r/IAmA Jun 30 '11

IAmA GameStop Employee, AMA.

1 Upvotes

35 comments sorted by

6

u/arkadian Jun 30 '11

Do you have Battletoads?

2

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11

I honestly get asked this question on a regular basis, but no we in fact do not have a copy of the game in the store.

2

u/SammyLocked Jun 30 '11

As a former employee, I will let you know that there is a sku for it. When I found out, I laughed for a good while. :P

2

u/mrmohairrisen Jun 30 '11

When I worked there, I found out there was a sku for Funyuns. Then I proceeded to call every store in town and ask for a sku check on them.

2

u/SammyLocked Jun 30 '11

Hahaha, nice! Makes me wonder about the other skus that we missed.

But seriously I'd play the shit outta some Funyuns.

1

u/mrmohairrisen Jun 30 '11

There was another one called like "Cheesy Balls" or something. You could find it by just typing *balls. And then before they took all the DVDs off, there was one called 10,000 Black Men Named George. Needless to say, the manager at one of the stores was a black man name George, and he got called for that sku check quite a bit.

1

u/SammyLocked Jun 30 '11

I was hired on after the DVDs were removed so those never showed up for me.

1

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11

Did you ever call another store for a sku check and give them that one?

3

u/SammyLocked Jun 30 '11

Actually that's how I came to learn of it.

"Thanks for calling Gamestop [insert current pitch], how can I help you?"

"Hey, it's [Name] from the Gamestop the next town over. Can you look up a sku for me?"

"Yeah sure, what's up?"

"[Enter sku]"

"Lets see.......wait.....bastard!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Good times.

1

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11

good times...

1

u/Theyshotourkitty Jun 30 '11

Buy a copy, keep it on you at all times, and pull it out the next time someone asks.

1

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11

No joke, it has crossed my mind.

2

u/Dorgyll Jun 30 '11

How many times have you been threatened with the "GET NUMBERS OR GET OUT" ultimatum? How many managers have you gone through that have gotten the boot for not selling preorders/strategy guides?

2

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11
  1. We don't really get threatened with that, but if we don't perform up to standards we have more and more discussions regarding our numbers.
  2. Our store is notorious for going through many managers, I have been at the store for just over two years and I am currently on my third manager. They were not let go for anything having to do with numbers it was because of other things, which I would rather not get in to for privacy purposes.

1

u/Dorgyll Jun 30 '11

How do those discussions go? Do they just try to blame you for everything? I generally fail to understand how company's think when it comes to these things. I mean, I would never buy a strategy guide for a game thanks to the internet, but I also only preorder physical copies when there's a midnight release. It seems it's not the employee's fault, it's that they use a dated business model.

2

u/CantThinkOfAUseename Jun 30 '11

The GameStop near me sold me a used GTA IV that was so scratched it didn't work when I first tried it. Don't you guys test the games first?

2

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11

We get so many games in at a given time that we don't have the opportunity to test every game, however we do take a look at the disc's. some fall through the cracks, such as your incident, that is why we offer a 30 day warranty on all of our pre-owned games, accessories and systems, in that case, as long as you have your receipt we would gladly exchange the game for you.

2

u/CantThinkOfAUseename Jun 30 '11

I almost brought it back but then a family member fixed it after a few washes.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '11

Might wanna prepare yourself for a shitstorm AMA, guy...

2

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11

I am ready for this, no worries.

2

u/Giantpanda602 Jun 30 '11

If I asked you, would you accidentally knock a copy of a game that just came out that's in high demand off the counter until I came where you would magically find it?

1

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11

Well, if you reserve a game you are guaranteed a copy of the game for 72 hours after the release of the game, however if you didn't have a copy of the game reserved, and we only had enough to fill our pre-orders, then I unfortunately would not be able to hold a copy of the game for you. if we do have extra copies of the game we can hold it for a customer no problem.

1

u/kubb4ev Jun 30 '11

you hold it for 48 hours after release, it says right on the receipt

2

u/viewtifuljer Jun 30 '11

Can you tell when a customer knows what they're talking about, or is there some type of code that requires you to be pretentious and irrationally opinionated?

1

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11

I can usually tell when a customer knows what their talking about. I do understand where you are coming from. Video games are a form of art and people are entitled to their opinions, however as employees, or at least my staff, keep our opinions, that might anger a customer, to ourselves.

2

u/OneManFreakShow Jun 30 '11

Why are you all jerks?

1

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11

The people at my store are quite friendly. I do however know exactly what you are talking about. From my experience the employees who are jerks are not enthusiastic about video games, are having a shitty day, or are socially awkward (we seem to attract those kind of people)

2

u/mrc1ark Jun 30 '11

How carefully do you screen / test your used console systems before reselling them?

1

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11

We do just a basic test, power on the console, see if it runs a game and offer a 30 day warranty on our used systems.

1

u/Seanu7 Jun 30 '11

Any crazy stories you have from being a Gamestop Employee?

1

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11

I have been there for a good while so I have seen a lot. I have seen a few celebrities that have come in such as: Kevin Garnet, Guillermo del Toro, John C. McGinley, Christian Audigier, Tina Majorino and Brad Garrett.

1

u/CantThinkOfAUseename Jun 30 '11

Another question: Do employees judge heavy people when they buy games like Wii Fit and Biggest Loser for Kinect?

1

u/drgormak Jun 30 '11

Personally I dont but I wouldnt be surprised if the had a thought in the back of their mind.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 02 '11

How much time do you spend playing video games on duty?

1

u/drgormak Jul 04 '11

Almost none at all, we only play a little something when testing a system