Confessions of a Game Store Clerk

[Griking]

On the subject of opened new games. Stores that follow precedure mindfully should have safe unmarked product availible if you happen to get the gut copies. Given the volume of games we sell, the few employees staffed at any given time, and the high possibilty of theft; the gut process is probably the safest thing we can do to without having LP (loss prevention) issues. As a collector I know that virginal tearing of the factory shrink is a cherished feeling but you have to see corporate has to watch their ass from the few bad seeds.

So why can't game stores just make low-res copies of the front and back covers of the game and put these out on display instead of even opening a copy? I seem to remember a while back that EB used to do this.

[Steve W]

#6: The store burns you out. You become bitter towards everything; your days off are generally spent in solitude because you can no longer stand people; and you have no energy to look for another job, even though you're miserable where you're at.

GamesRadar: Does the industry offer much room for career growth?

#1: Honestly... no. There are really only two outcomes for a retail employee: they either rise through the ranks to eventually be assimilated into the hive-mind corporate miasma, or they simply plateau and stagnate, growing steadily more bitter at life in general.



Y'know, it scares me how closely this describes me. I try to spend as much time alone as I can because I've truly sunk to the level where I despise humanity and don't want to be around people, and have become intensely bitter. But then, I've never worked at a game store, just regular retail. And that whole 'LC' thing bugged me too, but I don't chat up the salespeople for an hour. The few times I go to a game store, I try not to talk to them too much. Most of those employees aren't all that pleasant, from my past experiences.

[FantasiaWHT]

So why can't game stores just make low-res copies of the front and back covers of the game and put these out on display instead of even opening a copy? I seem to remember a while back that EB used to do this.

They still do with specific marketing titles. Rather, they get inserts which are usually similar (if not identical) to the actual inserts that come with the game. That has some costs which outweigh the benefits though: 1) buying an extra case for every game the store gets, 2) paying for all the color printing, 3) the ton of extra work it would be to make sure that whenever the last copy of a game gets sold, the display box comes down and gets stored somewhere, 4) storage space for all the extra boxes & inserts - trust me, marketing takes up enough backroom space as it is!

However, none of those (maybe with the exception of the color printing) is all that burdensome, so it's not a bad idea. The only other downside I can think of is that SOME people (probably not that many, but from experience I would wager more than the number who won't buy an opened-new gam) like to look through manuals beforehand.

[djbeatmongrel]

So why can't game stores just make low-res copies of the front and back covers of the game and put these out on display instead of even opening a copy? I seem to remember a while back that EB used to do this.

just for new product it'd be literally 1,000 - 2,000 inserts. to keep track of these inserts making sure all of the correct ones are displayed when for each system about 1/3 of the games are probably our last copies to make sure everything is displayed properly on a given day. With a system like you are suggesting it'd make it almost necessary for every store to do a complete new game "Title on hand" for every system every day just to make sure everything is correctly represented.

If you haven't worked at a GS (now EBs to) a TOH is a daily procedure where you have to scan a certain category of product (used ps2, new wii, etc) to make sure a copy of every game in that category is correctly represented on the floor in comparison to your stores inventory. This insert system would require way too many more man hours IMO to keep the stores in order and thats something the higher ups frown upon. being a strip store i see this proposed idea being way to high of maintenance and knowing how the highest traffic mall stores are, this would be uterly attrocious leaving most mall store looking crappier than normal knowing the types of hours they give for staffing alone.

Maybe i'm not so bothered by it. maybe taking pride in how my store looks (granted i am only a shift manager, when i am on duty it is my store) and knowing how things are just juggling constant tidying up after customers, tending to customers and making sure the days agendas finished lets me see this task as a added problem. I know my store takes the utmost care in making sure the opened games are cared for. We also offer to help customers get factory sealed copies if needed since theres a bunch of gamestops nearby. I really dont know how the store you guys go to are ran but i know mine is ran within the parameters of gamestop and pretty much everyone that works at my store understand the collector mind set a bit more than other store i know.

fuck i am on an Anthony1 rant. and i lost my train of thought. so if you skipped to the end i'll break it down like this: Knowing how most gamestops, especially my district operate, a system of printed out inserts is more time consuming than it should need to be plus the space needed is for all the supplies is more than most stores can afford to use.

[Push Upstairs]

I always thought the games were taken out of the cases to avoid theft.

Yeah I am right there with you. What I got from this article was that most of these employees are smug bastards who look down at the customer and come to work to chat with their fellow employees and ignore the customer.

