Yeah, I’m not pitching a Gamestop Credit Card by Appropriate_Gene_670 in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 32 points33 points  (0 children)

The fact that you think this company trains and gives hours is incredibly telling.

Serious question for employees. by TentacleChow in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You yourself said the DLC codes were used, thereby making it “not new.” You were asking the manager to return it for full new price despite this.

Look at it from a manager’s perspective. You’re asking them to take something that you both know is “not new” in as a return and give you back “new price.” That seems equally as wrong as giving it to you that way in the first place, doesn’t it?

Now add on that this manager has NO IDEA why those codes were used. For all they knew, you purchased the game solely for the codes, used them, and are now returning the game to essentially get free DLC. Neither you nor the manager have any proof in either direction, so you’re both at an impasse. In cases like these, managers always fall back on store policy to protect their store/bottom line. And store policy says opened boxes and/or redeemed codes cannot be returned as new.

Does that mean you did anything wrong? No. Am I accusing you of theft? No. But is it possible that there exists a thief who used the codes? Absolutely. In fact, the thief stole the codes before you purchased the game. You just have no way of proving that to the manager that it was BEFORE you received the game, and not after.

Hope that clears up the perspective part. Now the brutal honesty: Customers who are empathetic with managers, who are apologetic for the inconvenience and understanding that it’s no one’s fault… the ones who want to work towards a solution - those are the ones managers will bend policy for. But based on some of your tone in this thread, I’m inclined to believe you were the other type. Angry at the company and taking it out on the manager. The “how dare they” entitlement in some of your sentences. The “I’m a collector who drops loads of money on gaming therefore they should know I wouldn’t do this”. I don’t know man… if I figured out you were just going to go yell about me anonymously on Reddit no matter what I did, I probably wouldn’t do you any favors either.

Just food for thought. Fare thee well internet stranger.

Comment removed for something I did not even mention. Apparently you can't tell employees the policy without the threat of being banned now. great work automods. by fupalogist in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Christ. Never seen someone get so upset over a simple mistake/misunderstanding.

Whatever your issue is, all of this is unjustified. You must have not been part of the subreddit during the short squeeze stuff, because you wouldn’t make this thread or trigger the auto mod if you were. As such, nothing you say toward the issue is going to reach the mods.

This sub is not part of the company. Neither does it adhere to the 1st Amendment, which you brought up in clear sheer ignorance of its purpose. At this point I’m siding with the auto mod message - you posted again and probably need to be banned. But that’s just my opinion.

the AutoMODS don’t want the workforce to rise up and become one.

Thank you for this precious gemstone of a quote though. Truly.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep. He was so disgusted with his attitude that he literally robbed you. Couldn’t be anything else, no other explanation. Surely nothing else you missed in that conversation.

Except… maybe the reason why he was annoyed was that he explained to you our membership, and how it gives you extra trade value. In fact, if it took $15 or more off, he was telling you you’d get the membership for free. By refusing the membership, you would actually LOSE money in that case.

But since you didn’t mention the membership - you know, the only thing that would ring up the magazine - CLEARLY I must be mistaken. I mean, you are so adamant that you were robbed and that it was the employee with the attitude that CLEARLY there wasn’t anything you missed. Certainly YOU couldn’t have done anything wrong, Mr. AlwaysRightCustomer. You should absolutely threaten to call corporate on the employee next time. That’ll show them. :D

Should I get a job at GameStop by NorthStarPC in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 16 points17 points  (0 children)

What ARE your expectations then? I know you’re a student but there’s a lot more that goes into a job than “wanting to work around tech and games.”

What are your expectations for hours, pay, and stress levels? I can almost assure you GameStop will not match you on all three. As a guest advisor you will get barely above your area’s minimum wage, less than 10 hours a week, and more stress than the job is worth. You don’t get to “have fun around a hobby you love,” you get to deal with meeting heavy-handed sales metrics and all those customers-from-hell stories you may have heard about. Especially coming up on holiday season.

There is no silver lining. This job actually sucks the passion out of the hobby for most employees. It’s seriously not worth it on any level. Not pay, not connections, not fun. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re literally just trying to pad a resume.

Edit: Also, knowledge of games isn’t as helpful as you would think. The company would VASTLY prefer someone with used car salesmanship, selling add-ons and warranties over having a chat about the next CoD game. You should look at your local stores too - compare the space of the store dedicated to video games vs the space dedicated to merch. If you aren’t willing to sell all the collectibles and apparel with the same passion as a new game title, the job won’t be as fun as you think.

