Comprehensive player reviews, video game backlog slaying, and thoughts on video game culture.
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Okay, this one is a doozy and was the first and worst thing I ever experienced in video game retail.
It was my second week on the sales floor. I was innocent and hopeful, not yet jaded by years of entitled customers demanding discounts for no reason and being generally clueless or rude about everything. I had not yet been snapped at like a dog or had anyone yell in my face, so that was nice. Such a sweet summer child…
Continue reading “Tales From Video Game Retail – The Creepy Grandpa”
We had a regular at my second video game store who would come in multiple days a week to hang out for hours on end without buying anything. No one felt comfortable asking him not to loiter because he was a young veteran discharged with an injury, and he was nice, if oblivious. The main problem was that he would follow either me or my female supervisor around the store constantly, talking at us and preventing us from getting work done.
Now, I say “talking at” and not “talking to” because he didn’t particularly care if we returned conversation or not. I think he was lonely, but we had work to do, man.
During College I used to work at a Best Buy and then later a GameStop. If you have ever worked retail you will understand the pain. Customers are almost never right. I took a little time to write down some of my most memorable stories and interactions. I hope you enjoy some of these more than I did when I experienced them!
Continue reading “Tales From Video Game Retail – Peeves and Mistakes”
Trade ins. Dear lord, trade ins. Don’t get me started on those sports games that come out at the same time every year, like FIFA, NBA, Madden, etc. Folks would want to trade in last year’s Madden game and FREAK OUT when they saw the trade in value, having not realized that games depreciate like anything else.
Like, bruh. I’ve got 20 drawers of games back here behind the counter and FIVE of them are FULL of MADDEN, and then I have another shelf of them in the back room on top of that. I could literally put out a dumpster fire with the amount of Madden copies in this store — just dump them in to smother the flames. No one would miss them, and we would still have dozens left! Dozens!
The day all retail workers fear. The day the crazies come out. The day you work until you can’t stand and then work some more. One year I was on the long graveyard shift for Black Friday. I came in at 4AM and worked until 2PM. At 5AM, one of our point-of-sale computers freezes for no discernible reason. Aww jeez. We have a line out the door and around the corner, and the store is packed and sweltering. We really can’t afford to be down a register. No me gusta, amigos. Suddenly, another computer freezes. FULL RED ALERT!
Continue reading “Tales from Retail – Black Friday Edition”
Backlog Crusader 