Confessions of a Game Shop Employee

[James Cassidy]

I also one time worked at an Eb games with a friend of mine who liked to slip me free strategy guides when I bought a brand new game from them.

No we didn't give them away as a promotional, just something special.

My question is, because I did this sometimes, do you tell customers of games that are coming out that are really good or going to be really popular? Such as "Hey, do you want to put a pre-order on Ghostbusters the game?"

I had some good times. I don't work there anymore which sucks cause I had a good time. I remember when the game Black just came out.

My friend: "I wonder if Black should have a multiplayer?"
Me: "With all that destructible background?"
My friend: "Yeah, probably get like a "Sever down...server down...xbox melted."

I laughed so hard.

 

[Rajin Cajun]

Is there a corporate policy that lets your douchba...employees open up and take new games home to play them then return them to the store to be sold as new? Because one idiot at a Gamestop told me they do it all the time with several of his fellow employees bobbing their fishlike heads. I have since stopped buying games there because of it. I for one am not going to buy something from a store that says it is selling something new when their greasy employees have already opened the package and done God knows what to the product.

Oh yes and is it a requirement to be utterly retarded? I swear the local GS none of the employees know jack diddly shit about anything which makes me want to facepalm. Also do they give you guys epic amounts of dope because I swear if they were anymore lethargic I would fall asleep when I walked in. Oh yes and I think there is a personal conspiracy against me because every employee that has ever been helpful either quits or gets fired. I hate you like I hate Tellitubbies.

 

[The_Deleted]

The more I read about GameStop, the more it sounds like CEX. Arrogant, clueless staff, convinced they know more than you by default. Games bought for pennies and sold for £££'s.
And an absolute refusal to acknowledge the massive line as they sort out some tosser trying to sell his DVD collection.

Oh yeah, and seemingly not checking any games they buy from victims and selling them back to you despite the disc being as playable as a Post gig Townsend guitar.

 

[Pseudonym2]

Why does Gamestop have that annoying TV with those two idiots yapping at each other? Do the customers complain about it?

 

[SoonerMatt]

I worked at Hasting's Entertainment for a bit, so I can answer a few of these questions from a slightly different perspective.

Why is it that if I buy a game today, and trade it in next week, I get a quarter of what I paid for it?

We make more money that way.

Also, we encourage people to buy used because we make more of a profit from a used product sale than a new one. Part of the credit goes towards distributors, developers, etc. with new sales, whereas with used sales it all goes to us. For example, we sold a new copy of Fallout 3 for $60. $15 would go to the developer, $10 would go to the distributor, $13 would go to corporate, and the remaining $22 would go to our store. If we sold that same copy used for $50, corporate would still get their $13, but instead of $22 heading our way we'd get $37.

And the price we pay to you for a used copy of something is about 80% what we'd pay the distributor for a new copy in bulk.

how often do you get whiny kids that can't buy games because they aren't old enough?

This was one reason I quit. Our manager told us not to card people for video games, so we had 11 and 12 year olds buying GTA4. When their parents came back to ***** the manager would blame us in front of the customer, but when they left it was like nothing happened.

Incidentally, we'd get a lot of kids whose parents would buy them the game for them. We were told not to warn them about the game.

How come your store managers are so anal? If they're working in a game store, shouldn't they b more laid back?

That would make sense, but with Hastings at least, the managers are looked at under a microscope by corporate. Their pay isn't that much better than ours (when I quit I was making $6.80 an hour, the manager was at $7.35 an hour plus commission) so they tend to crack the whip so they could make as many sales as possible to increase their paycheck. (see the previous question)

I hate gamestop but since you're putting yourself out there, I don't want to be too savage or accusatory but I would like to know how many of the following annoying traits are mandatory:

Are you required to BS with (people I hope are)regular customers while the line gets longer and longer?

Are your regular customers as pants on head retarded as I imagine them to be? Ever see the Monty Python Twit Races? That's what I imagine.

Is it part of your company's mission to to make gamers look like the least savvy consumers on the face of the planet?

Why do you guys sometimes have to check several different places for the game discs? Shouldn't you keep them in one spot?

I'm sure you don't get drug tested but does that mean you and most of your peers show up to work completely stoned? If not, how come they sometimes forget basic things, like putting the correct game (or how about just A game) in the case before putting it in my bag?