There is absolutely no way to take most customers seriously in a retail job. With the amount of shit most customers pull, there is no way to stay sane not looking down upon the dumb and rude things customers do.

You can't respect someone who wipes mud off their feet IN HE MIDDLE OF THE STORE and I can't respect the slob who feels the need to take a shit on the floor in the bathroom and neglect to inform anyone they "missed".

And no matter what anyone says employees, customers are ALWAYS worse.

[walrusmonger]

Game store retail isn't like much of the retail out there, which is why it is worse. I spent 4 years in game store retail and I wish I could have those years back.

1. honestly, besides music, what other popular media has both new and used items for sale? this makes people nitpicky, lets them want to return used things because "they don't work anymore." It opens up the option for a ton of customer lies.

2. games are sooo universal now it's not even funny. what other "hobby" can children, teenagers, adults, poor, rich, smart, stupid and old people enjoy? this brings the weirdest bunch of people, and makes sure that you can spend the entire day with snot nosed kids or "cool" teenagers, but then get 3 angry soccer moms who didn't know that grand theft auto was a bad game for their 4 year old.

3. prices- holy crap- "give me a discount" "give me your discount" "get me no tax" "best you can do?" best buy has prices, a check out counter and doesn't mix the two. at a game store you have a personal interaction with the people who help you and ring you up. you get cheap asses asking for all sorts of discounts, which annoyed the LIVING FUCKING SHIT OUT OF ME. holy bill cosby, jesus christ! why on earth, why the fucking bastard sex little big league would i give some jerk ass motherfucker my god damned 10% measly discount on a game when i have to work my fat ass off at the shitty store to get that tiny insignificant discount. WHY? did he give me a blow job, polish my shoes and paint my house? NO. oh my god.

4. retail turns the most charismatic person into a robot. game stores turn them into robots who are forced to cram worthless crap down people's throats. eb edge? gamecrazy mvp? if the customer wants one, they will ask. if you have to ask, and they say no, they mean no. but no, that's not good enough, keep asking. and asking. and asking. and asking.

sure, i hated it when i kept asking the same couple to get a card when they would have actually saved $100's since they came back week after week, but when you see how stupid they are, just give up.

pre orders... i hated when people would say "i'll just get it when it comes out" then come back and tell me to sell them one of the 100 pre ordered san andreas, when we had 100 pre orders and 100 copies (just example with numbers). obviously not everyone would pick up their game on release, but they just didn't get it.


5. kids are stupid, but parents of stupid kids are even stupider. when you see some drooling, smelly, uncoordinated waste of life in your store, and you turn them down to buying an M rated game, you know you're in for big dog with his rude attitude to come back with him and insult you. HOW DARE SOME MINIMUM WAGE MAKING ASSHOLE TELL MY KID WHAT HE CAN OR CAN NOT PLAY?


people suck. honestly, i was soooo awesome when I worked- i am virtually unbiased (until now when the wii came out. i hate the wii with a passion), was 100% up to date with the info, and was nice. not fake nice, but genuine nice. i had outbursts, but they were few and far between. but what made me quit? not the customers or the hours, but the shitty ass pay I was making after being in the company for so long.

ok. i'm done. that feels sooo much better

[Borman]

A solution to the open box problem would be to do what Toys r Us did back during the SNES days. Have one slip out for a game for each copy they have. That way, people dont need to ask if its in stock, or anything else. Granted, someone could missplace is, but there is a better chance of knowing whether they have it, or dont.

My problem with the open box thing isnt the fact that its open. Its that there are about 3 or more stickers on it shitting up my DVD case. If you are going to give me an open copy, give me an official PS/Xbox/Wii case to go with it, that is new, without being raped by stickers. I buy the game to play first, sure, but when im done, I want it to look decent on my shelf, without a "BRAND NEW" or "Gamestop 49.99" and a barcode sticker on it.

[Sniderman]

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.

QFT. It's like going into a bar so often that the bartender knows you by name, remembers your favorite drink, and has one waiting for you before your ass even hits the seat. I go to all the local game store at least once every other week. Even if I'm not planning on buying anything. I'll talk up the counterhelp (if they're not busy or otherwise preoccupied) and ask their recommendations for games, or we'll discuss CGE or other VG cons, or comics, or whatever. At this point, most of them knows what my interests are, what systems I have, what I'm looking for, etc. So NOW when I walk in, I hear "Hey, we had someone come in with Sega Genesis stuff. We don't take it, but I got her number here for you and said you'd call." or "You were asking about a used GAME X a week ago. Well we have one right here."

