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Work at EB?

P

Presto88

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 19, 2005
Messages
491
I handed in an application recently and was told to expect a call this week, does anyone have an anecdotal evidence as to why they did not enjoy working at an ebay?

its 28 miles away and I'll be fitting it in between college and another job so would it be worth it?
 
Presto88 said:
I handed in an application recently and was told to expect a call this week, does anyone have an anecdotal evidence as to why they did not enjoy working at an ebay?

its 28 miles away and I'll be fitting it in between college and another job so would it be worth it?
Click to expand...

working at an ebay humm.....

Dude 28 miles away? Can't comment on eb but hell man find something closer by if you need another job.
 
EBay of Electronics Botique?

Well, I worked at a Gamestop, worst and shortest job I ever had.
 
The18thLetter said:
Why? Do share.
Click to expand...
First, if you're not a 'manager' then you're screwed.
By 'manager' I mean some jerkoff that only plays Madden and is going to community college and took some 'management' classes.
You can be smarter, more knowledgeable, and have better customer service than any of these tards but you'll never get a 'manager' position.
They have their set hours, you on the other hand have hours set by sales. So, if you have a slow day, BAM! you loose half your hours and go home. IF you have a few slow days, they'll just clear you off the schedule for a few days.
Generally understaffed and over worked. Trade ins are a bitch because it's a slow process and usually other customers get really pissed off because you'll be doing all the shit in the store while your managers are on conference calls all day.
Minimum wage...yay.
No benefits.
When your manager shows up late to open the store, it's your loss. You have to wait outside while Mr.Shitbag rolls up 45 min late. Of course you don't get your time back.
Mangers go to conferences and get free shit, then he comes in and trades them in for store credit.
I don't know about EB, but Gamestop had some really archaic systems. Dial-up credit approvals, paper only reserve system, terribly old point of sale computers.
Out of the 6 people that worked at my store, only one other person actually knew about videogames. Everyone else would be 'knowledgeable' about the game of the month that corporate wants you to get reserves for.
"Did you reserve Madden? It's going to be really cool!"
"Did you reserve Rainbow 6? It's going to be really cool!"
"Did you reserve _____? It's going to be really cool!"


Summary:
Corporate = douche bag, money grubbing whores.
Managers = Retarded douche bags.
Peons = Fucked.
 
Killdozer said:
Summary:
Corporate = douche bag, money grubbing whores.
Managers = Retarded douche bags.
Peons = Fucked.
Click to expand...

Hardly exclusive to GameStop. Welcome to the real world. (Sad, but true.)
 
Killdozer said:
First, if you're not a 'manager' then you're screwed.
By 'manager' I mean some jerkoff that only plays Madden and is going to community college and took some 'management' classes.
You can be smarter, more knowledgeable, and have better customer service than any of these tards but you'll never get a 'manager' position.
They have their set hours, you on the other hand have hours set by sales. So, if you have a slow day, BAM! you loose half your hours and go home. IF you have a few slow days, they'll just clear you off the schedule for a few days.
Generally understaffed and over worked. Trade ins are a bitch because it's a slow process and usually other customers get really pissed off because you'll be doing all the shit in the store while your managers are on conference calls all day.
Minimum wage...yay.
No benefits.
When your manager shows up late to open the store, it's your loss. You have to wait outside while Mr.Shitbag rolls up 45 min late. Of course you don't get your time back.
Mangers go to conferences and get free shit, then he comes in and trades them in for store credit.
I don't know about EB, but Gamestop had some really archaic systems. Dial-up credit approvals, paper only reserve system, terribly old point of sale computers.
Out of the 6 people that worked at my store, only one other person actually knew about videogames. Everyone else would be 'knowledgeable' about the game of the month that corporate wants you to get reserves for.
"Did you reserve Madden? It's going to be really cool!"
"Did you reserve Rainbow 6? It's going to be really cool!"
"Did you reserve _____? It's going to be really cool!"


Summary:
Corporate = douche bag, money grubbing whores.
Managers = Retarded douche bags.
Peons = Fucked.
Click to expand...



