The GameStop Experience

[Elvis Starburst]

Who's telling you that you simply “cannot”, or is that just the “life” part figuratively? Idk, maybe your therapist would be able to recommend different types of fields that introverts excel at. Especially with so much being digital now there has to be something out there. Hope things turn out better for you down the road.

To answer your question directly, the life part. My therapist has suggested a few things, but he's not someone who works in the field of finding jobs for people, so the stuff he's brought up are just that, suggestions. He acknowledges they may not be for me. But this is partially why I'm bringing my parents into this, so that they can hear it from someone that isn't me, so that we can start working out a battle plan of what to do going forward.

It ultimately took 60mg of Prozac a day to “fix” my brain to stop getting hung up on thoughts of bs, and letting them control my life.

I'm currently on anti-anxiety/depression meds, and they've been helping in making sure I stay level and don't go so close to the deep end like I used to. But I can't keep adding more and more onto the problem without "fixing" the problem first.

Well, not with that attitude. "Whether you think you can or think you can't... you're right." You get used to 12 hours pretty quick. Everybody feels pressure from needing to do a job all day 40 hours a week to begin with (I'm talking the first few years), I used to complain to my dad about it all the time about being stressed not feeling like I could keep doing my job for years and years, and he told me about when he used to make the same complaints to his mother. She told him that you need to can't go in to work and say "I hate my job I wish I wasn't here" you need to tell yourself "I love my job, I'm happy I have one" even if it's not true, and to think of all the reasons you need to keep doing it. You need to be tough on yourself and make yourself see things through. You need to make goals and force yourself to stick to them.

Look... I'm not saying the things I am because I've done 1, maybe 2 jobs and thrown in the towel saying "it's too hard to do this." I've been working for about half my life now (I'm approaching 30 years of age this year), with nearly 20 different jobs under my belt over that time. I've worked several different fields, all with different workloads, expectations, schedules, and lengths of shifts, ranging from part time to full time, 3 hour to 10 hour days.
I've always done my best to keep a positive attitude going into them, and 9/10 times I did, and I was great at what I did at first. But even as the jobs got easier with experience, the cracks start to form, and the things that I can no longer ignore become bigger and bigger. I have done my damn best to power through each time it happens, but for many different reasons, it becomes overwhelming and starts affecting me more and more severely the longer it goes on.

"You need to be tough on yourself and make yourself see things through. You need to make goals and force yourself to stick to them"? I've done that, many times, and by the end, I don't have the energy to even want to get out of bed, let alone face the world. This isn't a situation where some tough love and a big happy smile with a positive attitude can fix. If it did, I wouldn't be here struggling to deal with it.
Hell, my symptoms got so bad that I was having panic attacks at the thought of going to work that day, which would not only destroy my productivity and ability to function on the job, but it'd leave little after the fact for me to do what I need to do, or do what I love, outside of work. When things got that bad for me, I'd quit, take time away from work until I was ready to go back... and it'd take me a year until I finally felt I had the strength to get back in there.
I've done these year long breaks three times now, and the last one was when I finally said I need extra help, both through medication, and a long term therapist. It's done very well for me so far, but I'm still not in a state where I'm where I'd wanna be functionally.

This is why I still think you should be getting a trade. It has minimal education requirements, and you get payed while you learn it, and it's something that you focus on seeing through.

Trades have been suggested to me before, and I'm keeping them open as a possible option.

The thing is there's a couple pacts I have with myself. You never miss work unless your really sick (like a fever or something). This is important because if I ever let myself skip just because I didn't feel like working that day or that I could stand to deal with it I would never go in again. Once you've broken, it's so much harder to pull yourself back together. So you have to decide that you will uphold your responsibilities no matter what.

This past week I unfortunately did call in fake sick one day in the middle, because I seriously needed a mental health day. It was getting bad, and I recognized if it got any worse, I was likely going to want to throw myself into traffic by the end of the week (and I'm not exaggerating with that either. I drive for my work. I would've had many an opportunity). I did what I had to do to make sure I was ok and could get through. It was the right call, as that brief respite was extremely valuable in my ability to get through the rest of the week.

The other is that you never quit a job unless you have another one lined up. You need to keep working or you are losing that acclimatization to doing stuff that you don't like every day and it will be that much harder do do it all again when you get another job and telling yourself it's ok to quit. No, it's not okay to quit. You need to work as much as anybody else so you don't end up being a burden on the people who love and support you.