Are you required by contract to harass the customer into buying pre-orders, strategy guides, magazine subscriptions, and everything else?
If not, why do most branches do that obsessively and a few don't at all?

Have you ever seen a customer reach his limit and just lunge across the counter to throttle one of your peers within an inch of his life? Do you have a video?

How often do you check the used game rack to see if the games displayed are actually in stock? Shouldn't you have one case per copy?

Have you seen any improvements in your pay/working conditions/benefits on account of Gamestop stock doing so well? Do you at least get stock options?

Do you have a union?

If a customer is naive and asks a stupid question, are you required to laugh in their face?

If you (as an employee) want to buy/trade a used game off the shelf, you get the usual a--rape price or do you get a more reasonable price/credit?

I have more but this is already a wall.

Whatever gets sales
While a good portion of our regulars tend to have below average intelligence, a lot of our regular customers are thieves. Hastings also has a buy-back program, but unlike Gamestop we take the game/DVD/CD/book even if we know it's stolen. There were instances where we saw people walk out with a stack of DVDs and come back the next week to sell them back.
No, our unspoken corporate mission is to milk every customer as much as we can
n/a
We don't get drug tests and can show up to work drunk or high as long as it doesn't hinder our performance. One of the assistant managers took a shot of rum before and midway through his shifts.
Yes, but we're also offered prizes for getting the most preorders, such as double our employee discount on used products, a $15 gift card, or a free lunch. Tempting, I know
No, but I've wanted to do that to many customers.
We keep all our games behind plexiglass. The only games we keep in the back are new shipments that haven't been unboxed or defective copies. 9 times out of 10 the defective copy is a 360 game and the customer thought that game was responsible for their 360 RRoDing.
LOL. You're funny, let me break it down for you. My starting salary was $6.80 an hour. After 6 months it would go up to $6.95. After I'd been working there for a year it would go to $7.05. Assistant managers get paid $7.25 and managers get paid $7.35 plus commission.
No
I wish
For used products we get a small discount that pretty much shaves 5% off the price and removes the tax. We get an even worse discount on new products.

When I ask you for a price-check then walk away do you hate me?

The price is located on multiple places on the game so we shouldn't have to check it for you. And we don't hate you, we just think you're an idiot.

Why is it that you have those bargian bins with two layers, which forces people to lift out a layer of games and DVDs just to see what they are?

To get you into the store with the hopes you'll find something more expensive to buy.

 

[JanatUrlich]

I'm in love with a girl who works in GameStop. Do you know if she happens to be into girls?

 

[Rajin Cajun]

I'm in love with a girl who works in GameStop. Do you know if she happens to be into girls?

No but she is probably into sado-masochistic rape at least it always feels like rape after I leave a Gamestop.

 

[RagnorakTres]

Why do people keep coming back to your stores rather than hitting the mom & pop stores that don't gouge horribly? The mom & pop organization in my town (called C&C Games) was struggling for a while (until I started buying all my games there and encouraged all my friends to do the same) and they said it was because, between you guys and WalMart (both on the other end of town) they weren't getting any of the game shipments. So does that actually happen anywhere other than College Town USA?

Also, are you required by contract to buy your games at GameStop if you work there?

 

[JanatUrlich]

No but she is probably into sado-masochistic rape at least it always feels like rape after I leave a Gamestop.

Sweet. She sounds even more like my type

 

[The_Deleted]

No but she is probably into sado-masochistic rape at least it always feels like rape after I leave a Gamestop.

Sweet. She sounds even more like my type

Well you both sound my type.


Giggidy!

 

[seamusotorain]

I was robbed by a jittery meth head with a shirt draped over his face and a sawed off shotgun pointed in my face. Very interesting situation especially because someone had already called the cops on him after he tried breaking into an ATM machine before he came into my store. By the time he was leaving (having only emptied one of our cash registers on a Tuesday morning, so you can imagine how much he got out of it) the cops were already driving into the parking lot because their station was literally right across the street. Then, I was yelled at by the district manager because I didn't want to open the store back up right away, I wanted to calm my other employees (including myself) down for about an hour. Needless to say, I did not like that job too much.

