GameStop Responds to "GTA V Midnight Release Video" Controversy

[Doom972]

I hope that manager gets fired and fast. Threatening to share his personal information is out of line, and so is the way she tried to get him angrier by insulting him as he was about to leave. This could have been over in 2 minutes max instead of 10 if she had acted professionally instead of just being a troll.

Also, why a photo ID? Why not a receipt with a unique order number? How backwards can a major retailer be.

It could have been over even faster if the guy had not been rude and just taken the two seconds to show her his ID. She is just a manger. She has to follow the rules that the higher ups make. If they want their employees to ask for ID than the employees have to follow what the higher ups say.

Hardly anyone is going to hold onto a receipt for a long period of time. I pre-order my games usually six months in advance. In that amount of time I could either throw them out by accident, lose them, or the ink on it will fade. Showing ID is much easier.

Plus, they also have to ask for ID to make sure that the person is of age to legally purchase the game.

He could've known about having to show ID, and he could've not known. If it bothered him that much, then he probably didn't know. Personally, I don't show my ID to anyone who asks. Also, shouldn't they have verified his age when he made the pre-order? Receipts aren't that hard to keep, and I'm guessing he had one if he didn't know that he had to show his ID.

You claim that the customer was a jackass? Fine, it doesn't matter anyway - the customer isn't the issue here. The manager is supposed to be a professional about when dealing with customers (especially if they're jerks), and definitely not insult and threaten him, which is jerk behavior by itself, and what caused many people to wait in line needlessly.

its more to make sure "john" is "john", and david didn't find or take his receipt and is claiming to be him, i've had to show my ID tons of times for random items i've purchased or pre-purchased, it is seriously not that hard to take 5 seconds to pull your ID out, that is what it is for, for identifying yourself.

the customer is the issue, they did start the whole scuffle because they did not pay attention in the slightest when pre-ordering the game or simply knowing very basicstore policies, and he continued to do so for 10 minutes when he could've been out of there in less than a minute if he would've just pulled out his ID to get his game.

you didn't like her sarcastic joke about his business card? fine, i won't argue sarcasm

I doubt that he didn't want to show his ID out of laziness. It's a privacy issue. Ever heard of identity theft?
If the manager had kept a professional attitude it wouldn't have taken 10 minutes.

Which could've been avoided, had he simply paid attention to store policy, which wasn't by any means a new thing. Obviously everyone else in the store was full ready to show their ID, if he had such a problem with it he shouldn't have pre-ordered the game there, period.

What "professional" attitude would've prevented him from acting like a little entitled child? please tell, because as far as the video goes, she didn't do anything until the end when she was getting frustrated for how long it was taking for him to simply show his ID and not be a twat about it.

Again, I'm not arguing whether what the guy did was wrong. You think so? Fair enough, I don't care.
What I say is that the manager wasn't being professional and should be fired. Couldn't care less about the custmer.

How could she have made this quicker? For starters, she could've not aggravated him when he was leaving, which would've cut out the 2 minutes of video we have seen. That's 2 minutes of the line getting longer, and people getting more impatient. As for the remaining 8 minutes, I don't know, since I can't see them.

"couldn't care less about the customer"--that is in direct relation as to why the manager "wasn't being professional", so saying you don't care doesn't cut it, because it is part of the argument/scenario. I heartily feel sorry for anyone who has to work under you in the future if you think that is an offense great enough to fire someone over, I've seen plenty of people make bigger mistakes that didn't get fired, and they went on to be great employees for years to come.

I agree that her last quip when he was leaving wasn't needed, but that also shouldn't have held up the line, the other workers could've continued selling the games to the people in line, while before, when the dude was still in line, it couldn't be handled because he was still part of the line/purchasers waiting(although she could've told him to get his ID and wait to the side/get the back of the fuckin line, either of those probably would've sufficed). So those last 2 minutes were not part of the previous 8 minutes of him being an arrogant douche, but of them personally getting into it with each other.

Why should I care? Is it my customer? Am I working there? No. I also don't know his reasons, or at all what happened other than what people on the forum claim.

All I know is that the manager was being unprofessional. Even you don't argue that the footage seen in this video shows unnecessary and unprofessional behavior by the manager.

 

[Frankster]

On one side...

I take it as a compliment when asked for ID so i actually react rather positively to it and feel the customer was being a bit of a knob there.

But after seeing video... She kinda kept sniping at him as he was walking away which goaded his outburst.

Piling on social pressure and making a show out of this scene in front of others also was kinda of meh and only guaranteed the situation would become incendiary with little choice of both parties acting reasonable when they are "showing off" for a crowd.