This wins post of the year by far..
/clap
 
wow, those are some strong responses. I think I met the manager and he seemed like a decent guy who didn't just play madden. Also its an out of the way store not even in the mall. Would that make it any better? Thanks.
 
Presto88 said:
wow, those are some strong responses. I think I met the manager and he seemed like a decent guy who didn't just play madden. Also its an out of the way store not even in the mall. Would that make it any better? Thanks.
Click to expand...

I know some people that have worked for them and they didn't have the issues others have already said. Really luck of the draw if you get a good set of people to work with or a bad set.
 
Working at those stores is akin to used car sales these days.
"Hi, thanks for calling EB where you can trade in your old games and reserve King Kong for the Xbox 360 TODAY...how can I help you?"
"Have you RESERVED it?"
"You need to PRE-BUY that!"
"...this game has over 400 gameplay hours, so you'll DEFINITELY need the hint guide from Brady. I'll include that for only $14 more" (*begin ringing it up automatically*)
"If you plan on getting the PS3, you'll NEED to get a PSP as the PS3's functionality is LOST without one"
"...and for only $5 more we'll replace this game if it gets scratched or damaged in the next year. I'll just add that in for you..." "...um, well if you don't get that protection, you'll have to send it back to the game creator and you might not ever see your game again...yeah, that's it....buy it, please, my job is riding on this!"
"...you want that used copy of Condemned? You can pay $30, or you can trade in 14 of you own games & get it FREE!"
 
Domingo said:
Working at those stores is akin to used car sales these days.
"Hi, thanks for calling EB where you can trade in your old games and reserve King Kong for the Xbox 360 TODAY...how can I help you?"
"Have you RESERVED it?"
"You need to PRE-BUY that!"
"...this game has over 400 gameplay hours, so you'll DEFINITELY need the hint guide from Brady. I'll include that for only $14 more" (*begin ringing it up automatically*)
"If you plan on getting the PS3, you'll NEED to get a PSP as the PS3's functionality is LOST without one"
"...and for only $5 more we'll replace this game if it gets scratched or damaged in the next year. I'll just add that in for you..." "...um, well if you don't get that protection, you'll have to send it back to the game creator and you might not ever see your game again...yeah, that's it....buy it, please, my job is riding on this!"
"...you want that used copy of Condemned? You can pay $30, or you can trade in 14 of you own games & get it FREE!"
Click to expand...

That reminds me of every visit to EB games, its like fighting off sharks. Usually my strategy is stand there saying "no, just the game" over and over again until he gives me the game in the bag, ignoring everythng else he says.
 
Seanmounce said:
That reminds me of every visit to EB games, its like fighting off sharks. Usually my strategy is stand there saying "no, just the game" over and over again until he gives me the game in the bag, ignoring everythng else he says.
Click to expand...

It's annoying, but it wasn't always like that. Back when it was 3 different stores & called Electronics Boutique, Babbage's, and Software Etc. it was lame...but not NEARLY as bad. The only thing you ever had to reserve was a game system and that didn't even start until the Sega CD. That was the first system that my local stores ever put a waiting list for, and it was just because each store only got 10.
I remember having to call the store twice a week asking when the Super NES would be there.
No waiting list or reservations taken or needed. If you showed up and they had it - it was yours.
Game broke? The store replaces it or even gives you store credit with a receipt.
Hint guides? Before Brady and the likes too over they were $7-8 and because the employees didn't have sales quotas, they weren't forced upon you.
 
Killdozer said:
When your manager shows up late to open the store, it's your loss. You have to wait outside while Mr.Shitbag rolls up 45 min late. Of course you don't get your time back.
Click to expand...

If you didn't get paid for that then it is decidedly illegal. If you are told to show up to work at a certain time they are legally obligated to pay you for time you spend there, whether you are waiting for the manager or not. There are a few technicalities here and there, but they must pay you for those 45 minutes. When I worked at Target I was supposed to work at 4 one day. I get there at 4 and the manager tells me not to clock in until 5. I flat out refused, and pointed out to him that by the letter of the law that one hour is not enough time for me to make a "reasonable use" out of it. Since it would be wasted, they are legally obligated to pay me for it.