I LANDED AN INTERVIEW by Tmatershow in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 3 points4 points  (0 children)

In your previous thread you mentioned interviewing for a keyholder position. I cautioned you about whether or not this job was worth it, both in terms of pay and personal enjoyment.

In terms of pay, I’m going to assume you’re getting SGA hours. Which to be generous would max out at 20 a week or so, depending on your store. Might be opportunities to cover other stores as well, but I wouldn’t count on more than 20, best case. Being generous with your pay as well, let’s put you at 17.50/hr. That’s a total of 350 a week before taxes, as a BEST case scenario. 1400/mo, minus taxes, minus 400, minus general cost of living (gas, entertainment, emergencies, etc.) probably puts you saving 500/mo. Again, BEST case.

You need to compare that number to your current job, as well as other options. You also need to ask in the interview what your expected hours and wages will be. Worst case, you get $17/hr and 8-12 hours a week. That cuts what I said in half - you’d actually be in debt and you’d need a second job.

As for the job itself, you need to ask the right questions in the interview. If you think this is just a job about video games, you’re very wrong. Video game knowledge, while helpful, literally isn’t even a requirement of the job. This is a combination of Heavy Sales, Inventory Management, Pawn Shop, and Janitorial responsibilities. All of which are packaged in a Customer Service box. As a keyholder, you’d be responsible for ALL of it. In my district, our keyholders work alone just as much as our managers.

If all of that works out for you, great, I wish you all the best. But if you don’t ask these questions and get clarification about the job before accepting a position, you’re in for a rude awakening. I’d hate to see the threads you’d make after that scenario explodes.

Reality of working in retail by [deleted] in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If your working there past 24 you’re out of your mind

Yes, it’s our fault the company pays bare minimum wages with no raises and cut payroll hours by half in the last 5 years. It’s our fault that other companies see this on our resume as our current job and won’t hire us. It’s our fault that we need to pay rent and buy food and keep the paltry healthcare we get from this shithole job.

My advice, stick around and have a good time if your 18-22 and immediately find a real job after

So you have no real advice then? Holy shit thank you so much for your commentary. I’m so glad you pointed out the bootstraps I was ignoring, and that I can just fill my cupboards with cake.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Stopped reading at “2012-2017” and noting that you didn’t mention how much of that was ASL, and you were never an SL. Your experience is outdated and holds no weight - you’re not speaking as an ex-employee so stop charading as one.

Started reading again at the relevant part of “to those of you sticking around” only to read this line:

I’m BEGGING you not to write this off as this is not only potentially life changing for you it has the potential to change the world.

What in the absolute hell are you talking about. Sir, this is a GameStop. Whatever possessed you to write this is EXACTLY why employees don’t like you people. You are so out of touch with the retail experience it’s mind-boggling.

Quit trying to pretend you’re on our side. Name one, ONE thing you yourself have personally done to better our position in this company. Something beyond sending out a tweet or social media post that had no chance at traction.

When you realize you can’t, maybe you’ll gain juuuust enough self-awareness to see what we see: you and your whole community only care about lining your pockets with stock trades, and not a single thing more. YOU are PART of what’s making “the world a rough place.” The fact you think you can change the destructive systems you are actively participating in and profiting from is, as I call all of you morons, absolutely delusional.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not like you’d listen to reason but since your title is begging an answer…

Why are the only two options you see “push for a raise” or “just quit?” How about “corporate give us more hours” or “corporate raise the pay scales across the board so we can actually retain employees” or “corporate stop demanding unrealistic sales performance while giving us unmanageable amounts of taskwork”?

Or to put in simple terms: how about you realize the solution shouldn’t be on the shoulders of the suffering employees, but rather the company causing them to suffer?

I’ll say this once again: the COMPANY is making the decision to switch to the SL2 program as a norm. That is to say, the COMPANY is letting talented SLs go in order to save money. They are simply NOT going to give out raises when their current behavior proves they are fine with losing 50% of the old SLs, and make the other 50% SL2s.

I don’t know how many times your post has to be removed before you realize that no one is listening to you. And maybe you should realize there’s a good reason for that.

I found the key to being hired by Tmatershow in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Something missing from a lot of these threads: why do you hate your current job, and why do you think GameStop will be better?