...glad we don't have a problem with gun crime here...though the bank down the street was robbed a while back. I work in the Dun Laoghaire branch, but I've stopped for a while, as I have really important exams coming up soon.

hey i've been wondering what do you have to do to join gamestop *devilish laugh*

I'll direct you back to Doug for that one. I got lucky, in that they needed people for the Christmas rush and I* look vaguely responsible. Or at least I don't look like I'd rob the gold teeth out of your head.

How come your store managers are so anal? If they're working in a game store, shouldn't they b more laid back?

My manager is a PS3 fanboy and generally an arse. He scares off a female employee/customer at least once a month. It's kinda like his period.

One I've always wondered is: Are you always to promote the latest Disney/Nintendogs release and then force the parent who knows nothing to buy it?

Jesus no. I only recommend good games (I have younger brothers so I know a little about games for young'ns), and have often turned parents away from the Disney effluent that is often poured upon us mainstream shops. We are sometimes sent promo signs etc. but nothing more than the usual.

Are you required to BS with (people I hope are)regular customers while the line gets longer and longer?

Hmm. No, but you have to careful not to brush people off, regardless of how long the queue is. We assume that people prefer good service over speed.

Are your regular customers as pants on head retarded as I imagine them to be? Ever see the Monty Python Twit Races? That's what I imagine.

Nah, the irregular customers are the stupidest. The worst are the people who come in with a few indisputable "facts" that they refuse to be corrected on. Stubborn stupidity is the most annoying kind.

Is it part of your company's mission to to make gamers look like the least savvy consumers on the face of the planet?

Hmm. Again. I think you need to stop sucking those lemons. I'm not too sure what you mean by that, give me an example?

Why do you guys sometimes have to check several different places for the game discs? Shouldn't you keep them in one spot?

Sometimes you have new people who don't understand our filing system, or lack thereof. Sometimes, a manager stayed in late to reorganise without telling anyone. Sometimes the drawers are full, and sometimes we just can't find stuff. Human error is a *****. I blame insufficient storage space personally.

I'm sure you don't get drug tested but does that mean you and most of your peers show up to work completely stoned? If not, how come they sometimes forget basic things, like putting the correct game (or how about just A game) in the case before putting it in my bag?

I've done this once or twice...oh boy. Only ever during a rush. If you were in during a quiet time, and this happened, I'm gonna say that drugs were involved.

Are you required by contract to harass the customer into buying pre-orders, strategy guides, magazine subscriptions, and everything else?
If not, why do most branches do that obsessively and a few don't at all?

We're told to rattle off the various deals we have going. Like super sizing, but more expensive. Some stores are run by Nazis, some (like mine) are run by chilled-out people.

Have you ever seen a customer reach his limit and just lunge across the counter to throttle one of your peers within an inch of his life? Do you have a video?

No, but we've had the aforementioned robbery, and many incidents of people staging dramatic walk-outs in protest at our shocking customer service, distasteful music and slovenly appearance. The music one was serious. A customer asked us to change the music, and freaked when we didn't.

How often do you check the used game rack to see if the games displayed are actually in stock? Shouldn't you have one case per copy?

9 times out of 10, when a staff member tells you that the pre-owned game is 'out of stock', they just can't find it. The filing system for used games is beyond a joke. I apologise in advance.

Have you seen any improvements in your pay/working conditions/benefits on account of Gamestop stock doing so well? Do you at least get stock options?

As a lowly sales assistant, I don't personally. My pay has risen over the time I've worked there, though that has more to do with experience methinks. No stock options, but the majority of us are highschool/college pat-timers.

Do you have a union

Pfft. Nope! I believe the full-timers have a general shop workers union, I'll check up on that.

If a customer is naive and asks a stupid question, are you required to laugh in their face?

No, you wait till they're out of earshot. At least if you don't want to bring the Managerial Hammer down.

If you (as an employee) want to buy/trade a used game off the shelf, you get the usual a--rape price or do you get a more reasonable price/credit?

No, we get a 10% discount off everything, including Xbox Live subs and GamerPoints bizzarely. God, I love screwing the system.

I'm thinking of working at an EB Games (read GameStop). Anything I should know?

Pray that your fellow staff members are willing to show you the ropes.

They don't have Game Stop in my country (I don't think) - we just have Game and Game Station - and I've got to say, pretty much every time I've been in one, the people who work there are amazing. Mainly because I don't often get an opportunity to rave at length about games without someone telling me to shut up, but yes, I love those guys.

