Come see the softer side of game store clerks
Friday, August 31st, 2007 at 11:07am by BlakeSurly not all game store clerks are douche bags? That’s right (as told by one Infendo reader) and don’t call me Shirley!
Seth tells the tale: I left work and headed to my local Game Stop… I immediately went up to the clerk and asked if there was any Metroid games left. His response: “Reservation?” So I was out of luck, but I got to talking to him and he was nice enough to actually check the shipping schedule to see when the next shipment might be. No avail there either.
He then mentioned that the Wii kiosk was actually playing the full game. I finished the first objective and went to give the wii-mote back to the clerk when I noticed a copy of MP3 on the counter. I was like “What is this?” He says “Metroid.” I say, “I know that but I thought you were all sold out.”
“It’s my pre-order,” the clerk said. “You can have it. I won’t be able to play it much this weekend and you will definitely enjoy it more than anyone else who has come in and played it.”
I was absolutely stunned by his generosity. I let him know that I normally post here and would let people know that good deeds do not go unnoticed.
Got a positive game store clerk experience to share? Leave it in the comments.
August 31st, 2007 at 11:24 am
Positive experience - I *AM* a game clerk at Gamestop (part time. I program full time to actually pay my bills.) I always try to help consumers with whatever I can, unless they either assume they’re the most important thing in the world (when the story is busy) or are absolutely gushing about how they totally did the coolest thing in Ninja Gaiden Black (yes, I mean the X-Box version). In those cases, I just try to get them out of the store politely so I don’t have to deal with them anymore.
The problem is my store doesn’t have cameras or any other type of security device, so I spend way too much of my time trying to prevent people from stealing.
August 31st, 2007 at 11:39 am
Refreshing. Especially given my experiences with GameStop.
August 31st, 2007 at 11:59 am
“Got a positive game store clerk experience to share?”
No. No I don’t.
August 31st, 2007 at 12:07 pm
This was why I wanted to let the Infendoites know that this niceness was so extraordinary. That was probably the best customer service I have received anywhere.
Loving MP3 as well. Just finished the first objective in Bryyo. Taking my time with this game and loving every minute of it.
August 31st, 2007 at 1:10 pm
On occasion, I will drive 20 minutes across town (instead of 5) to another Gamestop that barely gets any business, but has the nicest dude working there. It’s refreshing when you get an intelligent person with a real passion for video games. One that doesn’t argue with you just because *he* works at a gaming store, and thus *he* must be right. This guy always has me trying out stuff that I would probably never look at otherwise (and I actually like the stuff I try).
August 31st, 2007 at 2:07 pm
So I was working in my local Gamestop, and some guy comes in asking for a copy of metroid.
I ask if he has a reservation, but he didn’t, but as I’m nice I checked the shipment schedule, but that didn’t help.
I pointed out that the in store wii was playing metoid, so he went off to try that.
Meanwhile I got my reserved copy out.
He comes back and says “whats that” pointing to the game
I say “metroid”
He says “i know but you said there was none”
“It’s my pre-order,” I said. “You can have it. I won’t be able to play it much this weekend and you will definitely enjoy it more than anyone else who has come in and played it.”
He was like stunned, and told me he is gonna tell some guys on a website about it.
Cool eh?
August 31st, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Yeah, the only positive experience I’ve ever really had at a Gamestop is that they have used GBA games I can’t find anywhere else, other than online. I usually avoid going there, because they always seem to be trying to tell me what I want to buy, and selling me used copies of Animal Crossing for Gamecube when I want a new copy with a memory card for only 5 bucks more.
Bitter? Nooo… of course not.
August 31st, 2007 at 2:32 pm
A GameStop clerk let my buy a (RARE AS F***) copy of Marvel vs Capcom 2 when he said that he was going to buy it, but then again, I think he might not have actually been able to buy it until he was off work. But still, he could have said “No we don’t have it.”
August 31st, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Honeslty they probably had a million copies they just wanted to make you sqirm a little b/c you didn’t reserve the title. After they made you think they didn’t have it, then they offered it to you.
