Your stories from gaming retail

[dumpster]

Whether it was your area manager who kicked the shit out of a 3DO because they had to witness it being written off, or the Amiga Fan with 68040 processor and 8Mb of ram who hung around the counter and insisted Amiga would never die, the guy who brought his computer in for repair who turned out to be running a brothel, or the customer who's screensaver scrolled "Horny tonight. Julia, let us fuck" , or even the stuff that's gone into urban legend (we really did have a customer who held a sheet of paper up to the monitor and pressed print screen) what are your stories of gaming retail?

[Thor]

I've posted about this before. We had a guy who was a regular, and pre-ordered games a fair bit, but always under the name "Skunk Rider". Like ... wtf!

 

Also had some absolute thick-as-fuck dickhead walk into the store, pick up a PS1 cover, then bring it to the till for a refund for which he had a receipt. He'd clearly picked up someone's dropped receipt (or found it in a bag/purse/wallet he'd stolen maybe). In fairness the dull twat actually stuck around while we called security and arranged for police. 

[Ry]

I worked for Gamestation then that changed to game for a while. Nothing exciting really apart from pricks moaning about a game being out of stock or shit trade in prices, a few getting aggressive. 

 

Then went to work at Grainger games for a bit. Some interesting stories about that. Especially the works night out in Newcastle. There's a story in a few high profile gaming sites from a few years back about an industry event hosted by them. Tells you all you need to know about the cunts that worked there. 

 

 

[df0]

My hometown lacked a proper gaming store, all we had was equivalents to Smyths. Good for most generic gaming stuff, not very fun though. A nearby town had a proper gaming store so almost every other weekend I was there just to be there. Got to know the main clerk there who after several years started his own independent gaming store and that while time was a blast. He started aiming for the import crowd, the crowd who would not shy away from paying like 300 quid some rare version of a Japanese bullet heel nobody had ever even heard of. The Netherlands was and is not very credit card friendly so purchasing stuff from for example NCSX was a hassle. So his store became a central hub for many of surrounding cities, like a gathering ground for gamers. Great fun. Many years later he changed his approach to cater much more to the generic crowd while providing accurate information instead of the "64 bit is better than 32 bit" nonsense you'd hear else where. The store is still going strong.

 

Another story, my hometown eventually got its own gaming store. It was right across from my barber so while the store was under construction I met the owner. Long story short: he was going to do it completely different from everybody else. To save storage space he'd not stock games, instead he'd place an order for a customer who could pick up the order two days later. The store did not last long.

 

edit: maybe unrelated, I'll never go to GameStop again. Too many lame experiences:

 

- very talkative clerk (not shaming. I just wanted to buy a game instead of being stuck in a monologue by someone clearly on the spectrum).

- question after question about pre ordering or extending the warranty or wanting advice. Just let me buy this so I can go home.

[Gabe]

That story about the Grainger Games event is on the forum somewhere, perhaps buried in the big Game thread.

 

I don't recall the details, was it lots of sexist/racist stuff? 

[idespair]

A staff member once traded in a copy of GTA, and inside the manual found a note which read something along the lines of “Hi, I’m a 12yo boy called Steven. If you want tips for this game then call me on …”

 

We didn’t risk calling.

[Ry]

39 minutes ago, Gabe said:

That story about the Grainger Games event is on the forum somewhere, perhaps buried in the big Game thread.

 

I don't recall the details, was it lots of sexist/racist stuff? 

 

Sexist/racist/copious amounts amount ok cocaine/condoms/used condoms.

 

I had left the company before that but the works night out was very very similar. 

 

The directors/owners were utter cunts and thought they were gangsters. 

 

[Goemon]

51 minutes ago, Ry said:

I worked for Gamestation then that changed to game for a while. Nothing exciting really apart from pricks moaning about a game being out of stock or shit trade in prices, a few getting aggressive. 

 

Then went to work at Grainger games for a bit. Some interesting stories about that. Especially the works night out in Newcastle. There's a story in a few high profile gaming sites from a few years back about an industry event hosted by them. Tells you all you need to know about the cunts that worked there. 

 

 

I can remember being in a Game once and some guy started arguing with staff about the price he would get for some old copy of Pro Evo. I can remember hearing bits about how he’d been told a different price of over phone etc. it got pretty heated until he stormed off and on getting to the door shouted ‘you know what, fucking have the fucking game’ and threw it, frisbee style, across the store!

 

Luckily it acted like a frisbee pretty well and actually went up and got caught in some high up shelving otherwise it could have hit someone in the face.