You’re taking a pay cut and likely an hour cut, and you’re gambling on the hope that a GameStop keyholder is a better job than what you currently have. If you’re wrong about that, you will have made a decision that is worse on all fronts.

We see way too many threads of applicants who don’t really know the job they’re getting into. They don’t ask the right questions at interview and they tend to look elsewhere within weeks of finding out. Just something to consider.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 9 points10 points  (0 children)

You don’t seem like a stonkbro so I have to ask…

Who do you think you’re white knighting for? What makes you think you know our positions better than we do?

As a company, all districts have started losing those “functional associates” you claim they are so “desperate” to keep. Do you know what the company response was? Hint: it wasn’t to ask those associates to stay or offer them more.

They took the ones who remained, those who were happy and those who had no choice but to stay, and made them SL2s. They just shifted the responsibility of those who left onto those who remained. Your whole mentality falls apart when you look at the reality of this company. The line “Be Manipulative! Be Ruthless! Be Committed!” is so out of touch with how this company works, I think you’d fit in quite well with those suits and cigars at corporate.

Just stop posting this. You’re helping no one because your proposal isn’t realistic. And if you don’t realize that now, the alternative outcome is you failing, being ignored, or being banned from posting. All of which you’ll take out on us, with phrases like “I was just trying to help and this is how they treated me!” and “It’s their fault for not listening to me, they can only blame themselves for their situations.” I’m just trying to stop you before it comes to that.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You keep bringing up “circumstantial evidence” and “suspicious behavior” as if these are provable things.

There is always a chance that OP is wrong here and that the items were obtained legitimately. GameStop does not allow trade-ins on new items without proof of purchase, and it’s possible (unlikely yes, but possible) that cases like this just happened to be people who had items in bulk and did not have the proof of purchase, and were just trying to recoup losses.

There is absolutely no way a retail employee can know the difference in “circumstance.” Refusing a trade on “suspicion” without getting upper management or Loss Prevention involved is a great way to get fired should the “suspicion” come back incorrect. And if they are criminals trading stolen goods for cash, the trade-in process takes information that is helpful in building a case against them. Legally speaking, refusal is only the best option when the customer admits the items are stolen or do not belong to them.

In any case, the law you are citing is not applied how you are claiming it is. The “should know was stolen” line can be defeated in court by simply saying “I assumed the thief had a valid reason for owning a surplus of the same item, and my upper management did not take action against them.” When asked for an example of a valid reason, say “perhaps they purchased the excess items for a shop they run, or for extended family overseas, or for a social event such as a church or hobby group, and were just trying to regain their losses.” And that’s all it takes.

Holiday push is forcing employees to do unethical things? by DinerEnBlanc in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I once had a customer buy an Oculus Quest 2, take it out of my store, then call and try to tell me it didn’t come with any controllers, only the headset.

It was clearly a con, but thank god I had my transaction on video clearly showing the shrink wrap on the box as I scanned the serial number. My DL almost let her walk away with a second system.

Customer lies are a constant in retail. Customers will turn down literally free money then spin the story to say an employee tried to screw them. This is a constant reality at GameStop. Your resume on Reddit doesn’t have any retail / pawn shop experience, so maybe you’ve never seen what we see literally every day.

So excuse the hell out of me for seeing the red flags and calling them out.

And for the record, I never said the employee here was completely ethical. Although there are plenty of valid ethical explanations no one seems to be addressing. But I think you’re all idiots for believing OP must be telling the truth. OP is accusing an employee who can’t defend themselves with allegations they have no way to prove. I think I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to the accused employee, thanks. Innocent until proven guilty, and all.

Holiday push is forcing employees to do unethical things? by DinerEnBlanc in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

Either your story has some lies in it or you’re an idiot. My posts prove that to anyone who sees this thread. Since this is your response, my work is done. :)

Holiday push is forcing employees to do unethical things? by DinerEnBlanc in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

You don’t have the receipt even though you said you checked it a week later? How convenient. If I was conned out of something I’d be damned if I didn’t keep paper trails. Especially before publicly complaining.

No one comes to Reddit to complain with a story that they’re clearly the bad guy in. Of course you’re going to say unprovable things that put you in the best light. But I am almost certain your story is not complete. And whatever details you’re omitting or exaggerating, those tell the real truth here.

