I've worked in a variety of retail outlets in some form or another most of my young adult working life and until quite recently(ish), I worked at Gamestation, one of the larger Gaming brands in the UK for a total of 3 years. That is until I'd had enough. Not just of "Gamestation" but of retail as a whole. Though seeing as I'm too late to apply for College this year, I fear my time in that realm is not quite over yet.

During my existence in that shop, like a priest absorbing delicious fruity sins, young whippersnappers would often express their envy at my line of work and proclaim their desire to work at our store or one similar.
"Bless you my child." I would often reply "You should be careful of what you wish for."

I have a lot of fond memories of that place, I made some fantastic friends and would go as far as calling some of them part of my extended family. I could easily fill a blog alone with interesting anecdotes I experienced there. THAT is not this blog. THIS blog serves to help answer the question that has popped into the heads of some children at least once, since they first picked up a SNES pad and managed to pull off a hadouken successfully.

"What's it like to work in a Game shop?"

Not exactly the most exciting of questions, but something I myself asked once or twice during the time it took to evolve from a mere fetus to the human being I am today, now master of the QWERTY keyboard.
Obviously not everyone has the qualifications, skill or experience to be a game designer or something equally as cool. Myself included in that bracket ;_; <- The tears may be pixelated but the pain is real. Yet provided that there's an opening in store available and you sound like you know what you're talking about, a job at somewhere like Gamestation is far more attainable. Temporarily at least.

The following punctuation, letters, words, sentences and mad ramblings are an edited biography of my experiences at such a retail outlet. None of the juicy bits unfortunately, again that's for another time. Just pure, one hundred percent concentrated fact. A summary of what to expect I guess.

Like a bull in a china shop, I was a geek working in a game store. It was a plausible and achievable slice of Gamer heaven.
The freebies! The T-shirts! The Discount! I could 'rent' preowned games! ZOMG! I could play the latest video games on my lunch break and even buy them (with the odd exception) days, sometimes a week before their street release. It was (in my case) a job where you finally got the chance to relate to people just like you and not just some aging woman fighting off retirement for as long as she can, who's idea of a good time was dying her hair purple to cover up the greys. No more small talk about the weather or a something as trivial as a hip replacement, but topics that were important. Important to me and plenty of other warm blooded individuals. Zombies, Zombies riddled with bullets and Zombies on holiday. You'd bond with your fellow brethren, swap gamer tags, war stories and brag about manly things like the size of one's gamer score.
Glossing over the fact that retail in itself is a soul crushingly awful battleground, for now at least, it was a dream come true and on paper the concept was flawless.

Geek + Discount + Games = A very happy chappy (Albeit, a little broke)

It was the Nerd equivalent of Boy meets Girl. Unfortunately in this case, I misread the signals lady lovely was sending my way and mistook it for a whirlwind romance. I saw flowers, chocolate, edible undies and mad passionate coitus that would eventually be portrayed as a much more discrete metaphor in a Disney flick. Unbeknown to me, it was actually more Uwe Boll's "Bloodrayne" but with less Boobies. Like most doomed relationships though, there's always that honeymoon period. The first few months were fantastic. As to be expected. Eventually the shrouded veil of lies and deceit fell back and and revealed a photoshopped canine wearing unflattering eye make up, barking angrily at me.

"War has Changed."

You may spend a majority of your time fighting against both your inner nerd and your bank balance. In my case, It usually ended in bloodshed and I wound end up consuming beans on toast for the next month. Every new console, a weapon of self destruction. Every mildly interesting software release, a must have day one purchase. Every inexcusably cheap title added to the already teetering Jenga pile. Every pay check spent within hours of receiving.

The novelty does wear off and very quickly. You get spoilt. It's too much of a good thing. For example, when you're hungry and shopping for consumption. More often than not you'll buy too much, eat your body weight in Twiglets and then just gouge down the rest of your feast at a constant but much slower rate, just because it's "there". Isn't a meal you've been waiting for all day far more satisfying and fulfilling than when you're constantly graising on edibles?

You are a disposable commodity. Which is nothing new, but Gamestation (at least) made a special effort to remind you every morning. At least it felt like they did. They don't care how long it would take you to perform a task, it WILL be done in this designated time frame. They don't care if you're getting overtime for it (or payed at all), even if you've lost a digit and are losing blood at an accelerated rate. Just get it done. That's life unfortunately.
Just like every other business, they're there to make money. Don't expect a pat on the back telling you it's OK, as long as you tried. They'll be no cheeky promise of an extra hard ass kicking on Gears tonight to make up for it.They don't give a damn about you, they give a damn about money. Pretty green, often diginity and blood stained, Moolah. They want results, not excuses soldier! If you don't like it, there are plenty of other silly sausages out there ready to replace you willingly. I hate those guys!

