274: Confessions of a GameStop Employee - Part Two
- Thread starter Scott Jones
- Start date
The dryer socks are taken by the Dryer sock fairy. Right? (Hears Glingleglingleglingleglingle) Crap.
OT: We take care of our games. It's just a large majority of people who sell games for store credit at Gamestop lose(or keep) their manuals. I have all of may games in pristine condition and their manuals are unwrinkled and still inside the game cases.
OT: We take care of our games. It's just a large majority of people who sell games for store credit at Gamestop lose(or keep) their manuals. I have all of may games in pristine condition and their manuals are unwrinkled and still inside the game cases.
Universal truth? I don't think so. I take excellent care of my video games. Interestingly, my brothers on the other hand, do not. Maybe it's just a guy thing?
I don't go to GameStop anymore. I found a local place called Game Insane that's a little better. I traded in a couple of DS games I wasn't playing anymore (and yes, the clerk did remark on their nice condition, yay me) and got enough store credit to get a used copy of FF13, with about nine bucks of store credit left over. And despite being used, the game was in its original case, complete with manual. I don't know if they refurb discs, but they cleaned mine before they gave it to me and gave me a month to return it if it didn't work. (Works great, though, so I didn't need to.) Admittedly, the selection was a bit smaller, but the quality seemed better and less expensive.
And yeah, retail does suck. But if you can't stay zen, you shouldn't work in one. Even when I get a rude customer, I still treat them as nicely as everyone else. Then I ***** about them later to fellow co-workers, and we usually end up swapping bad customer stories and having a laugh about it rather than building up rage, or whatever. And honestly, I rarely get rude customers. Clueless ones and tiring ones, yes, but I don't hold them any ill will, because I know that no one's perfect, myself included.
I don't go to GameStop anymore. I found a local place called Game Insane that's a little better. I traded in a couple of DS games I wasn't playing anymore (and yes, the clerk did remark on their nice condition, yay me) and got enough store credit to get a used copy of FF13, with about nine bucks of store credit left over. And despite being used, the game was in its original case, complete with manual. I don't know if they refurb discs, but they cleaned mine before they gave it to me and gave me a month to return it if it didn't work. (Works great, though, so I didn't need to.) Admittedly, the selection was a bit smaller, but the quality seemed better and less expensive.
And yeah, retail does suck. But if you can't stay zen, you shouldn't work in one. Even when I get a rude customer, I still treat them as nicely as everyone else. Then I ***** about them later to fellow co-workers, and we usually end up swapping bad customer stories and having a laugh about it rather than building up rage, or whatever. And honestly, I rarely get rude customers. Clueless ones and tiring ones, yes, but I don't hold them any ill will, because I know that no one's perfect, myself included.
Folks, in most cases, we will demonstrate a superhuman amount of patience and courtesy in even the most extreme cases of customer rudeness. It's just that given an outlet, as Ben has been here, we'll naturally want to vent all that rage that's been accumulating in the bile of our liver over the years. You would not believe the shit we put up with - I've mentioned the used knickers already, but that's not even the half of it. What Ben is describing is mild.
I worked in a game store that was a franchised section of a much larger toystore. In that time, I've had adult customers vomit, urinate and defecate in the store, leave used nappies in the aisles, leave their children unattended from open to close, start fistfights with other customers.... you name it. On one occasion, one dude promised to kill me because I would not serve him before the Chinese gentlemen who were very clearly queuing in front of him. On another, a woman attempted to return a huge amount of nursery stuff she had just stolen from us by telling us that her baby had died. Her baby had died for, I believe, the second time that month. That is how low people will go. Yes, this stuff starts to take it's toll. And even then I think I still endeavour to be nice to every single customer, no matter how bizarrely unreasonable they're being. But my God, without the chance to get that off my chest now and then I'd explode in a shower of bitterly acquired misanthropy.
People are awful.
