274: Confessions of a GameStop Employee - Part Two

[Dublin Solo]

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?)

That's a metaphor he's using. It's meant to tell that they are overflowed with copies of Madeen, one way or another. But I'm prettty sure you know that.

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..."

May I ask you if you've ever worked in a similar job? Having to deal with people and their own idea of what is important and what is not?

 

[Moriarty70]

There seems to be two types on this thread, and I'm pretty sure they break down into "worked in retail interacting with customers" and "never had to deal with customers in a retail enviroment".

Everyone who's worked a job even close to this, (mine was the meat/fish deapartment of a grocery store) knows the warm feeling of a customer walking away insulted because they wanted something that doesn't exist/isn't realistic.

The only difference between this guy and everyone else is that you're finding out what he thinks when you ask stupid questions or walk away.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

May I ask you if you've ever worked in a similar job? Having to deal with people and their own idea of what is important and what is not?

I worked in a supermarket for like six years during and after high school. I know all about annoying customers who actually take "the customer is always right" seriously. It took me no time at all to get over it, to endure their very brief tedium, and move on. It sounds like some people in retail now take everything too personally, and dwell on annoying customers long after they've left the store.

If you're the kind of person who lets this stuff wear on you, you're in the wrong profession my friend.

And while I'm not working in retail right now, I still deal with such people to a degree.

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

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

Go work in retail, and you'll know that this is "nice" compared to what customers do to you.

This entire thing needs to get out to every kid who thinks working at GameStop would be an awesome idea.
People who don't take care of their games should shampoo my crotch. I mean is it really that hard to keep them in a safe location?

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

That's a metaphor he's using. It's meant to tell that they are overflowed with copies of Madeen, one way or another. But I'm prettty sure you know that.

Well, no, it's not a metaphor, it's exaggeration. Metaphor is like something else entirely.

But regardless, exaggeration is a poor method of making one's point, so I'm not sure it's much of a defense for his use of it here.

 

[Turing]

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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So yeah, this is actually a pretty accurate account of how GameStop works. The customers are often idiots, the part-time clerks are either desperate to work in "the gaming industry" (HAHAH, SURE you do!) or just don't care and the Store Manager and Assistant Store Manager are fighting a losing battle against product loss and the internal sales system.
Sounds like GameStop US is worse than GameStop Nordic though.

 

[CheckD3]

Working at Blockbuster, I can understand a lot of this, especially as the store's gamer. I'll look at these games and wonder what people do to them. I rented a copy of Halo reach out yesterday, and when I looked at the disc for it's 2nd rental, it had marks on it ALREADY! Do people leave these by their doggie doors? I don't understand how people can be so careless with any game or disc in any way shape or form.

And working at a rental store is the worst, because people will come back and act like it's our fault, and tell us we need to check the conditions of the discs...we get back at least 100 products a day, and have to keep the store organized, actually checkin the movies, run product, wait on customers and adjust things, we don't have time to do most of that, let alone look at 100 + movies for "possible scratches" that might ruin their movie watching experience.

You'd think that people would be more careful w/ stuff that isn't theirs...they aren't. They also aren't careful w/ stuff that is theirs. Though if you had something of theirs and it turned out the way they would have made it look they charge you for a new game.

I understand the "sounding like a dick" that "Ben" might have, entertainment media is a demanding field w/ retarded people always coming in your stores...it's pretty bad

 

[Dublin Solo]

I worked in a supermarket for like six years during and after high school. I know all about annoying customers who actually take "the customer is always right" seriously. It took me no time at all to get over it, to endure their very brief tedium, and move on. It sounds like some people in retail now take everything too personally, and dwell on annoying customers long after they've left the store.

If you're the kind of person who lets this stuff wear on you, you're in the wrong profession my friend.

I understand some people can deal with annoying customers better than others. However, one must try it out to see how it works. It worked well for you, it apparently didn't work as well for Ben. I got tired of it myself, and got another job. Besides, it's is own confession. It's not especially like he's saying that his own experience is the same for every GameStop employee in existence.

But I get your point.

 

[Angerwing]

Everyone who's worked a job even close to this, (mine was the meat/fish deapartment of a grocery store) knows the warm feeling of a customer walking away insulted because they wanted something that doesn't exist/isn't realistic.

Oh god, this. So much this. I get a perverse pleasure out of it. Also when I go to the store in the morning, open the huge glass door with my security pass, and walk past all the old people waiting out the front, looking at me as if they're expecting me to let them in. No dice, old people. I'm gonna keep on walking, and probably not look at you.

 

[tharglet]

Tbh, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a correlation between people who trade in games and people who throw their discs on the floor.
If you care for something, you're more likely to keep it, and be more "attached" to it. I take care of my discs, and I prefer to keep them.

Also when I was at school I was picky about who I lent my discs to, when I did occasionally lend people stuff. Fortunately the rest of my family has a respect for stuff, so didn't have any issues with my brother damaging my discs (also helped by the fact he'd use my machine to play the games anyway, so they were often in the drive).

Disc "refurbishment" isn't a magic art, but yeah, can only be done so many times until there's no plastic coating on the underside of the disc. Though I do have the odd CD with not much data on, where I've scratched the top by misadventure (and attacked the layer the data is kept on), but is still OK, as I missed the data (CD-Rs burned on home machines it's a lot easier to see where the data is on the disc).

