Gaming Shop Staff

[PkmnTrainerJ]

So, this is a spin-off thread for a topic that resulted from /forum/index.php?showtopic=61299">here.

How do you feel about staff in stores where you get your video games from? Are they generally good? Or do they suck massive cock and have no idea what they're on about?

To quote myself from the other thread -

GAME staff have been fairly good to me over the years. It may be because I have the largest pre-order list there and come in every week. One guy (who doesn't work there now) got worried when I hadn't been in a month.

[Kwanzabot]

Blockbuster staff are probably the best, purely because my dad holds the record in there for DVDs rented (terribly sad), so they know us well, and they don't mind chatting about games etc.

[The Kraig]

G Force have always been my local gamer shop, I've bought so many things there, including my N64 and my Gamecube. But recently they screwed me over by promising me Halo 3 Legendary, first on the pre-order list, and somehow I wasn't on the list anymore when it came down to business. They whined about Microsoft and Bungie miscommunicating with them and that they were only getting five now, and then only three, and my argument was mainly 'oh, that's good, I'm at the top of the list, I'll still get one'. That never happened.

Luckily I was ready for such an event and had also pre-ordered it with Gamestation down the road, and promptly showed the guy in the shop (who's known me for over ten years now) my Gamestation pre-order ticket and haven't bought anything from him since. Fucking bastards, so much for them, I shop mainly on Amazon.co.uk for games now. Mostly cheaper, free post/packaging, and it shows up randomly (nothing beats coming home to find a brand new game lying with the post).

But previously Gamestation rejected my job application, so I hate them too.

GAME suck and are too far away and Electronics Boutique's alright if you want older games at cheap prices.

So yeah, fuck everyone except Amazon.

[MalaCloudy Black]

There's a local chain called GameKraze that's quite good, they sell everything from NES consoles to 360s/PS3s/Wii etc. and it's a family-run thing. The staff at the one I visit consists of the owner (older guy) and his sons or other family and they've always been quite nice, helpful people.

[Mattman]

I also have a fairly local store in which the owners very nice. The stores called Chips and I think theres quite a few around the UK. But my friend is on first name terms with all the staff there, its a little creepy.

There is a shop called Game Exchange opening about 10 minutes from my house, are they cheap?

I've spoken about most of my experiences in the other thread.

[IAceI]

Most suck. Gamestation is fucking awful. I asked if they had Sims 2 University "nah just got the new one" - theres fucking Sims 1 Hot Date on there, sort yourselves out you losers.

GAME are usually pretty decent with me. One was quality when he checked the drawers, nothing and said he'd go look in the back room and came back with it. I waited in like a queue for 15 minutes so I was glad I got it. But yeah, often I just buy online and I'm not a massive gamer anyways.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Your Gamestation is awful. A couple of OUR staff can be a bit shoddy at the end of a six day run but most of us, in our store at least, pride ourselves on at least attempting to be professional, friendly and helpful.

Especially for our favourite customer who comes in all the time, has a good long chat and leaves us loadsa chocolate and sweets....Mostly cos we give her special deals and discounts cos of the amount of money she spends for her adopted (grown up) kids.

Okay, I'll admit, a LOT of Gamestations can be awful, but so can a lot of other gaming stores.

The Gamestation in Birmingham city centre for example is the shoddiest store I've ever been in - always a mess, staff turnover on a weekly basis, jumble sale atmosphere....Ugh. I guess, however, one of the strengths of being a Gamestation employee is probably a weakness for the customers - namely the casual "gamery" approach where some stuff will just chat away while they're serving....It's cool if it's with the right customers who can get involved in and join in with the chatting or banter, but not so slick when it's the wrong customer...Still, for £5.50 an hour or whatever a sales assistant is on, you're not gonna get perfect service...Well in the UK at least

Also, it depends when you catch us...If it's a quiet day you could be treated like a king when you come to the counter...If you come in stinking of weed/alcohol/three days sweat just after we've had a 16 year old kid mouthing off at us for not selling him GTA ("I'll get my brother to come in and do you over") and we've got a massive pile of trade to work through, six pages of repricing to be finished by store closing and some bloke's just dropped his burger on the floor after we've told him to stop eating four times....And we've got three staff in when we should really have five cos the big bosses don't care as long as they're making money....AND someone else is moaning about how we're only offering them £1 trade in on Splinter Cell on the XBox (We've got hundreds and are offering them for £1.99 and no-one's buying and afterall it's what the COMPANY is offering and NOT us personally so don't make it personal, we don't decide prices and we're NOT the bloke down the market so we WON'T throw in a game and a pad for free with a console just to secure your patronage when I'll get in trouble for doing it....) Ugh.

But still, I greet everyone with a smile, even if I know that they're gonna flip out aggressively at me because I have to tell them that they can't return their game three months after purchasing it "because they don't like it" and they don't have a receipt anyway....And last time they were in they got arsey cos I didn't sell God Of War 2 to them for £3.99 after they clearly swapped the labels over thinking we'd have to sell it for that price.....

Sorry if you're queuing after that kind of person. Just wait until they've gone out the shop, lean over the counter as I'm serving you and just utter the lovely words "Well he was a f**king arse wasn't he". It'll make my day and I'll buff the preowned disc you're buying for free just to make sure it's perfect.

[Summers]

The guys at the local Gamestation are awesome. No other way to describe them.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

The guys at the local Gamestation are awesome. No other way to describe them.

Which store is your local mate?

[Summers]

Erdington one. Couple of the guys in there chat to me non-stop. One especially, if I'm in looking around he'll wonder over make sure I'm okay, asks me how I'm doing on certain games, talks to me about gaming news, etc.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Erdington one. Couple of the guys in there chat to me non-stop. One especially, if I'm in looking around he'll wonder over make sure I'm okay, asks me how I'm doing on certain games, talks to me about gaming news, etc.

Ahhh Erdington. Next time you're in ask him why Northfield are constantly taking more money than them even though we're half the size of them

[Summers]

No. They like me, I can't ruin it.

[Steeb]

Sutton one is generally awesome, with great - if unsociable - staff.

However, last time I went in, I bought some preowned XBox games, DoA Volleyball (not my choice) was so badly scratched it didn't work, NfS:Carbon was a PS2 disc, in an XBox case, and what was supposed to be Hitman: Blood Money, was Hitman: Contracts. Saturday staff for you.

However, they did replace the two incorrect games, and buffed up the other for free for me. So it wasn't all bad =].

[Dan]

I always go in gamestation smelling of weed, alcohol & 3 days sweat.

[King Ellis]

I always go in gamestation smelling of weed, alcohol & 3 days sweat.

Get a shower?

[Dan]

Can't afford one ¬.¬

[Toe]

Showers are for pussies. Real men enjoy smelling of alcohol, weed and 3 days of sweat. Real men also pee on things to mark their territory.

[Summers]

*Pees on Toe.*

[DMN in the House]

I never really have a problem, but then I rarely buy games. If its a chain store, its usually the EB Games in the mall, who are cool, friendly, but I'm not the type of person who stands around and chats about shit when I'm shopping, I'm usually just there to pick something up and jet. There is a really hot chick that works there, though, so thats a plus. Other than that, its this really awesome mom and pop type shop which has everything from NES to PS3, and they're good, a great selection, and usually good prices. Unless you're trying to pick up FF7, and then its 130 bucks. Fuckers.

[brenchill]

The nerdier the better, really. This leads to them actually knowing what you're talking about. I'm only usually there to pick something up and get out of there but occasionally I want to know when the new Football Manager or Pro Evolution is coming out.