Had another interesting week at the games store...
Parent of the year...NOT!
Woman comes up with her son who I would guess is around 9 years old to trade in a pile of games.
Problem 1: The vast majority of games are old sports titles, the most recent of which I believe was Madden 2007. If you know anything about games, you know that sports games lose value faster than any other type of game.
Problem 2: Most of these games were scratched badly, meaning I had to charge a fee on them to cover the resurfacing they'd need before they could be sold.
So the final trade credit for the 35 games he had was.... $34.50. The kid had no problem with this, but his mom.....
SM = sucky mom
Me =
SM: Wait...that's all he gets?
Me: Yes, ma'am.
SM: But that isn't even $1 a game, he's got a whole pile of them here.
Me: He does but most are old sports games that don't trade in for much (I held up NBA live 2004 as I said this) and many of them are pretty scratched up.
SM: Of course they are, they are used. That's what this is about, you take in USED games.
Me: (Yes, USED, not SCRATCHED TO HELL) We absolutely do, but a lot of these games are scratched so badly they won't work properly, meaning we can't resell them until we fixed them up.
SM: But I paid HUNDREDS of dollars for those games!
Me: Games, like pretty much everything, lose value over time ma'am.
SM: Well yeah, but $34.50??? That's almost insulting. I mean look at these (as she grabs NCAA Football 2003), they must be worth more than that. You can't do ANY better than $34.50??
Me: We are not a pawn shop ma'am, we have no latitude for negotiation, I can give you what the system tells me I can give you.
SM: Fine, give me the games the back. I can't believe you try and rip people off like this. I bet you I can get $100 for these! *storms out*
Yeah, that'll be the day...
High times
I had my back turned to the counter, but the VERY obvious smell of mary jane alerted me to the presence of a customer.
SC: Uhhh yeah...I want to like, get this one... (hands me Fallout 3)
Me: Ok.
SC: Is that like a good...game?
Me: I really enjoyed it, most people that play it seem to like it.
SC: *goofy laugh*...good.
Me: Your total is $xx.xx
SC:(holds up a wad of cash and stares at it blankly for a few moments) How much money I got here man??
Me: It appears you have $120.
SC: Ohh...ok (he hands me $100, the game is less than $80)
Me: You gave me too much, you only needed $80
SC: Oops!....my bad.
Me: Here's your change, have a good night.
SC: Thanks man...this game is gonna be fun...
Five bucks says once he sobers up he's not going to remember buying Fallout 3. :P
Random stupidity
Customer: Do you have Rock Band for DS?
(I suppose this was a semi-plausible question since Guitar Hero made it to DS, but that was just a guitar game. Rock Band is a bit more than that. After I heard the question I got a mental picture of 4 people sitting around with tiny instruments hooked up to their DS systems
)
Me: No, they do not make that for DS.
Battle Scars
It's funny how my coworkers and I can relate stories to each other and instantly understand what is being spoken of with limited detail. When you've seen so many SCs, you just understand.
That was the case with what happened here....
A guy came into exchange a Guitar Hero World Tour bundle with a faulty drum set. (on a side note that seems to be an issue with these kits, every defective one I've seen has been due to the drumset).
Company policy prohibits us from doing such a return, one only a few rare exceptions to the printed return policy on the receipt, which states any item can be exchanged within 45 days. I explain this to her...
SC: You can't do anything about this?
Me: All I can do is give you this phone number, contact Activision, they'll send you a replacement drum set.
SC: That's all that can be done?
Me: I'm afraid so.
SC: That's bullshit, I spent almost $200 on this thing.
Me: I'm sorry but there's nothing else I can do.
SC: Fine, I'll try this phone number, but you might be hearing from me again.
*leaves*
About 45 mins later, my coworker informs me a man is on the phone requesting a manager. The store manager is off at this time, which makes me the MOD. I get on the phone and I'm sure you know who was on the other end.
Me: I'm the MOD for tonight, how may I help you?
SC: (recounts earlier events, apparently he didn't realize I was the same person he'd dealt with earlier)
SC: So anyway I called the number and apparently it's going to take like a week to get it all straightened out and that's totally unacceptable to me.
Me: I apologize sir but we've been given very clear directives on this. There is nothing I can do for you tonight, any exchange of this nature could only be approved by the store manager. He'll be in tomorrow.
SC: He will be?
Me: Yes sir.
SC: Well I guess he'll be hearing from me tomorrow then. *click*
You'll note I didn't tell the SC what time the manager would be in the next day. The problem with that I was closing again so if he came in later in the day she'd be stuck with me again.
Fearing how upset he might get were that to happen, I prayed he'd show up before Manager K left.
After I came on shift the next day, I asked K if a man had been in here about a Guitar Hero return. He said no one hadn't, but a man and spoken to him about it earlier on the phone.
Me: So did he get pretty upset when you told him there was nothing you could do?
K: (in a tone of voice that could only belong to someone that has plenty of experience dealing with SCs) Yeah...he got pretty upset.
Parent of the year...NOT!
Woman comes up with her son who I would guess is around 9 years old to trade in a pile of games.
Problem 1: The vast majority of games are old sports titles, the most recent of which I believe was Madden 2007. If you know anything about games, you know that sports games lose value faster than any other type of game.
Problem 2: Most of these games were scratched badly, meaning I had to charge a fee on them to cover the resurfacing they'd need before they could be sold.
So the final trade credit for the 35 games he had was.... $34.50. The kid had no problem with this, but his mom.....
SM = sucky mom
Me =

