FAO: Employees of Game everywhere

[Neil]

NO, I'M FINE THANKS.

[Ambient Sheep]

See also Dixons, as was, which is why I stopped going in there years ago.

[Treguard of Dunshelm]

WH Smiths: No, if I wanted chocolate I would have selected it from the among the goods on offer and brought it to the till with my other purchases.

The shop floor staff probably don't have much choice though. I'm sure there are nice retail managers, but I've never met one.

[Borboski]

I have noticed this.  And I am also fine.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

I too am fine, unless you happen to be an attractive female assistant. In which case, please do sell me something.

That's my excuse for the bloody Debenhams Card I once signed up for...

[Neil]

I can spend some time browsing through the pre-owned games racks, right enough, but last week I only had fifteen minutes or so for that, and still got asked THREE times if I was ok.  It's particularly annoying when you've got white, obvious headphones on, and then have to pause, etc.  Also, I had about 3 cheap games picked out, and was standing looking for more oldies...did I look like I needed help?  I was going to put them back down, and silently walk out if they asked me a fourth time. 

Today wasn't too bad, they only asked me once, and I was procrastinating for a fair bit, going as far as looking up reviews on my phone (well, the Wiki "reception" sections, anyway, which is nice and quick.)  When I went to pay for Viva Pinata, though, I had to go through this extended fucking interview! 

Is that all you want?

Do you want a controller, or anything else?

Are there any games you'd like to preorder?

I can't even remember the full list, there were at least another one or two questions.  They've clearly ramped it up in the run-up to Xmas, as last week it was just "do you want to preorder Black Ops?"

[Spiteface]

It's particularly annoying when you've got white, obvious headphones on, and then have to pause, etc.

I know this bit all too well.  I have a large pair of headphones, and yet some people, be it in work or the outside world, still think I can hear them above whatever it is I have on my headphones.

I too hate being bothered by staff in any shop like that.  If I WANT to give you my money for something I want, I will.  It feels like they're pressuring you into buying something, or at least attempting to.

[Neil]

Loyalty card, there's another. 

It feels like they're pressuring you into buying something, or at least attempting to.

That's more or less what they're doing.  It's got to be mostly about tempting you into impulse buying - it's the adult equivalent of having confectionery racks right beside the counter.

[chocky909]

Natwest has become really bad in the last year or so in this respect. If I want a bloody savings account I will ask for one thank you very much now fuck off.

[Famous Mortimer]

I know it's tough, but try not to blame the poor person who works there. There's a manager somewhere who'll give them shit if they don't do that, and a higher-up manager who's been to a conference on plus-one selling (or whatever the fuck they're calling it now) and has demanded that his staff do it.

[Spiteface]

Natwest has become really bad in the last year or so in this respect. If I want a bloody savings account I will ask for one thank you very much now fuck off.

I think that's all banks.

I recently had to get a new debit card from Barclays.  My existing one had started to split rather badly, as they tend to in my crappy wallet (Need to get a new one) it still worked in cashpoints etc, but I didn't want to let it get worse.  So I ring them up.  The guy I spoke to appeared to be more interested in selling me insurance or wanting me to open another savings account or take on a loan than arranging for a new card to be sent out to me.

[chand]

WH Smiths: No, if I wanted chocolate I would have selected it from the among the goods on offer and brought it to the till with my other purchases.

I went into Smiths and bought a paper along with a bottle of sparkling water from the fridge. Took it to the counter and the woman was going "we have an offer on water!" and tried to encourage me to take the cheaper, larger bottle of Volvic from the desk. It took a surprisingly long amount of time for me to explain to her that I was perfectly happy with my previous choices because a) my carbonated water is actually fucking cold and hasn't been sat on your desk for a week and b) carbonated water is not the same as still water, which I can obtain for fucking free in my office. She still looked baffled, as if I was making a huge financial mistake.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Haha. Yes.

I used to like browsing in Game, and I often took a punt on some title I wasn't at all bothered about until I walked through the door.

Now I'd only go there if I knew exactly what I wanted.

Not even the people who try and 'help' you look like they actually want to.

[Big Jack McBastard]

GAME are overpriced as fuck anyway and their in-your-space offers of help and hawking charger packs, MS points, pre-orders and the like at the till they can fuck right off.

I usually whore out Grainger Games which is spreading like a slow plague in every town centre I trot into. Decent trade in prices and a pretty expansive collection (depending on the branch), though you do have to wade through some shite to get any decent pre-owned ones.

[thehungerartist]

I usually whore out Grainger Games which is spreading like a slow plague in every town centre I trot into. Decent trade in prices and a pretty expansive collection (depending on the branch), though you do have to wade through some shite to get any decent pre-owned ones.

It's a lot more relaxed (i.e. no "can i help? can i help? can i help? can i help? are you ok there? can i help? can i help? can i help? can i help?" annoyances) and the range of pre-owned PS2 titles in ours is superb.  Last time I was in there got talking to the guy on the till who I think was the store manager and he was boasting about how they've taken all of neighbouring Gamestation's staff.  Got a quid knocked off each of the three Pro Evos I was buying, too.

*bigs up Grainger Games*

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I've been into Grainger Games. It's like stepping back in time.

[Neil]

I know it's tough, but try not to blame the poor person who works there. There's a manager somewhere who'll give them shit if they don't do that, and a higher-up manager who's been to a conference on plus-one selling (or whatever the fuck they're calling it now) and has demanded that his staff do it.

Yes, worth pointing out.  I'm always polite to them, but it's still an absolute pisser.  The barrage of questions when I was in the process of buying something today was ridiculous, though.  It's the cheapest place I've found over here for pre-owned games, so I'll have to tolerate it. 