Seriously not EVERY dispute has to be resolved like as if we were on the jerry springer show ¬¬

 

[ace_of_something]

What I saw there was a douchbag arguing with an asshat. Two people pitching a fit over nothing.

 

[PirateRose]

Well, as one white dude told me when I asked for his receipt, "How dare you violate my rights as an American. You should be looking for the real criminals, those black people and illegal immigrants."

Right...

 

[Heronblade]

Huh, I was just thinking she should have gotten the Gamestop employee equivalent of a medal. Apparently most of the people here disagree. I wonder how many of those have been on that side of the counter.

She remained outwardly calm in an extremely stressful situation and did her best to keep the conflict from negatively affecting everyone else's mood. It was Mr can't understand humor that kept escalating matters over nothing. If I'd been there, I would have been very hard pressed not to literally drag him out of the store.

 

[Dragonbums]

What I saw there was a douchbag arguing with an asshat. Two people pitching a fit over nothing.

No.

It was a whiny man child holding up the midnight release line for approximately 10 minutes (the video in the link is an abridged version.) because he felt he was too good to follow Gamestop policies and show his I.D to not only verify that he is of age, but to also prove without a doubt that he is who he says he is and not some impersonator using some one else's receipt to get his copy of GTA V for free.
If he had an identification card on him, all he would have to do was show it to her, and be on his way. Takes all but 5 seconds.
If he did not have his ID, then 1) he broke the law because he drove without a drivers license, and 2) He is a complete fucking idiot.

 

[Rednog]

Both were being complete idiots in the situation, but sadly the lady should get canned or at least demoted because let's face it that is in no way managerial material. Managers are supposed to be at peak of professionalism and if you're insanely flippant about how you treat customers especially complaints then you don't deserve to be a manager.
I get yelled at by customers day in and day out and I'm a lowly cog and even I know that when it comes to a customer filing a complaint that is the time where you immediately cut all the bullshit and treat the situation seriously.

Also I'm a bit curious how she got away with being behind a counter with no gamestop and no gamestop employee ID. I worked for EB pre gamestop buyout and if any employee was behind a counter with no ID and word got up the corporate ladder they'd get a written warning along with a verbal from a higher up and be on the fast track on their way out.

 

[Rednog]

What I saw there was a douchbag arguing with an asshat. Two people pitching a fit over nothing.

If he did not have his ID, then 1) he broke the law because he drove without a drivers license,

Proof that he was driving?
Other wise don't attempt to paint him as a law breaker to further your argument.

Second, unless things have changed since I last worked in games retail, they don't give a rat's ass who is picking up the game impersonator or not; heck I've made money from selling my preorders. I've been on both sides most places only care if you have the receipt or the pre order stub. If this was a non M game most employees will just give you the game, but in this case the whole "oh my god we'll get in trouble if we sell an M game to a minor" thing springs up, but honestly this isn't alcohol or cigarettes and even then the guy clearly is over 18.

 

[Hazy]

With all of the white knights crowding around, I could have sworn that video was set in the Middle Ages.

 

[Dragonbums]

What I saw there was a douchbag arguing with an asshat. Two people pitching a fit over nothing.

If he did not have his ID, then 1) he broke the law because he drove without a drivers license,

Proof that he was driving?
Other wise don't attempt to paint him as a law breaker to further your argument.

Second, unless things have changed since I last worked in games retail, they don't give a rat's ass who is picking up the game impersonator or not; heck I've made money from selling my preorders. I've been on both sides most places only care if you have the receipt or the pre order stub. If this was a non M game most employees will just give you the game, but in this case the whole "oh my god we'll get in trouble if we sell an M game to a minor" thing springs up, but honestly this isn't alcohol or cigarettes and even then the guy clearly is over 18.

That's great that the Gamestop that lives near you at can't be assed to follow their own polices. Because the three times I pre ordered from Gamestop were all Pokemon games.
Obviously they were rated E and yet they still asked me to show an identification card to prove that without a doubt, I am the person that pre-ordered the game.
So the fact that he's making a fuss over it either means A) He didn't have it on him, and would have to go back to his house/car/whatever, to retrieve it, or B) He felt too entitled to follow the rules that everyone else at the store clearly knew they had to follow and made a huge stink.

As for pre order policy, I'm also willing to bet that they only put down around $5-10.00 on the game. Which meant that if the game was in heavy enough demand, and the person in question took their sweet old time to get there, if someone else who desperately wants the game pays full cash for it, then they can get that other person's pre-ordered game providing that they didn't already pay off a large sum of the game already. If the per order customer shows up to claim their no longer available pre-order then gets a return of the money they put down on the game in the first place. Or at least, that's how it's supposed to be.

