IamA Filthy Masochist that worked at Gamestop as a store manager for 11 years. AMA!

Have you found drugs/money hidden in consoles that were traded in?

Yeah. Several times found pot. SEVERAL times found porn DVD's in cases.

What was the weirdest customer experience you ever had in that store?

What was the best?

Weirdest? Grown men crying when they lost at tournaments.

Best? When I would get free stuff from Las Vegas Conference and giving it to kids. They were always so excited. Gave a Hulk disney infinity character to a kid once. Didn't get released for 4 months after. He was stoked.

Were there any good benefits such as able to snag copies of games early, such as getting GTA V when it came out a few days early?

I'll be honest. I took Halo 3, Reach, and 4 home 2 weeks before it released and played through the Campaigns.

What was the final straw that made you quit?

HR Investigating trying to find reasons to get me out because of the pay I was at.

Do you guys have battletoads?

Yes. We actually sold retro games when I left. Had a copy of it in stock.

Your experience turning away the most annoying kid that walked in?

Ones that told their parents right in front of me that GTA V had no cussing or bad stuff.

I always got a stupid grin on my face when I got to loudly say, "There is drug use, nudity, the act of sex."

What midnight release party of any game or console was the most hectic?

Skyrim probably. Because we had 80 reserves and 200 people showed and I was working alone. Cause no hours.

What was the worst game you ever sold? Worst day at work?

Worse game? Road to Hell: Retribution.

Worst day at work? October 30th 2008. Got a revolver pushed up against my temple. Not fun getting robbed at gun point.

Was it the guy you sold Road to Hell to?

No, not the same guy. Haha. Even though you could imagine it would be after playing that game.

Did law enforcement catch the perpetrator?

Yeah. They caught them walking through the parking lot directly in front of the store like 15 minutes later. They were not too bright.

What do you feel is the Companies biggest flaw? Do you have suggestions on how to fix or mitigate it?

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT. That is how I lead. It always garners results because your staff wants to work hard. Not because they have to but because they want to.

Gamestop focuses nearly entirely on negative reinforcement. I feel this leads to short term results and long term failure.

What specific occasion or day comes to mind as the most fun you had at the job?

Playing guitar hero after close all night with the staff.

What's the rarest/most valuable game you've had somebody trade in?

When we started getting Retro in? Earth Bound.

Before that, Capcom Vs Marvel on reg Xbox.

I'm so scared to ask, what did you give the person trading in Earthbound? That's a $150 game, I'm hoping they were given more than $20 for it.

We gave like 80$

Doesn't that job pay shit?

Yes. I made 42k after 11 years of raises. When I left and started at my new company. I was making double. Puts things in perspective.

What's your new job?

District Manager at a Wireless Company

What were you best memories?

Leaving.

why did you leave?

Because surprisingly enough, I was on the top end of the pay scale and Gamestop are notorious for firing managers that have tenure so they can get someone in there for 15k less a year. HR started investigating my store and I didn't want to give them the satisfaction. So I left right then and there.

Was it a love of gaming that got you there and kept you there?

I do love Gaming although I don't as much now. Really, I just got stuck. I hated it the last 4 years I was there. I enjoyed it at first. Was like a family. But COL and everything ruined it.

Can you please explain about the "Circle of Life" quota system at Gamestop and how it incentivizes all kinds of annoying things?

Basically there a pillars of the business model. Trades, Preowned, PURPRO and Reserves. Basically reserves lead to new sales, then to preowned, then to the benefits of PRO.

So you would have to focus on only selling preowned games and getting PRO cards 25% of the time. If you did not make COL two weeks in a row. You were subject to termination. Even if you were a SM.

So you can see why people lie about having new games and straight up rob you at the counter. They have to or else.

You call yourself a masochist for doing it. What was the worst part of the job that you had to continually deal with? I mean, I would bet money on "customers", but i mean more specifically?

COL. My DM (District Manager) would ask me to resign on a daily basis, Zero job security. Always under the threat of getting fired for not making "COL."

Constant store resets every other week. (In the beginning they were like once a quarter.) And no hours to do it with. So I did it all.

What's your best memory working there?

Legitimately talking about games and watching people get excited when you connected about a game you both loved.

Which generation seemed to have the nicest fans, if any?

PS4. Was like a family man.

Why so long?

Because I enjoy suffering I suppose

What is your worst customer experience?

