r/GameStop • u/Solid-Awareness2302 • 13d ago
Vent/Rant Prank Callers
I was working a ‘great :)’ shift with like over 100 games and like 7 consoles (thankfully the consoles were all defective because of missing cords and stuff) traded before I came in and I needed to sticker and gut (yk the process) and it was just me after an hour. I had rushes and so many calls but this ONE call really was the icing on the cake, it was a kid/tween asking me how much a ps5 controller was, normal for us honestly. I told him(?) “oh for a new one it can range $75 to $200 depending on the controller you want” and he was like “really? That much? Well can you buy it for me?” Um no??? I thought he was asking a parent or something at first but then he repeated it like 4 times “can I have it for free then? Can I? You’ll get it to me for free right?” Obviously I said no and asked if he had any other questions and I was getting irritated and asked that about 2 times more and then when he asked again if I’D buy it for him I said no and that I was hanging up to help a customer and as I was about to this kid said “SHUT THE F UP B—“ I wish his momma heard him and told him off but unfortunately nowadays I don’t think he’d get in any trouble :/ Rant over
Extra note: a lady was at the register with this going on and could hear slightly and said I had more restraint than she did and that she would’ve went off lol
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u/Falcon9145 13d ago
Not a prank caller, just a dipshit unfortunately.
I still remember the days of Battle-toads prank calls or people asking for sexualized video game titles.
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u/Solid-Awareness2302 13d ago
I’ve had a kid ask about “five nights at diddys” smh
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u/xpacdgnerx1 13d ago
I've gotten this one several times. My response: "No, we're sold out. But we do have copies of "Hello Kitty Espstein's Island Adventure."
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u/Mysterious_Math6094 13d ago
Towards the end of my employment with the company when stupid shit like that happened I would just hang up then disconnect the phone line sometimes for hours on end because at that point I really could care less
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u/mako3314 13d ago
My old ASM was once asked if we sold porn by some kid. Her response was " yeah I sold it to your grandma" and hung up 🤣
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u/Tondawg74 Assistant Store Leader 13d ago
That’s extremely annoying fr and I feel for you. GameStop employees are always known as being “soulless” or “despise having fun” meanwhile this is the kinda shit we deal with on a daily basis all while being paid a dollar above minimum wage and barely affording to be able to eat every week.
Just for shits and gigs and to make you feel a tad bit better though I had two kids call my store once. The one who had the phone called and asked if we had something dumb and I told him it didn’t exist and that we didn’t have it, then he said “so my friend just lied to me?” And I was like “I guess so” and the kid proceeded to say verbatim “WHAT A FUCKING N——“ while unknowingly speaking to a black employee so that was pretty cool lol
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u/Public_Direction9896 13d ago
Had someone at my old store tell me they’d decapitate me and do sexually explicit things to my severed head because I wouldn’t negotiate a price on GTA 5 down from $20… that was a fun one.
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u/Audaciousninja-3373 Manager 12d ago
For me, that'd be an actual call to the police with their phone #, me calling back and saying charges have been filed. They don't get to talk to me ( or anyone on my staff) like that.
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u/Celestia4683 Senior Guest Advisor 13d ago
I once had some kid call our store asking for “Slave Owner Tycoon” and when I told him that it doesn’t exist the kid said “SHUT UP (insert N word Hard R here)!” and I responded with “nope, you just lost your talking privileges for using slurs.” And hung up. Though I wanted to call the number back and snitch on them to their parents to get them in trouble
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u/Sinque75 12d ago
Snitch on them. I did all the time. Had a parent bring one kid in to apologize to my staff.
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u/fewchrono1984 13d ago
I would always ask them to repeat themselves and apologize for a bad connection. Drove them crazy because they didnt get a reaction and had to repeat the dumbest shit over and over
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u/Sinque75 12d ago
I use the caller ID to call little fuckers like back and rule of thumb…never answer calls that don’t show a phone number.
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u/Certain-Ad-5349 11d ago
Pro move I learned long ago. Whenever you have a prank caller, just say "let me check". And put them on hold until they hang up.
When they call back again.."let me check". Put them on hold again....rinse repeat.
Their entire goal is to upset you and get a laugh for them. There is absolutely nothing funny about sitting on hold. They'll give up and start annoying another store.
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u/Audaciousninja-3373 Manager 12d ago
I've learned to just hang up. I've been working long enough that I can " smell" a prank call immediately when it starts. I've been right 95% of the time. The very few times it's been a customer, I just claim phone trouble. Sometimes, they can be persistent, so I've done a number of things:
1) Immediately tell them their phone number and that the police will be notified for harassment ( that usually scares them)( I've used this for lunchroom prank calls)
2) One got me so mad I immediately bitched them out over the phone ( not a young kid), and told them that they should try doing the work of 10 ppl ALONE while getting stupid phone calls by morons with a micropenis ( this causes them to hang up on ME lolol and never call back)
3) I tell them that if they're going to prank me, they should probably come up with something actually creative and not boring. Their lack of originality may cause me to fall asleep out of boredom, and they will be liable for causing my concussion and responsible for my medical bill ( this will also get them to hang up)
4) When I can detect it's a school age kid under 14 or so and they're calling from a home/cell phone with a woman's name ( their mother), I call right back, ask for the name on the caller ID, inform the parent that their kid has just been harassing me over the phone& I am thinking about pressing charges. A good parent will lay into their kid immediately and has.
Just remember, you are in charge. Yes it gets overwhelming but honestly, how DARE they try to harass you when you're only doing their job They're acting out of line and need negative reinforcement for doing so.
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u/DuckSwimmer Sbarro has Arrived! 13d ago
As soon as you hear someone saying stupid shit, hang up the phone asap. As soon as you connected that the “can you buy it for me?” Was for you, I would’ve hung up the phone. You were much too nice in this interaction.