(I used to work there)
August 31st, 2007 at 3:23 pm
You know I thought about that. But that was the second store I went to (there is two in my town). The first one I went to they told me the same ol’ story. No reservation no game. I asked them to call the other store, and they wouldn’t because “they already did” that day.
I called their bluff and went to the second store and the rest is history. So it is possible that they had a ton in the back, but both stores were empty. Unless it’s a big conspiracy…..
August 31st, 2007 at 3:27 pm
When I went to a GameStop to get a copy of Metroid Prime 3, the clerk told me that was the last unreserved copy! I told him “I’m sure that’s what you tell all the boys!” and he said “no, really, this is the LAST copy!”
I always go get the rare or over-hyped games to this particular GameStop because they are out of the way and nobody goes there, so I can always find the last copy.
Then again, of course, they could be just SAYING that I’m always getting the last copy!
August 31st, 2007 at 3:28 pm
I go to only one gamestop in my area and get good service every time. The people who work there actually know what they’re talking about and there’s no douchebaggery. unlike pretty much every other gamestop I’ve ever been too.
August 31st, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Two stories, one positive, and one very negative.
I had been calling my area stores looking for Okami (it is SO hard to find) and one of the guys took my information down and said he would call if/when they got a copy in. I wasnt expecting a call suffice to say. But then two weeks later the guy calls me, not from the store, but from his cell phone. He was in his store off the clock when a copy of Okami came in, he set it aside for me and I loved the game ever since, The End.
You know what? I wont even tell the second story. All I will say, is that if I lived in Royal Oak, instead of where I live, I wouldnt be a gamer (their super douche-tastic employees are unrivaled in human history). Okay, I will tell the story now actually.
My friend plays sports games, thats it. Just sports nothing else (except for The Warriors, he happens to be a big fan of the franchise). He was going to the Royal Oak GS to get the latest year NHL game, and the clerk douchily asked if he played any other ‘real’ games. My friend responded he had little interest in games that werent sports. So the clerk persists “So you havent played ANY games other than sports?!” The friend humors him and lets him know he played The Warriors game. The guy then proceeds to ask if he wanted to “buy any other ‘SUPER GORY GAMES’…like God of War 2!!!” (which wasnt out for a long time back then) After saying “I just want the roster update really” The clerk kept trying to figure out why my friend didnt play anything besides sports games. I know it is his job, but you arent God’s gift to the games industry, the guy just wants a roster update, leave him alone. Sorry /rant
August 31st, 2007 at 5:02 pm
My game store clerk is a nice fellow, who I get along with fine. He’s always up for a conversation, and always has something new to share, about something old and obscure.
August 31st, 2007 at 6:28 pm
I love my local gamestops. Very helpful and friendly. I tell people this all the time. No one believes me.
August 31st, 2007 at 8:35 pm
My local GameStop is great. I don’t have any extraordinary stories to tell, but they’re friendly and courteous and know what they’re doing like all store clerks should be.
August 31st, 2007 at 9:06 pm
My local GameStop is a nice little place. The manager there was promoted up recently from being a clerk and he’s always been very helpful. I didn’t reserve MP3 and they clearly had stock just for reserved and unreserved, but I never have a problem there. Plus, they do midnight launches that other GameStop don’t necessarily seem to do, which makes it fun for the folks who frequent that location.
I don’t go there very often (too many new games = less for rent to have a place to play games in), but the people still recognize me and acknowledge my return business. I don’t think I’ve been asked about “selling” games back in at least a year (about the time the current manager was promoted). Even when I reserved Twilight Princess and Halo 3. If anything, that makes me feel better about “selling” my old games there if I ever decide to do it (not likely).
September 1st, 2007 at 5:18 am
I walked into a GameStop on launch day around noon. It’s on the edge of town in a new area. Anyway, I asked for MP3, the guy reaches into a shipping box on the counter and says “Oh, this is the last sealed copy.” So I guess the rest had been pilaged. I’m glad I had good timing because I refuse to get a NEW game that has had the shrinkwrap removed.
