Anyone else hate the majority of people who work at game stores?

[zombieturtle01]

I always find that customer service at game stores is exceedingly bad. The large majority of people who work at game stores are very arrogant.

They seem to either be 1. Pompous Teenagers that think they are better than you, or 2. Pompous mid 30yr olds that think they are far wiser than you.

In fact, theres only been one time I went to a game store and I was pleased with the people working there. They had to be between 30-40 yrs old, it was when I went to pre-order The Orange Box. They were very friendly and laid back, the one even really liked the Evil Dead shirt I was wearing and started acting like Bruce Cambell while quoting a line or two.

...Other than that, my experiences have pretty much sucked. In fact, for how pompous and intelligent they try to make themselves out to be, they often screw things up and know little.

[Samon]

Exceedingly bad! Those pompous game store workers.

[Minister]

That's why I buy games online.


www.amazon.co.uk is cheap, has really great service and I can sleep at night knowing it will never let me down. Thanks Amazon!

[TwwIX]

Yes, very much so.I dislike them for a different reason though.
I just ****ing hate it when i stand in line in a Gamestop and they start having a 20 min conversion with the asshole costumer up front. I do not care how knowledgeable you are nor do i care about your witty remarks.
I just don't like my time being wasted.I Am here to buy something and that's that.Ring the ****ing register and let me move on.

[VictimOfScience]

Yeah, when I got my 360 I had to tell the clerk how to figure out if it was the new HDMI version with the additional cooling. I also had to alert the people at another EBGamestop about the MGS4 bonus DVD with the code for the online beta. Idiots.

The clerks at my local store are very cool though. They educate themselves about all of this stuff and also know what I am into so they can suggest things. Very cool, but by no means the norm.

[zombieturtle01]

Yes, very much so.I dislike them for a different reason though.
I just ****ing hate it when i stand in line in a Gamestop and they start having a 20 min conversion with the asshole costumer up front. I do not care how knowledgeable you are nor do i care about your witty remarks.
I just don't like my time being wasted.I Am here to buy something and that's that.Ring the ****ing register and let me move on.

-This is a good call as well.

[Sulkdodds]

The last time I was in a game shop (some time ago) an employee, when he saw me and my friend browsing the PC section, insisted on lecturing us about why the PC was going to die, and consoles were superior.

I said: "could we buy some games then?"

[CyberPitz]

Lucky for me, the two game stores I go to have mid 20 year olds there *about the same as me* and are laid back and try to crack a few jokes here and there in order to hopefully sell a subscription to some magazine. Nothing too over the top.

[Dalamari]

I kinda like em, they try to whip out some game knowledge on me to seem smart and I'm like "ORLY?" and ****in knock em down

[Lone Wolf]

Yeah especially EB games, the city i live in is very bad.

I asked a girl working there if they had the DVD version of battle for middle earth 2 (6 disks) and she replies:

"umm, I think we only have it for pc"

/facepalm

[MFD00M]

I agree, most are total pricks. This one guy actually flipped out on me when I asked if Halo was mediocre when it first came out.

"Best game ever, PERIOD."

[Wanted Bob]

Ehh, it can vary. On of my friends knows a few guys at the local EB so they are nice to us. Other people I'm indifferent to, but sometimes they can be morons.

[Direwolf]

I like the guys at my local Gamestop, they're genuinely on the ball. However, the store itself undermines them by doing stuff like their stupid pre-order policies. So I feel bad for them sometimes.

[Teta_Bonita]

This girl who works at my local gamestop is one of the nicest people I have ever met. I think your making a bit of a generalization...

[Stigmata]

I was at my EB paying off my GTA4 preorder, and some guy in the other queue was wondering whether to get the PS3 or 360 version of the game. I recommended the 360 version due to the exclusive DLC content. The cashier countered with the fact (term used loosely) that "the PS3 version has better multiplayer, because it has four player split-screen multiplayer."

This was then followed up with "And the PS3 version looks better, because Rockstar had to make the PS3 version run four times better to make the four player multiplayer look good enough."

I rage'd. :|

[Qonfused]

I actually like the guys at my GameStop. They're always really, really nice.

[bam23]

Am I the only one that just buys my game and leaves?

[Qonfused]

It's not like I sit and chat with them about every purchase. I'm usually in and out, they're just unusually nice and considerate.

[Krynn72]

The people who work at game stores are... GAMERS. They're probably all just the idiots on the IGN forums, or any "non-specific" gaming forum. Gamers in general are idiots.

But whatever. The most interaction ive ever had with a game-store employee was selling a PS2 and buying a N64. And that guy was cool. Every other time I just go in, grab a box, pay, and leave. No interaction other than a "No thanks" when they offer me a chance to pay for something else.

