274: Confessions of a GameStop Employee - Part Two
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When I ran a counter at a Subway, I found the majority of people you have to deal with are reasonably polite and don't cause unnecessary waves, but there was this great saying I heard years back: 10% of people are assholes and the other 90% are assholes 10% of the time.WittyInfidel said:
So, someone will come in, buy five dollars worth of something, then act aghast that you expect them to count out the giant pile of pennies and put them into some sort of easily countable order, while you deal with the line out the door of other customers.
Or they talk among themselves for 10 minutes until they reach the counter... and then get down to the business of figuring out exactly what it is they want.
Or they're so busy talking on their cell phone that they mime their order to you, then get pissed when you put something on it they didn't want.
Or they send their husband into the store to order their food, only he's an idiot and has to run outside the store every time you ask him a question.
Or they, in a completely misguided attempt at helpfulness say "I have the 97 cents", then spent three minutes digging it out of their purse or have to run out to their car for it.
Or the person who comes in two minutes before you close, takes five minutes to make up their mind, ignores you when you say that you're closing, then sits down for 15 minutes eating their sandwich, leaving behind a gigantic mess.
Or when a group of people come in and one of them comes rushing up to the counter... this will be the one guy who *doesn't* know what he wants to order.
One of my personal favorites, the people who nit-pick your sandwich making... to no logical outcome. They want mayo. You put mayo on it. That's too much... you take half the mayo off. That's too little... you put more on it than was originally there and they're happy.
Another favorite and this one happened all the time. A couple comes in. She goes to the bathroom and he refuses to order his sandwich before she returns... like he's afraid he'll order the wrong sandwich for himself.
And the "20 years later" version. The old married couple where the husband doesn't know if he likes mustard and has to ask his wife. Seriously, how do you not know if you like mustard or not, but this, again, happened all the time.
But the vast majority of people knew what they wanted, didn't waste yours (or other customer's) time, only complained when there was a legitimate problem, and treated you like you were a human being. But get two or three of the above examples in a row and you wanted to chlorinate the gene pool.
Woah there, calm down. That is called utilizing a return policy. There is an ocean of difference between that and going in buying a used game knowing full well you have no intention of keeping it.Gray Monk said:
I love this line. "Funny how games have matured as a medium, yet most of the people who play them have not." It's true, at least a large portion of the overall amount of people who play videogames is.
When you put the quality of game over human lives, it's time to take a step back and ask yourself what obsessed person you've become.DPunch4 said:
Perhaps you should look to Comic Book Guy.
I'll agree to the first part (to an extent); while it is supremely frustrating to get games traded in that look like they've seen a nuclear war, it's not the worst thing that happens.Gunstar Hero said:
However, as for your second point, a LOT of customers are morons or, at least, act like morons in the store. A pretty decent percentage of customers are fine people who at least treat us civilly, but the rest act like assholes.
"Are you kidding me? It's only worth that much? You guys are rip-offs!"
"No, I'm not okay with the game being rated M for Mature, but he wants it so I'll get it."
"Why don't you have *insert game of choice* in stock?"
"You didn't greet me properly, I want the customer service line and your names."
"I don't want to hear about your damn discount card. Just give me the game."
That's a few of the things we hear quite often. Then, of course, is customer behavior.
- Bringing a shopping cart from Wal-Mart into the store.
- Letting their kids run loose.
- Grabbing cases off the wall, looking at them, then putting them back wherever they feel like.
- Stealing from our store
- Trading in stolen games
- Telling us they don't need help, then asking for it ten seconds later
- Asking us if we can tell them how much their games are worth over the phone, then getting angry when we tell them we have to see the games first.
On and on. Enough people are decent human beings to not really get aggravated, but a lot of them do act like morons. Even my mother, on occasion.
That amount of swearing wasn't really necessary.
When we get someone who ends up with a 'negative credit' we just tell them we can't take it, because we can't. No need to insult them until they have insulted us. Honestly, I think this guy is oversensitive.
When we get someone who ends up with a 'negative credit' we just tell them we can't take it, because we can't. No need to insult them until they have insulted us. Honestly, I think this guy is oversensitive.
That's because all the people who still have their cases & manuals use eBay & Amazon Marketplace.
I would be pissed to if people drought in games like that. I make it a chore to keep my games in shape, from the disc to the manual so if I trade it in the next person can have a game in great shape.
its funny, i used to work at a gamestop and all that stuff in the article didnt really piss me off when it happened. you know what DID piss me off? forced to work unpaid overtime to organize all the shelves that are just gonna be screwed up 10 minutes into the next day anyway as well as "pennying" out items, which means we just throw crap out, and we couldn't even keep it because it was considered "stealing" company property. seriously, you have any idea how stupid it is to throw out 7 collecters editions of burning crusade because no one would buy them?
There's actually a pretty good reason why they won't let employees take home such items. Because it's a time-delayed theft problem. I worked in food service and at the end of the night, you had to throw everything out. Every so often, a manager would fail to see the logic of this and allow employees to take home food that would otherwise be thrown out.shadowstriker86 said:
Within a week, said manager realized why this was a bad idea when right before close, suddenly all this extra food gets made.
Less of an issue in retail, but a cagey manager could order a whole bunch more of something he knows will later get zeroed out, then claim the rewards later on. Where I work we damage out various parts and some vigilance is needed to make sure that managers aren't damaging out perfectly good parts to take or give to their friends.
