HALLELUIAH!

hehehe...Congrats Jen!

GRATZ! Hope it doesn't suck as bad as B&N, but hey, now you can boss people around =)

Grats, Jenna! :) When do we get out friends and family discount? ;)

Oh, and when you give notice tell him like this: Sorry boss, but you are going to have to either train someone else to do the shipping/receiving or do it yourself! ;)

wuwu! I got the GameStop hookup!












errrr...I mean...grats, E ;)

Fuck two weeks, tell the schmuck you're done tomorrow and take 2 weeks off. LOL Congratulations Erin!!!

yay!!

:woohoo :ham1 :ham2 :ham3

Congrats! Third Key is overall a pretty nice and cushy position. You have power over all but 2 people at the store, but don't have to deal with as much stress :).

I used to be a third key.. then assistant.. then manager. Don't ever take manager. lol.

Grats hon!


And Immy!! yOu stole my hamsters!!!!!

:ham2

YUP. My husband was a GameStop manager for four years. The stress nearly sent him over the edge of sanity. I don't EVER want to be a general manager there, LOL. I could have gotten an ASM job if I'd wanted it, but I don't need that many hours/stress.

Third key is just right for me while I'm in school.

Horray!!


Grats Jenn!

I know you started your new job this week, Jenna. How'd it go?!!!!

Going pretty good, so far!

My co-managers are great people. Steve, my GM is super funny and says "ya know what I mean?" at least twice every other sentance. Katie is sweet. She's young, 22, and blonde and VERY bubbly. She apparently LOVES me already, but I think she's just thrilled to not be the only girl at the store anymore.

Customers have been cool, so far. Lots of geeky gamers, it's great! I've yet to work a weekend, and probably wont for a couple of weeks, and that's when the major weirdos come out of the woodwork. We'll see how that goes.

My biggest concern is that I just don't know games as well as I thought I did. Some dweeby kid comes in talking a mile a minute who should probably be on medication for A.D.D. asks for this game and I'm like "Huh?" Ya know, I play Everquest so I've been out of the loop on the rest of the gaming world for a few years. I *DO* own a PS2, Xbox, and GameCube, I just don't play them much.

Now if you ask me about more nostaltic games, like Atari, Nes, or Snes, I'm your girl! But we don't seel those at GameStop anymore.

I work tomorrow and Friday, then I get a long weekend. Next week I open the store by myself on TUESDAY. :-o *deer in headlights*

I'll let you know how it goes! As of now though, it's a cool job and I'm not missing B&N at all!

Don't worry about Tuesday. Just backhand anyone that gives you lip.

Hide your nametag (assuming you have one) or cover up your uniform shirt (again,assuming you have one), that way if someone asks something you dont know, you can innocently proclaim you're also a customer. /nod.


*hug* glad you're liking it so far. Beware of bubbly Katie, bubbly gets annoying with a quickness...and yanno if she is bubbly all the time that means she is hiding something. Like, she's a serial killer or mauls little baby seals for the rush, or perhaps she is going through a bitter divorce and has started to slowly poison her ex husband who thinks he has genital herpies from his adultress lover.

ok ok, not really, but yanno.

Awesome stuff..

couple things:

1) B&N owns Gamestop, right? I didn't know much about your issues with B&N but hopefully it isn't a corporate thing, its the same place, essentially =(

2) I used to work there, have friends that still do, and have thought about going back - it *is* fun; it is realativly easy, and you get to talk about games. Watch out for spending too much on them and take customers with a grain of salt - like any retail store there are assholes.

3) Christmas, at least for us, was hell. I would clock in, between customers, and not be able to leave the register because I had to constantly ring people up, until we closed. If you can survive that you can survive anything!

4) you got it easy now, I could tell you some REAL horror stories, but I will wait till you settle in a bit more.

"Wow,you're getting that game? Cool, I think we may have a used copy that'll save you some money (a whopping $5) . Do you have a gamestop value card? It gets you 10 months of Game Informer (biased kinda weak magazine) along with a 10% discount on all your used purchases! Oh... if there's anything you want to reserve at all, it's only $5 down and guarantees you a copy on the first day! (ok... that's not too bad)Oh... how about a strategy guide to go with the game? (most of which are pointless)"

Not sure if it's still like that, but good god they had us go through a long list of things to pitch. Still, when things are going well it's fun. Most of the customers can be cool... except for the ones that won't shut up about their games.

Be wary of the bubbly girl. She plots to end you! Do you get to wear jeans? /covet I loved my last job since I could wear jeans every single day. =D Sounds like interesting fun and good luck on tuesday. At least you get to enjoy the weekend!

My favorite part about Gamestop (Still Babbages, Etc. when I started, and a conglamoration of other stores) was the phone process....