 

Pretty crazy to see though. I can only begin to imagine some of the horror stories of aggressive customers, not getting what they want.

[SuperFamiTom]

One occasion I'll never forget is when a young lad who used to come in fairly regularly and play on the handful of arcade cabinets we had, brought in a Mega Drive to sell us clearly not thinking we'd bother testing it. 

 

I pulled the console out of the box and before plugging any cables in grabbed a nearby cartridge and shoved it into the slot. Imagine my surprise when the cartridge fell into and rattled about in the slot. I quickly realised that there was no board inside. 

 

"What do you think you're playing at?" I asked. 

 

"Eh? It was working fine at home this morning!" he replied panicking. 

 

"Yeah of course it was you cheeky little cunt."

 

Don't think I ever saw him again after that. 

[Protocol Penguin]

Recent experience as a customer: Finding a clearance copy of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity for £12.99 in a local Game during a lunch break, taking the empty box to the counter and having the box yanked from my hand and passed to a big man who was browsing the store, and who was lugging round a teetering pile of discounted games of various formats, ready to buy ("he's a regular, and we've only got one copy left"). I think that experience reminded me why I've avoided shopping in Game for almost five years.

[AceGrace]

That's outrageous.

[Jolly]

I worked the San Andreas launch and was asked by an incredibly well mannered lady if we had a copy of 'Gran Turismo: St Andrews'. 

[dumpster]

We had a lad on school work experience.  A customer tried to buy Revenge of Shinobi and we couldn't find the cartridge.  We hunted high and low. The next day I was selling someone else a game and saw it right there, filed in the right place.  Turned out the kid on work experience had come in as a customer the week before, asked to try the game out and run off with the cartridge.  Sneaked it back in because he didn't realize the mess he caused until he was on the other side of the counter. 

 

[Down by Law]

1 hour ago, Jolly said:

I worked the San Andreas launch and was asked by an incredibly well mannered lady if we had a copy of 'Gran Turismo: St Andrews'. 

 

My fave wrong names from my time at Gamestation

 

Final Fantasy Oranges

Shenmooey

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of the Taliban

Onionmasher

Tom Hank's Skateboarding

GTA Eye Vee

Nintendo DSP

Fair Cry 2

Deep Space

Unchanted

 

Found these the other day during a clear out. 

 

 

 

Everything else is boring P&Ls, Staff Borrowing sheets and my contract (£4.35 per hour 😅)

[DeciderVT]

1 hour ago, Jolly said:

I worked the San Andreas launch and was asked by an incredibly well mannered lady if we had a copy of 'Gran Turismo: St Andrews'. 

 

The LA Noire launch period was a safari of stupid.

 

"Mate, you got that new GTA... LA Nory?"

 

You'd try to tell them but they just wouldn't listen.

[dumpster]

Super Fannycom.

 

I remember back in the 80s a fair few people called it "Intendo" as well.  

 

 

[wretcherd]

1 hour ago, dumpster said:

Super Fannycom.

This reminds me, a bloke traded in a pile of ps2 games and when filing them away we found a Polaroid of someone's fanny tucked in one of the manuals.

[dataDave]

I worked as a Christmas temp at Gamestation over Xmas 2004. For some reason my name never appeared on the intranet system where the manager had to notify payroll of how many hours we'd worked. To the manager's credit he spent forever on the phone to them trying to work out what was happening.

 

This went on and on, and after I'd left (a whole three months later) I went back in to see why the fuck I still hadn't been paid for all my hours. I'd been running up an overdraft that was spiraling and other direct debits weren't being paid (including the outstanding debt I'd arranged with the courts after having my hire purchase car repossessed the year before), I also owed £1,200 on board to my grandad. Me and the manager were sat at the screen this time - I took one look at it and asked him to hit the F5 key. Boom. My name appeared. He looked at me with a sheepish disdain and asked me again for my hours. I told him 320, or whatever it was, and as an off-handed apology he put an extra zero on the end before smashing that submit button.

 

A couple of weeks later I had something like £12,000+ in my account. They never did ask me for that money back.

[teddymeow]

2 hours ago, Down by Law said:

 

 

Found these the other day during a clear out. 

 

 

 

Everything else is boring P&Ls, Staff Borrowing sheets and my contract (£4.35 per hour 😅)

 

Found mine t'other day. Good memories.

[SeanR]

19 minutes ago, Fallows said:

I worked as a Christmas temp at Gamestation over Xmas 2004. For some reason my name never appeared on the intranet system where the manager had to notify payroll of how many hours we'd worked. To the manager's credit he spent forever on the phone to them trying to work out what was happening.

