So I applied for a position at the local Gamestop....

[King Sean]

I read on some online blogs and whatnot that they are the worst people to work for. I work very well under pressure and I believe that I can do whatever they ask, but do any of you have any experience working there, or know someone that does, and can you give me any insight on how it is to work there?

:wtf:

 

[Seru_Kai]

I worked at a Barnes and Noble for awhile, and they had about 6 employees who also worked for Gamestop down the block. They said it was horrible. They couldn't get that many shifts, it was minimum wage (no raises either), and they were always yelled at for needing to 'sell more games'.

That Gamestop sold PLENTY of stuff, believe me, and they were always yelled at to try and sell more. They hated it, but they loved working around video games all day so they put up with it.

If you find a higher paying job or a full time job, take it.

 

[Valvalis]

Well tbh I've never worked at a Gamestop or known anyone who has, but one thing I have noticed is that (in my local one anyway) because the store is so small, it is EXTREMELY hot inside it all the time If the temperature where you work is something that affects you either way, you might want to just go visit it and hang out inside it for a half hour or so, browsing the games or whatnot just to see what it's like. That also might give you some insight to how busy the store is if you can manage to go at a popular time of day or popular day of the week

 

[Shu]

I heard the same about the management, but hell working at a game stop is a good venue I'll be honest. I've met some cool dudes and girls working there, all of them were... pretty dense about gaming though. So we talked about other things, like... sex.. no! I mean we talked about ole miss football or something along those lines.

Odd, you'd expect folks to know a bit more about gaming before trying to get a job there.

 

[Ilyena]

Retail sucks in general, tbh.

Retail is all about selling so if you don't do your share, you're going to get bitched at the majority of the time. And most retail pay is shitty.

I will say this. Every Gamestop that I've been to, the employees have been extremely pleasant, friendly and helpful so it can't be all bad. Trust me, when people hate their jobs (and their managers), it shows in their customer service. And working at the corporate office for a large retailer, I know that service can vary dramatically from store to store. I've also noticed that the attitudes of the employees depends a lot on the attitude of the management. If you have an asshole manager that's constantly hounding you, you're likely to hate your job. If your manager isn't one of Satan's minions, you'll likely at least have a somewhat good time working there. The best thing for you to do would be to talk with employees who work there and find out how that store is, how the management is, etc.

In summary, retail is pretty much all about selling; retail jobs are all pretty shitty; retail pay is generally crap. It's probably not any worse than working for any other store. :dave:

 

[Sullivan0930]

I worked at gamestop and omg it was the worst job. I worked 3 four hour shifts a week for $8 an hour as a game advisor. All I did was walk around the store and ask people if I could help them find anything, they always said no, and then my boss would tell me to just try and talk to them about what they like. Then you have to constantly keep all the games organized and that gets old after 15mins. It looks like a cool job from the outside but once your in it sucks. I still have my nametag for laughs though.

 

[West]

I worked a seasonal shift at an EB Games shortly before they merged with GameStop (honestly, it was pretty much the same thing anyways).

From my short experience there, I don't think I'd ever want to go back. A lot of people probably think it sounds cool because you work with and around games all of the time, but when it gets right down to it, that doesn't even matter. Liking video games only helps when you're talking to customers and they're looking for a certain game or a recommendation (which doesn't happen often, unless a parent is trying to find a game for their 6-year-old kid or something). The only game-related benefits you get from working there are the employee discount (which, if I recall, isn't an impressive discount), and the place that I worked at would let employees "check-out" games for a night or two every so often. It's not like you get to play any games while you're working there or anything, since you'll always have something to do. And even if you don't, they won't let you.

Also, customer service at a place like that can be very frustrating. You'll either get people who think they know more than you (and they may very well), or you'll get people who have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Or you'll just get people who don't want to be helped at all, which means you have to sit there and juggle whatever you're doing along with monitoring them. And there are always the angry customers. I worked during the holiday season when the Wii came out, and I recall at least one occasion where a customer screamed at my manager because he "ruined Christmas" because we didn't have any Wiis (much like every other game store at the time).

As people before me have said, their scheduling sucks. I thought it was just me, but hearing other people mention it makes me think that it's just a chain-wide problem. You won't get many hours, and you could probably find better pay elsewhere.

But for reals, retail is retail when it comes right down to it. You're going to be doing a lot of register work, organizing and shelving things, general store clean-up work, inventory, and all of that good stuff. And GameStop is--as it has been mentioned before--very sales-intensive. Your value as an employee is pretty much directly proportional to how much stuff you can sell, and how much stuff you can get people to sign up for.

But if you can handle all of that, then go for it. A job is a job, right? Anyway, it's easy to bash GameStop, but retail jobs in general are just awful experiences after a while. I've been working at the same store for two years, and I'm itching to quit because I hate it there. I just need to find a new job first.

 

[Saints&Storms]

Well, I have had a lot of experience with interns at GameStops though I have never worked there myself, the place that I live -- one guy in particular who has been working at the local Gamestops for a long time that I suppose must get good reviews from customers -- he always talked about the games that you are buying and gives you a head up of what you are buying first and he even tells you about new games that are coming out -- he's generally really talkative ans stuff. Maybe this helped.