SynthR wrote on 04/28/09 at 18:45:23:
I understand what it's like to work with the public. My video store was always a mess from people who just didn't care. Videos in the wrong sections, the walls were all disorganized, movies on the floor, returning movies with chocolate on them. The list goes on. But that's part of the job. Even though I was paid minimum wage I still had professionalism. I didn't really watch movies but I made sure I knew when movies were coming out and what each movie was about to help the customers. I always went out of my way to help people and since I was paid minimum wage I let the customers that I liked away with murder. I know the plight of low wage employees.
So please Hellbent don't patronize us with that assumption. Places like Gamestop will hire anyone whether they play video games or not and don't expect them to be knowledgeable on their products. That happens at every store.
While true they will hire nearly anyone. Your point isn't fair considering we never hired anyone without a basic understanding of the Big 3.
Expecting the min wage clerk to be 100% on the pulse of gaming news isn't remotely fair. Even trying my hardest i couldn't always know what the customer is looking for. Lets face it, we have a stock of over 10,000 games. People are going to miss a few.
How could anyone working there know every game? What if the clerk finds RPG's or Sports boring? Am i supposed to keep up with the All Pro features in Tiger Woods PGA 09 for the Wii?
Most questions could be answered by looking at the game manual, release list, or game informer. Customers are too lazy and quick to blame the merchant. These people get twice as much shit in their food at fast food places.
Not saying there arent dumb employees. But there weren't at my store. Not for more than a few hours. We were ranked 2nd best in our district in sales and service.
Most customers have such a weak understanding on what they want. It is no surprise we miss a few. Especially with a new or bad employee.
"I forget the title of the game. But i loved it so much. You run around jumping over pits. Then you collect some gold stuff. You can also fly too i think. You can shoot fire as well. I forget what system it's on...".
"Mario 3?"
"No it's not Mario. This was new like 3 years ago"
"What does your guy look like?"
"It's not a guy, but a purple cat or something. There are also sheep you could burn."
"Spyro?"
"Yeah thats it! Do you have it for PS1?"
"No we haven't sold PS1 games since 2005. But i can call a store that does."
"How could you not have PS1? Your store sucks."
That is the kinda questions we handled most of the time.
Besides we also have gaming magazines, demo stations, and TV's showing game previews. As well as free wifi.
One guy didn't know what a game made 7 years ago was. Boo hoo. Worst case scanero it is in the computer. I recall finding all sorts of simi obscure games for customers. But no clerk is gonna know everything.
Most customers barely even try to look.
Every store gets a bad employee. If that ruins your perception of a store. Just buy and sell on Ebay. Eventually the good clerks will find higher paying jobs.
Professionalism at $5.15 an hour is asking too much. Sorry. I was professional cause i enjoy sales. So were my bosses sort of.