SM: Wait...that's all he gets?
Me: Yes, ma'am.
SM: But that isn't even $1 a game, he's got a whole pile of them here.
Me: He does but most are old sports games that don't trade in for much (I held up NBA live 2004 as I said this) and many of them are pretty scratched up.
SM: Of course they are, they are used. That's what this is about, you take in USED games.
Me: (Yes, USED, not SCRATCHED TO HELL) We absolutely do, but a lot of these games are scratched so badly they won't work properly, meaning we can't resell them until we fixed them up.
SM: But I paid HUNDREDS of dollars for those games!
Me: Games, like pretty much everything, lose value over time ma'am.
SM: Well yeah, but $34.50??? That's almost insulting. I mean look at these (as she grabs NCAA Football 2003), they must be worth more than that. You can't do ANY better than $34.50??
Me: We are not a pawn shop ma'am, we have no latitude for negotiation, I can give you what the system tells me I can give you.
SM: Fine, give me the games the back. I can't believe you try and rip people off like this. I bet you I can get $100 for these! *storms out*
Yeah, that'll be the day...
High times
I had my back turned to the counter, but the VERY obvious smell of mary jane alerted me to the presence of a customer.
SC: Uhhh yeah...I want to like, get this one... (hands me Fallout 3)
Me: Ok.
SC: Is that like a good...game?
Me: I really enjoyed it, most people that play it seem to like it.
SC: *goofy laugh*...good.
Me: Your total is $xx.xx
SC:(holds up a wad of cash and stares at it blankly for a few moments) How much money I got here man??
Me: It appears you have $120.
SC: Ohh...ok (he hands me $100, the game is less than $80)
Me: You gave me too much, you only needed $80
SC: Oops!....my bad.
Me: Here's your change, have a good night.
SC: Thanks man...this game is gonna be fun...
Five bucks says once he sobers up he's not going to remember buying Fallout 3. :P
Random stupidity
Customer: Do you have Rock Band for DS?
(I suppose this was a semi-plausible question since Guitar Hero made it to DS, but that was just a guitar game. Rock Band is a bit more than that. After I heard the question I got a mental picture of 4 people sitting around with tiny instruments hooked up to their DS systems

Me: No, they do not make that for DS.
Battle Scars
It's funny how my coworkers and I can relate stories to each other and instantly understand what is being spoken of with limited detail. When you've seen so many SCs, you just understand.
That was the case with what happened here....
A guy came into exchange a Guitar Hero World Tour bundle with a faulty drum set. (on a side note that seems to be an issue with these kits, every defective one I've seen has been due to the drumset).
Company policy prohibits us from doing such a return, one only a few rare exceptions to the printed return policy on the receipt, which states any item can be exchanged within 45 days. I explain this to her...
SC: You can't do anything about this?
Me: All I can do is give you this phone number, contact Activision, they'll send you a replacement drum set.
SC: That's all that can be done?
Me: I'm afraid so.
SC: That's bullshit, I spent almost $200 on this thing.
Me: I'm sorry but there's nothing else I can do.
SC: Fine, I'll try this phone number, but you might be hearing from me again.
*leaves*
About 45 mins later, my coworker informs me a man is on the phone requesting a manager. The store manager is off at this time, which makes me the MOD. I get on the phone and I'm sure you know who was on the other end.
Me: I'm the MOD for tonight, how may I help you?
SC: (recounts earlier events, apparently he didn't realize I was the same person he'd dealt with earlier)
SC: So anyway I called the number and apparently it's going to take like a week to get it all straightened out and that's totally unacceptable to me.
Me: I apologize sir but we've been given very clear directives on this. There is nothing I can do for you tonight, any exchange of this nature could only be approved by the store manager. He'll be in tomorrow.
SC: He will be?
Me: Yes sir.
SC: Well I guess he'll be hearing from me tomorrow then. *click*
You'll note I didn't tell the SC what time the manager would be in the next day. The problem with that I was closing again so if he came in later in the day she'd be stuck with me again.

After I came on shift the next day, I asked K if a man had been in here about a Guitar Hero return. He said no one hadn't, but a man and spoken to him about it earlier on the phone.
Me: So did he get pretty upset when you told him there was nothing you could do?
K: (in a tone of voice that could only belong to someone that has plenty of experience dealing with SCs) Yeah...he got pretty upset.

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