So getting to know the counterhelp is not trying 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." It's being less of a jackass to the point where they'd WANT to help you out rather than treating you, well, like a jackass.

[Darth Sensei]

Meanwhile the employees of said store are mocking Sniderman as a LC after he leaves.

[Sniderman]

Meanwhile the employees of said store are mocking Sniderman as a LC after he leaves.

You know me too well.

[Hep038]

Game store retail isn't like much of the retail out there, which is why it is worse. I spent 4 years in game store retail and I wish I could have those years back.

1. honestly, besides music, what other popular media has both new and used items for sale? this makes people nitpicky, lets them want to return used things because "they don't work anymore." It opens up the option for a ton of customer lies.

2. games are sooo universal now it's not even funny. what other "hobby" can children, teenagers, adults, poor, rich, smart, stupid and old people enjoy? this brings the weirdest bunch of people, and makes sure that you can spend the entire day with snot nosed kids or "cool" teenagers, but then get 3 angry soccer moms who didn't know that grand theft auto was a bad game for their 4 year old.

3. prices- holy crap- "give me a discount" "give me your discount" "get me no tax" "best you can do?" best buy has prices, a check out counter and doesn't mix the two. at a game store you have a personal interaction with the people who help you and ring you up. you get cheap asses asking for all sorts of discounts, which annoyed the LIVING FUCKING SHIT OUT OF ME. holy bill cosby, jesus christ! why on earth, why the fucking bastard sex little big league would i give some jerk ass motherfucker my god damned 10% measly discount on a game when i have to work my fat ass off at the shitty store to get that tiny insignificant discount. WHY? did he give me a blow job, polish my shoes and paint my house? NO. oh my god.

4. retail turns the most charismatic person into a robot. game stores turn them into robots who are forced to cram worthless crap down people's throats. eb edge? gamecrazy mvp? if the customer wants one, they will ask. if you have to ask, and they say no, they mean no. but no, that's not good enough, keep asking. and asking. and asking. and asking.

sure, i hated it when i kept asking the same couple to get a card when they would have actually saved $100's since they came back week after week, but when you see how stupid they are, just give up.

pre orders... i hated when people would say "i'll just get it when it comes out" then come back and tell me to sell them one of the 100 pre ordered san andreas, when we had 100 pre orders and 100 copies (just example with numbers). obviously not everyone would pick up their game on release, but they just didn't get it.


5. kids are stupid, but parents of stupid kids are even stupider. when you see some drooling, smelly, uncoordinated waste of life in your store, and you turn them down to buying an M rated game, you know you're in for big dog with his rude attitude to come back with him and insult you. HOW DARE SOME MINIMUM WAGE MAKING ASSHOLE TELL MY KID WHAT HE CAN OR CAN NOT PLAY?


people suck. honestly, i was soooo awesome when I worked- i am virtually unbiased (until now when the wii came out. i hate the wii with a passion), was 100% up to date with the info, and was nice. not fake nice, but genuine nice. i had outbursts, but they were few and far between. but what made me quit? not the customers or the hours, but the shitty ass pay I was making after being in the company for so long.

ok. i'm done. that feels sooo much better

Were you #5 or #8?

[Captain Wrong]

Ok, one more thing about this article that kind of made me snicker. The idea that working at Gamestop is having a job in the gaming industry. Umm...technically, maybe. But you're really working retail.

I gotta admit, I kind of snickered at the part where these people are dissapointed that the only move up is management. What did you expect? Miyamoto is going to call up some schlub register jockey from Gamestop #784 in Osh-Kosh to help him design the next Zelda? Get real!

I have a friend who I love to death, but I always wince a little when she talks about how she had a job in the music industry. No, you managed a Coconuts. Not quite the same thing. I see a parallel here.

[walrusmonger]

I wish I could have given my two cents in a web-published thing like that


The problem with game stores and moving up is that there are so few things you can move up to it stinks, the growth is shit. With other retail outlets there are more positions to get to- with a game store there is grunt, lead grunt, ass-man, manager, dm, rm. bleh

[RCM]

Ok, one more thing about this article that kind of made me snicker. The idea that working at Gamestop is having a job in the gaming industry. Umm...technically, maybe. But you're really working retail.

