GameStop named one of 'America's worst companies to work for'

Am I the only one who misread the title as "Gamespot named one of 'America's worst companies to work for'"?

It's true, speaking as a recent assistant manager of a branch, the company treats it's employees like the dirt on a turd. PR problem? you're fired. Didn't meet the company goal for a month for Pre-orders and/or Game Informer subscriptions? you're fired. Inventory error/(minor) shrink problem? you're fired. I consider myself lucky I got let go... I was a month away from quitting and instead was fired which turned out to be a plus for the un-employment payments! Now working for a multi-billion dollar company. If anything my employment there was just holding me back from potential careers.

God speed to all current Gamestop employees, and advice for GM's/SGM's ... don't get promoted or you'll become suicidal.

For some reason this reminds of this one store I went to. It was a used game store that wasn't Gamestop. I'm telling ya they had a lot of old stuff in there, all the way back to the SNES. I never bought anything there but I liked looking at old stuff I used to have. Then one day it got shut down and was replaced with this Build-A-Bear Workshop knock-off. Then That Got Shut Down. Then it was replaced with a garden store. THEN THAT GOT SHUT DOWN!!! And now there's this empty lot in the mall. 

This is SO true!  I remember working at an EB in a local mall around holiday season MANY years ago and it was fun, but then the Game Doctor (disc scratch fixers that didnt do anything) pushes started happening and the long spiels shilling pre-orders started becoming mandatory when answering the phone.  Then corporate became more active in assigning busy work and forcing the employees to shill whatever crap they were selling.  We used to ejoy talking to people and recommending games for their kids or grand kids and now its just all about sell sell selling useless crap to people.  I quit soon after all that started and before Gamestop started buying up all the competition and now the place is a joke.  Do I want a warranty on a DS game?  No.  Do I want a 10 year subscription to Sh@#gamer magazine and a super Platinum Powerup Mastercard card to get free crap and coupons that used to be free.  Also, ALL their employee loyalty went out the window.  I had a friend who managed a Gamestop for YEARS and they canned him for no good reason because they could hire someone younger and dumber for half the price.  Gamestop is a hollow shell of what it once was and mired in corporate greed.  I for one am looking forward to the days soon to come when all games are available as digital downloads and my money goes directly to the game developers and publishers!

Gamestop makes me happy in pants

Ha ha! That's what you get for selling me unsealed games as new.

Here is the thing, it was said b4 a lot of the people that work there are nice and great to talk to, but the few D-bags ruin it for the rest. Corporate can be very problematic with specific rules, but the employee should have always been there to help or not help if the customer didn't want it. I ran a store very well, we were friendly and cared about our customer and participated in the community, we were in the minority because I new of many other stores that were the exact pain in the butts everyone hates.

I worked there for 5 years from GA to DISTRICT MANAGER, won tons of a awards from being number one in the company in reserves to customer service...AND FROM day 3 I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO BE THE WORST JOB. No respect from anyone, working 80+ hours while getting paid for 40. I WAS AT THE TOP AND LEFT. TILL THIS DAY I SAY ITS THE "WORST COMPANY TO EVER WORK FOR". Dont believe the hype of "oh its a video game store" THE COMPANY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH VIDEO GAMES!!!!... Hey i was 17 i didnt know any better, NOW AT THE AGE OF 24but now in IT working half, getting paid double, with respect... GO TO SCHOOL!!!!

Been working there for two years and I still enjoy it. I like helping customers and talking about games all day. Honestly, if I had any complaints at all about the job, it would have nothing to do with sales or pre-orders. The numbers come naturally to me, and I found a balance between sales, customer service, and getting to talk about games with everyone who comes in. Like any job, the difference between a good experience and a bad one depends on what kind of boss you have. That's really it...

i had worked at gamestop for 6 years. I get that there are rules we need to follow and regulations. That isnt what i hated about the company. What i hated was every 6 months they would add stupid crap we would have to hound the customer about. Do you want to reserve anything, do you have a powerup card, do you have a Game buyers garuntee, do you need any accessories, do you have any preorders you want to add on to, do you have any games at home you want to trade in. People get angry because the last thing they want is to come to a store to get a new game and be asked 50 questions. the worst part is,if they say no, you have to keep asking. you get in trouble if you dont! so then the customer is like... dude wtf i said no... just let me get my damn game. I was a 3rd key wich is like a step below assistant manager and i only made like .10 cents more then the average employee, except i was in charge of opening and closing the store, rsb's, i was a keyholder so half the time i was the manager on duty. so i was the on getting yelled at when a woman asks what the weight limit of a wii fit balance board is and i tell her, and she starts screaming that i say shes fat. The reason i think that gamestop could be better to their employee's is that, if we dont get a certain percentage in reservations, subscriptions to the magazine, roll over res's, used comp and add on's we literally got in trouble. we would get written up if we dont hit a certain percentage and after 3 write ups you get the boot. wich is like basically threatening your employees to get nubers by hounding the people that give you money just to keep their job. honestly at least half the numbers i DID get, were just people who wanted to shut me up.  then they would just come back in later and cancel their res's wich actually hits the person who is canceling them negatively. you can actually get a negative percentage! its ridiculous.  i loved my job ... for like the 1st 2 years. after that.... they would just tack on more responsabilities to their employees and not the pay. they are obviously makeing enough money on the poor lunatics that trade in a brand new game at $15 dollars in store credit and reselling the game for 54.99 when new its 59.99. that is $40 dollars of profit per game. thats where gamestop makes their money from used merchandise. they make NOTHING off new games. not a damn thing. so by reselling a game as used for a 5 dollar differance they make that entire 54 because odds are someone will use their instore credit for another used item. and the makers of the game see not one bit of that money. i just got sick of ripping people off because my company told me to, then having angry customers. sadly in my area i had the best employee customer service in my district out of around 7-10 stores. i had 97% possitive out of over 300 customer reviews. and the reason it was so high? le-way. people bought a new game and they opend it before they gave it to their kid to find out it was the wrong one? id let them exchange it. someone was 3 days out of their warranty for a used game? fuck it id let them switch it out.  in the end, i left. gamestop ruined any type of job of retail for me. i never want to go back. i was over worked and underpaid and the requirements of the job are ridiculous and even in a managerial possition i wasnt makeing enough for rent. it wasnt worth the stress and no payout.