I worked in a game store that was a franchised section of a much larger toystore. In that time, I've had adult customers vomit, urinate and defecate in the store, leave used nappies in the aisles, leave their children unattended from open to close, start fistfights with other customers.... you name it. On one occasion, one dude promised to kill me because I would not serve him before the Chinese gentlemen who were very clearly queuing in front of him. On another, a woman attempted to return a huge amount of nursery stuff she had just stolen from us by telling us that her baby had died. Her baby had died for, I believe, the second time that month. That is how low people will go. Yes, this stuff starts to take it's toll. And even then I think I still endeavour to be nice to every single customer, no matter how bizarrely unreasonable they're being. But my God, without the chance to get that off my chest now and then I'd explode in a shower of bitterly acquired misanthropy.
People are awful.
Not to mention the many, many, many shoppers who want you to know you've murdered Santa Claus for their child because you cannot pull a Nintento Wii out of your ass 30 minutes before closing time on Christmas fucking Eve.
Well it's obvious that slack-jawed, game-returning, sports-game fans aren't that smart to begin with. Don't bother buying a game that you're just going to return. Use good judgment to buy games that you'll be proud to own in the future, and if you really fuck up and get an awful game, return it as soon as you realize it sucks. Not that hard.
You know, I don't remember ever trading in a game, and I have always been hesitant to buy them used because of these stories. I want like new used, and I take pretty good care of my games, have the catridges, boxes and manuals for all the SNES games I bought knew, and that was... a couple of decades ago.
I love my local Gamestop. I'm pretty much friends with everyone that works there, we got each others #'s, gamertags, etc.JeanLuc761 said:
#6 is probably what started us all off as friends as when during Christmas a few years back (when the manager now had just taken over) and they were getting slammed and the store looked like shit. Games were laying everywhere (it's in a shopping center near Walmart and people would drop their kids off while they shopped), so I just took it upon my self to reorganize them the right way and helped a few customers find games while they were busy.
Even now, I still help them out if I'm there and they are slammed. The DM was told I actually had the highest Edge card sales of everyone since I would explain it to people. I don't want to work there, but I enjoy helping people find what they want without the pressure to make a sale, you know?
tldr; I treat my local Gamestop clerks well and they take care of me with some of the extra preorder stuff and displays (and nice green 360 cases when I need them lol)
Frankly, I have to agree with Mattaui and the guy who posted the link to the collegehumor website. What 'Ben' doesn't seem to realise is that to most people, games are just games. They don't care about the packaging or whether it's in mint condition or not, they just want the best out of their expensive purchase.
I work in Local Government, and if you want to deal with difficult people, try working there. Many people don't understand the legal procedures we have to follow and why we cannot simply do what they want us to do straight away. As a result you often get bad customers, but in my experience you also get a decent amount of polite people. My view is that 'Ben' obviously needs to wind his ego down a notch and appreciate that not everyone thinks video games are sacrosanct, and he needs to remember that he paid to provide these services. If he hates it that much, he should find another job in an area outside of retail, as he must've guessed what dealing with people would be like. There must be some perks to working from Gamestop, otherwise no-one would want to.
I work in Local Government, and if you want to deal with difficult people, try working there. Many people don't understand the legal procedures we have to follow and why we cannot simply do what they want us to do straight away. As a result you often get bad customers, but in my experience you also get a decent amount of polite people. My view is that 'Ben' obviously needs to wind his ego down a notch and appreciate that not everyone thinks video games are sacrosanct, and he needs to remember that he paid to provide these services. If he hates it that much, he should find another job in an area outside of retail, as he must've guessed what dealing with people would be like. There must be some perks to working from Gamestop, otherwise no-one would want to.
If anyone wants to read some truly epic game retail stories, check out http://www.actsofgord.com
This might seem like advertising but... well I just think it's a great site. It dates back to around 2000 so some of the stories are out of date, but I think it contrasts well with this article because this was written by a guy that owned his own store and was truly passionate about games.
The customers were considered with equal disdain.
People who think Ben is being a dick here... eh. Try and keep in mind that retail, when you're selling something you're passionate about like games... it ruins you.
