Confessions of a Game Store Clerk

[Zeromus_X]

Confessions of a Game Store Clerk, Xbox 360 Xbox 360 Features | GamesRadar (http://www.gamesradar.com/xbox360/f/confessions-of-a-game-store-clerk/a-2007040314469812037/g-20060321132945404017)

Just an interesting article I found about the truth behind being a gaming retail clerk. It was a nice read, even though I'd heard as much that being a game store clerk isn't all it's cracked up to be. What are your thoughts on the article? Have you ever worked in game retail, considered it, or known anyone who has?

[Bahamut2000X]

Interesting read. Though really it's like that in basically every work environment, especially retail and customer service. Interesting none the less.

[Vermachtnis]

Very interesting read, I've heard it all before from one of my friends. He's always complaining about numbers and stuff. Anyway I'm glad I'm on best behavior in there.

[edczxcvbnm]

I hated corporate. I never gave a damn about reserve #s or subscriptions. I always told people Game Informer was crap.

My favorite was telling people the website to go to for free strategy guides. Gamefaqs. Every parent for some reason always read it as game fags no matter what thinking I miswrote the q as a g.

Oh there are some great stories there. One guy pulled up in a nice ass car and went into the store and just grabbed as many cases as he could off the wall and sped away...diphttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gif. There are no games in the wall cases XD

Then there was

"Yeah...when is the PS3 coming out?" - Customer from 2002 or whenever Metroid Prime came out
"PS3?" - Me...first day on the job...a few minutes after close
*Manager take the phone out of my hand*
"Don't ever fucking call here again" - Manager *click*

He was awesome and just didn't give a http://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gif XD

[Shoeberto]

Oh there are some great stories there. One guy pulled up in a nice ass car and went into the store and just grabbed as many cases as he could off the wall and sped away...diphttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gifhttp://forums.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/rpg_009.gif. There are no games in the wall cases XD
Oh man. That's so freaking awesome xD

[Momiji]

You know, the sad irony of all of this is, even after reading all of that, I still want to apply for a job at a video game store. It still doesn't match up to the horror stories I've heard from former Wal-Mart/Target employees. :p

[rubah]

It's kinda funny how the people they interviewed talk exactly like people that are videogame nerds on the internet! It's as if people act the same IRL as IRC.

[Flying Mullet]

Reminds me of when I worked at a video rental store in high school.

People would always bitch at the $60-$100 price of replacing lost videos, saying they could buy them at WalMart. What they didn't realize is that only select movies hit the home video market that quickly and the big releases are sold at $60-$100 a pop to video rental stores first, then they sell them to stores like WalMart for the home market about three months later.

Then there are the times when people don't return their movies on time and those same copies are reserved by someone that same evening. These people don't understand that if the last person didn't return it, we don't have it to rent to you. Then they'd start eying the shelves behind the counter where we kept the reservations like we were hiding their copy from them.

[edczxcvbnm]

People would always bitch at the $60-$100 price of replacing lost videos, saying they could buy them at WalMart. What they didn't realize is that only select movies hit the home video market that quickly and the big releases are sold at $60-$100 a pop to video rental stores first, then they sell them to stores like WalMart for the home market about three months later.

In the past it was like that but not anymore or very rarely and the video stores still charge that insane amount to replace the movie XP The business model is old and outdated XP

[Flying Mullet]

People would always bitch at the $60-$100 price of replacing lost videos, saying they could buy them at WalMart. What they didn't realize is that only select movies hit the home video market that quickly and the big releases are sold at $60-$100 a pop to video rental stores first, then they sell them to stores like WalMart for the home market about three months later.

In the past it was like that but not anymore or very rarely and the video stores still charge that insane amount to replace the movie XP The business model is old and outdated XP
This was in the mid-90s. :p

I also laughed at the parts where they mentioned talking smack about the customers. We did that ALL the time. Each account had a notes section where you could put misc information about the account and we'd fill them all with crap like, "Always smells like ass", "Picks their nose when talking to you", "Needs a haircut", "Smoking hot/nice ass", "Needs to be punched in the face", etc... You'd never know what to expect to read when you'd pull someone's account up when you were checking out their videos.

We had this one guy that would always be smoking when he approached the store. He'd get to the door, take a huge drag off of his cigarette, then put it out in the ashtray-thing outside, come in and do this big exhale production. I guess he thought he was beating the system by exhaling inside when we have a no smoking policy.

[edczxcvbnm]

People would always bitch at the $60-$100 price of replacing lost videos, saying they could buy them at WalMart. What they didn't realize is that only select movies hit the home video market that quickly and the big releases are sold at $60-$100 a pop to video rental stores first, then they sell them to stores like WalMart for the home market about three months later.

In the past it was like that but not anymore or very rarely and the video stores still charge that insane amount to replace the movie XP The business model is old and outdated XP
This was in the mid-90s. :p

I know. I was just saying they still do that to this day when video stores don't get stuff months in advance XP

[Heath]

I've had a pretty positive experience of working in a retail environment, but I can definitely relate. They basically just described any retail environment, but it was an interesting read all the same.

[NeoCracker]

Actually, here in Idaho game stores have somthing more frustrating to deal with then most retail enviroments, the new Pawn Law.

They must hold all used Items for 15 days after they purchase it from a customer.

And given how often things are traded in at EB Games, over half of the floor in the back is no longer walkable.

[BB_blitz]

ya that was a good read insightful i kinda wanted to do that but i was afraid it would be like that and i had a friend that did it for a while and he was glad when thy fired him

[Rye]

My month or two stint at Gamestop was pretty fun, but I really hated how much we had to shove down reserves and getting subscriptions to Game Informer down people's throats. I hate that crap. xD

I never got a crazy customer there, since I worked very little. I got hit on by a few young boys though.

[Jessweeee♪]

Woooooooooooooooooooow xD

[Tifa's Real Lover(really]

yea i considered it cause i love video games