I don't entirely agree with this. I have been raised to have another job lined up before quitting, and I've managed to keep that up about 95% of the time, but I've had to quit without a job lined up before for the sake of myself. I don't regret doing so.

Now, like you've said, you can work. There's nothing wrong with you physically or mentally to prevent you doing a job satisfactorily. You just need to come up with a way of tricking yourself into changing your perspective into a better one. Like put a rubber band on your wrist that you snap every time you catch yourself thinking a way you don't want yourself. Or a mantra or a song that you repeat to force your thoughts on something else. You're only anxious as long as you keep dwelling on the source of your anxiety and it's hard to stop because you aren't in the habit of stopping. I know it feels important to keep thinking about these things and that you need to, but where's it gotten you so far? You need to form a new habit of breaking out of that loop as soon as possible and it gets easier the long you keep it up. That's what I do.

I admit I'm a little sick of hearing the "just change your perspective 4head" thing, cause I've gotten it from so many people (many of them from people that don't understand what I'm dealing with, though you seem to have a better handle on it overall) because it gives the impression that all of this I've dealt with over my life is my fault. That I didn't have the right point of view and thus has lead me to face the struggles I do every day.
I've been changing my perspective a lot in the past 2 years, and am continuing to learn things that change it. However, changing my perspective isn't going to make my disability go away and stop being a thorn in my side I have to work around. Changing perspective isn't going to make my depression and anxiety up and disappear. Of course, you're not saying changing my perspective has to do those things for myself. But the reality is I have so much I have to deal with in my own head, and changing my perspective is only going to do so much. Even more unfortunate is that one of those things is going to stick with me for the rest of my life, because it's how my brain is functionally wired, and nothing is going to change that.

I've had job after job where I've disliked it or the people in it, but I kept going with it as long as I could handle. But they would only feed my anxiety and depression over time. Changing my perspective doesn't fix the underlining problem there. With my current job, I finally have a boss that is caring and respectful of me and my difficulties in ways I've only dreamed of. But now I'm filled with anxiety and fear that something will happen and the rug will pull out from under me, or maybe that they'll have had enough of me and want to get someone more reliable who doesn't have mental issues that my boss also has to navigate around.
Will it happen? Who knows. Can it happen? Maybe. I'm doing everything in my power to ensure it doesn't, but keeping that hopeful perspective doesn't remove the possibility, and thus doesn't remove the anxiety from inside of me that is scared the world will blind side me yet again.

My OCD would be triggered by thoughts, like not being able to do something until it left my head, or I could think of something else, because I was convinced something bad would happen to me. As a kid growing up, it was a bit of a nightmare, especially when I hit driving age. Like one time I drove around for hours because I couldn't think of something good when I entered the town limits. That's when Prozac really was a godsend. It was somewhat easier to hide/deal with when other people were around, or I had something to do that required critical thinking.

Funny thing was it never bothered me when I played video games either.

That's a problem I have right now... When I go into a new job, my excitement and hopefulness for it is strong and lets me see past any issues. But over time, I see the flaws, and while I can deal with them for awhile, over time I no longer can and it's impossible to ignore. Then it starts affecting me mentally as it gets worse, and in the case of my current job, it's something that brings me fear and anxiety every day, which really does a number on me. As I said to Drathnoxis above, I drive for my work. I had my first car accident on this job. It put someone else in the hospital. It was horrifying. Now I can't escape the fear that it'll happen again. "Another accident so soon is unlikely" people say... but all my life, the world has shown me that those rare and odd chances of things happening will happen to me, it's just a matter of when.


Edit: Sorry for the long derailment here everyone!

 

[Elvis Starburst]

After saying I've not seen one for 10 years I actually walked past one on a night out last night. Typical.

It's weird when that happens, isn't it? You never notice a thing that'd been hiding in plain sight until something happens and suddenly it's there/everywhere. It happened with me and the Honda CR-Z after a guy I'm subbed to on YouTube reviewed it. Saw it maybe once before the review, now out of nowhere there's nearly a dozen driving around town.
Also had something semi-similar when I was used car shopping years back. Couldn't find a Scion/Toyota IM for the life of me... then after I bought a new car, suddenly there's tons in town. Of course that happens when I'm no longer looking, huh?

 

[BrawlMan]

GameStop reportedly cancels all in-store Resident Evil 4 collector’s edition orders | VGC

US games retailer GameStop has reportedly canceled all in-store preorders of Resident Evil 4’s collector’s edition.

