OOH PICK ME. I've been working at Gamestop for two years now and actually just got off - GOOD TIMING SIR. Here's what you pretty much have to know in a nutshell-
1. Salesmanship, or, repeating yourself to fifty customers a day like a broken record about the benefits of reserving games and the almight Edge card that makes the world spin, or more recently implemented, GPG's, which are GamePlayGuarantees, a two to three dollar charge that says if you're a total clutz and scratch your games up that the almight and benevolent corporation will give you a new one for free. So you gotta learn to read customers, get in good with them and know what to say to which and why.
....that's actually about it. Show up on time, wear the dress code and pray you get some good coworkers. I love mine, we actually hang out outside of work -except for my SM, he's married with children.-
NO WAIT THERE'S MORE.
2. Don't screw up in front of customers. Most are ok if you turn around and say "Sir/Ma'am I'm sorry we don't have this game, could I help you find something else?" But some will say WELL WHY THE HELL NOT THE CASE IS OUT THERE HOW DARE YOU YOU SUB-HUMAN PIECE OF DIRT. Don't drop any specific four letter words that aren't "Edge" or "Oops." Then you get written up.
...3! Getting written up. Just happened to me because I was an hour late when we were slammed and my happy happy manager didn't buy that three tylenol pm's will indeed put you in a 12 hour coma. My fault yes, but my point is that until then I had not been written up, mostly because I just showed up, did my job, and left. So long as you do that, you will be fine.
4. Game knowledge, this is really what it comes down to, because there is a HUEG emphasis on customer service and satisfaction. If you know what you're talking about, know about the games coming out, then you can rack up your reserves and if you say "I got to know all this from this DEEEEE-LIGHTFUL MAGAZINE THAT CAN ALSO SAVE YOU MONEY OH MAI GAWD" then you can get reserves. When you're confident, the customer's confident, and in my and the corporation's eyes, when they're confident, they spend their money on you, you being the company and not you the individual GA (Game Advisor) or as I call us "Floor Maggots." WHICH BRINGS ME TO...
5. ORGANIZATION. You'll do ALOT of filing, ALOT of work alphabetizing the game wall which by the way, the DS wall is F**KED. IRREVOCABLY AND PERMANENTLY F**KED. Depending on where you live, certain people will come in with their little crib midgets to destroy your work. Unfortunately you gotta take it with a smile. But yeah, there's alot of manual labor involved on top of being a corporate drone to the queen bee. Speaking of queen bees,
6. Your manager(s) and You: A Step by Step guide to professional ass-kissing.
You will have a number of managers, being, in this order
-Entry level (you) GA (Game Adviser and all around soldier of the MIGHT GS)
-SGA (Senior Game Adviser - the GA that's paid slightly better and has a key to the store on top of managerial responsibilities.)
-ASM (Assistant Store Manager - A person above an SGA with three times the work)
-SM (Store Manager - The cheese of the store that is responsible for everyone under them that is listed above)
-DM (District Manager - SATAN. Jack the Ripper meets Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy's illegitimate child. Just kidding, they're pretty nice but always busy, I described my last job's DM. He manages the district's stores and doesn't worry about the GA's, usually.)
Anything above that means something has GONE HORRIBLY WRONG. A system is missing, the registers are missing a substantial amount of money, blah blah blah LP issues (Loss Prevention.)
7. FFFFFUUUUUU - The F keys. You'll use them almost exclusively. F5, F1, F12, F9 and F10 will be your best friends.
I wonder if I'm indulging too much information.
That, I think, really is about it. Be nice to customers, know your stuff, and once you get passed taking orders, everything you do is pretty much autonomous and you'll know what to do, like any other job it all just become routine. Then it gets fun. THEN BLACK FRIDAY HAPPENS THAT LEADS INTO THE HOLIDAY SEASON. It's like three months of Normandy beach. If you have any more questions please let me know.
-P.S. Dear Gamestop Manager that browses this website, I love you. I love my company and the games I can rent. I have a wife and five children that are being fed Chef Boyardee's almost exclusively off my paycheck, please don't fire me.
-P.P.S. Jk they don't browse this site, I don't think.
-P.P.P.S. I really do enjoy working there, it's fun, it's just having to service customers while you work the back counter and floor. If you have any questions, all of you, please message me and I'll answer to the best of my knowledge.
-P.P.P.P.S To myself, I spun a little humor in there but I do not believe I have indulged any work specific information that is confidential to the company that isn't something you can walk into any GS and find out just by buying something there or having an understanding of any corporation's managerial ladder. By posting this response I believe I am not in violation of any terms per the Gamestop handbook and and in no way present this post as libel or slander against GameStop and it's affiliates and will not answer any explicit questions that are confidential to GameStop employees in any private messages that I am sent if any are present. Again, I love my job and do my best to remain there as an employee. Thank you.