So basically an employer cannot make last minute changes to your schedule unless it gives you enough time to make a reasonale use out of said time. (It helps to have a father who works for the department of labor)
 
Killdozer said:
Summary:
Corporate = douche bag, money grubbing whores.
Managers = Retarded douche bags.
Peons = Fucked.
Click to expand...

I prefer:

Corporate = soulless profit-eating zombies. They shamble about, grabbing onto any money they see and shoving it into their pockets. They can frequently be heard moaning SHAAAAREHOLDERS and PEEEEEERRRRKS.
Managers = Winners of the Brown Nose Award, these tie-wearing buffoons are known for their alarming lack of knowledge concerning the position they supervise. Fond of words like "synergy", Managers are most often found anywhere they can attempt to look important while doing very little work.
Peons = You got it half right, but there is a second class: the Future Managers. Always vying for the BNA, this subclass of Peon will seize upon any sharp object and promptly plunge it into the back of another Peon in order to push them out of the running for the Award.

As for the OP:

I wouldn't work any low-wage job that is 30 miles away. Not worth it. I certainly wouldn't take a retail or food service job that was further than two or three miles; it's just not worth spending that much time and money (gas) getting to and from a job like that.
 
PopeKevinI said:
I prefer:

Managers = Winners of the Brown Nose Award, these tie-wearing buffoons are known for their alarming lack of knowledge concerning the position they supervise. Fond of words like "synergy", Managers are most often found anywhere they can attempt to look important while doing very little work.
Click to expand...

I used to manage an EB, I did so for over 4 years. Initially it was a decent job for a retail position. I was able to work around the things I liked and help people buy product they were actually looking for. Somewhere along the way EB changed dramatically from customer oriented to self serving, and the job began to lose my interest. EB went from being a place I could help people and get them good deals on things they were interested in, to a job where upper management wanted to force me to hound people for add on sales. I eventually quit.

At no time in my employment was I a "brown noser", "tie-wearing buffoon", "lazy", nor did I lack knowledge concerning my product or store. Since you have decided to lambast me by lumping me and everyone else who ever did retail management into one group, lets examine what management was like:

When you manage you are there ALL THE TIME. There is no way to escape working all the time because upper management gives you a set number of hours to run your store on, and you *must* give yourself, and your assistant manager full time because that is what is required. Unfortunately for a manager, you are left holding the bag every time there is a weak spot in the schedule, and you end up covering it.

I was at my store all the time. Weeks when I didnt work 60+ hours were rare. For my time and effort my raises tended to be 25cents a year.

Why oh why were my raises 25 cents a year? Because if I didnt sell enough strategy guides, enough used product at idiotic prices, and enough things like Game Doctors, it didnt matter how clean my store was, how happy my customers were, or how good my shrink was.

Now as a manager you have to put up with everything from the irate customers and theft (both public and employee), to irrational district managers, and employees failed relationships.

All this, and your compensation is a meager 30 grand a year.

You are stuck with people who both lazy and stupid as employees because quite bluntly that is the pool of people you get to hire from. You have your district and regional managers breathing down your neck constantly, and they wont hesitate to single you out on a conference call and embarass you whenever possible.

You have to understand that most people in these positions simply want to do a good job, provide the help needed and go home at the end of the day. The people above and below them make that difficult. For you people to sit and so easily badmouth management means you took very little time to consider the sheer amount of stress that most managers are under, and how little they are paid, simply so they can live their life just like you are trying to do.
 
I wasn't badmouthing managers is general, but the three I had to deal with at Gamestop were scum, just total shitbags.
I also bitch about Gamestop corporate but not all companies that I worked for.
I'm in lab right now so I"ll expand on this when I get the time.
 
I have never worked at one but I have to say that all the people who work at EBs and Gamestops are total idiots and are not gamers.
 
I work 2 blocks away from 2 EB's, which are a block away from each other. I have been visiting the older one regularly for 8 years, and the newer one ever since it opened about 5 years ago.

The newer one is managed by a guy who originally managed the older one. Between the two stores he has been an EB manager for about 8 years. Most of his employees stay at his store between 1 and 3 years (except for holiday hires of course). He and his staff have consistantly been genuinely knowledgeable and interested in games (though they each have specialty areas). I have never heard the employees complain about the manager except for minor idiosyncratic things (like when he got unduly upset when someone hid his lunch as a joke). His store (at either location, as long as he is the manager) consistantly is one of the top 10 in the region (of like 250 stores), while the other one is consistantly middle-of-the-pack or worse.