Despite what you previously may have been led to believe, the job does not involve spending a huge majority of your time and company money playing games and kicking back with a Budweiser. If you work in a place like that, please send them my CV and this written application:

"Dear fictional store of dreams and false hope,
Just like the lottery I'm pretty certain that you're just something that happens to other people, not me. Please give me a job of luxury up there in your floating castle so I can die happy. If there are no positions available at the moment, could you please forward this message to the tooth fairy. I dig chicks with no teeth and will be a big money earner.
Big kisses and plethora of Man hugs. Mr Mashu."

You've been in a store of any kind on a Saturday right? It doesn't matter where you are, as long as you're wearing a company uniform it's like Omaha beach out there. People firing questions and insults at you from every angle just adding to your already crippling workload.
Try peeping through the looking glass next time you see a family wisely choosing lunchtime to trade in their entire game collection. I want you to look hard at the clerks face. He is not thinking "Oh wow, I can't wait to go round the back and fondle myself." That guy is busy. Super busy. He may not look it, but he is. Unless he isn't of course, but that doesn't count! He's just trying his best to look approachable. It's part of his job description!
There will be the minimum of staff on, he has phone's to answer (I received a record 9 calls about wii fit in 10 minutes), a well timed sale or price change to do thanks to the master intelligence at HQ (They come in two sizes. Large or Extra Extra), a never ending pile of traded games that really need to be gutted by the end of the day or else you'll drown in copies of GTA3 come this time tomorrow (We don't want another rock star scandal thank you very much) a huge line of people waiting which is always fun (You've met people right? They're just like the internet, but not in CAPS.) and there will always, always be "a" or "a collection of" kid(s) making your life hell. Be it with a stink bomb, throwing stock around the shop floor or just being a smart ass. He'll be there, waiting for you. He is a manifestation of that irritating little brat on Halo 3 Matchmaker but without the satisfying option to unload a clip of ammunition into his prepubescent nether regions.
Boo Hoo right? Like a lot of jobs it is stressful. and in that job, trust me you will. But please, don't go out of your way to antagonize those poor bastards. (This works both ways of course) They'd be able and willing to help you far better if the mother ship wasn't so tight with the hours and purse strings.
When you get to a counter, smile and maybe offer a hug and tell them it's OK. Warn them first, as they'll probably suspect your about to hit them. It wouldn't be the first time. Copping a feel is optional, but may result in a banning.

So to summarize all that information into a minuscule bite sized chuck:

"What's it like to work in a Game shop?"

The same as working in any other shop, It's Ok. Except maybe just a tiny bit more exciting?
This excitement obviously stems from the fact that you'd probably have an avid interest in games wanting to work there in first place.
The important thing to remember that most people forget? Game stores are a business exactly like any other. They are not designed for the Staff to have fun. Because half the time you won't.You aren't supposed to, that's just a welcome addition to your day! They are there to make money. End of. Don't apply for a job there expecting it to be an adult day care for nerds.
It's not a fantastic job, at times it can be horrific, but as far as retail itself goes it's the lesser of the evils. It does really depend on what chain you apply for. A lot of the bigger chains such as GAME are more "SALE SALE SALE! Push push push! Do you want fry's with that?" and seeing as Gamestation are their new toy, they are turning that way gradually too. I suggest you try looking for work in an independent as you'd probably get the most enjoyment out of your experiences there. If I were to ever go back, that's what I'd aim for at least. That said, It really doesn't matter where you end up exactly, as working on the front line is a real eye opener in itself and will help you learn and understand a little bit more about how the industry works.
I'm just glad I got out when I did. Any longer and I'd of ended up the front page of the Daily Mail. I hope I haven't put any of the few of you who read this off, but just like Alton Towers or my Ex Galpal, I recommend you try it out for yourself at least once.






There's goes my first blog! I apologize if it's structured poorly and makes no sense, which is very likely. I'm not really much of a writer. Outside of secondary school, I'd say that's the most I've done to my recent memory, Any farther back and we're talking Marty Mcfly, back to the future! Well done for getting this far though and thank you for attempting to read my written maze. I'm just terrified I've done this wrong. Be gentle with this poor old man :D