Confessions of a Game Store Clerk

[Griking]

Nothing we really didn't already know but it's still an interesting read.

Link

[geneshifter]

Read it and nothing too surprising to me. I've seen a lot of this kind of behavior out of people while I've been in game stores. I feel bad for my local GS manager after reading this, though.

[Oobgarm]

Read and enjoyed.

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

"GamesRadar: Okay. So if you could say one thing to all of your future customers, what would it be?

#7: Become a regular. Patronize one location and come in once a week, or every other week, and get to know the guys behind the counter. It's the best way to get us to help you out."

Unreal. So I need to be on the 'ins' with the clerks to ensure that I don't get treated like an idiot and get decent service in their crappy corporate game store.

I was bored and weak-willed enough to go to EB to purchase a new game maybe twice in the past few years. Of course the game was 'the last one'- gutted, and they still insisted that it was new. I'm going to pay full price for an unwrapped game? Sure.

I know this is a common experience, but I can't comprehend how gamers tolerate the insanity of some of the lame business practices that goes on in these stores. They're a blight on the hobby.

[geneshifter]

"GamesRadar: Okay. So if you could say one thing to all of your future customers, what would it be?

#7: Become a regular. Patronize one location and come in once a week, or every other week, and get to know the guys behind the counter. It's the best way to get us to help you out."

Unreal. So I need to be on the 'ins' with the clerks to ensure that I don't get treated like an idiot and get decent service in their crappy corporate game store.

I was bored and weak-willed enough to go to EB to purchase a new game maybe twice in the past few years. Of course the game was 'the last one'- gutted, and they still insisted that it was new. I'm going to pay full price for an unwrapped game? Sure.

I know this is a common experience, but I can't comprehend how gamers tolerate the insanity of some of the lame business practices that goes on in these stores. They're a blight on the hobby.

I totally agree. I refuse to buy those opened copies. I did it one time and the stupid thing was faulty. After that, I started to realize that paying for an opened game at new prices was not right. I hear that GS employees are encouraged to do this, though, to fill up the displays with game boxes. The problem is the more they put out, the less truly sealed new games there are of that title. This is especially a problem for hard to find games like puzzle quest.

[Griking]

A couple of quotes that I found interesting

"We also hold systems that people want until an ad breaks. Every other week or so, we sit on about 40 Wiis but keep telling customers that we don't have any. They cannot be sold until the ads come out."

"We place overpriced merchandise behind boxes in the storage room until they drop significantly in price so that we can then purchase them with our employee discount."

Again, not really a surprise but it's nice to see it admitted

[Captain Wrong]

The only thing about that I didn't like was the self-righteous chest beating about how bad they all have it. I could say the same about every retail job I've ever had, and that's why I got out. (Yeah, I know they were asked to talk about it. Still, some of the interviewees seemed to have a better perspective than others.)

Acts of Gord is still the classic, but this is worthwhile reading. Someone remember this link so when the next "should I get a job at EB" topic is posted (and I think we're about due) you can point to this and lock it.

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

I hear that GS employees are encouraged to do this, though, to fill up the displays with game boxes. The problem is the more they put out, the less truly sealed new games there are of that title. This is especially a problem for hard to find games like puzzle quest.

Yeah, buying an unwrapped game as new is not right. The employees act like it's no big deal, like we should be ok with the fact that the 'new' game we're buying as 'new' is opened, and possibly even used.

After my experiences with Gamestop/EB type stores the past 5 or so years, I'm convinced that the policies are becoming more and more exploitative towards their customers. I don't think the game gutting is given the attention that it deserves- it's a fiasco. I don't see why we have to tolerate these stores. Gamers deserve a better place to buy games.

Here's another good one from that article:

"GamesRadar: What else do the customers have trouble understanding?

#3: The benefits to reserving games. It's not rocket science. You reserve the game you want... then you don't have to go looking for it when it comes out. The money you put down goes towards the game, so you're not putting anything extra down. People think it's a trick or something to get their money when really it's a great service for gamers."

