[CiDeRmAn]

Well, if I had a choice and I wasn't to be questioned on my reasons for hiring, and I had a choice between a bloke who knows all about PC games, DjHero and the in's and out's of XBLA and PSN or a very pretty girl who I might/might not get off with, assuming I was single of course, i would probably pick the girl, being merely human and less than that, a male....

Regarding poor shop staff, games selling minions have always fallen into two categories, people like me, who knew all about the subject of games because we love them and play lots of them and love talking about them, and those who know nothing beyond FIFA and Need For Speed and will sell you whatever the Sony/MS/EA rep told them to sell, regardless of the games actual quality.

And that's a rule right there, time has not changed this, I have been buying games since the mid-80's for my humble Spectrum and I have either been served by staff who knew all or staff who wanted to sell you whatever they were told to sell.

If you are lucky you get the former, but often we get the latter.

Anyhow, release dates are variable, not everyone in a shop knows about every game, and if he/she/it is too lazy to read the release schedule he/she/it will be sure to give the laziest answer when asked, a simple shrug and I don't know, or we're not getting it in, so you just talk to the manager whose job it is to know these things, as he is ordering the stocks into the shop itself.

Problem solved.


Oh, and you never need to bring an eejit with you when shopping, you'll invariably find one in almost every shop you go into.

[consultech]

Originally Posted by CiDeRmAn

Well, if I had a choice and I wasn't to be questioned on my reasons for hiring, and I had a choice between a bloke who knows all about PC games, DjHero and the in's and out's of XBLA and PSN or a very pretty girl who I might/might not get off with, assuming I was single of course, i would probably pick the girl, being merely human and less than that, a male...

Factor-in your "computer" types whose female contact is ordinarily limited to customer support telephone staff, and you're in for a disaster.

[Sleipnir]

Originally Posted by The Aviator

This is also a load of bollox!! as i have a 250 gig console and know how much memory there actually is on it!

Ah, some of them even refer to disk space as 'memory' when clearly, memory is something else entirely!

[projectmayhem]

Originally Posted by CiDeRmAn

Well, if I had a choice and I wasn't to be questioned on my reasons for hiring, and I had a choice between a bloke who knows all about PC games, DjHero and the in's and out's of XBLA and PSN or a very pretty girl who I might/might not get off with, assuming I was single of course, i would probably pick the girl, being merely human and less than that, a male....

But if you're in a position to hire someone, you should also have some business sense about you as in this kind of case, the pretty girl isn't going to sell as much swag to customers as the helpful but possibly unattractive guy who knows his stuff.

Gamestop's hiring patterns fall into the category of "hire your mates". Can often be a good idea because it can create a great atmosphere in a store, but most stores I've been in have been dead, and very creepily so.

I've never wanted to walk out of a shop for fear of being lynched like the branch they have in Omni in Santry. Very eery, quiet store with no banter or atmosphere even being attempted by the staff. I've also never seen anyone walking around the store, cleaning or merchandising while the branch up in Charlestown is consistently quiet, both audibly and in terms of customers mulling around, but there's always someone behind the counter and someone else wander around the store doing something.

I have a history in retail, managing a large number of staff in techie-orientated fields. I applied for a job in Gamestop (granted, I wasn't gunning for it and just wanted to see if I could get a job closer to my house) and didn't get it in the end despite my experience out-gunning any Gamestop employee. The problem was probably that my salary was too high at the time, however, I know who got the job - and you've never met someone less likely to be helpful to a gamer.

On the other side of things, I've never found Game, Xtra-Vision or whatever other rival store staff to be particularly inspired either. Especially in Xtra-Vision who seem to have staff who cater to the games section only in larger stores. If you have a dedicated member of staff for gaming, why not teach him something? I asked a guy if they had copies of Mario a few days after release and he had no idea what I was on about. Picked up a second hand copy of the previous Mario title on the Wii, instead of the new blockbuster one. Y'know, the one that sold 2 million in America? Yeah, this XV staffer never heard of it.

[Gaeldor68]

Originally Posted by projectmayhem

I've never wanted to walk out of a shop for fear of being lynched like the branch they have in Omni in Santry. Very eery, quiet store with no banter or atmosphere even being attempted by the staff. I've also never seen anyone walking around the store, cleaning or merchandising

This is so true I used to go there but when I realised how weird it was I went to another one from then on. There are a few stores where the people have absolutely no idea what's going on. Town I find to be terrible in general except for one or two staff in video game stores in general but there are some stores where the majority of staff know their stuff and fair play to them.

I too applied and didn't get it but I assume that was because I already had a job at the time. I too know some peeps, girls, who have gotten jobs in Gamestop and the like and the extent of their video gaming knowledge was I like it if it's pink. Not saying that all girls are bad coz there is a store where the manger is female and she knows her stuff and won't feed you the load of hype bull.

[thebman]

I was trading in my Xbox in game for an elite and the girl behind the counter had to show me the cable and ask if it was the Xbox Live cable.

Very annoying but I could tell by her she hadn't a clue as she looked scared when I walked up with the console.

I'm sure there are good people but most of them are crap from my experience not that I need them. Its more annoying see them trying to fook over moms and dads buying kids items.