[DEATHMASTER]

I actually like the guys at my GameStop. They're always really, really nice.
Yeah dudes here are pretty cool.

[Adrik_Senturu]

I stopped going to the Gamestop near me, and started going to a Game Crazy near me. Aside from one guy that works there on the weekends the people they're are great, and pretty laid back, unlike the gamestop I used to go to which was full of assholes.

[Pesmerga]

They're all plonkers in my book.

Nothing to do with the fact that none of the places hired me, of course.

[IonizeMyAtoms]

When I picked up my special edition Bioshock that I pre-ordered, the clerk wouldn't let me see it, he wrapped it in like three bags and wrapped tape around it so I wouldn't be able to see it till I got home. I thought that was pretty cool. A little awkward to carry home, though

[kupocake]

The guy who sold me my Nintendo DS at my local Gamestation fails for not offering me the Pink one. I wanted the white one, but damnit, I have my rights.

[Escape]

The workers at the Steam store are always nice.... :smoking:

[TheAntipop]

I asked a woman in GAME on sunday how much GTA was because not one single box had a tag with it, and she said the store wouldn't know until a few hours before the midnight release. Then she asked if I was interested in putting in a pre-order for said release. Fock that, I ent putting down an order if I don't even know the price. I walked past HMV too and they had loads of posters and boards up advertising the game but not a price ANYWHERE.

Utter rubbish.

But no, I don't usually have any trouble in game stores. In fact, most employees have been quite friendly, though it's easy to spot the actual gamers from the summer-job types easily.

[Dog--]

lol, every time my brother takes me to EB Games he always starts making fun of them and tells me how much he hates 'the nerds at the game store'.

I agree, they are ass hats, and really retarded.

[Raziaar]

No.

I don't hate people unless they give me a reason to hate them.

Each person is an individual case.

[Emporius]

The guys at my EB are really cool; really nicem relaxed, and always up for a quick chat. A lot of times when I'm buying I game I'll get into a really deep discussion with them about said game or others. All this combined with the fact that they actually know things makes it a joy to shop there.

[sea]

It's a mixed bag. There's an EB Games near my university that I never buy stuff from (they're rather evil) but browse on occasion, and almost every employee is friendly and doesn't mind chatting. One time I even saw one of them completely own a kid who tried to buy some M-rated game (he casually asked the kid, addressed "sir," for some ID, and the kid started making excuses and tripping over his words for a few minutes before finally leaving). I've also been to stores where you try to strike up conversation with the people working there while you pay for something, and they just give you a blank stare, nod, or otherwise make you feel as awkward as possible (sometimes it's like they want to make you feel like a nerd for talking to them about a game, even though they're the one working at a damn game store).

[Cpt Tenacious]

When I preordered the collecters edition of Age of Conan the dumb kid said it was $60 not $90 and said the game comes out in september although it comes out in may. So I had to make sure with the manager that everything was okay.

[zombieturtle01]

Last year when I was still 16, I wanted to buy FEAR, I was with a friend and this guy at the counter was being a prick about everything, and of course wouldn't let me buy it (policy, can't blaim him for that)
he says "You need a parent to be with you to buy this game"
I look at my friend Vince who is 17 at the time and go "Ohh, heyy DAD, here, have 30 dollars!"
Vince: "THANKS SON, heyyy, I think I'll buy that game with this money!"
So that's how I ended up getting it, pissed the cashier off so much, he started fidgeting, hahaha.

I think your making a bit of a generalization...
well, yeah, that's kind of the idea :p
Gamers in general are idiots.

Mostly agree.
When I picked up my special edition Bioshock that I pre-ordered, the clerk wouldn't let me see it, he wrapped it in like three bags and wrapped tape around it so I wouldn't be able to see it till I got home. I thought that was pretty cool. A little awkward to carry home, though

How random of him, lol, he could have tricked you and put a copy of battle toads in there instead!

[IonizeMyAtoms]

Hahaha, no, I saw the back of the box, he just wouldn't let me see the Big Daddy figure in the box
Not that I would have minded a copy of Battle Toads
He had asked me if I had seen one in person yet, and got excited when I said no

[nurizeko]

The folk who work at my local game stores are either emotionless uninterested store workers like most shop staff, or up for a wee chat.

Maybe you just get your games from really crap stores?.

[CptStern]

In fact, for how pompous and intelligent they try to make themselves out to be.


which is surprising since their job pre-requisites are: a pulse, the ability to speak english, stacking skills


in my experience it's either bored teenagers eager to get a real job after they finish school ..or the kind of 30 year old that lives with his parents, has never kissed a girl and thinks that because he works at a video game store he is "Lord of Video Games"

there's a been a few here and there who are smart enough not to take the job so seriously

[Dodo]

i actually know someone working in a game store :O
he's a big fat nerd and doesn't really have social skillz and i don't consider him as a friend, but i get nice discounts etc ... friendly dude in general.

