I know I'm late responding to the first post, but I've got one more hour to waste at work.
I also did my part in retail; I worked at the same game store for nine years (high school through college), while continuing to shop at other game stores as well. The bottom line is that there are problems on both sides of the counter. People are going to be stupid no matter where you work or go shop.
That said, (and I posted this once before in another thread) it's amazing how game stores are run and how people act where I'm living now (Japan). No bullshit pre-order/magazine subscription crap pushed on you, no stupid kids or "thugs" hanging out, just people looking for an item, buying or selling, and leaving. The clerks will not ask you if you need help; instead you have to go to them, but they are ALWAYS at the counter and ALWAYS ready to answer whatever questions you might have without any attitude. Huge difference.
bdoughty said:
* Just bring your lazy ass in and stop making calls with a list of 30 games you need pricing on. Seriously most of the smaller EB/GS stores only have one or two people working the counter to begin with, trying to do the work of three.
Yup, this was always quite annoying, especially after I would tell them we didn't give out price quotes over the phone, which was always followed with the same "But I live an hour away!!!!!" whine. And what happens when you tell them the price? If they like it, they show up...
...10 minutes later.
* Smokers, if you trade in your system at the very least rub it down to get goo from your tar ridden fingers off everything.
I don't know if you could get away with this at an EB or Gamestop, but at my store, if one of the owners or "disctrict manager" (we only had four stores) wasn't around saying to "take everything, we can clean it up," I would just flat-out refuse to buy the really filthy crap. Especially systems covered with tar stains or with the body parts of little insects coming out of them. :x
* Put the freaking game box back where you found it. Were some of you raised in a barn?
It would be nice if everyone did this, but when it boils down to it, they're the customers; it's the clerk's job to keep the store looking neat and in order.
* If you don't want the magazine just say no and do it with a simple. These guys are forced by their managers to say this stuff and if you knew all the crap they dealt with. Working retail and dealing with consumers just flat sucks. Understand that and don't make their life any more miserable then it already is.
It sucks that you have to push this on customers, but I also don't like saying "no thanks,"a and then having the clerk CONTINUE to push this garbage on me, or have another clerk start up the same crap after the other stops talking.
* Check your NeoGaf at the door....Please for the love of all things round and full of dough, do not use "internet speak" at the counter.
Definitely. It depended on the customer though; some guys were actually pretty cool, and I didn't mind chatting with them, or even showing them the latest game that I had just picked up. I didn't mind a bit of a chat with customers, as long as they bought stuff, and the store wasn't busy.
One of the easiest ways to stop these people from talking to you, however, is to just say "Oh, I don't play games." If this turns into them trying to "teach" you about them, just start doing something like pretending to check inventory, or tell them you have to call another location to check on something. One guy I worked with used to have a clever method of calling his cell phone from the store phone, then pretending to talk to his friends until the (ultra-annoying) person finally walked away.
* If you do not want a gutted game, simply ask to see if there is an unopened copy. If one is not available then you can declare this practice unacceptable and move on to another store.
Why does the shop gut games in the first place? Why are you offering me an opened game for full price? If I bought the same game and tried to return it after having opened it, the store wouldn't take it back. That's a crappy policy; the stores doing this are essentially selling used titles for new prices.
* Do not ask where you can get a game cheaper.
Yup. Although if we didn't have an item in stock and I didn't think we'd get it anytime soon, I would tell them where to find it elsewhere. But usually, just saying "I don't know" worked well enough.
* Turn your cell phones to OFF or STUN the balls. This should be implied when you walk into any place of business.
It IS annoying, but there's no law against doing it. The most annoying thing was the guy talking to me AND the person on the phone at the same time, or the guy that got a call mid-sentence and just stomps off not buying anything, but whatever.
* Yea you only get 50 cents for Madden 2001 for the PS2. Deal with it you broke ass chump.
This was always good for a laugh. "MAN WTF I PAID LIKE $59.99 FOR THIS MANG!!11" was usually the reaction. Usually just saying "this game already has 5-6 sequels" and then showing them how MANY copies we already have unsold, or making up something like "we have 200 copies still in the warehouse brand new that we can't get rid of!" shut them up.