Also, what idiot goes around with absolutely no identification card on him? So yeah, point still stands, the loser should've taken the two seconds to show the ID, and left.

 

[Lightknight]

Ugh, dumb situation all around and not really worth the time to watch, but the moment of fault was when she called out after him once the sale was made and then made the comment about his contact information to the group after he'd already expressed disdain over having to provide his ID (clearly someone who values his personal information as is his prerogative). Regardless of how many years you've been in retail, these are things you think of saying but do not say. I don't think she was intending to be rude. She was clearly bristled by his (dickish) behavior which spawned her calling out after him. But the moment he came back she began to ridicule him along with the crowd. But this was a nervous defense mechanism on her part as he was being hostile (albeit not physically).

Ultimately, this was all about trying to be in control of a situation that neither felt in control of. So yeah, a pissing contest.

 

[icythepenguin]

"We would like to extend an apology to the affected customer as well as any other customer that was offended by this event."

No. Fuck that. The guy was being a dick to YOUR employee Gamestop. Don't apologise to him.

Gah. In all my years of retail work I never felt support by management, who were too eager to lick customers bums, even when they were twats.

Whether the customer was being a complete dick or not, the manager cannot threaten to reveal his personal information to the public. Also depending on where this took place GameStop and the manager could be facing fines or worse form the government for violating state privacy laws. This manager just possibly exposed GameStop to a lawsuit that could cost them millions so yeah, I imagine she'll be disciplined if not fired.

 

[Salad Is Murder]

I think she should be fired and then all the gamestops simultaneously burst into flames and are dragged back into the abyss by an eldar god's wretched tentacles; blue shirt has to continue to live as blue shirt.

Punishments befitting the crimes.

*gavel sound*

Case closed!

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

"We would like to extend an apology to the affected customer as well as any other customer that was offended by this event."

No. Fuck that. The guy was being a dick to YOUR employee Gamestop. Don't apologise to him.

Gah. In all my years of retail work I never felt support by management, who were too eager to lick customers bums, even when they were twats.

Whether the customer was being a complete dick or not, the manager cannot threaten to reveal his personal information to the public. Also depending on where this took place GameStop and the manager could be facing fines or worse form the government for violating state privacy laws. This manager just possibly exposed GameStop to a lawsuit that could cost them millions so yeah, I imagine she'll be disciplined if not fired.

If threats alone where enough for legal trouble then everyone on [insert online game/service] who threats to kill someone or cause harm should be find and face legal action. I wonder if the whole 4chan thing about releasing her information is true, and if it was who ever did it should face a harsher punishment then because they did release private information.

 

[Flunk]

Nothing on this recording was worth, both sides were wrong and should have just chilled out.

P.S. I see people do more illegal things than this every single day.

 

[Tsaba]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but, isn't a business card meant to be public domain?

EDIT: the salt in the wound part could have waited for this clown to leave, but, dude... pull up your big boy pants and show your freaking ID.

 

[icythepenguin]

"We would like to extend an apology to the affected customer as well as any other customer that was offended by this event."

No. Fuck that. The guy was being a dick to YOUR employee Gamestop. Don't apologise to him.

Gah. In all my years of retail work I never felt support by management, who were too eager to lick customers bums, even when they were twats.

Whether the customer was being a complete dick or not, the manager cannot threaten to reveal his personal information to the public. Also depending on where this took place GameStop and the manager could be facing fines or worse form the government for violating state privacy laws. This manager just possibly exposed GameStop to a lawsuit that could cost them millions so yeah, I imagine she'll be disciplined if not fired.

If threats alone where enough for legal trouble then everyone on [insert online game/service] who threats to kill someone or cause harm should be find and face legal action. I wonder if the whole 4chan thing about releasing her information is true, and if it was who ever did it should face a harsher punishment then because they did release private information.

Well anyone making a death threat can face legal trouble as it is illegal to make a death threat. The problem is finding these people and law enforcement will only go after the ones they think are of concern. Some twelve year old threatening to kill you because you beat him at COD is not high up on their list of priorities.

Violations of privacy laws tend to be dealt with in civil court, not criminal unless it is classified information, and are more like to get a person and/or corporation in trouble. As for 4chan, they should face a harsher punishment for actually releasing information, if they did indeed do so, but once again it comes down to finding them and do you really think GameStop is going to waste their money trying? Or that the manager would?