-dodo

[Drackard]

I've never had a problem with them around my area, always have a laugh with the guys in Gamestation and they generally know what they're talking about. The staff in Game however .. well ... I usually walk out of there raging.

[stintage]

The majority of people who work at game stores normaly have no idea what they are talking about.

[DEATH eVADER]

I don't have problems with my local game store. There is two young girls working there who are pretty hip, a young guy who openly admits to using torrents and a manager who know pretty much anything about PC Games

[ríomhaire]

I hate the guys who work in the GAME in Cork because they wouldn't sell me Bioshock. I had to get my friend to buy it for me (why the hell is this game rated 18 anyway?)

[Leto]

Hey guys.

I work at EB games, but in Canada, so I'm not too sure if it's the same up here as down there.

Before I worked there, I liked the people at my EB games (Canadian Gamestop equivalent).

But yeah, there are a few folks that are not very nice and very arrogant (I worked with a few ;_ ; )

But try not to overgeneralize (I'm nice, last time I checked).

PS. Come here, you only have to be 17 to get mature games.

[ShinRa]

I love my local GameStop. They're the friendliest bunch of people I know. Unfortunately, you know when some people are a bit TOO nerdy? I mean yeah, I'm on a HL2 forum talking about video game store clerks, but talking to these guys for too long makes me feel that women are on a different planet than us. They're great guys, but talking to them about video games is similar to going to a popular bar and whipping out your PSP.

[kupocake]

(why the hell is this game rated 18 anyway?)
Because it allows you to kill little girls?

[Nibwoddle]

At my local EB, the people are pretty good and offer relevant advice. However, I went to another EB in the city as I was picking up a copy of Spectrobes for the DS. The guy at the counter mentioned "that's apparently a really cool game."




How wrong he was.

[nurizeko]

Britain is strange like that. You cant buy a slightly violent video game unless your 18 but your perfectly allowed at 16 to bone your 16 yar old spotty girlfriend.

I'm 22 though so I can do tons of things, including buying a game without having to deal with ID checks from store staff who are 2-3 years younger then me?.

[comoxer]

Some of them aint too bad, I remember buying my 360 from GAME the assisitant was nice, very chatty, she kept telling me to buy an extra controller but I said I only had myself to play with, kinda regret that :o

[Sulkdodds]

Britain is strange like that. You cant buy a slightly violent video game unless your 18 but your perfectly allowed at 16 to bone your 16 yar old spotty girlfriend.But only buy porn at 18.

Not that anyone of this generation buys porn.

[Solaris]

Explain the verb 'To Buy'.???

[Polaris]

Game store, december 2006.

Game store bloke: What you want?
Me: I'm looking for Metal Gear Acid...
Game store bloke: Oh, you mean Metal Gear Solid, right?
Me: No, Metal Gear Acid, it's for PSP.
Game store bloke: Never heard about that, are you sure?
Me: Yes, I am.
Game store bloke: Well, we don't have that game...

*me walks away, $$ for Amazon*

[Duracell]

I know exactly what you mean!

The younger ones act as if they're better than you are because to them, it's a cool place to work and is in all fairness probably their first proper job, so I think we can overlook them being cocky... :angel:

And as for the middle aged folk (That arn't in a senior position), I'd worry for them, they're probably still living with their parents ;)


I'm pretty sure they have a list of 'clever' things to say to their customers on each desk, In the Reading store, it doesn't matter what you say, they'll agree with you and try and be your best friend, it's finger-cutting-off-painful.

[rae]

Have any of you ever thought that maybe the customers are the pricks?

I work at game and the sheer amount of shit I have to slog through because customers act high and mighty because they have every game made by nintendo since NES, or belittle me for warning them that the game they're buying for their 12 year old son is an 18, or the mothers who just can't wrap their tiny little fricken' minds around the fact that halo 3 doesn't come out on PS2. So maybe it works the other way as well?

Seriously, I try my hardest to be polite and helpful to all the customers who walk through the door but when you've been standing up since 8am on a sunday morning with no air conditioning in store the shitty radio playing the same shitty songs all day long and finding out that my break has been cut to 10 minutes because there is too much effing pre-owned to do, I find it really hard to keep a visage of politeness to customers.

But then I can see why you do get annoyed, pre-owned ****s me off so I only offer it if they ask, insurance policies I'll mention in passing but never pressure anyone to buy (unlike my co-workers), and if someone wants me to talk to them I'll try, but if they just want my to ring it through the till i'll get them on their way pronto.

