Michael Corvin

Confessions of a game store clerk

Pretty long read, but it is definitely funny. Basically 8 different employees sounding off on policies, customers, management and the like.

KurrptSenate

can you post the article?

Michael Corvin

It is quite long. It is broken up into three main topics with about 5 subsections in each. Many, many links.

KurrptSenate

alright then, nevermind

PalmerJoss

This is the funniest thing I read in the article:

"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."

spainlinx0

The company I am auditing has the worst Internet Filters. I'm surprised I can even come on DVDtalk.

fumanstan

I read through this last night... most stuff is pretty obvious. It's pretty typical and what you'd expect from employees at a Gamestop or EB, talking about how bad the customers are and that most of them don't know anything or are worse nerds then themselves.

KurrptSenate

*than


its like that working any retail job, tbh

fumanstan

No offense, but if you're going to correct my grammar you should probably check your own first.

chrisih8u

What whiny assholes.

On customers:

GamesRadar: Yikes. Okay, start with the good. Which ones do you like?

#8: The friendly, respectable ones who know your name, reserve with you and are loyal to you...


Yeah, I'm going to be loyal to some EB dickhead.

PixyJunket

Jesus, pimping reserves in interviews even. Can it get any worse?!

Liver&Onions

lmao.

DodgingCars

They're being honest. Which customers would you like best? I didn't take that as being a "whiny asshole" at all. I'd guess if most people were asked to "dish dirt" on their job, it would sound something like this.

Jeremy517

No kidding. That was just ridiculous.

Jeremy517

I prefer http://www.actsofgord.com/, but he can come off as a bit arrogant at times.

chrisih8u

It pretty much confirms the stereotype of the pompous asshole game store employee.

The best customers are the ones who reserve games with only 1 clerk? Yeah, right. Who does that?

#6: And considering the amount of crap we have to put up with, the customers are lucky we don't kill them.

#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.

#6: SOCOM was "Suck 'em" and GTA was "Grand Auto Theft"... man, there are a ton more that I simply can't think of. It did drive me crazy when people would want "a remote" or "a paddle" for a system. "It's a freakin' controller people!"

#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.

DodgingCars

I'd say these comments are pretty much what you'd expect from anyone working in retail or customer service. Look at the type of stuff you see from tech support workers, etc. I've never worked retail, but I've worked customer service. If you asked me about my days working that job, probably my number one topic would be stupid and annoying customers.

Matt

Thank you, "tbh."

KurrptSenate

* "tbh".

Matt

Wow.

zombeaner

This is a thread about movie renters, but it is hilarious:

http://www.film-talk.com/forums/inde...howtopic=14487

slop101

Appalling, but not surprising.

Tracer Bullet

Is this guy serious? It's like "losing the gas station for your car"? Yes, because losing a small detachable power cord is so much like losing a building that you don't own. Also, if you own a car, you can only go to one gas station.

UAIOE

Everything they said was spot on.

After numerous idiot customers you really appreciate the ones who don't do rude and inconsiderate things like:

Throwing their trash on the floor and leaving it for *YOU* to clean up.

Cleaning their muddy feet off by dragging their feet all over the carpet in the store.

Calling you (the employee) names because they came in days after the sale ended and were unhappy that they couldn't get the sale price.

No matter how bad an employee is, customers are always, *ALWAYS* 50 to 100x WORSE.

lordzeppelin

Well, When I managed a Used Game Store and then ASM'd an EB store, I had a TON of loyal customers...but we weren't pimping reserves in those days (1995-99) like they are now. I know it wasn't directed at me, but I was nice to most of my customers (I stress most, because somepeople refuse to let you be nice to them, and deserve the shit treatment they get...), so yeah, some people are loyal to an extent. They came to me for every game they wanted, because they knew that I knew my stuff, was honest, and would hook them up with promo stuff if we had it to give away. Later on, I got fired for catching a seasonal employee stealing about $250 in PSX and PC games a week for 3 weeks...because my manager couldn't file the paperwork correctly.

I'll have to post some stories later on...I've got stuff that makes the article in the OP look stupid.

As for acts of gord...a few friends and I emailed him back when he started that site about 9 years ago, asking if he would take some of our tales, and he wrote back saying "I can't stand reading other people's words". So yeah, arrogant, but sometimes, pretty damned funny.

Then again, this was back before gamestop bought out EB. Since then, I can't stand either place. EB used to fucking rock...great store chain. Babbage's (Gamestop) was always lame, and always had lame policies.

One quick one...Christmas, 1997 - A lady wanders in, looking for "Residential Evil" for "da 'station" for her son "D'ron" for "Chrimus". I show her the last copy of 'Resident Evil' that we had in stock...and she refused to buy it, because she insisted that the game was called 'Residential', and argued with me about it. So I sold it to someone else, and 3 hours later, after going all over and not finding it, she comes back to buy it, and of course, it's gone, and proceeds to yell at me, and then yell at my manager about me selling 'her' game...

This one pales in comparison to some other classics...including the Christmas Eve fight over Zelda64 with some asshole....another time on that one.