Okay, want my honest opinion? There are better alternatives out there, but they are clearly not available to a lot of people. Buying a used game from Amazon Marketplace is 9 times out of 10 a much cheaper way to get a game that is probably in like-new condition, if you buy from a reputable seller. I personally would prefer people buy new games to directly stimulate the industry, but realistically, it's a very expensive hobby. And Selling your used games! You could sell your game on Amazon or eBay for literally DOUBLE what we would give you for it, and for the person buying it it'd STILL be cheaper than the cost at which we'd SELL that used game!

But again, many people simply don't have such options available to them. What am i supposed to tell them? The only thing that makes sense: "it's better than nothing." Every time i do say that, i can taste vomit in the back of my mouth. Sometimes I do manage to tell people the real, hard truth about all of it. But then I worry about my job. should i be telling them this? they just promoted me, should i be throwing them under the bus like this? If they find out, in just what kind of trouble will I be? Unfortunately, my thinning wallet ends up doing the rest of my moral posturing for me. I just need the job.

So when that fresh-faced, optimistic little boy comes up to the counter witha ll his old favorites and asks me "how much would i get for these games?" I just have to swallow my pride, choke down the bile in my throat, and tell him.

I'm currently employed by Gamestop, and have been since October of 2008. Before I started working there, i honestly never really dealt with the store before, or had any idea of what its status was among the gaming industry/community. Since that time, i realize I've become something of a pariah because of my employment there. I really never knew people disliked the company enough to devote a three-part article detailing why exactly they didn't like it.

I'm not sure whether this was written in total sincerity or not, but regardless, in the interest of fairness I thought i would contribute the perspective of a *current* employee, point-for-point.

Firstly, the pay: no, it's not great. Why? Well, it's a corporate retail job. I did the research, and most jobs of similar description all paid in the same wage bracket. I chose Gamestop for most of the reasons one would expect, but mostly because the manager actually called me back. Also, the Comdata card is kind of a pain, but a few of the claims against it have been exaggerated (at least, compared to my experience.) The card does not charge you a fee the FIRST TIME you take out money per pay period, so i simply ht up any gas station ATM and empty the card into cash for that two weeks. I never use the card for any direct transaction. And it's not that big a deal to get your balance from the 800-number, i just enter my card number and pin, and its the first thing they tell you, even before any prompting. Other than that, the article pretty much has it right.

As for the weak discount on games? We're allowed to check out games from the store for a couple days at a time; who needs to buy games? I've purchased 1 new game since i started working there. and I only plan on buying one more for the rest of the year (Fallout 3 GOTY edition, for the curious.)

Answering the phone? The most - the absolute MOST - I've ever had to say while answering the phone is "Thanks for calling Gamestop; we have dsi and wii fit in stock; this is chris, how can i help you?" THAT is not what i dislike about answering the phone. What I dislike is what turns out, 80% of the time, to be a completely asinine question. I lose track by the week - by the WEEK! - of people calling in to tell me their 360 has broken and what we can do about it. The short answer? Nothing. 1-800-4MYXBOX. bother them. and buy a ps3 so you can stop spending money maintaining that stupid thing.

Pocket checks: you have a serious problem with this? it takes 3 seconds at the end of your shift and is more a formality than anything. Sure, i realize there's a matter of principle at stake here, but its not like anyone at the store is just waiting to catch you when you finally steal something because I knew you were no good all along, you shifty bum. Please. No one thinks anyone is actually stealing. Except Loss Prevention. they DO treat the employees like thieves. But you'd only have to deal with them maybe once or twice a year at most.

Now, as far as what is outlined in the manager's section above, I'm afraid that's pretty darn accurate. the emphasis IS on numbers, and since I came from a customer service background, I've actually been pulled aside and told i was being TOO NICE to the customers. Don't worry, I haven't changed much. But the degree to which this company demands pre-orders and subscriptions borders on the fetishistic. They want you to get a pre-order in with every sale, every trade. When customers pick up a pre-ordered game, we're told to ask them if the want to "move" their pre-order to another upcoming game (essentially making them pay full price for a game they've already put money down on. I mean, it's just five dollars, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

That automated scheduling bit was news to me. Perhaps it varies by district, but as far as I know our manager is in fact able to tailor a schedule himself based on availability and hours allotted. The problem arises from the NUMBER OF HOURS given to the store. This week? 77. 77 hours to divide among 7 people. And the ***istant manager is guaranteed 40 hours no matter what, so 37 hours between 6 people? Half our store doesn't get to work this week.