The other store goes through managers and employees like water goes through a sieve. However, this may be changing since the best employee from the good store just became manager of the other store. Hopefully he has learned enough from the good stores manager about good managing to make his new store a quality store.

So in my opinion it's possible for EB's to be great places to work, but you do need to find one with a good manager, and those are pretty rare. I wouldn't drive 28 miles to work at one unless it did have a good manager, and then I would drive 28 miles to that one even if I lived next door to one with a crappy manager.
 
Kitt2003 said:
The 28 mile drive alone is reason enough not the get the job.
Click to expand...

With gas prices where they are (and they'll go back up next summer) you're talking about working your first hour just to pay for the gas to get there.
 
I did time, at the GameStop precursor "FuncoLand". 1st area store, our DM had office in the back (who fortunately was gone at night when I worked). Spent the 1st month "training" on Rock-n-Roll Racing on the SNES. Party was over when Xmas season hit and it was a zoo. I eventually quit do to my inability to foist the $20 cleaner for the $20 used NES systems. DM knew nothing about games, but the rest of us did.

Now for the two local EB's here, both are staffed by gamers. The one in the mall, the Mgr there is an older lady who games as much as anyone, and pretty much knows me on sight. The other store seems to be run by a group of avg. joe gamers.

So it's not all that bad, just the usual stuff you run into when you work retail. God if you want to talk pressure sales, waaaay back in the day there was a hip clothing store called "Merry Go Round" where they practically assaulted you when you came in.

Good luck!

AARGH!
 
I actually just came from an EB (looking for Neverwinter Nights 2) and I was SHOCKED to hear that they only ordered enough of this game to cover pre-orders. Luckily they're starting to do pre-orders for Halo 3 TODAY though!
If that's not enough to make you hate a company, I don't know what is.
They operate entirely off of interest free loans (err...I mean pre-orders) these days.
 
Domingo said:
I actually just came from an EB (looking for Neverwinter Nights 2) and I was SHOCKED to hear that they only ordered enough of this game to cover pre-orders. Luckily they're starting to do pre-orders for Halo 3 TODAY though!
If that's not enough to make you hate a company, I don't know what is.
They operate entirely off of interest free loans (err...I mean pre-orders) these days.
Click to expand...

They might as well put a sign out front that says "We condone piracy, you land lubbers!"
 
It was assloads better then my years working at Wal-Mart. But I had an awesome boss though my time which made it fun. YMMV
 
Domingo said:
I actually just came from an EB (looking for Neverwinter Nights 2) and I was SHOCKED to hear that they only ordered enough of this game to cover pre-orders. Luckily they're starting to do pre-orders for Halo 3 TODAY though!
If that's not enough to make you hate a company, I don't know what is.
They operate entirely off of interest free loans (err...I mean pre-orders) these days.
Click to expand...

Oh Jesus Christ, here we go :rolleyes:

Fine, go buy your games the day after launch at Best Buy or Wal-Mart, leave the reserves to people who really want the game.
 
People still buy games at stores? I would imagine most of your customers will be morons looking for madden 20xx. The small PC game section is the reason i don't even go into those stores anymore
 
IceWind said:
Oh Jesus Christ, here we go :rolleyes:

Fine, go buy your games the day after launch at Best Buy or Wal-Mart, leave the reserves to people who really want the game.
Click to expand...

Why should I have to pay for something in advance? I guess the only people who really want games have to pay for them in advance. That makes PERFECT sense.
I'm looking forward to getting Tekken 6. I guess I better take my $70 down to the store right now!
 
IceWind said:
Oh Jesus Christ, here we go :rolleyes:

Fine, go buy your games the day after launch at Best Buy or Wal-Mart, leave the reserves to people who really want the game.
Click to expand...