I gotta admit, I kind of snickered at the part where these people are dissapointed that the only move up is management. What did you expect? Miyamoto is going to call up some schlub register jockey from Gamestop #784 in Osh-Kosh to help him design the next Zelda? Get real!

I have a friend who I love to death, but I always wince a little when she talks about how she had a job in the music industry. No, you managed a Coconuts. Not quite the same thing. I see a parallel here.

I always had a huge problem with the old version of E3. They claimed you could only attend if you were part of the industry. Working at Gamestop does mean you're a part of the industry in any way. If that's the case gents who work at video rental establishments are "in film".

As for the interview, I'm not shocked. I have friends who work in Gamestops and one of three knows their shit. Most of the clerks I've encountered over the years are pretty fucking clueless but is it any surprise? They're sales associates, not game experts no matter what they think.

That goes for indie shops too.

[Diatribal Deity]

A long while back I worked with someone who was able to secure a position as an artist with a very well known game developer purely through his sales associate position for one of these chains. He merely showed an executive who worked at Looking Glass a portfolio of his artwork (never had held a degree or had any formal training or experience). This executive frequented the store quite often. So while you may not have direct access to other positions within the industry there definately is opportunity within certain locales. I personally encountered an offering from this company as well to be a game tester (purely a result of the environment I was in) and also had opportunities as vendor reps which did in some cases lead to other opportunities as well. So while opportunities may be limited, remember they are there and you never know who your customer may be...

[dethink]

If these places did away with gutted games, I'd actually shop there.

Or, I'll meet you halfway - If you could keep your gutted copies "like new", meaning it looks like it would after I take the shrink wrap off, meaning no scratched discs, folded manuals, and proprietary cases that look like they've been through sticker WWIII, I'd have no problem buying them. I understand your policy, and your need to have them on the sales floor. I'm not going to begrudge you doing business. However, when the games I'm trading in to you are CLEARLY in better condition than the "new" game I'm buying, there's a problem...compounded when your clerks comment on "how nice" I keep my stuff, and then act shocked when I don't want the tattered village bicycle copy.

Here's how to solve the problem - LEARN HOW TO HANDLE OPTICAL MEDIA. I DJ at night, and half my material is on CD-R. I handle these while drunk, and in the worst environments possible, and I've never had one suffer from scratch related failure, or any kind of severe wear. I find it hard to believe the mere act of removing a game from it's case, and putting it in a sleeve causes MORE wear and tear than my less-than-nurturing treatment. If you're too cheap to put out expendable amarays with printed copies of the sleeve (they act like they can't REUSE the case when the game is gone/sold out/etc.), then use your shrink wrap machine of deception to RE-WRAP the case of the game you gutted. Then put the stickers ON THAT. Either of these solutions will cost you a couple cents to MAYBE $0.50 for amarays/printouts. I get them for $0.35 a piece in bulk, a printout on my color copier costs 0.07, and my company is nowhere NEAR the size of GS/EB.

I buy a lot of games. I used to buy a lot at specialty game stores, but if this is the treatment I'm going to get product-wise, and you're unwilling to spend a couple cents to sell a $50-60 game (those plastic security boxes Best Buy/etc. use to lock every game in are WAY more expensive), forget it.

Oh, and to those clerks: quitcherbitchen. ALL retail jobs are like this. They're supposed to be JOBS for high school/college kids, not careers. I managed a Barnes & Noble in college, and the shit (literally) we had to put up with was just as ridiculous, if not worse. People's behavior in public is appalling. Deal with it.

[TurboGenesis]

#6: The store burns you out. You become bitter towards everything; your days off are generally spent in solitude because you can no longer stand people; and you have no energy to look for another job, even though you're miserable where you're at.

GamesRadar: Does the industry offer much room for career growth?

#1: Honestly... no. There are really only two outcomes for a retail employee: they either rise through the ranks to eventually be assimilated into the hive-mind corporate miasma, or they simply plateau and stagnate, growing steadily more bitter at life in general.

gee this sounds like my job. I work in automotive manufacturing (shipping). My plant burns me out. I become bitter toward everything; I have no enegry to look for another job even though I am miserable where I am at.

Lots of jobs are the suck. Can I sympathize with the retail clerk? Only if they can sympathize with me. Game dude deals with customers? I deal with rail road and truck drivers. They are paid by loads, always in a rush. People want to stereotype truckers, rail road workers, I deal with them face to face on the everyday.

Work sucks. Its Good Friday and I am at home yay.

[/end rant]

[dethink]

Work sucks. Its Good Friday and I am at home yay.