One time a guy asked if he could use the restroom. I of course said that we didn't have a public one. So he went in the corner of the store behind a fixture and shit in the floor and it was a lot. Made my ASM clean it though. Cause I'm terrible.

are you crazy? Used to work in retail I would have called a company to come clean that and billed the company corporate real estate lmao

Just another day in paradise.

Which game release had the largest crowd?

Black Ops 2. Had 800 reserves and over 1k people showed to the Tournament.

What was your worst experience with selling an M rated game to someone who is below seventeen?

I never did unless the parent consented.

In your opinion, will Gamestop be around in 5 years? I have a Gamestop in my town, and I rarely see more than a handful of people there at once. I've been going digital for the convenience lately, and I doubt I will buy any physical copies of games unless there is a crazy deal going on. It's also worth bringing up how easy it is for people these days to sell their electronics locally or online for better prices than Gamestop can pay. My opinion is that Gamestop is going to die because they didn't shift the focus of their business towards retro years ago and all of the steals they got on premium merchandise was flipped for an easy dollar. Not to mention all the orignal boxes and manuals they have just thrown away.

In some way or form yeah. Not in it's current form. They lost half a billion last year. The day is coming fast.

What is your faviorate game?

Was Oblivion until Bloodborne came around. Love the new Evil Within serious.

Anyone you managed who have interesting careers you still follow? Big time game industry folk or something else entirely?

Not really. One of the girls I had as part time is a professional model. Other than that. All balding and sad.

Craziest story? And would you rather had taken another job? What were the benefits?

Craziest story? Hooking up with random managers at the conference. One had a seizure during. Random people came to pick her up after I called someone with her phone. No cops, no ambulance. Was crazy

What’s the most awkward / cringe-inducing question you were asked?

I used to have people come in saying stuff about pokemon. Always cringed me. Don't know why. But there was this one guy that always came in with a body pillow that had a anime character on it.

When’s the best time to buy a pre owned gaming console there?

Black Friday

What was the best or worst opening / game release?

Best, Halo 3 or 4. Was reallly fun. Worst? Call of Duty games. Drones man, drones everywhere. All 12 year olds.

I worked at gamestop for a couple months before quitting, never understood why the store i was at never cared to clean the windows or bathroom. Was it like that for you guys too?

Yeah. The windows were a hassle and the bathroom was beyond saving.

What was worse, the 12yo kids, or thier moms? Also, were the dads different?

Dad would Discipline their children. Mom's would let them run around destroying everything. Like literally rip a wall of games down. Mother's would always so, "He's just got a lot of energy." Then leave and not clean it up.

Could you ban them from the store?

I have before yeah. But their parents would come in wanting to fight or talk to my boss.

Remember when Gamestop at least pretended they cared more about games and customers?

I started there back in 2006 and the only think they care about sales wise was reserves and game informer subs. And they weren't even that pushy about those.

Now employees get canned for basically failing to lie to customers in order to reach sales goals. The hours are barely enough to keep the store open for a full business day, it's basically a manager working 60 hours minimum a week and one part timer getting 4 hours in the evening per night.

The stores used to be almost entirely games and accessories. Maybe 5% of wall space was advertising. Now the whole damn store is covered in in ou face ads and a bunch of garbage toys no one needs or wants to buy from a Videogame store. They're trying to branch out too much and are spreading themselves too thin.

I remember back when they started selling helio phones and everyone thought it was the dumbest idea ever, but they actually managed to turn the shit up to 11 and almost push games entirely to the back.

So damn infuriating.inused the love the store as a kid. Now it's just full of pure corporate cringe.

Yeah. It went so corp so fast.

I just wanted to say good job. That is a HUGE difference on your new job. Congrats on that improvement in your life, bro! Any funny business ever happen in the store? People running out with stuff? Trying to trade in fake iPhone/androids, etc? Anything worth mentioning?

People would try trading in SNES carts with labels of rare games but the game on the cart would be super common.

What was the worst offer you had to give to a customer trading in their games/console?

Recycle it. Literally told them I would just throw it away. So I would just throw it away and they would just buy something. They pretty much knew it was junk anyway.

What’s the worst game you recommend to someone?

Call of Duty. I always hated them but had to push it because the title basically made our year.

What is the ratio of used Madden games traded-in versus used Madden games that sold?

Sold probably 10 copies on release. Traded in a couple daily.

Any incentives working as a manager at gamestop?

