You know, I think this happens to many "gaming fanatics" all of the time. I am usually happy to help, as I have noticed that many Gamestop employees' advice can be far from sound. I once had to intercede when a GS employee was trying to sell SSBB to a distressed uncle that wanted "one of those mario games" for his four year old nephew to watch his parents play/play a little himself. The employee really wanted to get them to pre-order Brawl, despite the fact that the kid's birthday was that weekend (months before brawl arrived) and he had Galaxy in stock. I mentioned Galaxy and the employee tried for a while to still weasel the guy into a pre order. I was glad knowing I made one kid's birthday a little better.

Great piece by the way!

Yeah, that was the same situation with the gentleman and the PSP Go. I am sure that had the man gone to an employee he would have tried to make the PSP Go sound like an amazing system, ignoring its obvious flaws.

Though in all fairness, I've heard that the company pushes employees to sell the latest games and try to suggest pre-orders, even if the employee doesn't want to force the costumer to make a purchase they aren't comfortable with.


Thanks for the comment!

yay pap64 injection! Always good stuff. Your Gamestop day was more eventful then when I was working there.

I have to avoid going into GameStop for long periods of time, if I'm ever looking to browse, for fear of being asked a question by some customer who can't get proper help from an employee.  Instinctively, I give out whatever information whenever I hear people confused about something I do know, and I don't like GameStop.  Since I don't like or work for them, I don't want to go out of my way to give their customers a positive experience, since, in a lot of these cases, the stores that hire the more competent employees don't have these problems.

If GameStop were interested in mixing things up, they'd do their best to hire "Game/Gift Consultants" around the holiday season, looking for people like Pap who have a lot of experience with games, gaming news, and such.  It would be quite like Zach's penis-devoid drawing up there, and probably be a big hit, while actually assisting customers find what they need.  Who knows, though.  I only hope the idea would be a big hit.

Nice piece. I've been in that situation before with a lot of people. I even got some customers directed to me at one point by the employees because they were asking about some older games and the employee was clueless about N64 games so he sent a parent and child to me to ask their questions. LOL

I always enjoy helping out and I will shamelessly plug games like Boom Blox and Zack and Wiki that I feel could use some more recognition.

I don't think I've ever actually posted on the forums before - but I just had to, here.


Pap64, on behalf of a majority of retail workers (Though maybe not the GS workers at that store): thanks. I worked retail for nearly a decade before branching out into web development. I was across all levels, too: From maintenance to cashier to manager to... everything in between. This time of year is madness when you're working it and it sucks not being able to help every customer find the perfect gift. When you're on the clock, though - and I should clarify that I never worked at a game specialty store - your goal is to get people in, out and on their way as fast as possible. It's not a fun situation. :(


While people coming in and offering free advice like that at the stores I worked at, it WAS rare. But it was also appreciated.


I think I'll head out today, despite it being Christmas eve, and see if a store or two could use my help. I've got no plans anyway.


Thanks for sharing. :)

Of all the Pedro Hernandezs in the world, you're the Pedro Hernandez-iest.  ;)

Nice story.

EDIT: corrected name

Thanks, except I am Pedro :p . Zach illustrated the story (which is awesome!).

*shrugs*

That's what happens when your name isn't on the story.

No worries. The name is on the front page, but forget that I still use my forum name on the talkback thread. I added my name to the image to prevent confusion.

Eh, it's in your signature.

Also the fact that Pedro posts about ten news stories a day.

I'm just saying  ;)

this is late, but nice story Pap. I'm glad i'm not the only one to offer a helping hand or advise in these types of situations. I know too many people that either ignore people completely when they mistake them for an employee, or rudely tell them they're wrong.

In fact i had a similar story from this past holiday when i was waiting outside an ipod case at a wal*mart. With only a few weeks before xmas, i knew what i was getting myself in to (long waits by the locked cases and even longer lines) so i waited patiently, cracked a few jokes with my girlfriend, etc. There was a women there that wasn't as patient as i was and kept leaving and coming back, looking more disgruntled every time. Someone else had gone to find an employee that could open the case up, and came back to inform us that in the entire store there was only one set of keys for this particular case.. or so she was told.. so we'd have to wait a little longer.

The first women, the angry looking one, was beginning to worry me. I felt like she was giving me the evil I because I jus knew that in her head she was thinking "i swear if this little prick gets his ipod before me i'm gonna run him over with my cart.." you could just tell! Her husband came over eventually, which made her calm down a little because at least she had someone to vent to. A few more mins pass and they must of overheard me say something about the different ipod models to my girlfriend, so the husband steps closer and ask "So.. do you know anything about these things?" to which i replied "Somewhat, i can at least try to help"

They proceeded to ask me the difference in models, what the hell gigbytes meant and even asked for my opinion on the accessories they'd already picked out. They were getting both their kids ipods but had no idea there were so many different kinds. We came to the conclusion that the nano's might be best for their kids needs and the parents price range. As for the accessories, one of those stereo docks + alarm clocks, they asked what the sound quality would be like. I saw they had the official iHome dock and assured them that it would be suitable enough for their kids not to complain about it, and even joked with them saying something along the lines of "I know for a fact there are better ones out there with better quality but obviously they're higher in price but more importantly, do you really want a top of the line sound system to be your kids new alarm clock which will probably end up waking YOU up in the morning as opposed to them?"

We laughed, they thanked me for my help and at that moment the wal*mart sales associate came over and opened the case. Me being closest to it, he looked at me first and I told him "ok we're gonna need these two nano's in X and X color, and that blue shuffle. The Nano's are for this couple" which ended up taking the pissed off look from the womens face, finally. The clerk took the ipods to the cashier, where that couple stood behind my girlfriend and i and thanked me once more, then wished me happy holidays.

the end.