I have the dimmest possible view of our corporate masters, but most of these policies exist to combat real problems.
But we do pay cash for games and game systems. In my store, at least half of the trades coming in are not for store credit. I'm not sure if you live in another country than me or what the deal is, but GS DOES pay cash for games where I'm at. As for the store credit, when you use $20 store credit on a new game or whatnot, you're getting whatever you buy cheaper, where do you think that $20 comes from? GS eats that, that's how the credit system works, that's how they "pay" for the trade.-Samurai- said:
Secondly (as it applies to the store I work at since we have a cash trade option), deciding to take store credit and then not spending is not GS's fault. There is a victim mentality showing its head here. If you don't like the amount offered for your games, don't trade them. If you don't want the in-store credit, take the cash option or don't trade them. If you feel the store is evil and money-grubbing, then don't trade or buy from there. My point is, and always has been, if you don't like it, THEN DON'T TRADE!
As an employee at GS, non-trade transactions are easier and create less work for me, so I won't be offended in the least and will welcome the customer's proactive statement towards my employer's policies.
I'll never understand how careless some people can be with their games. Even my worst games I treat like priceless artifacts, they still deserve respect. How hard is it to keep the manual safely tucked away in the case along with the disc?
"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."
Please keep in mind people, that Ben and the store that thinks this way about your property would gladly turn around and sell said "worthless" property to another customer for $9.99. That's about a 1000% mark-up. Hell, selling it at $4.99 is just about a 500% mark-up. Just so he can take it home and bring it back for an exchange if it doesn't work, thereby providing FREE quality control service for the company? On a game they themselves would not have paid more than a DOLLAR for?! There's selling at a profit, there's gouging and there's burning down any merchant that dares sell Vaseline in the vicinity and then viciously sodomizing you.
Please keep in mind people, that Ben and the store that thinks this way about your property would gladly turn around and sell said "worthless" property to another customer for $9.99. That's about a 1000% mark-up. Hell, selling it at $4.99 is just about a 500% mark-up. Just so he can take it home and bring it back for an exchange if it doesn't work, thereby providing FREE quality control service for the company? On a game they themselves would not have paid more than a DOLLAR for?! There's selling at a profit, there's gouging and there's burning down any merchant that dares sell Vaseline in the vicinity and then viciously sodomizing you.
Like every other person that works in retail, you sound so high and mighty on your throne behind the counter.
How mighty you are. Putting customers in their places, and justifying a company's silly practice of opening new product.
How mighty you are. Putting customers in their places, and justifying a company's silly practice of opening new product.
EDIT: Ack, I just noticed I necro'd this, it was in a link at the bottom of the page, assumed it was new content!
I still maintain that EVERYONE should be made to do a six month placement in either a fast food restaurant, supermarket or other kind of store, so they have six months of having dealt with the public at a base level.
Not only would it be educational, but it would mean the entire country had an idea of what it's like on the other side of the counter. Just think, in about 40 years, there'd only be a tiny minority of people with no empathy for their waitress/server/cleaner etc.
This may chip away at the infuriating attitude of so many people that the moment someone has a name badge, they're no longer human, just a machine designed to serve your every whim.
The few times I've had to complain about bad service in a store, it's NEVER been the fault of the staff, it's always been an idiotic move by management, or a truly dumb decision by the company itself, so I always write letters to head office, instead of doing the dick move of just bitching in the face of the nearest victom wearing a company shirt.
Might feel good to vent at some random staff member, but it does no good, ruins their day, and nothing gets done.
Most of the time, what you're bitching about, they hate too, but it's company policy, and the company sure as hell isn't going to listen to anyone as insignificant as the employees.
I still maintain that EVERYONE should be made to do a six month placement in either a fast food restaurant, supermarket or other kind of store, so they have six months of having dealt with the public at a base level.
Not only would it be educational, but it would mean the entire country had an idea of what it's like on the other side of the counter. Just think, in about 40 years, there'd only be a tiny minority of people with no empathy for their waitress/server/cleaner etc.
This may chip away at the infuriating attitude of so many people that the moment someone has a name badge, they're no longer human, just a machine designed to serve your every whim.
The few times I've had to complain about bad service in a store, it's NEVER been the fault of the staff, it's always been an idiotic move by management, or a truly dumb decision by the company itself, so I always write letters to head office, instead of doing the dick move of just bitching in the face of the nearest victom wearing a company shirt.
Might feel good to vent at some random staff member, but it does no good, ruins their day, and nothing gets done.
Most of the time, what you're bitching about, they hate too, but it's company policy, and the company sure as hell isn't going to listen to anyone as insignificant as the employees.
Universal Truth: The vast majority of nerds and gamestop employees are judgemental douchebags with vast amounts of insecurities who have nothing better to do than complain and shit themselves. I've had the same xbox 360 for 6 years with no problems so far, I always hand in my used games in immaculate condition with the manuals and even the little ads that come in them. My discs are always in immaculate condition as well because I actually have a brain and don't throw them around my house or drop them into a blender. So your "universal truth" is horseshit. So try not to be so ignorant and judgmental. How about you plug up the bleeding orifice in between your legs and not give a shit if people scratch there discs or otherwise.