I tend to have a no-bullshit approach though, if someone wants to buy Game own brand cables I tell them not to because they're rubbish quality, and if someone wants to buy a game that is a bad game i'll tell them it's no good. I don't mean to be blunt or rude but I find that if I can just sprout the information a customer wants quickly then they're happier then if i dawdle and converse.

Still everyone treats me like shite. You'd be suprised of the number of thank yous I get, last week I had 5 and I must of served around 100 customers.

That rant felt good, maybe biased on the sales assistant side, but it's no bed of flowers for us either!

[kupocake]

Fair points. I was in a Game store today and passing all the console shelves, it occurred to me that I don't know squat about most games on say, the X-Box or Gamecube or PS3. I imagine it's the same as working in a record store and having customers act snooty because you don't give two shits about their genre of choice.

[Xendance]

I notice alot of people in game stores have bad body odour.

[Leto]

Have any of you ever thought that maybe the customers are the pricks?

I work at game and the sheer amount of shit I have to slog through because customers act high and mighty because they have every game made by nintendo since NES, or belittle me for warning them that the game they're buying for their 12 year old son is an 18, or the mothers who just can't wrap their tiny little fricken' minds around the fact that halo 3 doesn't come out on PS2. So maybe it works the other way as well?

Seriously, I try my hardest to be polite and helpful to all the customers who walk through the door but when you've been standing up since 8am on a sunday morning with no air conditioning in store the shitty radio playing the same shitty songs all day long and finding out that my break has been cut to 10 minutes because there is too much effing pre-owned to do, I find it really hard to keep a visage of politeness to customers.

But then I can see why you do get annoyed, pre-owned ****s me off so I only offer it if they ask, insurance policies I'll mention in passing but never pressure anyone to buy (unlike my co-workers), and if someone wants me to talk to them I'll try, but if they just want my to ring it through the till i'll get them on their way pronto.

I tend to have a no-bullshit approach though, if someone wants to buy Game own brand cables I tell them not to because they're rubbish quality, and if someone wants to buy a game that is a bad game i'll tell them it's no good. I don't mean to be blunt or rude but I find that if I can just sprout the information a customer wants quickly then they're happier then if i dawdle and converse.

Still everyone treats me like shite. You'd be suprised of the number of thank yous I get, last week I had 5 and I must of served around 100 customers.

That rant felt good, maybe biased on the sales assistant side, but it's no bed of flowers for us either!

Amen.

Although I haven't had many serious problems with customers here, it's never always one-sided.

The Customers can be evil too.

As for the smell, it usually comes from so many people coming into the store and no ventilation.

[nurizeko]

Have any of you ever thought that maybe the customers are the pricks?

I work at game and the sheer amount of shit I have to slog through because customers act high and mighty because they have every game made by nintendo since NES, or belittle me for warning them that the game they're buying for their 12 year old son is an 18, or the mothers who just can't wrap their tiny little fricken' minds around the fact that halo 3 doesn't come out on PS2. So maybe it works the other way as well?

Seriously, I try my hardest to be polite and helpful to all the customers who walk through the door but when you've been standing up since 8am on a sunday morning with no air conditioning in store the shitty radio playing the same shitty songs all day long and finding out that my break has been cut to 10 minutes because there is too much effing pre-owned to do, I find it really hard to keep a visage of politeness to customers.

But then I can see why you do get annoyed, pre-owned ****s me off so I only offer it if they ask, insurance policies I'll mention in passing but never pressure anyone to buy (unlike my co-workers), and if someone wants me to talk to them I'll try, but if they just want my to ring it through the till i'll get them on their way pronto.

I tend to have a no-bullshit approach though, if someone wants to buy Game own brand cables I tell them not to because they're rubbish quality, and if someone wants to buy a game that is a bad game i'll tell them it's no good. I don't mean to be blunt or rude but I find that if I can just sprout the information a customer wants quickly then they're happier then if i dawdle and converse.

Still everyone treats me like shite. You'd be suprised of the number of thank yous I get, last week I had 5 and I must of served around 100 customers.

That rant felt good, maybe biased on the sales assistant side, but it's no bed of flowers for us either!


Thats not game store problems, thats the curse of working in retail anywhere.

Its a crappy job, and if your normal, like me, you were glad to finally get out of it.

[rae]

Yep i'm getting out of it within a few weeks, when I sort out all my tax returns.

I just find it humourous how people assume I want to work there, I'm only there for money for university!

[Saturos]

I wouldn't go so far to say I hate them. in fact, I think some of them are quite humorous when they try to flex their noobish PC knowledge at me when I ask about certain PC games.

Software etc. employees in particular are definately, "console people" stuck with, "selling PC games also" tbh.