 

This went on and on, and after I'd left (a whole three months later) I went back in to see why the fuck I still hadn't been paid for all my hours. I'd been running up an overdraft that was spiraling and other direct debits weren't being paid (including the outstanding debt I'd arranged with the courts after having my hire purchase car repossessed the year before), I also owed £1,200 on board to my grandad. Me and the manager were sat at the screen this time - I took one look at it and asked him to hit the F5 key. Boom. My name appeared. He looked at me with a sheepish disdain and asked me again for my hours. I told him 320, or whatever it was, and as an off-handed apology he put an extra zero on the end before smashing that submit button.

 

A couple of weeks later I had something like £12,000+ in my account. They never did ask me for that money back.

That’s 400 days straight, at 8hours a day.

[Eighthours]

1 hour ago, Fallows said:

I worked as a Christmas temp at Gamestation over Xmas 2004. For some reason my name never appeared on the intranet system where the manager had to notify payroll of how many hours we'd worked. To the manager's credit he spent forever on the phone to them trying to work out what was happening.

 

This went on and on, and after I'd left (a whole three months later) I went back in to see why the fuck I still hadn't been paid for all my hours. I'd been running up an overdraft that was spiraling and other direct debits weren't being paid (including the outstanding debt I'd arranged with the courts after having my hire purchase car repossessed the year before), I also owed £1,200 on board to my grandad. Me and the manager were sat at the screen this time - I took one look at it and asked him to hit the F5 key. Boom. My name appeared. He looked at me with a sheepish disdain and asked me again for my hours. I told him 320, or whatever it was, and as an off-handed apology he put an extra zero on the end before smashing that submit button.

 

A couple of weeks later I had something like £12,000+ in my account. They never did ask me for that money back.

I run plenty of payroll in my accountancy practice. There’s fuck-all way that would EVER get through anyone even half competent! I’m not doubting your story, I’m just baffled.

[pledge]

That extra zero would be taking it from a month to a year?

[SeanR]

8 minutes ago, pledge said:

That extra zero would be taking it from a month to a year?

320hrs /24 = 13 days

3200hrs /24 = 133 days

 

but no one works 24 hours a day

[pledge]

That's why I used 8 hours

[dataDave]

17 hours ago, Eighthours said:

I run plenty of payroll in my accountancy practice. There’s fuck-all way that would EVER get through anyone even half competent! I’m not doubting your story, I’m just baffled.

I spoke to the area manager about it a year later. Apparently this happened more than once. One girl (also an Xmas temp) had the entirety of her student debt paid off by them.

[Mars]

16 hours ago, SeanR said:

320hrs /24 = 13 days

3200hrs /24 = 133 days

 

but no one works 24 hours a day

 

That sort of attitude is exactly why lazy millennials will never be able to afford a house!  Back in my day I worked 24 hours an hour and was therefore able to buy a house for 20 pence using a coupon from my Rice Krispies box.

[schmojo]

I had a great time working for both Gamestation and Game. 

 

Had an entertaining colleague who used to swear at me through the CCTV camera speaker over my shoulder and I was dealing with customers. We had a kickabout with Champ Man promotional balls that wrecked the shop's merchandising as was shown to us on CCTV the following day.

 

Back when I drank slightly too much, and as a result had to recover too much, the hero of a manager would ask if I fancied being in the back for some shrink wrapping instead of public facing. Though that was for her benefit as much as mine, and I'm not sure the confined plastic fumes helped. But man, if I couldn't wrap a Master System 1, 6 games and the little arcade stick nobody could.

 

Obviously there were plentiful creatures on both sides of the counter, myself included, but it's all fondly remembered. Even met a partner of 4 years working there. Shout out to the Newcastle and Leeds dirtbags.

 

 

[SeanR]

17 hours ago, pledge said:

That's why I used 8 hours

You posed it as a question after this reply

 

19 hours ago, SeanR said:

That’s 400 days straight, at 8hours a day.

 

[Thor]

*phone rings*

 

"Good afternoon, you're through to Electronics Bou-"

 

"Is WWF Attitude out yet?"

 

[Floshenbarnical]

Paging @Haribokart to the thread

 

I have too many to share and not enough time, but one that has always stood out to me was when I was walking through the store past some fucking gammony dude as I was saying something to Haribo and the gammony dude coughed, open mouthed, and a large piece of phlegm flew up and out of his lungs and into the back of my throat

 

Might actually still be my most traumatic memory to date