Okay so I am new to reddit and I don't know where to post something like this. This is for anyone that is currently considering or has ever considered working for Gamestop. I want to get this information out to as many people as I can so they can stop taking advantage of their employees. To begin just don't work at Gamestop…
So I just changed jobs. I worked at Gamestop (for the sake of utmost anonymity) for a few years. I started out as a seasonal employee and worked my way up to Store Manager my time there and worked at 3 different stores.
First of all, to them, the almighty dollar is more important than you (like many other companies). I can express this is several examples. For one, they essentially blame you for their failure as a company. Every so often you are given “goals” or “quotas” of different selling categories that you have to meet that week. I don't think that Gamestop realizes that clientele can vary depending on location. They expect the same formula to work at every store. For example, the store that I worked at most recently didn't sell collectibles very well. Yet they would keep telling me “sell more collectibles.” And improper merchandising wasn't the issue. We had collectibles everywhere. In fact, they wouldn't stop sending us more and this shit would pile up and we had an extremely small store. I can't make someone buy something they don't want. You can offer it but that doesn't really work all of the time. Back to my main point, though. Gamestop will literally write you up and threaten to fire you if you aren't meeting their specified quotas. They don't want to admit the fact that they are failing as a company and they are looking for someone to blame. We are the ones actually putting in the work while they sit on their asses and tell us what to do.
When it comes to emergencies and being sick, Gamestop is not so lenient. They claim to care about their employees but that is a big fat lie. I caught COVID once and no one else was available to open my store, but because the store had to be open, I had to be there. My body was shaking, I was in pain and I had a severe fever. My district manager was taking vacation time at the time so another district manager from another district was covering for him. I got to the point in that day that I just couldn't take it anymore. I was in so much pain. I called the sub DM to tell him that I was very sick and needed to go home. I was BAFFLED by the response I got. He told me “Have you never worked sick before?” I was beyond angry. I ended up temporarily closing the store until the closer came in because I was way too sick. Gamestop would even go as far as forcing employees to drive on snow and ice to get to work (I worked in a climate that doesn't get snow often). They are willing to put others at risk just for money's sake and they do not give a shit.
Gamestop will also give you a lot of work to do with an extremely limited amount of time to do it. Processing boxes, packing orders and company shipments, cleaning, inventory counts, CONSTANT organization, merchandising, AND help customers while meeting goals among many other things that come up depending on the time of year. For most retail places this isn't an issue because there's usually people there to help get tasks done. Gamestop will force it's workers to work one person at a time with very little to no overlap between opening and closing shifts. Sometimes one person had to open and close. And that means no lunch break. I went several days without eating because I was always there, they don't food where the customer can see it and some days are way too busy to lock the store for a few minutes to eat lunch. And that is very illegal in the state I worked in. Lunch breaks were a LEGAL requirement. “We know you are human and need to go to the bathroom and eat and sit down for a few minutes…but money”. One person has to do multiple tasks alone. But they won't let you stay over hours to complete said tasks. Also we were not allowed to sit down unless we were taking a break. Not to mention the fact that I worked in a not so great area and they don't pay for security in most locations. I literally got shoved into a fixture in a snatch and grab and they brushed it off like it was nothing. In fact, you get blamed for the theft. At least they tell us not to run after them. I got so fed up with the theft and all of the expectations and demands that I just had to get the fuck out of there before I lost my job for cussing someone out.
As most people probably already know the pay is absolute GARBAGE! Store managers make around $16 an hour, $12 for assistant managers, $9 for keyholders, and $8 for guest advisors (standard sales associates) on average. I'm not sure about everywhere else but this was true for the locations that I worked at. So not only do you have to deal with unmanageable amount of bullshit that Gamestop gives you to do, they pay you shit for it. Better than some places I guess but still absolutely unacceptable regardless. You don't really want to work there as it is but I definitely don't recommend it as a full time career. With how expensive things are getting, Gamestop has not upped their wages. When they did, they offered a 50 cent raise for keyholders. As a “thank you for working so hard”. That's a fucking joke… Also you get a 15% discount on all items aside from brand new systems so I guess the discount could be better too. Ah thanks for the extra couple of dollars off.
I am probably forgetting some stuff but as a conclusion don't work for or support Gamestop. You'll get better deals elsewhere most of the time anyway. If you want to sell something, do not go to Gamestop. Sell it independently. They will only give you like a third to a half of what they will flip it and sell it for. They'l tell you “preorder with us and that game or item will be guaranteed on release day when that isn't always true. It's a lie they want us to tell to make preorder sales. They have been awful lately getting preorders to stores. Especially the collectibles and lesser known titles. Do not waste your money at this garbage ass company and save yourself the pain and stress of working there. It's not worth it. There are companies out there that will treat you well and pay well. I just want to save as many people the pain and frustration I suffered for many years with this company. Thanks for listening to my ted talk. Respect yourself and your money and stay away!!!