As for people not caring for their things, it amazes me whenever I go to EB Games that they seem baffled by my choice not to buy a game guarantee. "It's fine", I assure them, "I haven't scratched a disc yet". The only scratched disc in my collection is my pre-owned copy of Rainbow Six Vegas which was like that when I got it, for $15. And it worked just fine for the hours and hours of T-Hunt I poured into it before Halo 3 came out.
All of my games are accounted for. On a shelf, discs in their correct cases, manuals in the cases. I seldom read the manual these days so there's often not even any reason for me to take it out to begin with.
On the other had I have this friend. His game cases are in a large box on the floor by his couch. Pull out ten at random and I guarantee only one will have disc and manual present and accounted for. The rest will have one or both pieces missing, or the wrong disc. Game discs are pilled up in various surfaces around his apartment, manuals are in an untidy heap in one corner where they've been tossed aside after a brief perusal.
Every time I go over there I wish I could spend an hour alone with his games just to tidy them up - and I am not generally a tidy person.
Sometimes something is so utterly wrong that I have no choice but to correct it. I hesitate to loan him games, but he assures me he treats other peoples' stuff with a lot more respect... and everything has come back intact so far.
This might seem like advertising but... well I just think it's a great site. It dates back to around 2000 so some of the stories are out of date, but I think it contrasts well with this article because this was written by a guy that owned his own store and was truly passionate about games.
The customers were considered with equal disdain.
People who think Ben is being a dick here... eh. Try and keep in mind that retail, when you're selling something you're passionate about like games... it ruins you.
As for people not caring for their things, it amazes me whenever I go to EB Games that they seem baffled by my choice not to buy a game guarantee. "It's fine", I assure them, "I haven't scratched a disc yet". The only scratched disc in my collection is my pre-owned copy of Rainbow Six Vegas which was like that when I got it, for $15. And it worked just fine for the hours and hours of T-Hunt I poured into it before Halo 3 came out.
All of my games are accounted for. On a shelf, discs in their correct cases, manuals in the cases. I seldom read the manual these days so there's often not even any reason for me to take it out to begin with.
On the other had I have this friend. His game cases are in a large box on the floor by his couch. Pull out ten at random and I guarantee only one will have disc and manual present and accounted for. The rest will have one or both pieces missing, or the wrong disc. Game discs are pilled up in various surfaces around his apartment, manuals are in an untidy heap in one corner where they've been tossed aside after a brief perusal.
Every time I go over there I wish I could spend an hour alone with his games just to tidy them up - and I am not generally a tidy person.
Sometimes something is so utterly wrong that I have no choice but to correct it. I hesitate to loan him games, but he assures me he treats other peoples' stuff with a lot more respect... and everything has come back intact so far.
I note here that you're also not selling your game to GameStop for $2.50. The reason that GS sees all the games in crap shape is that GS will take games in crap shape, and won't pay more for ones that are complete and (nearly) pristine. Ain't none of them going to offer you $75 for your Metroid thinking that they can sell it for $90 to the on other collector in the area, whom you probably know and have already turned down his maximum price... So that's exactly what they get coming in: crap games that have no value elsewhere.GoldenShadow said:
Yeah I had customers get angry at me, like I was trying to rob them, because the games their excited child brought in totaled to $15.
I don't know why they don't just buy a darn resurfacer to have in every store! When we sold games that were battered crap, we used to just advise customers to go down to the video store and have their disc resurfaced for a buck.
I don't know why they don't just buy a darn resurfacer to have in every store! When we sold games that were battered crap, we used to just advise customers to go down to the video store and have their disc resurfaced for a buck.
Some game stores used to have resurfacers in-store, but I gotta believe the reason they stopped is because they didn't want people seeing how it was done and realizing that all they're doing is sanding down the surface of the disc. If they keep it mysterious, people can be duped into believing resurfaced discs are as good as new.VondeVon said:
Forget mandatory military service. Mandatory retail service. Make people work at least one year behind the counter, so they at least understand how it feels to be on the receiving end of the BS.
I used to work at BK. I put quite a few dents in the freezer door following "interactions" with customers...
I used to work at BK. I put quite a few dents in the freezer door following "interactions" with customers...