSIVE douchebags. I'm the same at work. If people make a habit of acting special, you're gonna end up treating them like that in future.

 

[GoldenShadow]

I totally agree with the way Ben thinks. I am the same way. I still have original game boxes, manuals and everything from just about every SNES game I had, and thats from almost 20 years ago. Not to mention my collection of N64, Gamecube, Wii, PS3, oh and my collection of PC game boxes, before I converted to pure digital with Steam. I have my original Super Metroid Cart, the original box and instruction manual all together still.

One time I let my friend borrow Super Mario RPG fro SNES, and when I got it back the picture was faded on the label of the cart. I flipped out at him. I still don't know wat he did to do that, I presume he let it bake in the sun for the entire time he had it. My game collection is more guarded now than ever. I never let people borrow my games anymore. I would never sell them at game stop either. They wouldn't appreciate the condition I've kept them.

 

[Exterminas]

I take care of my games, and so do a lot of gamers I know. I believe this sloppy attitude towards games is connected to GamesSTops customers. If a game is just something you pick up, and then turn in to get another one, after you finished it, you don't feel attached to it. That's just not what you come to that store for.

It is something you paid propper money for and intend you keep, you put that manual back into the box.

 

[Aqualung]

Dear lord, reading those descriptions hurt my eyes. I've never, ever scratched a game disc, torn a manual, chipped a case...

Ugh... The thought pains me. I could wrap any of my games in plastic right now and you couldn't tell the difference to a new one.

 

[WittyInfidel]

Wow.. Is it just me or does 'Ben' kind off come of like a bit of a dick in this article?

I worked retail for years. This is the average customer he's describing. They tend to get much worse. The truly nice and respectful customer, whom shows a glimmer of intelligence and understanding, is a rare find indeed. We treasure each and every one of you we find.

I'm not saying everybody is rude when it comes to shopping/haggling/trading, but I have been spit on by more people than I have have been treated kindly and fairly by. Sad thing is, I'm very polite and understanding when it comes to customer service, and have been told many times I'm too nice. It had landed me as employee of the month a few times, but never made dealing with the general populace any easier.

Working retail takes a toll on you. People's rudeness and self-absorbed selfishness can erode away most of what is nice and kind about you, leaving behind an etched bedrock of apathy and bitterness. Needless to say, I am not the"bouncing little ball of sunshine" I used to be. (an actual descriptor given me by co-workers)

Honestly, I can connect with him. I'm not saying I agree with everything he describes, but I can fully understand where he's coming from.

 

[Le_Lisra]

And this, dear fellows, is why I have never shop at gamestop.

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

Wow.. Is it just me or does 'Ben' kind off come of like a bit of a dick in this article?

I think his dickishness is justified. I mean can you honestly say if that sort of stuff happened to you EVERY day you wouldn't be at least a little bit dickish when telling people about it later?

 

[Nukeforyou]

i hate that this is split up.. i feel like there's not much content in each of these stories and its just being dragged out for the hell of it

 

[Angerwing]

Wow.. Is it just me or does 'Ben' kind off come of like a bit of a dick in this article?

Retail does this to you. It grinds away your soul and replaces you with a furious little husk of your former self.

Fortunately for me, I get commission, so not only am I allowed to cheapskate my customers, I'm actually encouraged by the boss. Also I have a lot of fun with customers. Had one guy call up to give me this 10 minute (no, seriously) rant about how his GPS handset which he didn't even buy from us, was faulty. At the end of the 10 minutes, I just said "Sounds like a tech issue" and transferred him to the tech bay. He must have been mad, but I was grinning for the rest of the day.

Also:
"I'm looking for this ink, but it's not on your shelf. Can you check out the back for me?"
"We don't keep ink out the back. If it's not on the shelf, it's not in store."
"Well can you at least check for me?"
"No."

Also had a guy try to trade in his 3 year old 500g External Hard Drive (which requires power source) for a new 500g portable pocket Hard Drive (portable and far more expensive for the same storage). I told him we wouldn't do it. He demanded to speak to the manager. I just said:
"I'm not going to get the manager for you. Your proposition is quite frankly, ridiculous."
He was not pleased. When I told my manager later, he said "Hahahaha, what a dickhead."

Winner.

 

[Orekoya]

Worst case scenario: Sure, you might only get $1 for your mint-condition copy of FIFA: Street, but that's more than anyone else in their right mind would ever give you for it.

Yep, there is no other way for anybody anywhere to sell their games. If only somebody would invent some magical place where they could communicate with everyone they could ever want to, all over the world. Maybe with a series of tubes.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

I'd open our used game drawer and pull out no less than 20 copies of the version of Madden that this person was attempting to trade in. "And we've probably got at least 30 more copies of this in the back," I'd say.