[/end rant]

Same here.

The more I read that #6 comment, the more pissed off I get.

It's that defeatist/entitled mentality that will ensure he does nothing but work retail forever.

There's only 2 options? Stagnate or assimilate?

What about option 3? FUCKING QUIT and get A NEW JOB. If you thought you were going to make m4d m0n3yz y0!!1 working at a goddamn game store, and get to sit around and play games...

I have no college degree, no formal post-secondary training, and I've built the art department for one of the largest custom design/printing firms in the country.

Has it, and does it continue to be a lot of hard work? Hell yes.

Is it frustrating as hell sometimes dealing with unrealistic management expectations and the generally rude public! Yes!

Am I bitter? Sometimes!

Do I roll over, admit defeat, and hide in my house miserable? Hell no!

Do I ever stop to think I'm merely entitled to slag off all day and get a paycheck merely because I walked in the door? No!

Grow a spine or grab your sack, and deal with it. If you don't like it, quit. If he's really EB/GS's bitch, puts up with it, and continues to work there, then he has no one to blame but himself. Despite all the obstacles in your way nowadays, you still are very much in control of your own success in this country.

[nebrazca78]

I'm trying to think of another retail situation where the most valuable part of the product is taken out of its packaging, and the packaging is left accessible to the customer. Usually it's the other way around - opened/demo electronics is the first thing I think of.

But a new game is one that hasn't been used, not one that hasn't been handled. When there's no use and no damage to the disc, what's the customer losing? The 1/2-cent worth of plastic?

Wow, you are really stuck to this "selling opened games as new is Ok" thing. Clothes, cars and tons of other things are different than video games. There's nothing to "test" about a video game. If you want to look at the manual, too bad in my opinion. Look at it after you buy it. What, you want to look at the disc art? Screw that.

Did you know some people buy games and NEVER OPEN THEM?

As far as I'm concerned my human hands MUST be the first to touch the insides of a game that's brand new. Or a CD, or a DVD, anything where thousands of brand-new copies are available. I don't want anyone else's fingerprints on my brand new game let alone price stickers and crap like that. In fact, that's why they're called copies, because they're all the same. Within a given model there are tons of variations in cars. Even more so with clothes.

I actually got in a verbal fight with the bitch at Gamestop here in Mundelein. I went in to buy Metal Slug Anthology for the Wii. I had never bought a new game from Gamestop before and I wasn't really paying attention when she went and grabbed what I consider a used/demo copy from the rack. I must've been totally spaced. I actually even left the store with it. I was waiting for my girlfriend to finish shopping so I was going to open the game in the car and check out the manual and disc to pass the time. Well guess what, no shrinkwrap and stickers(s) on the front. I was enraged.

I went back in to the Gamestop to return the game and read her the riot act. If she wasn't being such a snot I'd have taken a "sorry about that" and called it a day. But anyway I ended up going on a minute long rant about how much I hate them. At the end she told me I didn't have to shop there.

Which was fine because there is a Target next door which has actual sealed new copies.

You can't respect someone who wipes mud off their feet IN HE MIDDLE OF THE STORE and I can't respect the slob who feels the need to take a shit on the floor in the bathroom and neglect to inform anyone they "missed".

And no matter what anyone says employees, customers are ALWAYS worse.

That's crazy! Shitting on the floor must be the thing to do these days. A friend of mine who worked at Michael's crafts has the same horror story. I hope you didn't have to clean it up. I certainly would have quit if asked to do that.

[TurboGenesis]

Did you know some people buy games and NEVER OPEN THEM?

Really!?! Whats the point? Who buys movies and never watchers them? Who buys music and never listens to them.

Oops! Another topic for another time. Sorry for yet another thread kill.

Within a given model there are tons of variations in cars. Even more so with clothes.

What difference does it make with different variations in cars? You are paying ALOT of money for something that is said to be "new" where the exact same vehicle, same model year, same color, same options, that is marked used is literally THOUSANDS of dollars less.

Your game was touched by several people in the factory. The guy that pressed it the guy that packed it, and maybe even the quality tech. Lets hope that plant didn't have an issue where the wrong media made it out to a customer. That means there is an extra 300% check usually done by temporary workers from a cheap quality check company.

But as you stated, best bet is to just go somewhere else.
I would rather buy a game used (for used price) rather than new anyways. I bought VF5 not even a week after it came out. With discount card it was a better value. Why pay extra $15 for plastic wrap anyways.

[/rant done]