The issue is not with people who want to preorder the game. The issue I have with the EB / Gamestop preorder policy is the fact that they only send enough games to stores to fulfill preorders. They do this deliberately to force people into preordering games if they want to get them on launch day. It is an underhanded and sleazy business tactic used in order to get interest free loans from gullible little sheep.
 
IceWind said:
Oh Jesus Christ, here we go :rolleyes:

Fine, go buy your games the day after launch at Best Buy or Wal-Mart, leave the reserves to people who really want the game.
Click to expand...

So it's bad that I buy my computer games at Wal-Mart? I always buy my computer games there. Not enough people do that in my area, so they never sell out of new games. I don't have to put up with annoying employees trying to tack stupid stuff onto the sell. The best part of all is that when I get an urge to buy a game at 3:00AM, I don't have to wait until the next day. The worst thing I have to put up with is the line to check out since there's only one line open at that time of night.
 
You can measure the aptitude of any Gamestop/EB employee by picking up any game and saying "Does this suck as bad as I think it does?". The brown nosers praise it, and gamers will give you talk straight. Works every time.
 
KillTheRockstars said:
So it's bad that I buy my computer games at Wal-Mart? I always buy my computer games there. Not enough people do that in my area, so they never sell out of new games. I don't have to put up with annoying employees trying to tack stupid stuff onto the sell. The best part of all is that when I get an urge to buy a game at 3:00AM, I don't have to wait until the next day. The worst thing I have to put up with is the line to check out since there's only one line open at that time of night.
Click to expand...

Wal-Mart is the only place for 30 miles that sells games around here :D

They finally got some decent selection, too.
 
Domingo said:
I actually just came from an EB (looking for Neverwinter Nights 2) and I was SHOCKED to hear that they only ordered enough of this game to cover pre-orders. Luckily they're starting to do pre-orders for Halo 3 TODAY though!
If that's not enough to make you hate a company, I don't know what is.
They operate entirely off of interest free loans (err...I mean pre-orders) these days.
Click to expand...
At least in the San Diego Gamestop they just say that so you think, "Hey, I should pre-order all my games before they come out." In reality, they just say that they only got enough for pre-orders, but two days later they'll sell it to you. They're lying just to get you to pre-order.
 
Killdozer said:
At least in the San Diego Gamestop they just say that so you think, "Hey, I should pre-order all my games before they come out." In reality, they just say that they only got enough for pre-orders, but two days later they'll sell it to you. They're lying just to get you to pre-order.
Click to expand...

They do it here, too...but they're getting bad about actually really under-ordering a lot of games. To top it off, their shipping isn't as good, so more often than not I can go to Best Buy and get a game they're expecting "either this afternoon or tomorrow" the same day. More often than not it's a few bucks cheaper and there in large quantities, too. NWN2 was just an odd exception because Best Buy seems to have goofed the shipments on the game all over the country.
Every time I'm in there I see them have to turn people away, so I'm sure they'll eventually get the picture.
They'll eventually end up just like most of the retail toys stores in the US. When you get uppity and there's a big retailer doing it better, you'll get burned. I'd suspect we'll see either some major changes or possibly the eventually falling apart of EB in the next few years.
 
I don't know but majority of my local GS/EB customers aren't like you guys. :D Like some of you are living in a different world. Work at EB or GS??? Depending what kind of stores you have there. Is about which stores. If where you live you have the bottom performing stores, good luck with getting some good experience shopping there. There are reasons why they are the bottom. The work envirnoment would obviously suck because either that particular store lacks morale and energy. Managers working for 60 hours a week??? Then, he or she must have a very suckie assistant manager and incompetent staff. Is not easy to find good people, let alone trying to shape lazy dumbass into a good and honest sales person or Game Advisor.


Presto88 said:
I handed in an application recently and was told to expect a call this week, does anyone have an anecdotal evidence as to why they did not enjoy working at an ebay?

its 28 miles away and I'll be fitting it in between college and another job so would it be worth it?
Click to expand...
 
Presto88 said:
I handed in an application recently and was told to expect a call this week, does anyone have an anecdotal evidence as to why they did not enjoy working at an ebay?

its 28 miles away and I'll be fitting it in between college and another job so would it be worth it?
Click to expand...


i had to wait nearly 3 weeks before i got word when i would start :(
 
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