Didn't he tell us in part one that the back room is the size of a phone booth? And yet somehow they can store 30 copies of Madden 06 (certainly in addition to a great many other games?)


Anyway, as has been said, this article makes it absolutely clear that the guy writing it is one of those insufferable douchebags. I can't wait for Part 4, entitled "So Gamestop shitcanned me today..."

And is there anyone who doesn't know how "resurfacing" works? They literally sand down the surface of the disc. Obviously it's not something you can do probably more than once to any disc. And yet they still grin as if a resurfaced disc is "good as new". It's not. Its lifespan has been cut off at the knees. The next scratch your disc gets will probably make it inoperable.

 

[Nazz3]

Ok Ben doesn't sound like a dick at all to me. Every one of you ignorant idiot fucks who leaves your games out of case lying around needs to be stoned to death. I let my friend borrow my brand new game cuz I was finishing an old one, next day I come over and ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR OF HIS GARAGE was my new copy of Just Cause 2, not in the fucking box. I'm OCD. I was NOT happy.

I get furious when my bro does that kinda stuff. MY game disks, which I paid a lot of money and worked for, being scattered across my room all scratched, and even worse if they're on the sunlight. Also, how fucking hard is it to grab the disks from the sides instead of leaving your fingerprints all over the disk...

Oh and also, one time when the PS3 was in his room, he accidentally dropped the controller to somewhere behind his disk, many days later I found it all dusty over there with a cracked analog stick...

Which is why im not letting him touch my PSP.

 

[CK76]

Wow.. Is it just me or does 'Ben' kind off come of like a bit of a dick in this article?

I worked retail for years. This is the average customer he's describing. They tend to get much worse. The truly nice and respectful customer, whom shows a glimmer of intelligence and understanding, is a rare find indeed. We treasure each and every one of you we find.

I'm not saying everybody is rude when it comes to shopping/haggling/trading, but I have been spit on by more people than I have have been treated kindly and fairly by. Sad thing is, I'm very polite and understanding when it comes to customer service, and have been told many times I'm too nice. It had landed me as employee of the month a few times, but never made dealing with the general populace any easier.

Working retail takes a toll on you. People's rudeness and self-absorbed selfishness can erode away most of what is nice and kind about you, leaving behind an etched bedrock of apathy and bitterness. Needless to say, I am not the"bouncing little ball of sunshine" I used to be. (an actual descriptor given me by co-workers)

Honestly, I can connect with him. I'm not saying I agree with everything he describes, but I can fully understand where he's coming from.

Only fellow retaIl workers appreciate the toll it takes. Grown adults regularly acting like petulant children wears day after day.

 

[2xDouble]

Worst case scenario: Sure, you might only get $1 for your mint-condition copy of FIFA: Street, but that's more than anyone else in their right mind would ever give you for it.

Yep, there is no other way for anybody anywhere to sell their games. If only somebody would invent some magical place where they could communicate with everyone they could ever want to, all over the world. Maybe with a series of tubes.

Right, but even the mighty internets can't sell a two or three year old game when there's last year's version for $20 or less, this year's version is already out, and next year's version is coming out in 3-4 months. Especially if its in the shitty condition he's described.

 

[2xDouble]

Wow.. Is it just me or does 'Ben' kind off come of like a bit of a dick in this article?

I worked retail for years. This is the average customer he's describing. They tend to get much worse. The truly nice and respectful customer, whom shows a glimmer of intelligence and understanding, is a rare find indeed. We treasure each and every one of you we find.

I'm not saying everybody is rude when it comes to shopping/haggling/trading, but I have been spit on by more people than I have have been treated kindly and fairly by. Sad thing is, I'm very polite and understanding when it comes to customer service, and have been told many times I'm too nice. It had landed me as employee of the month a few times, but never made dealing with the general populace any easier.

Working retail takes a toll on you. People's rudeness and self-absorbed selfishness can erode away most of what is nice and kind about you, leaving behind an etched bedrock of apathy and bitterness. Needless to say, I am not the"bouncing little ball of sunshine" I used to be. (an actual descriptor given me by co-workers)

Honestly, I can connect with him. I'm not saying I agree with everything he describes, but I can fully understand where he's coming from.

Only fellow retaIl workers appreciate the toll it takes. Grown adults regularly acting like petulant children wears day after day.

It's stuff like this that makes me glad I was secretly building nuclear weapons in the stockroom out of old Playstation and XBox displays. You don't fk around with a store that has nuclear capabilities... but don't tell anyone, it's a secret. *shh*

KIDDING!