 

[fenderstrat]

i take extreme care of every single of my games and game manuals.

 

[CitySquirrel]

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

My father manages a camera store. If he comes off as an asshole, it is because customers are enraging. The trade in thing is true with cameras... people come in with an old film camera, maybe in really nice condition, and and ask what he can give them for it. When he tells them something along the lines of 40 bucks, they get angry and say "but I payed 3,000 for this when it was new, it is a really good camera" at which time they need to be reminded that they just told my father that they were deciding to "go digital" and...hey!... so is everyone else. If he offers you 40 it is because he can sell it for maybe 80. To an art student at the local fine arts school.

Also, on a slightly different but still related topic, you get people like the person quoted in the letters to the editor about turning the 7 day return policy into a 7 day rental. Seriously, do people have any idea how much this pisses off the retailers? Not only is it dishonest (one step removed from stealing) but it is stupid. The retailers know this is happening, because they are not idiots. They are not sitting there out of the goodness of their hearts... they have to pay rent, utilities, their employees, and make enough money that corporate decides it is worth keeping them open (and all of them in jobs). When they see you do that, (which isn't renting because you make money off of a rental instead of refunding it) they start to hate you. Personally. Also, they start putting pressure on the corporate offices to change return policies. This is why so many return policies suck or are a pain in the ass to deal with these days.

So, my point is, if he comes off as an asshole it is because, to quote Shannon Hamilton from Mallrats, "The customer is always an asshole."

 

[brunothepig]

That's a metaphor he's using. It's meant to tell that they are overflowed with copies of Madeen, one way or another. But I'm prettty sure you know that.

Well, no, it's not a metaphor, it's exaggeration. Metaphor is like something else entirely.

But regardless, exaggeration is a poor method of making one's point, so I'm not sure it's much of a defense for his use of it here.

Are you kidding? Exaggeration is a wonderful way to make a point, an excellent way, the BEST WAY EVAR!!!!
Sorry.
I honestly don't think he came off as a dick. Why? Cause he was "tongue in cheek" rude to people that were rude to him? I worked in a fast food place for about a year, and you meet some veryirritating customers. I imagine any kind of retail is no different. And I know that people acting shocked and getting angry at any unexpected thing (like paying/getting paid more or less than they expected) is by no means an exaggeration. They can be quite rude.
And I know I get kinda shocked at people who don't take care of discs, especially if they aren't/won't be theirs.

 

[Drakey]

Nice rage points in this article, however I was raised with 'You must never be rude... no matter how silly people are'. Mom rocks, however the word 'silly' is truly swapable with stupid. in so many cases.

I guess im saying that if you get that almost autonomic cheer from a GameStop employee they must be giving you the benifit of the doubt on how you are about to behave in public. Understand that thier politness is something they had to muster up and that smile they wear prolly just had filth removed from it because the last douche bag they attended just finnished shouting on about how thier human rights were just stepped on because gamestop wouldnt accept a trade on their Nhl 2007.

A word of note. Sports games are a dime a dozen, But people still shell out $70 a year just to play the new game with all its updated rosters. Gamestops fault? The employees fault?

You must never be rude. Things go much smoother in life

Just sayin! XD

 

[Vilcus]

To the matter of there being no game manuals. The reason that happens is because the people who actually take care of their games, and keep everything together when they trade them in don't go to GameStop Outlets to trade them in. They know better than to do that, because they know they can get a better deal elsewhere. At least that's what I do. I've traded in one game to a GameStop, and I felt ripped off, so I decided it wasn't worth it.

There are much better stores, like Next Level Game eXchange in my city. I brought in some lame game (think it was Amped) that I got for free with my Xbox so very long ago, and still got around 5 bucks for it (I traded it in this year). Of course I ended up using that money right away to purchase some other things. So I left with less money than I when I came in, but I had a better game than when I set out.

 

[Lord_Gremlin]

I take care of my games, they all are in perfect condition, including manuals. That said, I never sell my games so after I'm done playing them they're meant to decorate a shelf in my hallway, especially PS3 ones. And I'm not American.

I guess if people are planning to sell the game they don't care about it's condition. If they want it to decorate their shelf they probably take good care of it just like me, but such game will never be sold and will stay in owner's house forever.

P.S. Unless owner is moving to a new house and during transportation game gets damaged... Meh, whatever, I hope you get my general idea. People take good care of things that they keep to themselves and never sell.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

I never read the manuals, so they almost never even leave the case.

 

[Eddikins]

I never understand how people trade in their games that have missing manuals, cases or the disc is covered in scratches. If i ever trade in games i make sure every sheet of paper that was inside it at opening is in there, and ive never scratched a game at all.

Not that it makes any difference in the price you get back for it though.

 

[Alar]

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.

Indeed. I think when dealing with people who want you to believe believe that what they're trying to give you is worthwhile, even though they know it's complete crap, you need to be a little harsh.

 

[Moriarty70]

I never read the manuals, so they almost never even leave the case.

That's because there's no reason to open the damned things these days. Remember when manuals had full stories written in them, or the instructions were in universe. My personal guilty pleasure was when characters commented on the manual itself and often corrected the professional language used to describe it.

Elminster vs Drizzt, The Valut Overseer, the novels that made up Warcraft's backstory. I'm lucky to get a one paragraph intoduction nowadays.