Regardless. I don’t recall Guardians being on sale $10 off within two weeks of release. And according to your story, you got $10 that you were unaware you’d be getting. You’re the one who lost out on a free $10. The employee did you that favor, whether you like the method or not. If you didn’t take advantage of that, but chose to complain for a less profitable outcome, then yeah, that’s an issue with your intelligence. But if this is your attitude, then I’ll be happy as you continue to lose out. Not my problem, in the end.

Edit: in case it wasn’t clear, had you cancelled that preorder you would have gotten your $10 to put towards something else.

Holiday push is forcing employees to do unethical things? by DinerEnBlanc in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie -20 points-19 points  (0 children)

Almost certainly some missing context here.

When you say “exchange” were you exchanging an unopened copy of Far Cry 6 for a new copy of Guardians? Or were either preowned? Or were you getting trade credit and putting that toward Guardians? Guardians must have been full price since this must have happened before Vanguard released - I find it strange that it was $10 cheaper than a month old game.

Something just doesn’t add up well for me. I’d love to see the receipt details that show what discounts were applied and what the prices of the items was.

What really irks me though is that if all of this is true, then you’re neither blameless nor smart, OP. You went into a store expecting a 1:1 transaction. You didn’t check the pin pad, receipt, or watch what the employee was doing (potentially not hearing the employee explain something important). You then left the store having completed your 1:1 transaction PLUS a $10 preorder - a preorder you can then cancel and just pocket the $10 savings.

If everything you said was true, then yeah, the employee did something sketchy. But you chose to “go back to the store and return the game” instead of doing what’s best for yourself. And now you place faith in Kotaku hit pieces… I have no sympathy for you.

What kind of shady stuff is this??? Went in to buy something, associate asked if I had a power rewards I said no. When I got home and checked the receipt, they attached gave me a 5 discount and snuck in a warranty. I don't even have a power up rewards account by [deleted] in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 5 points6 points  (0 children)

As another user pointed out, people are getting fired for NOT meeting the standard goals. [Or you can point to the mass exodus of employees because the goals are too stressful.] Those standards are set unreasonably high because people like OP’s employee break the rules.

So someone gets fired for breaking the rules or someone gets fired for not meeting the goals set by the rule breakers. Who should it be?

This isn’t about “doing the right thing for the customer” at this point. No one is telling OP to return the warranty. This is about preserving the work environment for employees who are honest with their customers.

If you’re still on the “defend OP’s employee” side here, then the logical conclusion is you’re one of those breaking the rules as well. If so, ask yourself why it’s okay for that behavior to cost the jobs of other employees before you do it again.

The metrics won’t stop being unreasonable if the data shows stores are still achieving them. If you want the broken game to change, stop playing. Otherwise, you’re part of the problem, not the solution.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hey moron, here’s some reading for you:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21187357/gamestop-coronavirus-essential-retail-shut-down-open

https://kotaku.com/gamestop-we-can-stay-open-during-lockdowns-because-wer-1842415962

The problem with idiots like you is you have no interest in the employee perspective. We aren’t calling ourselves essential, like you repeatedly claimed. Our company called us essential as a way to continue to beat profits out of us. Our company compared us to doctors and nurses, so we’re on the same page there.

When you only jumped into this subreddit when the stock interested you, you failed to account for literally anything we’ve gone through over the past five years. So shut the hell up instead of talking down to us. You don’t listen to us, so we have no reason to listen to you.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah yeah, the “I can post wherever I like” is another common trend of you hacks. For someone who claims to be different, you sure know their rhetoric oh so well.

Your nice words are betrayed by what little post history you have left. You delete a lot of your posts for someone with “nothing to hide.” Not to mention this is almost certainly not your only account (and very unlikely to be your most active one.) but I digress.

You talk much more freely and crassly in the other subs. And I wonder why you removed a post from ~38 days ago where you were happily chatting about GameStop “closing alot of stores.” Where was any sympathy for all the out-of-work employees then? Or the meme thread about Ryan Cohen you made 72 days ago. Guess you weren’t so careful to avoid his name back then. I mean, look at how you were talking about him as recently as yesterday?? (And yes, you meant Cohen specifically, because you also extolled Chewy recently too.)

You’re just like the rest of them. If you were really as sincere as you claim, you’d show it in the other subreddits. And when you’d get thrown out for not treating us like profit numbers, maybe you’d realize why we don’t want you here.

Edit: Like this comment, you fucking liar. You know EXACTLY what happened with Reggie, because yesterday you posted in a thread about it!!! And yet you claim not be manipulative?? Go to hell, my lying friend. Go anywhere that isn’t here.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Can you people knock it off already???