Las Vegas Conference every year. I went wild. Got TONS of free stuff. Every console that release. Clothes. Was good. Got less and less over the years though.

How often someone turn in a console that was dirty/infested?

Daily. We had roaches for years.

I was hired in October as a seasonal with the understanding I would work Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Xmas and the day after. I got less than 10 hours and "got Thanksgiving and Black Friday off", go me. 6 hours my first week(late October/early Nov), then 3 hours right before Thanksgiving. I said no thanks and moved on to greener pastures.

Is it really up to corporate how many seasonals get hired? I caught a glimpse of the hours sheet, so I know for sure my manager was physically not allocated enough hours to train us.

As an add-on to that, do you think GameStop will survive 2019? The Holiday bonus(I assume that was a country wide thing) seems like a desperate bid to keep their head above water.

I don't think Gamestop will be around very much longer. Maybe 5 years. Not in it's current form anyway.

any secrets or cool low key things you can share about gamestop?

Not really that I can think of. There may have been back in the day but the company went wayyyy strict.

How many games did you throw away ?

Like about 20 a year. Every one of them were sports games from like 2010 and older.

Are you going to ask me 3 times to buy the strategy guide with my game purchase? Because if you do I'm going to walk the fuck out right now and never come back.

But they're an extra 10% off when you buy it with the game!

Employe discount? Did you play any consoles?

15%. 25% during one weekend during the holiday. The ones in the store? No, if we even looked at them we would get drilled.

What events drew the best crowds? What events drew the worst?

Shooters got the best. Football games the worst. Southern people stay away from NFL. Once NCAA was gone. So were they.

You said earlier that you don’t think Gamestop will be around in 5 years, at least not in its current form. I’ve noticed every year they are selling more ThinkGeek type stuff. Like literally half the store are little (sometimes not even video game related) items. Do you think the Gamestop side will call it quits and just be ThinkGeek that sells games as well?

I said that when they introduced collectibles. The profit margin is through the roof on that stuff. So yes. It'll be mainly a collectable store in the future.

So is GameStop going the way of Blockbuster?

Eventually. Slowly but surely

Were you guys pressured to push pre-orders that badly? Do employees/corporate know that customers fucking hate that?

I went into a Gamestop to get a game the day of release. As she was ringing me out she gave me a lecture about how I should have pre-ordered it. She made it seem like I wouldn't have any fun unless I had pre-ordered it first. She tried to guilt me with an attitude like, "Well.... You would have gotten the Gamestop skin if you pre-ordered it." She said it like it was this HUGE bonus I would have gotten. I told her that I was super happy never getting that skin.

I use to go to this store multiple times a month, but after this I never shopped at that store again.

Every single day. Had conference calls every morning with daily goals that we had to hit. If we didn't, we had to send out an ENF OF DAY report to our DM stating why we didn't hit it and how we are going to rectify the problem.

Did you ever get any Battletoad calls?

07-2012 all day every day. Gamestop even reacted at one point and put a game on their website called "Fighting frogs." That was listed at 999$

How old were you when you became store manager and how did you get that position?

20 and I just got moved up through attrition.

How the hell did you put up with it for 11 years?

Masochist. Nah. I was stuck. Institutionalized.

Do you think gamestop will be looking at this post? If they are what would you want want them to know?

For them to look at publix. You can't get anything at Publix that you can't get at Walmart. But Publix are popping up everywhere. Why is that? Because the customer service unmatched and there is no upselling.

Is there any way to buy an individual copy of game informer without going to a GameStop? Like online? Just one issue not a subscription.

I'm sure you can. If you go into a Gamestop and just ask for one they will probably give you one. I gave them out like candy. They are not in the inventory.

Are you a filthy masochist who happened to work at Gamestop, or are you linking two?

Basically, do you nail your balls / foof to planks of wood for fun and happened to have sold games, or was the game selling the masochism?

Yes

From your experiences, which console fanbase has the largest amount of “stereotypical” fat, ugly and overall repulsive people in it? You know the type.

PC. I'm also a PC guy. Just saying haha

Did the store you work/worked at, sell playstation 2 videogames? If so? Im curious if gamestop also had timesplitters 2 or 3. Its my favourite childhood game. <3

We ha dPS@ games the first several years I was there. It was like 30 feet of wall space when I first started.

Doesn't that make you a sadist, not a masochist?

both

Where did you work?

Piggly Wiggly before Gamestop. See? Masochist.