It just seems that bit more intrusive than stores like Subway, though, as not only are you being pestered as you browse, you're also being offered things that you probably aren't even interested in at that moment.  In other words, from a psychological stand-point, I might want a drink or cookie with my Sub Of The Day, yes, but I'd likely have asked for it, but ok, it's a meal, it sort of fits, and it'll work out cheaper.  They don't then offer me bottles of sweet onion sauce, toasters, or ask me if I want to pre-order a Tuna sub for Friday.

[Viero_Berlotti]

I think the recent emergence of aggressive upselling in high-street chain-stores must have something to do with them trying to copy successful e-commerce and internet retail models. When you are buying online from sites like Amazon etc.. you are constantly being sold upsold to.

The thing is, online if it's done properly, it's not really that intrusive, and on some occasions it is quite handy to be shown products related to what you are buying. On the high-street it can't be as refined as that, and quite often it comes across as a heavy handed and transparently cynical attempt to get you to spend more money.

However if it translates to higher sales and profits on paper, then the suits won't give a shit if they piss a few people off with it along the way.

[Rolf Harris]

Nothing to do with games but even the Post Office are doing this now. Every time I go in to mail out bits and bobs I've sold on eBay, they try to get me to upgrade to recorded or special delivery, then ask if I want to top up my mobile phone credit, and most annoyingly, several times I've had to listen to a whole load of bullshit trying to get me to open a bank account or get insurance with them. I just want to post a fucking letter!

[Ignatius_S]

...I just want to post a fucking letter!

Post a letter at a post office? Get with the times, granddad.

[glitch]

I was pleasantly surprised by Game recently. I'd preordered a fancy edition of COD:Black Ops but I'd lost the card I used in between preordering and them charging me. Instead of just cancelling the order (as their email seemed to suggest), they rang me and I was able to give them the updated details so I could still hold onto the fancy version and not have to go with the standard that all the peons are getting.

[madhair60]

I'll never forgive that one GAME employee on Fitzroy Street, Cambridge, who lied openly to me about Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1) having received a UK release.

This wasn't just a lack of knowledge; he claimed to own it, to big up his Final Fantasy fandom.  I've no idea how we got onto the subject; I was trying to buy Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.  But on he went, with me just standing there, knowing he was lying, resenting hugely the obvious contempt he had for my gaming knowledge. 

One day, the shoe will be on the other foot, and I will inform him of my having completed Leisure Suit Larry 4.  He'll be none the wiser.

[rudi]

One day, the shoe will be on the other foot, and I will inform him of my having completed Leisure Suit Larry 4.  He'll be none the wiser.

:-D

[Consignia]

One day, the shoe will be on the other foot, and I will inform him of my having completed Leisure Suit Larry 4.  He'll be none the wiser.

I've completed Leisure Suit Larry 4. My uncle works for Sierra and is big mate of Al Lowe, got some disks of the beta. </playgroundBoast>

[Little Hoover]

Yeah well I've played the Playstation 5 that I got off my uncle who works in Japan!

This is all very Mcintyre territory here, but the main time an employee of any shop isn't willing to offer you help is when you need it, and anyone round will seem to be busy with something else so you won't want to disturb them. I don't think I'll ever need help in Game though. I would have thought you might be able to assume that from my appearance. And the fact that I'm often in there.

[bitesize]

what i hate about Game is their habit of pimping pre-owned versions of games ahead of new ones. try + buy a brand new game from them and you'll usually get "we've got that pre-owned for a fiver less" - this is really damaging for the industry. buy it new + a portion goes to the publisher, and the developer gets their royalties. buy it 2nd hand and it all that profit goes straight into Game's coffers. i've nothing against the 2nd hand market, i know it's how a lot of people afford to buy games, but pushing them when someone is specifically trying to buy it new is just wrong. they make vast profits off pre-owned for very little effort while the people who spent years making the game get fuck all...


(full disclosure: i work in the industry, i might be a little bitter about this)

[VegaLA]

...the main time an employee of any shop isn't willing to offer you help is when you need it, and anyone round will seem to be busy with something else so you won't want to disturb them.

They have a strong sense of smell and can detect a money off voucher even if you have hidden it in your underpants.
I swear Best Buy employees are trained in this during their first week joining the Company. Any other time and they're all over you, got a money off voucher and they can magically disapear or blend into the surroundings of any aisle.

Fuckers.

[SetToStun]

They have a strong sense of smell and can detect a money off voucher even if you have hidden it in your underpants.
I swear Best Buy employees are trained in this during their first week joining the Company. Any other time and they're all over you, got a money off voucher and they can magically disapear or blend into the surroundings of any aisle.

Fuckers.

This is going to sound really stupid but fuck it, here goes anyway. How do money-off vouchers actually work, from the shop's point of view? Say a game (or whatever) is £50, but I have an HMV voucher that says £10 off any XBox game, if I redeem the voucher, does HMV take a £10 hit on their profit for that game or do they split it with Microsoft because it's an XBox game, or with the distributor of whatever game I choose? I know about specifically targetted vouchers like, say, Walkers put a 10p-a-pack discount voucher in the paper, you take it to a shop, get your money off and Walkers reimburse the shop, but when it's as general as "any XBox game" or even "any game", does that mean the shop cops for the lot?

[Viero_Berlotti]

I think the shop will take the hit if the voucher is issued by them. You can't use the voucher in another shop, so they'll take a 10% hit if it means their sales will rise by a higher percentage. They'll get less of a margin, but turnover will rise and they'll be taking the business of their competitors.

[hoverdonkey]

Andrew Lawrence touched on this last night in his excellent stand-up.

'I'd like a book of stamps please.'
'Would you like a bag of jelly babies for a pound?'
'No, I want to post a letter, you cunt.'

I'm not doing him justice