[CiDeRmAn]

Be careful not to make this rant thread into a sexist one.
Perhaps, historically, those who made themselves available for the rather fluid nature of retail sales assistant were people like those described above, perhaps this matter is replicated throughout the retail world, I know folk I have dealt with in other tech type stores are often just as ignorant.
Heck, I work in a large Dublin hospital and an awful lot of people I know come in, do as little as possible and collect a paycheck, nothing extra done for people, no personal touch.
So perhaps this is a societal malady?

Either way, no one is making you tolerate this behaviour, if you are so aggrieved then take your business elsewhere, informing the manager why.

I always shopped in Gamestop Santry because it reminded me of Gamesworld of old, now I find myself in Gamestop in Clarehall, that's an excellent little shop and the staff are very helpful and friendly.
Please try it and comment.

[Gaeldor68]

Originally Posted by CiDeRmAn

I always shopped in Gamestop Santry because it reminded me of Gamesworld of old, now I find myself in Gamestop in Clarehall, that's an excellent little shop and the staff are very helpful and friendly.

Thats the one I'm talking about. Clare Hall is great the people know what they are talking about more then any other store I've been in.

[tbh]

I use gamestop in swords, really like it. the dude in there with the mad haircut is really sound, it's probably one of the only shops of any kind I go to where I always end up having a chat with the staff.

[Bob the Seducer]

In general the standard of staff is down to the manager or whoever conducts the interviews. By the end of an interview they should have a fairly good idea of the level of games knowledge an interviewee possesses. It's up to them to make the right or wrong decision after that.

That said, I wonder what criteria some posters set for someone to 'deserve' a minimum wage job... do you complain about staff in fast food restaurants when they cant tell you where the chicken is sourced from or what type of oil the chips are cooked in?

I wouldn't be surprised about a lack of knowledge of PC games, they make up a tiny percentage of overall sales in shops like Gamestop. Football Manager is one of the few that shifts anywhere near a sizeable number of units, outside of that I wouldn't expect too much in the way of knowledge unless there's a PC gamer on the store staff (which there rarely is).

[Lands Leaving]

Originally Posted by Bob the Seducer

That said, I wonder what criteria some posters set for someone to 'deserve' a minimum wage job... do you complain about staff in fast food restaurants when they cant tell you where the chicken is sourced from or what type of oil the chips are cooked in?

Well if the option exists to have staff who can answer that type of question, then why hire people who can't? The more knowledge your staff have about the product you're selling the better chance they have of making a sale (although people may not want to know where their fast food comes from )

[Burning Eclipse]

I've always found the staff the 3 Gamestops in Limerick great. Their prices are almost universally terrible in comparison to HMV or Smyths though.

Anyway, bought Fahrenheit a few years back, pre-owned. The disc was scratched, got a few hours in and it didn't work. I brought it back and they didn't have another pre-owned copy. I explained where I was at and the guy behind the counter went into the storeroom and got me a new copy of the game, and gave it to me, saying "it's a great game, it'd be wrong for you not to finish it". That one example of customer service will stick with me for a long time I think.

Oh, oh... I've thought of something they did that annoyed me. In the Crescent, one of the staff was playing The Beatles: Rock Band for all to see 3 days before it was released. Dick!

[CiDeRmAn]

I'm a Clinical Nurse Manager myself and certainly in my line of work the personality and work ethic of the manager is accurately reflected in the behaviour of the staff in his/her employ.
That's a rule right there, so if there is a store with consistently ignorant and unhelpful staff, it's generally down to the manager not doing their job, unless it's simply a one off which can happen to anyone, or your place of business is seen as dumping ground for poor staff by the managers own line managers, then you have little in the say of who you get posted to your place of work, and you have to make do.
Often, with a lot of work, you can whip an unproductive staff member into some sort of shape, but equally, the effort can go unrewarded and unrecognised, so the manager can simply say "feck it" and not bother.

Anyway, Gamestop in the Pavilion does seem to have a pleasant vibe in it, the manager there seems like a pleasant chap and much of the staff are always willing to have a chat, time permitting, about games in general, and are often interested in my own retrogaming habits.

[seclachi]

In general I find the staff alright in gamestop, to be fair I`ve had a chat with a few of them while getting a game and they know what there on about. That being said, I dont really need good service, I`m the kind of person who just picks my game up and buys it, I know if its good or not. Likewise, if my console breaks I know what I`m entitled to.

My biggest bone with gamestop was when they did vouchers with consoles a while back (like a 100 euro of vouchers with an xbox). They were obviously 5 quid off a new game, going down from there. Thats ok,can`t expect 100 euro back straight up, and it keeps them in your custom, but the first time around it lasted about 6 months, I aint going to buy that many games in 6 month so they were a waste. Second time I got an elite, and they expired in a week ! I know I should have complained, but to be honest at that point GAME were trouncing them pricewise.

In the end its retail, sometimes they can somebody whos knowledgeable about games for the min wage, sometimes they can`t, thems the breaks. I can also understand why people who think they could easily handle it get turned down, there overqualified. I`m sure they`ve seen plenty of people who are only in the job to get through the summer etc and quickly think its below them and perform poorly.

[superfly]