Just let me open the gorram store!

[Opalin]

So was opening GameStore, and everything was, for once, going smoothly when the phone rings. It is about an hour and 30 minutes before we open the store.

I'm currently turning everything on, but in theory we're supposed to answer the phone anyway if we hear it and it isn't packed/detracting from something else. So I pick up.

RFD: Random forgetful dude.
Me:

Me: *corperate assigned greeting*, this is Opalin, how can I help you?
RFD: "Er... yeah... I need to know the trade in values on some games?"
Me: >_<' (Ah, the one thing Corperate has been freaking out about over the last month and a half, and therefore I pretty much can't hang up on him so long as he stays on this tack) "Certainly."
Computer: *Print price changes for day? y/n* *hits yes, prices start printing*
RFD: "Um. yeah. So I need the prices for Madden 11, 10, 12? And also NBA 2k10, 11, 12... and um..." *at high speeds* "Oh yeah. I have a copy of NBA 2k13 that hasn't been played yet? How much could I get for that?"
Me: *DANGER, DANGER. (This is something corporate, in theory, routinely tests us on. We are NOT permitted to take shrink wrapped games, with one exception, if we take em out of a system/controller box ourselves) "Unfortunately sir, we don't take unplayed games."
RFD: "WHAT? But it's never been played, has no scratches on it!"
Me: "Unfortunately sir, corporate policy says we can't take unplayed games. The prices for the games are *blah, blah and blah amount*"
RFD: "And these games? In cash?" *lists 4 other games*
Me: *ah. I know who you are now. You're that crazy guy who said I lied on the phone and tried to sell us your broken flip phone and haggle with us over prices* "Blah prices."
RFD: "And you open at what time?"
Me: "*time*"
RFD: "time? Exactly?"
Me: "*time*"
RFD: "Alrighty." *click*
Me: *hears the stickers still printing, glances over, sees pile o doom waiting on the floor and being added to by the moment*

*ten minutes pass, I've started doing cat counts, etc, phone rings*
Me: *...* "*corporate greeting*, this is Opalin, how can I help you?"
RFD: "Hello Opalin. I need some prices on some games? *lists same exact set of games* And what time do you open?"
Me: *...* "Gives same exact prices, time."
RFD: "Thanks." *click*
*price changes have finished printing. 284 prices to be changed... wheee!*
Bank run, when I get back, phone is ringing.

Me: *...* "*corporate gree-*"
RFD: "Hello Opalin, could you give me the prices on *same ten games*
Me: "...As I told you before *blah prices*"
RFD: "I know. I just forgot" *hangs up*

exactly 10 minutes later, the phone rings again. *I check that the door is locked and gates are down over everything, and ignore the phone.*

Boss calls *different line, I tell him what's going on, he gives me permission to continue ignoring the main line until the store is open*

Oddly, once the store opens, no more calls, and no sign of the guy.

Bonus suck. We have a lady call in and ask about prices, and is told that we can't take unopened games. She is told by my ASM that so long as she *play tests it* we can take it. (code for: it can't be sealed when she brings it in) she gets here with the game still sealed, then complains about it when we won't take the game, even after she's torn the seal off in front of us.

[EricKei]

I guess it's changed since then, but when I was doing time at GameStore ^_^ If someone came in with a sealed game, we were forced to accept it in trade if they opened it in front of us. Apparently, it's preferable to accept a possibly-stolen game than to piss off a customer we'd never met before and probably never would again. If they wanted cash money instead of credit, the chances the games were stolen rose exponentially. We couldn't even turn them away if the local Mart of Wal (the favorite source for stolen games) had been advising us that a bunch of their new games had gone missing x.x

Still better than the one guy (in all of those years) who brought in a dufflebag full of BURNED games and seemed upset that we would not buy them from him >_>

[Miss Maple Leaf]

Still better than the one guy (in all of those years) who brought in a dufflebag full of BURNED games and seemed upset that we would not buy them from him >_>

Don't you just love people who do that?

[Pixilated]

Just out of curiosity, why can't you accept unopened games?

[barainga]

Just out of curiosity, why can't you accept unopened games?

Because of the chance of them being stolen I would imagine. People shoplift from Store A then go to Store B and tries to get money for them.


There is a used game store in the same parking lot as Wal-Mart. People would steal from the discount games bin at walmart and walk right down the strip to the game store and try to sell them there for cash. Of course this never worked since its an independent store and they werent about to take games they couldnt resell. Obviously if the games are in the discount bin and not under lock and key then there isnt a demand for them.

[PepperElf]

ah i was wondering that myself, but that explanation makes a lot of sense.
as does the ability to resell crap discount games that no one wants anyway.


and yeesh, yeah it sounds like the caller wants to try to test you to see if the prices change. too bad you can't lower the trade in value say... every time they call back? (but alas i'm sure corp would be mad).


and speaking of trade-ins... i should see if my data for Duke Nukem is still on the PS3. My BF traded it back in cos he hated the game. And I only played it a little... didn't even get through the first fight. although I did earn the "Turd Burglar" trophy at least.

[EricKei]

What barainga said

It's even more suspicious when the games come in sealed with no priced sticker on it (nor any other stickers). Also, people who do this want cash money 99% of the time. The fact that companies (including GS) have been adding and/or enforcing-on-pain--of death policies requiring Driver's Licenses and info from the customers has cut down on this stuff, as well. Naturally, they still give out fake phone numbers if they're thieves, but it scares many of them off, so they just end up selling the illicit loot via CL/eBay/pawnshops.

[Opalin]

I suspect if someone raised enough hell about it on the phone someone would cave... because... GS corporate, but right now they're in psycho mode, so no moving from policy for anybody but our regulars.

[bankworking]

If someone had a still-sealed game, wouldn't the store they bought it from be willing to take it back? If so, trying to sell it second hand instead screams possible theft.

[EricKei]

bw - Precisely. Nobody who comes in wanting to trade in a sealed game ever has a receipt, in my experience. This does NOT mean that all of them I've encountered were stolen...But, yeah, many of them were.