I wouldnt say the worse but eh. People should stop complaining, I dont come to your job curse you off for doing your job how your were told. Look I know people get annoied but lets face it people we have rules we must fallow. They have to ask for preorders so they can get people to come back.  Now on the part on the trade ins. "I bought 60 and trade in for 9 bucks" Look at it this way gamestop is like most pawnstores they will buy cheap like everyone else in the economy and sell high. Usually like most pawn shops ie dragon's den etc wil offer you a third of the price they will sell it for. Plenty of people then expect to buy a game that game out less then a week and expect to be a used copy of game.

I could not agree more, there is a saying that goes "If any ones say they like working at Game Stop, just means they haven't worked there long enough!" I worked there for almost 6years

Minimum wage salary, crappy employ discounts, no real job benefits, mid night releases every month or so. That about sums up what it's like to work there (my friend worked in gamestop he told me this)

In the 90s I was an assistant manager at Software Etc.  We only sold PC and MAC software at the time.  We had a Babbages in the mall who were a lot like us.  We also sold a full selection of computer books.  We were owned by a book company (I think it was Waldenbooks).  Most of us were very knowledgeable with PCs, often helping users get games working right in the store (the old days of DOS).  Our company was highly focused on customer service.

Then something strange happened.  We started selling console games.  Our software inventory shrunk every month.  We started pouring hours and hours into counting inventory on cartridges every morning instead of stocking software.  There was less and less emphasis on customer service.  We stopped selling computer books.  Our PC customers stopped showing up to buy books or even software because all we had in the windows were console games.  We had demo systems for console games where you could usually find a drooling teenager too rude to stand aside for anyone else to try the console.

At some point the console games took over most the store and we merged/purchased Babbages.  Gamestop is a descendant.  You are much better off buying PC games or any software from Amazon or Steam.  Gamestop only employs a group of unfriendly punks who look down their nose at you with disdain.  Nice that some folks have good experience there, but my experience has been terrible.

Wow, what a shock! [/sarcasm]

I never worked there but I don't think I ever want to. Ever. But I have been there and they do pressure me to sign up for power-up rewards and ask if I want to pre-order any games, etc, etc.

But seriously, I feel sorry for the employees. I bet They always feel like they have a sniper rifle aimed at their heads everyday I'm guessing.

Also, Gamestop is really the only dedicated retail chain for games in America. The only other stores are Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc. etc. So of course Gamestop has no competition, they bought them all out! Funcoland, EB Games, Babbages...all sold out to Gamestop, more or less correct me if I'm wrong. They only other store was Gamecrazy but that folded because of Hollywood video filing Bankruptcy.

Also, the only other thing they have to compete with are Online retailers.

Other than that, Gamestop is sitting pretty and can do what they want. **** them!

It wasnt that bad back in 05 when I worked there but then again I was friends with the manager which ofcourse was probably the only reason I was hired in the first place.Kinda lousy pay though I had to work two extra jobs to stay afloat.

Never worked at a GS but Ive had a sales job in the past. It is horrible when you are pressured to sell people crap they dont want. I didnt care about selling it either just wanted my paycheck.

I appreciate the stores that leave you alone and let you browse. Also why i buy 90% of everything online too. Not to mention it usually being way cheaper.

I applied there and wasn't hired. Now, I feel like I dodged a bullet.

To work for this company might be awful.  I really don't know, but pretty much every Gamestop I've been to I've had a fine experience in. 

That explains why the workers at the gamestop I go to are so miserable.

I've worked at GameStop for a little over a year and I must say it is easily one of the WORST places I have ever worked at. The company ONLY cares about "numbers'. There were certain goals of reserves, subscriptions, gpgs (game insurance), etc you needed to reach. The main goal was NOT to satisfy the customer but mainly squeeze every dollar you can out of them. I for one was a rebel to that cause, I was great friends with everyone at the store so I would implement my own methods of customer service that proved much more effective without getting fired (mainly just saying hello from the counter and if they needed any help, I would gladly help them and leaving them alone to shop). The company gives the appearance of being greedy and unsupportive of the clientele that brought them where they are in the first place. 

Yes, I find myself avoiding Gamestop these days because I just want to walk into a store, pick exactly what I want, buy it and walk out quickly. I don't want to be interrogated with questions, or have them tell me what I would like to buy. Or even worse, is when you want to get in and out of the store quickly and they start looking through a list of games on the computer to ask harass you about pre-ordering.

I got a free copy of Persona 3 from Gamestop once. Was a long time ago, though.

I pre-ordered Persona 3 Fes, and when I went to pick it up the guy rings up my last years order of Persona 3, by mistake (Guy had no clue what Persona was, nor Atlus.). Computer said that i paid in full for Persona 3 and never picked it up. Which was wrong on two counts. I'd never pay in full for pre-orders and I had picked it up on release day (whenever that was).  So, the guy tell me that they owe me about 55 bucks. So, I walk out with a free copy of Persona 3 Fes and about 30 bucks cash.

 I told the guy I picked up Persona 3 already, and I owed them about 20 bucks for Persona 3 Fes, about 5 times. But, the computer is always right and the customer is always wrong.

He actually said, "Why are you complaining? You're getting money back.."