Are you kidding me. I always thought reserving a game was a favor for the store, as it ensures that I am buying from them. I never felt good about reserving anything. I think the real benefit to reserving, if you frequent these places, is that you most likely will get a copy of the game from them that's not gutted. I don't know... for me reserving from EB and then going to pick it up when they call... it's like picking up a drug prescription or something. Screw all that mess.

I think places like EB have actually contributed to the decline of my interest in buying new games altogether. My choices in my area are either the endless wasteland of corporate EB/Gamestops, or Best Buy. It sucks.

My family run store went out of business a few years ago, I'm left with buying online at this point.

[agbulls]

The only thing about that I didn't like was the self-righteous chest beating about how bad they all have it. I could say the same about every retail job I've ever had, and that's why I got out. (Yeah, I know they were asked to talk about it. Still, some of the interviewees seemed to have a better perspective than others.)

Acts of Gord is still the classic, but this is worthwhile reading. Someone remember this link so when the next "should I get a job at EB" topic is posted (and I think we're about due) you can point to this and lock it.

You speak of the Gord! I haven't seen that site in ages. Is it even still around? As a former EB DM, let me tell you that everything said in the interview is pretty much true. But, none of it--NONE--should come as a suprise to an seasoned collector or gamer.

The recommendation to become a regular is a good one. If you do, they'll return anything you want, exchange anything you want or give you promo items (as long as its within policy of course). This is just common sense.

[Kid Ice]

The only thing about that I didn't like was the self-righteous chest beating about how bad they all have it. I could say the same about every retail job I've ever had, and that's why I got out.

I was thinking they same thing. For some reason people think the world owes them a paycheck.

[MegaDrive20XX]

I agree, I've been working in VG retail for over 8 years now. I got crazy stories similar to these guys. However, what I agree on, is no matter what form of retail you go into, you'll get the exact same results from customers, managers, corporate, etc.

[FantasiaWHT]

I was bored and weak-willed enough to go to EB to purchase a new game maybe twice in the past few years. Of course the game was 'the last one'- gutted, and they still insisted that it was new. I'm going to pay full price for an unwrapped game? Sure.

I know this is a common experience, but I can't comprehend how gamers tolerate the insanity of some of the lame business practices that goes on in these stores. They're a blight on the hobby.

Yeah, I suppose you demand discounts when you buy clothes that have been hung out on racks because they've been handled and maybe even tried on? You'd rather buy from a place that places all the games behind glass and you can't look at them without asking an employee to take out each and every game you might be interested in?

I laughed at this:

The most appalling behavior came on the release day of GTA: Vice City. We were expecting to get the shipment at 8:30 AM and were going to open early for it. The shipment was late, so we placed a sign on the door apologizing and notifying the customers that we'd open as soon as we got the shipment. We had a mother walk in around 11:00 AM with a kid that couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 years old. She was livid and wanted to know why we hadn't opened on time. Said it was inexcusable and had the nerve to let us know that her son was late to school because he couldn't get his game on time.

I don't even know where to start with how horrible of a mother that is

[udisi]

well I agree with most of what I read except where the employee actually thought pre-orders were good for the customer. lol

Let me get this right ...let me give you $5 down on a game that you don't even have a hard release date on. Um yeah I can garentee a copy here huh. Well I can garentee I can walk into any other retail store around here on release day and buy it. 99% of the time the only thing that a pre-order does is 1) let the company gauge interest in a title(good for the company) and 2) let the company put your $5 with all the other suckers..whoops I mean customers...$5 and make 8 months of interest on it.(also good for the company). That is granted the release date doesn't get pushed a 6th time and you don't have to wait another 2 months.

Don't get me wrong, if I had a retail store, I'd want to do pre-orders too. You can garentee you're gonna sell X amount of copies, and you can so free loan money.

In todays video game market there's no reason at all to pre-order a disc game. IT WILL BE EVERYWHERE for a long time, and if you somehow happen to miss a psuedo-rare game that ends up going for $80 on ebay, I can garentee you're better off paying th $80 price tag once than paying for every piece of crap coming out that you think will dissapear quick because odds are it won't.