*ring ring*
<pick up phone>
"Thanks for calling Babbages, Fort Collins wher eoyu can pre-order your copt or Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell for the X-Box by trading in your <breath> used games, this is Ryan how may I help you?"

"Umm, is this Babbages?"

"Yes, sir it is."

"In ft collins?"

"yessir"

"do you guys take pre-orders?"

"mm-hmm..."

"do I have to use cash?"

"No, you can trade in used games, sir."

"oh ok thanks."

<he hangs up and I say:>

"I hate you."

A common misconception. B&N doesn't OWN GameStop. GameStop and B&N are separate companies. GS went public several years ago, bought out Funcoland, and has been an independant company ever since. Eventually, all of the Babages, Funcos, and Software ETCs will be converted to GameStop. The CEO of B&N, Steve Riggio, is a primary stockholder for GS and sits on their board of directors. This is why the two companies are still so closely connected and also why the employees of both can get employee discounts at either.

LOL, you are all giving me advice about GameStop, which is funny to me. I *AM* afterall a lifelong gamer. Also, my husband was a general manager for GameStop for nearly 5 years, so there isn't a horror story that you could tell me that I haven't already heard or even witnessed for myself. As a manager's spouse, I think I sometimes spent as much time at his store as he did. Especially during a 6 month period of time when we only had one car and I had to drop him off and pick him up from work, often hanging out there more than I wanted to.

We've also become good friends with the District Manager in the past 5 years. The DM has a personal policy that he wont have a husband/wife couple working in his district, even if they are at separate stores, which is why he wouldn't hire me while Rob was working there. He certainly wanted to, though! One time, Rob was struggling with the prospect of firing his ASM (who badly needed firing) and his DM said to him "ROB, you need to get some balls like your wife."

LMFAO :lmao

When Rob quit last year, the DM immediately said "Erin, you want a job? I need an ASM at such-and-such store." I laughed and said no, that I was happy at B&N for the time being.

Before Christmas, I saw him on AIM and sent him a message:
Me: ROB LAWRENCE (his name is Rob also)
DM: who's this?
Me: wtf ERIN RIPPY
DM: never heard of her
Me: Whatever
DM: where's your worthless husband?
Me: Guess
DM: He's playing that dumb game online. Tell him he's not a respectable gamer
Me: He already knows that
DM: lol
Me: SO, you're opening a store in Hendersonville (which is where I live)
DM: Yah
Me: When does it open?
DM: January
Me: You got a 3rd key for it?
DM: WHO'S ASKIN?
Me: lol, maybe me
DM: Call me on Monday

We played phone tag for several weeks before I got him pinned down for an interview, but I had it in the bag. He asked me if I wanted ASM, but I said no, not while I'm in school. He told me to turn in my 2 weeks at B&N and that he had to fire a 3rd key or two anyhow. I'm not at the Hendersonville store, but another one close to home, which is all I cared about.

So you see, I know GameStop. I know their customers. I know the kids who come in talking a mile a minute about Pokemon. I know about the parents who come to yell at you because their kid came in and traded in all his expensive PS2 games that Grandma got him for Christmas so he could buy a Nintendo DS, and somehow that's YOUR fault. I know about the people who refuse to reserve a game and then get pissed that you don't have any extras to sell to them on release day because you only got enough to cover your reserves.

My favorite phone calls this week:
*ring ring*
"Thank you for calling GameStop where you can buy and sell used games and pick up your copy of Gran Turismo 4 RIGHT NOW, this is Erin, may I help you?"

"Yah. Yeah, um. Um, do ya'll have Gran Turismo 4?"

(Ding ding ding! Tell him what he's won!)
"Yes we do. Did you have a copy reserved?"

"Yah, man."

(I'm not a man, moron)
"If you reserved a copy, we have it on hold for you ...."

"Do ya'll have mine there?"

"What's your last name?"

"Derrek. Awe, wait. Mah last name? Williams"

"Williams .... Yes, we have your copy right here with your name on it, you can pick it up anytime."

"Yah, dude I got this phone call saying ya'll had it there."

(then why did you call, fucktard?)
"Good. Come and get it."

"Dude, how much is it?"

"$49.99 minus the $5 you reserved it with."

" ...... ah. SO how much is that?"

(I want you to die)
"$44.99"

"Ah, that's coo'. Thanks man."

<hangs up>

*mutters under her breath* "Idiot"

Uh-oh. Now you're in trouble. The clown is probably gonna come in without enough money to cover tax and blame you :P.

EDIT: I never got a chance to know my DMs as well as possible. They kept getting fired all the time. Our district was crime ridden (though my store was safe in the cushy suburbs). Loss prevention had a their hands full with theft and robbery at gunpoint.

Glad you're having fun though.