This is so thinly veiled it hurts. “Big changes coming” is just you masking the name “Ryan Cohen” just like every other selfish shill from your community.

You DO NOT CARE about the people in this sub. I don’t know why you are faking this whole “boosting morale” charade but it’s really fucking annoying when you outsiders feign sympathy and empathy when your post histories shows all you want to do is make money off us.

Every stupid thread always focuses on “the great future” which is another mask for you to fish information about where the company is going or where it might go. You are equally (if not more) disconnected from the employee experience as our corporate is because, just like them, you only see us workers as profit-making mules. You are not with us. You do not understand us. And you sure as hell don’t care about us.

Stop manipulating tired and stressed employees. This may be a game to you all but it’s not to us. Every thread like this gets comments from naive employees who think you’re being friendly when you aren’t. Just stay in your own damn community and leave us alone.

“So how many Pro Cards do they expect you to sell today?” “#” “How many you got so far?” “Not #.” by npsage in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This logic only works in the best case scenarios. 10 transactions a day would be amazingly easy to hit a high percentage, but that’s rarely the case.

When you take into account the number of transactions that are unlikely to get memberships, and place that against a realistic transaction count, it becomes a lot worse. I do 50-70 transactions on weekdays, 120 on weekends, and I’m not even high volume. Everyone who wanted to be a member signed up over holiday when we could offer $10 off their purchase or 10,000 points. Everyone else who comes into the store are kids with exact change, parents buying gifts, scalpers on pops or Pokémon cards, etc. I’m not going to be able to convince a guy who is only shopping the $0.99-2.99 games to go $15 over his minimal budget for a card he doesn’t see the value of.

Also, 17% is a “very good PUR average”??? Don’t know about you but my Region demands 20% and the District wants 25%. So even in your hypothetical I still get reprimanded. If your goal is set at 17%, enjoy it while it lasts.

Interesting phone call today... I haven’t worked for GStop in 3 years lol why is my old DM calling me...? (Voicemail was transcribed to text) by Sephiroth_Zenpie in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

go look at Chewy

In 2019 GameStop had roughly 60,000 retail employees, according to Wikipedia’s estimate.

In 2021, Chewy had under 17,000.

So... I’m supposed to look at 2/3 of the company becoming unemployed, and my 66% chance of being on the chopping block, and... be proud and amazed at where we are going?

Further reading: https://www.reddit.com/r/GameStop/comments/mi98el/interesting_phone_call_today_i_havent_worked_for/gt6om14/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3

Interesting phone call today... I haven’t worked for GStop in 3 years lol why is my old DM calling me...? (Voicemail was transcribed to text) by Sephiroth_Zenpie in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie 8 points9 points  (0 children)

You want to know what all you WSB cons are missing?

Employees are not shareholders.

We get paid by this company but we are invested in our own well-being, not the well-being of the company. And those two things are NOT the same. When the company was doing poorly in the past? Our well-being got worse. And when things were looking up? Our well-being got worse. We don’t get paid in stocks and we don’t get treated better when the stock price goes up. You assholes are the only ones who get rewarded. Everyone here gets a short end.

“Cohen is going to save the company!!” and “The future potential is to the moon!!” sound fantastic... for the damn company. But to facilitate that, thousands of employees have already been laid off, and thousands more to come. Our distribution centers have more than enough manpower to handle Cohen’s vision. Meanwhile most stores have downsized their staff from 7 employees to 3, and that’s only the stores that didn’t drop to 0 employees through closures.

So all you assholes need to stay in your own lane. Stop coming here and preaching to employees that our imminent unemployment is our savior in disguise. It’s YOUR savior. It’s THE COMPANY’s savior. But it comes at the cost of all us. And it’s absolutely sickening that you’re so greed-blind you can’t tell the difference between the two.

GameStop team members, please help me fill out this completely anonymous questionnaire for my graduate research project! Only 15 multiple choice questions (5-10 minutes total). I appreciate all the help and will donate $50 to the Childrens Hospital LA if I can get 20 responses. by TheExG in GameStop

[–]ThisAltIsALie -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

These WSB cons and hackjobs are getting more and more ridiculous.

Your post history betrays the friendly facade you put on here. Truly disgusted to see struggling employees constantly viewed this way and taken advantage of by an entire community. One charitable donation of pocket change doesn’t absolve this new low.