I think it gets a bad press from a vocal minority, as they say. It really depends on the quality of the staff. As for the trade-in prices, as I said, if you don't like 'em, don't trade in. I don't trade in games, I swap them among friends.

Why is it that most employees I've spoken to at a Video Game store know considerably less about video games than the average consumer?

You go to the wrong store? I actually read GamesTM purely to keep a hand on what's going on in the keerazy world of gaming. I understand the frustration, but most of the guys here are games-savvy.

Also, (Ive seen this almost EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN TIME I go to buy a game) You know those mothers with their Son/Daughter under the ge of 12, but the mother knows absoluteley nothing about how to find good value with games etc, and then shes asking you all these wierd questions about the Wii/DS console/game (Which is what I usually see them buying...there only seems to be two kind of kid gamers: Casual gamer, but plays really kiddy games (Nintendogs etc) or the 9 year old boy who is a total spoiled asshole and buys Gears of war, Gta, Fallout 3, Cod:Waw...all in the same payment...) anyway, back on my original point, about those mothers, how often do you see them, and does it get annoying?

We had one woman come in and spend over 1500E on gaming stuff, including a PS3 with 4 controllers, a Wii with 4 controllers and a stack of new games for Xbox 360. All for one kid. Sickening. As for the mothers, you just rattle off the same old spiel. As you said, they only ever want the same thing anyway.

You could have just said Game Stop employee. Every game store is different, and ALL of them are superior to Game Stop.

But ya gotta do what ya gotta do man. Try not to let the unnecessarily angry customers screw up your day too much.

Thank you, kind faceless man/woman/other.

What's the derivative of the fifth parabola

If you don't have the common courtesy to use a question mark, I refuse to see that as a question. According to Google, it is a small fluffy mammal native to Yugoslavia, famed for its healing powers.

When I ask you for a price-check then walk away do you hate me?

Try and supplement it with a comment like "I'm shopping around
cos I'm a poor student/homeless/require expensive surgery". We'll hate you less. Slightly less.

Why do you guys constantly pester us about subscriptions, even though I got a subscription yesterday! (That happened a very long time ago, now I just complain to Game Informer customer service and now I have 3 years of free magazines. [No lie])

Nice. A little BAWW goes a long way. Some shops are forced to by their whip-cracking, moustache-twirling managers. I personally am not.

 

[seamusotorain]

Why is it that you have those bargian bins with two layers, which forces people to lift out a layer of games and DVDs just to see what they are?

In our shop, they start off as one immaculately laid-out display. It only takes one idiot to screw it up. If it's busy, we don't get a chance to sort it out.

I also one time worked at an Eb games with a friend of mine who liked to slip me free strategy guides when I bought a brand new game from them.
No we didn't give them away as a promotional, just something special.
My question is, because I did this sometimes, do you tell customers of games that are coming out that are really good or going to be really popular? Such as "Hey, do you want to put a pre-order on Ghostbusters the game?"
I had some good times. I don't work there anymore which sucks cause I had a good time. I remember when the game Black just came out.
My friend: "I wonder if Black should have a multiplayer?"
Me: "With all that destructible background?"
My friend: "Yeah, probably get like a "Sever down...server down...xbox melted."
I laughed so hard.

I always try to give a little something extra, be it Rey Mysterio wrestlers, Rayman Rabbids bags or Assassin's Creed t-shirts. It depends on what we have knocking around really. With regular customers, I would. With most people, it would sound like I'm forcing it down their throats, so I don't.

I'm in love with a girl who works in GameStop. Do you know if she happens to be into girls?

...sorry, I was distracted by the first attractive girl who likes girls I've ever seen...I happen to know that she's into girls, but also likes whipped cream and scat, so I'd avoid.

Why do people keep coming back to your stores rather than hitting the mom & pop stores that don't gouge horribly? The mom & pop organization in my town (called C&C Games) was struggling for a while (until I started buying all my games there and encouraged all my friends to do the same) and they said it was because, between you guys and WalMart (both on the other end of town) they weren't getting any of the game shipments. So does that actually happen anywhere other than College Town USA?

Also, are you required by contract to buy your games at GameStop if you work there?