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

Yeah, I suppose you demand discounts when you buy clothes that have been hung out on racks because they've been handled and maybe even tried on? You'd rather buy from a place that places all the games behind glass and you can't look at them without asking an employee to take out each and every game you might be interested in?

I don't think the clothing store analogy applies here...

I never mentioned wanting the game for less money, I wanted the game to be new for full price. I wasn't interested in a discounted, gutted game.

I think I was pretty clear that yes, I would in fact rather buy from a place that has the games behind glass if that means what I'm paying full price for is a new, ungutted game.

Would it be too much for a major corporate gamestore chain to use display boxes that were not the cases of gutted new games? How many gamestop/EBs are out there, and they don't have enough ingenuity and/or clout to impose a system of displaying games without having to gut new ones? On principle alone, that kind of stupidity is enough to not shop there.

[Hep038]

A couple of quotes that I found interesting

"We also hold systems that people want until an ad breaks. Every other week or so, we sit on about 40 Wiis but keep telling customers that we don't have any. They cannot be sold until the ads come out."

"We place overpriced merchandise behind boxes in the storage room until they drop significantly in price so that we can then purchase them with our employee discount."

Again, not really a surprise but it's nice to see it admitted

You forgot to include

GamesRadar: What else do the customers have trouble understanding?

#8: That we ain't got Wiis!

[FantasiaWHT]

I don't think the clothing store analogy applies here...

I never mentioned wanting the game for less money, I wanted the game to be new for full price. I wasn't interested in a discounted, gutted game.

I think I was pretty clear that yes, I would in fact rather buy from a place that has the games behind glass if that means what I'm paying full price for is a new, ungutted game.

Would it be too much for a major corporate gamestore chain to use display boxes that were not the cases of gutted new games? How many gamestop/EBs are out there, and they don't have enough ingenuity and/or clout to impose a system of displaying games without having to gut new ones? On principle alone, that kind of stupidity is enough to not shop there.

Ok, then would you only buy clothing from a store where the clothes are kept out of reach of the customers? Now, I can completely understand if you are buying a game as a collector's item that you want to leave sealed, but if you are going to play the game anyway, what does it matter? How does it actually affect your use of the game? People trying on clothing might actually affect your use of the clothing- it might have been stretched or torn, or stained, or smelly.

Oh, and I focused on paying less because in my experience, that's usually what people wanted when they were upset about opened new games. They wanted the used price for the game. With the very low markup on new games, selling them at the used price would actually result in a loss for the store much of the time.

[DigitalSpace]

GamesRadar: And the dumbest fact ever uttered by a customer?

#7: That Kingdom Hearts 3 is going to be on the Wii. Oh, and that it's going to feature Mario wielding a key blade.

Score one for EGM.

[bangtango]

Pretty predictable answers but an interesting read. I couldn't get the link for Part 3 of the article to load, though. I didn't really hear any talk about making fun of what customers actually purchase for games. I expected one of the people to mention that they like goofing on the games people buy. All I saw made fun was the various purchase plans, etc.

[mailman187666]

One thing that they didn't manage to talk about in that article were the employees that lie to you to try and sell your things, or the ones that treat you like shit if they can't sell you on any of the extra stuff. They tried to tell me if I didn't pre-order God of War 2, I wasn't going to find it anywhere, (even though Target had about 50 of them). I've had these experiences before and I like to be the guy that isn't the "ignorant/annoying gamestop customer."

[Push Upstairs]

#5: Me: "Hi, can I help you find something?" Her: "Yes, I'm looking for Mario Bros. for PlayStation." Me: "Oh. Well, they don't make it for PlayStation. We've got it for several Nintendo systems." Her: "They do too make it for PlayStation!" Me: "Trust me, they don't. Sony and Nintendo are in competition with one another, and Mario games are one of Nintendo's biggest sellers. They'd actually be helping their competition by making a Mario game for PlayStation, and they'd never do that." Her: "I saw it here last week!" Me: "... ... ...We're sold out." Her: "Oh, darn. Thanks anyway!"

I had a similar conversation with people on many occasions.