It is all true which is the crazy thing. Some things may have changed but i have kept up with old friends who still work there. It is just how the company works, how it makes its money. I understand that but I talked the truth even while i was working there. Funny thing is Gamestop will be around because only for that split second the customer may feel proud in knowing that they can save money elsewhere they wont because gamestop is down the road and they won't have to wait.
Its like with my recent rig. I could have ordered everything from Newegg like I always used to do but I instead went to Compusa who is now owned by Tigerdirect and over paid for the CPU and Mobo. I even asked if they priced match after i bought everything and they said yes.
So I went back with everything I was told by the cashier to have which was the reciept, the box, and the printed page from the website. They told me to make sure it was not OEM which none of the parts were. I made the mistake of going the next day cause I had school so I talked to a different cashier. I could already tell she was in a bad mood because of the customer before me wanted to return something that wasn't working without a receipt( what a douche). They offered only to exchange the product which then the customer started saying what if the next one is broken. I then intervened telling him to cut the BS that he just really wanted his money back because what he was telling her was an excuse to show her you didn't believe in her when the matter of the fact you didn't like it and wanted the money back. Well tough luck cause you don't have the receipt which is the sole responsibility of the consumer but I will add it is a nice feature that some retail stores do keep records for both the company and its customers. But this is compusa whether its tigerdirect owned or not the policies didn't change just the owner. He left mad over a 20 dollar item let me add as he drove away in a nice card and dressed up to go to like a club too. That is why I called him a douche earlier.
Okay going back that little segment did have a tie in to my tale. Well when it was my turn that very same cashier told me they could not return all the money back from the price match because it was below cost. After all that knowledge I helped her out with the previous customer she was being ignorant to the fact I was there and not just some customer who walked in and doesn't know how to return an item. I wasn't upset I just didn't understand why I could not get all difference from the price match I just know it couldn't be done.(Understanding and Knowing are two very different words in the world of retail) So I asked her if I could talk to the manager. He comes up like I just made a scene from the Mike Wallace bit from Pulp Fiction and started to apologize, talking about discounts the next time i came in, not even asking for my name and information to remember who I was on record. I stopped him, I asked him just to listen to me. I told him I know what position he is in because I had done retail for 3 years and made it all the way to Store Manager. I know the pressure from the higher ups and earning the respect from the lower downs. I told him that this conversation was meant to be teaching me why the price match could not be done not how he was not going to help me next time i came in. I told him what they are giving me back is not what is called a price match by definition and its poor service to stay competitive with retailers. He then tells me how Tiger direct bought them and are trying to be as competitive in stores as they do against their website competitors but it just cannot be done. So I finally saw that he knows that I understand how it is to be a Store manager in retail. You just can't please everyone.Not just you as the Store manager but the company that your representing. Which is what customers get wrong all the time. They bash the employees when its not them who made the rules its the company who did. The ones who know nothing how it runs they just started it and let it loose. going back I ended up just getting 50 some back than the original 150 i would have gotten if they went by the actual definition of Price Matching.
So all in all its really the same everywhere. When I get upset I trying to make it a learning lesson to others that I know where they are coming from and I am not just some other person bashing on them at work because someone was bashing me at my job. The sad thing is that it is mostly like that in the real world. Someone will get picked on at their job then when they get out they will pick on someone at that persons job somewhere down the line. What needs to happen is to stop and realize its a chain reaction. I would get customers off guard when I was working when I just asked them as I was ringing them up.(because I hate awkward silences)."So how was your day?" Especially those who do not look happy or distant from the real world as they buy a crappy 50 dollar game to make them jump back into the real world. Make them realize the mistake they are making but over all its to show that hey the person behind the counter,the one on the speaker at a fast food joint, the mechanic, even the person who picks up the garbage for the city is a regular human being just like you.They just seem corrupt and evil like the companies they represent because they are just doing their job just as you are. To make a living and survive in this loopy world.