Well, the "mom and pop" shop in Dun Laoghaire was run by a cantankerous old bastard who jacked up the price on everything, so no-one mourned his passing. I would encourage people to buy local, but it's not an option where I live. We can buy our games wherever we like, but because of my discount I tend to only buy from the Stop.

Apologies for double posting, but a lot of questions needed answering

 

[GRoXERs]

They'll go elsewhere instead of becoming loyal and trusting customers.

Hee hee *snort*

...sorry.

Anyway, I too have a question;

Apologies for double posting, but a lot of questions needed answering

mmkay: I want to ask if GameStop has to have a license to resell used games. Otherwise, it seems like a fairly clear infringement of international copyright law...

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

They'll go elsewhere instead of becoming loyal and trusting customers.

Hee hee *snort*

...sorry.

Anyway, I too have a question;

Apologies for double posting, but a lot of questions needed answering

mmkay: I want to ask if GameStop has to have a license to resell used games. Otherwise, it seems like a fairly clear infringement of international copyright law...

Used. Not copied. You can do the same thing with CDs and DVDs. You don't need a license.

 

[Pimppeter2]

As you may have guessed from the title, I'm offering myself up as a sacrificial lamb to those that dislike game shops like GameStop. Ask a question, and I shall do my very best to answer. Toodles!

Is the stuff on Zero Originality true? (look it up)

 

[Crash486]

As you may have guessed from the title, I'm offering myself up as a sacrificial lamb to those that dislike game shops like GameStop. Ask a question, and I shall do my very best to answer. Toodles!

Do you guys ever repackage preowned games/systems and sell them as new?

 

[The_Chief]

Why the hate for game shops? i go into a gamestop regularly and they seem to be cool there and over look scratches, ringburn, and any other trivial stuff. and they all have edge cards they let me use when i forget mine. they seem cool. but yea the selling thing gets on my nerves, but i figure its just to make profit.

 

[seamusotorain]

mmkay: I want to ask if GameStop has to have a license to resell used games. Otherwise, it seems like a fairly clear infringement of international copyright law...

I believe that as long as we aren't selling stolen merchandise (when you sign for trading in games, there's a little legal spiel at the bottom) and they're not copied games, we're allowed to buy and sell 'em. Thoguh once again, I recommend you don't.

Is the stuff on Zero Originality true? (look it up)

Zero Originality? More like Zero Laughs, amirite? That was not very funny. The narrator had an annoying voice, and I miss the soothing yellow backgrounds. I got as far as the pricing system and its incredible unfairness. That seems like more of a rant against shopping in general. Internet shops don't have to pay for lighting, attractive members of staff *cough* etc, so they don't have to charge as much to make the same profit. That's a limitation of all shops, not proof that GameStop are evil. I'll try really hard to watch it later, but it's too early in the morning for that.

Do you guys ever repackage preowned games/systems and sell them as new?

No. We'd be skinned alive it ever came back to haunt us. I've explained to desperate parents that we only have preowned copies of a popular game left, and I say that I will remove the stickers from the box, re-clean and re-check the disc. Oh, and the little thing about saying all our stuff is tested? Rarely is that the case. We'd have chain one poor bastard to a tv testing the crap we get thrown every day. In my defense, games sometimes only mess up at a certain point, and no-one could possibly check every disc that we get, though I spent one memorable evening testing "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" for two crying kids. I did very well apparently, and cleaning the disc sorted out their problem. Consoles are ALWAYS checked. Probably because we all love playing 'em

Why the hate for game shops? i go into a gamestop regularly and they seem to be cool there and over look scratches, ringburn, and any other trivial stuff. and they all have edge cards they let me use when i forget mine. they seem cool. but yea the selling thing gets on my nerves, but i figure its just to make profit.

Do you mean when you trade games in, they overlook ringburn and scratches? Arseholes. That's my other reason for avoiding trade-ins: 4 times out of 10, it's someone trying to get rid of a broken game. I'd test the game if I thought it might be broken, but if it looked bad, I'd offer to clean it for free but I wouldn't bother testing it, I'd just reject it.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Is it true that you guys never even really test a used game to see if it works (besides checking to see if it starts up, but only after accepting said game)?

Also, how does working at Gamestop (or whatever store you represent) compare to working an other retail job? I'd like to see if game stores are abnormally bad or all low level retail jobs are bad.