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[Gordon_4]

GameStop reportedly cancels all in-store Resident Evil 4 collector’s edition orders | VGC

US games retailer GameStop has reportedly canceled all in-store preorders of Resident Evil 4’s collector’s edition.

www.videogameschronicle.com

Okay. That blows, but shit happens.

 

[BrawlMan]

Okay. That blows, but shit happens.

There is "shit happens", and then there's major fuck ups like this. People paid a lot of money for those collector's editions. I got the standard edition for a good reason, and it's why I usually don't go for that stuff. But still, GameStop is doing their customers a disservice, and need to own up to it or fix it. The online ones are fine, but if you pre-ordered in store, you're more or less screwed, aside from transferring your pre-order over or getting some your money back. And GameStop continues to wonder why they're failing as a business, or keep losing customers and money.

 

[Gordon_4]

There is "shit happens", and then there's major fuck ups like this. People paid a lot of money for those collector's editions. I got the standard edition for a good reason, and it's why I usually don't go for that stuff. But still, GameStop is doing doing their customers a disservice, and need to own up to it or fix it. The online ones are fine, but if you pre-ordered in store, you're more or less screwed, aside from transferring your pre-order over or getting some your money back. And GameStop continues to wonder why they're failing as a business, or keep losing customers and money.

Nothing in that article that I saw even explains why this is happening. Did they get outbid on the exclusivity by someone else? Did Capcom not manufacture enough? Did they just decide to make it an online only thing for reasons known only to Zombie Jesus?

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

TIL: Gamestop physical stores exist, and are not just nostalgia and meme stonks. Ok.
I mean what are y'all doing going into a store to buy video games, lol. Stop that.

But since this thread has really turned into a phylosophical debate about work, here's my input: f*** a job. How you gonna look at this economy and seriously talk about "hard work" and "respect your job" and all that crap.
I'm 45. I been working since I was 17. I did the whole menial physical jobs as a young person, higher education, working in lucrative industries at all levels. My experience is that the harder you work, the more shit you eat. The more incompetent you are, the more money you make and the higher you get promoted. Right now I get paid a nice salary to literally do nothing, it's why I hang out here. Because modern economics is a large grift.

So young people don't wanna work? Good for them.

 

[BrawlMan]

Nothing in that article that I saw even explains why this is happening. Did they get outbid on the exclusivity by someone else? Did Capcom not manufacture enough? Did they just decide to make it an online only thing for reasons known only to Zombie Jesus?

True, but somebody better give an explanation soon. And it better be coming straight from the top. Still an issue when so that GameStop is still a complete cluster fuck that gets worse every year. This isn't the worst thing the company has ever done, but it still speaks of incompetence and messing up badly.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

TIL: Gamestop physical stores exist, and are not just nostalgia and meme stonks. Ok.
I mean what are y'all doing going into a store to buy video games, lol. Stop that.

But since this thread has really turned into a phylosophical debate about work, here's my input: f*** a job. How you gonna look at this economy and seriously talk about "hard work" and "respect your job" and all that crap.
I'm 45. I been working since I was 17. I did the whole menial physical jobs as a young person, higher education, working in lucrative industries at all levels. My experience is that the harder you work, the more shit you eat. The more incompetent you are, the more money you make and the higher you get promoted. Right now I get paid a nice salary to literally do nothing, it's why I hang out here. Because modern economics is a large grift.

So young people don't wanna work? Good for them.

Translation: know the “right people”. Or most exploitable work field. If I was grossly incompetent I’d *eventually* get fired vs move up, and that’s at a company that lets a lot of shit fly.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

But since this thread has really turned into a phylosophical debate about work

Yeeeaaahhh, I didn't mean to end up making that the focus...

here's my input: f*** a job. How you gonna look at this economy and seriously talk about "hard work" and "respect your job" and all that crap.

It really is a whole different world, huh? So many people you end up working for consider you expendable at best, yet expect you to treat them and the job like it's your career.

So young people don't wanna work? Good for them.