Strangely, I’ve never even been offered a non-shrinkwrapped game at GameStop, but maybe that’s because I usually get my games on launch day.
September 1st, 2007 at 8:28 am
It’s always refreshing to befriend a real human behind the GameStop counter– not just some heartless drone trying to pawn off crap that you don’t even want.
September 1st, 2007 at 9:03 am
When I bought my Gamecube the clerk was a nice guy and had been working at the Gamestop for a long time, and was really very helpful to everyone that came in. When I got my Gamecube I bought with it Wind Waker, then when he had rung it all up he said, “hold on a second”, he went in the back room and brought out the Ocarine of Time Master Quest, he said, “you know what this is?”, I said, “the master quest only released in Japan, only supposed to get it with a pre-order of wind waker…why?” he gave it to me for free saying that obviously i was a fan of zelda and seemed like a nice enough kid (I was 11 at the time). I haven’t had a good experience since.
September 1st, 2007 at 9:55 am
I’ve actually had relatively good experiences, at least when the current GameStop used to be a Software Etc., it was my favorite store to go to, people were nice.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:23 am
The previous manager of Tromsø’s GAME was a really nice fellow who used to give me discounts whenever I bought games for over $300 (3000 NOK) + plus he gave me a GC T-shirt for free when he heard I was a Nintentoid once I was checking out what new Ninty games where out (I didn’t find any games to buy).
September 2nd, 2007 at 1:42 am
EB games had just opened in my town. I was probably 12 or 13. I was standing, wide-eyed in the middle of the store. I went up to the counter to ask for a game (i forget which one) and the guy went to go get it. In the minute or two standing there, the manager looked at me and said “Hey, get this kid a T-shirt” and so, I got an HMD Viewtiful Joe T-Shirt and a Megaman pen. It was AWESOME.
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:55 pm
i used to work at gamestop at my local mall and its true that most gamestop workers are a**holes. its a bad job for gamers, the managers and district managers dont care about games and gamers, they care about selling scratched up games at high prices and bugging pepole to preorder games cause they claim its the only to get your game when it comes out. my friend ray works there and he`s the man and the only true gamer that works at any the gamestops around here!
September 4th, 2007 at 10:18 am
I used to work at the local EB in the mall. My whole team was cool there. We were very anti-corporate and hated the DM. We called him the Iceman because he was always so cold-blooded. Oddly enough, we were always tops in sales… Probably because we had a clientele. People would come in just to shoot the sh*t. We even had people who called TTY and we would help them. I guess we had an impact on one deaf gamer that we had deaf people come in from over 50 miles away. I wish people understood how much a little customer service goes.
Alas, I got fired for helping people save a bit too much. I would also give away magazines that weren’t in inventory (back then, EGM, Gamepro and the likes were given to us at such a low cost, that we didn’t have them in our system. They just padded our profits) to kids. I mean, I would give them away when we got the newest issue in… All we would do is throw them out anyways. I also would price match too much (or let people know where it was cheaper).
These stores can turn a gamer into an a**hole easily with all the red tape crap.
September 4th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
I dunno, maybe I’m just lucky, but I’ve NEVER had a bad experience with a Gamestop/EB Games/Software Etc. employee. Maybe it’s the are I live in (southern Oregon), but they’re all very helpful and nice.
September 4th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
There’s one Gamestop near here, and the manager Eric over there is a really awesome guy. The rest of the staff is pretty cool, but it’s not the same over there since 3 of the old employees got fired/transfered/quit.
Then there’s the Gamecrazy near here. I don’t frequent that place, but from the couple of times I’ve been there, I really like the place, and the people who work there. One of the guys had explained that he had been out drinking all of the night before, as an excuse to why he kept messing up on the register. And my friend had been looking for a harddrive for his 360 Core system, and the guy called a local Gamestop to see their price, which was actually cheaper. He risked business at his store just to help a customer, now that’s awesome.
There’s also a small family owned store near that Gamecrazy. I forget the name of the store, but the guy in there is pretty cool.
That’s about all I can recall.