My only concern becomes how you're supposed to either build up any sort of money while not working, or in the case of what I might be at risk of... figuring out how to support yourself when you're shy of $2000 of monthly expenses in bills, rent, and all manner of other things

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

My only concern becomes how you're supposed to either build up any sort of money while not working, or in the case of what I might be at risk of... figuring out how to support yourself when you're shy of $2000 of monthly expenses in bills, rent, and all manner of other things

Well that's why I said "want" to work. We all know we HAVE to work, including and especially young people.
So this complaining about why these youngsters are lazy on the job, half-assing, rolling their eyes at their bosses and customers- yeah, some of them are lazy entitles shitbirds, but that is not unique to a generation as others have said. It's also because they actually understand the world they're living in and that it's just not worth trying any more. At least not at your stupid job.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Well that's why I said "want" to work. We all know we HAVE to work, including and especially young people.

Oohhh, got'cha.

So this complaining about why these youngsters are lazy on the job, half-assing, rolling their eyes at their bosses and customers- yeah, some of them are lazy entitles shitbirds, but that is not unique to a generation as others have said. It's also because they actually understand the world they're living in and that it's just not worth trying any more. At least not at your stupid job.

I feel that. I know that a lot of people (like me) are raised to be respectful of the workplace and the people in it, to have a strong work ethic, to show a little bit of care in what they do (or at least pretend to)... and I do hope the people that serve/help me at place I go to at least put in a minimum effort. But I don't blame these workers for a single second for feeling like everything's pointless

 

[sXeth]

Maybe its because i've never lived in "major" cities (though also not in the complete boondocks, but yeah, my experience with GAmestop (and Electronics Boutique/EB games in Canada before they rebranded over) was pretty poor. They did generally have more variety available then Walmart or whatever, but pre-orders being cancelled, not having the pre-order bonus codes at the store, lackluster trade invalue (and the secondhand games often only being like, 5-10% off. The whole shebang.


(Also a couple of buddies worked at one of them and the manager there would have them re-wrap any good condition used ones and re-shelve them as new copies, so they could take actual new ones as freebies)


Nowadays its a bunch of merch and figurines and the game selection is basically the same as Walmarts. I haven't been overly bothered with phsycial copies in awhile now but even towards the end of that they'd basically never have stuff I was looking for.

 

[BrawlMan]

Maybe its because i've never lived in "major" cities (though also not in the complete boondocks, but yeah, my experience with GAmestop (and Electronics Boutique/EB games in Canada before they rebranded over) was pretty poor. They did generally have more variety available then Walmart or whatever, but pre-orders being cancelled, not having the pre-order bonus codes at the store, lackluster trade invalue (and the secondhand games often only being like, 5-10% off. The whole shebang.


(Also a couple of buddies worked at one of them and the manager there would have them re-wrap any good condition used ones and re-shelve them as new copies, so they could take actual new ones as freebies)


Nowadays its a bunch of merch and figurines and the game selection is basically the same as Walmarts. I haven't been overly bothered with phsycial copies in awhile now but even towards the end of that they'd basically never have stuff I was looking for.

Woolie and Pat went through the same crap you did.

​

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Woolie and Pat went through the same crap you did.

​

Just realized those GameStop clips are two years old, but I kinda forgot about that bs.

 

[BrawlMan]

Just realized those GameStop clips are two years old, but I kinda forgot about that bs.

The most recent one at the top is from 4 months ago, but the rest are two years old.

 

[CriticalGaming]

But since this thread has really turned into a phylosophical debate about work, here's my input: f*** a job. How you gonna look at this economy and seriously talk about "hard work" and "respect your job" and all that crap.
I'm 45. I been working since I was 17. I did the whole menial physical jobs as a young person, higher education, working in lucrative industries at all levels. My experience is that the harder you work, the more shit you eat. The more incompetent you are, the more money you make and the higher you get promoted. Right now I get paid a nice salary to literally do nothing, it's why I hang out here. Because modern economics is a large grift.

So young people don't wanna work? Good for them.

It is really crazy to me how people, especially young people but that's not exclusive, are shitting on work and the economy system as if there is an alternative. No matter what social or economical system is in place people will have to work. You need people to make shit, fix shit, protect shit, cure people, teach people, all that stuff. I don't know what the hell is up in the West with this anti-work nonsense. And social media has trained people into thinking that every job should make you rich which also makes no sense.

And the real problem is that everyone who complains about work never has any other solution other than "pay people more" or having the government "pay people" which also doesn't work because you don't want $40/gal gas, and you don't want those retards in office controlling your life any more than you already let them. The work-free utophia people imagine is really just a one-way ticket to North Korea.

Just go to work and stop being a spoiled brat. You are 100% in control of your skillset and have a lot more freedom in what your potential income is than you realize. Nobody gets paid for nothing.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

It is really crazy to me how people, especially young people but that's not exclusive, are shitting on work and the economy system as if there is an alternative. No matter what social or economical system is in place people will have to work. You need people to make shit, fix shit, protect shit, cure people, teach people, all that stuff. I don't know what the hell is up in the West with this anti-work nonsense. And social media has trained people into thinking that every job should make you rich which also makes no sense.

And the real problem is that everyone who complains about work never has any other solution other than "pay people more" or having the government "pay people" which also doesn't work because you don't want $40/gal gas, and you don't want those retards in office controlling your life any more than you already let them. The work-free utophia people imagine is really just a one-way ticket to North Korea.

Just go to work and stop being a spoiled brat. You are 100% in control of your skillset and have a lot more freedom in what your potential income is than you realize. Nobody gets paid for nothing.

Our whole society is pretty much a house of cards at this point. Thing is, there was a large stretch where we were filling kids’ heads with garbage, making them think they’re worthless unless they’re ballers and livin’ the glamorous life. Not sure how much better or worse it’s gotten in the last couple decades, but no self esteem can come of that. There’s always been income inequality (which a large part of is heaping bs, but also another large part is just out of plain practicality), and yeah it sucks the cost of living is outpacing wages, but that’s what happens after decades of bureaucratic corruption and leaders putting their own benefit before those who vote them in, every time.

The healthcare industry (and higher education) is another exponential clusterfuck, which never helps. Further compounding matters, the family unit is increasingly being shot to shit with pretty much every other couple getting divorced, kids raised by single parents, Xbox babysitting, etc. So, little wonder we wind up with a bunch of dysfunctional spoiled brats who want everything for nothing. Welcome to Western “civilization”, stage: Apathy. Divide and conquer, but it just happens slow enough that no one notices until it’s too late.

There are a few countries that have miraculously staved off the worst of these trends, but they are still more united than we’ll probably ever be anymore after shit rolling downhill for so long. They are also far smaller societies along with far less corruption.


FWIW -

Happiest Countries in the World 2023

worldpopulationreview.com

 

[Elvis Starburst]

It is really crazy to me how people, especially young people but that's not exclusive, are shitting on work and the economy system as if there is an alternative.

I think that's part of the problem.

No matter what social or economical system is in place people will have to work. You need people to make shit, fix shit, protect shit, cure people, teach people, all that stuff. I don't know what the hell is up in the West with this anti-work nonsense.

The anti-work thing started out differently than what is is currently. It used to be closer to not living a life primarily dominated by work, or the concept of work changing and/or being made better than what it is currently, either through more fair treatment of workers, wages that match the work required (and keeps up with inflation) so people can actually afford housing and post-secondary education, or even as far as universal basic income.
Come 2021-2022 a huge amount of new people came into the movement and co-opted it into "work shouldn't exist ever" which is stupid, cause anyone who understands how the world works knows that's not realistic.
However, higher wages, more worker rights and protections with less leeway for workers to be mistreated and/or abused by their employer, a more reasonable cost of living... that's a lot more realistic and achievable. The West just likes to pretend otherwise.

And social media has trained people into thinking that every job should make you rich which also makes no sense.

At the very least we should be able to keep afloat and survive in this ever rising cost of living situation we're in, yeah?

Just go to work and stop being a spoiled brat. You are 100% in control of your skillset and have a lot more freedom in what your potential income is than you realize. Nobody gets paid for nothing.

You're really committed to the bit, aren't you?
I think after looking at the above, you're getting two different sets of people mixed up and are putting them together in the "young people" banner. There's those that do want everything handed to them, and then there's those that simply want life to not be so completely slanted against them. Hanselthecaretaker above went over some of why the former exists, but that also creates the latter as well. The system's fucked, dude.
What's next? "Don't like your job? Just quit" says those who don't have a single clue as to why that may be impossible for some. "Don't like the cost of living? Just move!" says those who ignore the cost of even doing such a thing, let alone even comprehend the ways that can backfire on the other end.
But of course, it's easier to blame young people, call them entitled, and tell them they could have it better if they just applied themselves... instead of confronting the system that's built the world to be this way, and pushed hundreds of millions of people into situations they can't easily get out of.
Did you get raised being told to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, CriticalGaming?

 

[sXeth]

Woolie and Pat went through the same crap you did.

​

Is there a tl;dl version for me not spending the greater part of an hour listening to these people (who I am utterly familar with, despite your wording making it seem like I would be)