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Toofast wrote:
Also, you don't have to kick everyone out to go to the bathroom. We have a trusted group of regulars that make sure nothing walks out the door while the manager is in the bathroom. I guess it would depend on the store. Once you have built a solid group of good people, there's always going to be 3-5 regulars there to help keep an eye on things.

This is fine, right up until the moment that something goes wrong while the 'manager' is not in the store...

 Jehan-reznor wrote:

 Random Dude wrote:
I would also like to point out that $30,000 is the average yearly income for a single American. I'm not saying it's great pay, I'm saying it's not extremely low or unlivable.

here some info
http://blog.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/paye/tax/comparison-of-uk-and-usa-take-home/

At the £20,000 / $32,000 salary level you have more take-home pay in the USA, but in the UK you have free medical and various other benefits that are superior to the USA. OTOH sales tax (VAT) is lower in the US than the UK. It probably evens out roughly in the end, barring the amount of space that is available in a lot of the US (not Manhattan, though...)

 insaniak wrote:

Toofast wrote:
Also, you don't have to kick everyone out to go to the bathroom. We have a trusted group of regulars that make sure nothing walks out the door while the manager is in the bathroom. I guess it would depend on the store. Once you have built a solid group of good people, there's always going to be 3-5 regulars there to help keep an eye on things.

This is fine, right up until the moment that something goes wrong while the 'manager' is not in the store...

I would imagine that most managers would never use this sort of a system to actually leave the store, but using the can is a whole other issue.

You used to be able to buy metal miniatures 'by weight' when you were a staffer. Going back some years I got about £4-500 of Steel Legion army (which was probably Apocalypse sized, although that didn't exist back then!) for about £80 or so. Absolutely mental, think I painted about 4 of them

I believe sometime after this the 'by weight' stopped, and I think discount was dropped to about 50%. Not sure if that is the case now, if that's the case you could probably make the argument that it would still be cheaper for GW staff to take up different game systems..

I used to find most staff had a life expectancy of 6-12 months, even years ago at the turn of the millenium. After this point they have either bought enough stuff to keep them painting for the next 70 years, or their BS meter has filled up to the brim and they move on.

Whatever the reasons, GW identified as a key problem the difficulty of finding suitable staff for their one-man shops, which they say led to their low sales.

If it is an insoluble problem due to the kind of factors mentioned in previous posts, then GW should consider dropping the one-man shop concept.

 Pacific wrote:
You used to be able to buy metal miniatures 'by weight' when you were a staffer. Going back some years I got about £4-500 of Steel Legion army (which was probably Apocalypse sized, although that didn't exist back then!) for about £80 or so. Absolutely mental, think I painted about 4 of them

Yeah, by weight a 10-man squad of Fire Dragons including Exarch with Fire Pike cost me £2.23!!!

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
I would imagine that most managers would never use this sort of a system to actually leave the store, but using the can is a whole other issue.

How many GW stores have their own bathrooms?

Not sure if that's a thing in the US, but over here most shops in malls don't.

 insaniak wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
I would imagine that most managers would never use this sort of a system to actually leave the store, but using the can is a whole other issue.

How many GW stores have their own bathrooms?

Not sure if that's a thing in the US, but over here most shops in malls don't.

I'm actually not sure if my local GW has one.

 insaniak wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
I would imagine that most managers would never use this sort of a system to actually leave the store, but using the can is a whole other issue.

How many GW stores have their own bathrooms?

Not sure if that's a thing in the US, but over here most shops in malls don't.

I know the one nearest me has one (the other door is actually "managers office" / cleaning closet) we must be high rollers :

All of them I've been to have their own bathroom. I guess things are different across the pond.

 insaniak wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
I would imagine that most managers would never use this sort of a system to actually leave the store, but using the can is a whole other issue.

How many GW stores have their own bathrooms?

Not sure if that's a thing in the US, but over here most shops in malls don't.

All the stores I worked in did.

High Street shops in the UK practically always have their own lavatories. It probably is less common in shopping centres.

 Random Dude wrote:

 slowthar wrote:
The guy working the GW store in my area told me his salary was $32,000 a year. Where we were, that was essentially minimum wage. And every interaction he had with anyone else in the company ruined his day, even though the kid busted his ass and actually did a great job building up the community and using it to drive sales numbers. Plus he had a 40 minute commute.

That was manager #4 out of the five years the store was open. As soon as their 5 year lease on the store ran out, GW closed the shop and, to the best of my knowledge, fired the kid.

Working for GW probably sucks harder than working in food service, and also has less career opportunities.

To be fair, New York is one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S. $30,000 is plenty enough money for a single person in almost every other state.

This was in the Philly area, where the cost of living is quite high. The only place the cost of living is high in NY state is NY city itself. Where I'm at now, Rochester the cost of living is quite reasonable and $32k would go a lot further.

Also, to be clear, if you didn't go to college then $32k is decent if you're in your mid-twenties. However, the complete lack of stability in your job and the immense pressure from management which seemed based on quite unrealistic expectations makes it a pretty lousy job. Personally, I'd rather be working food service where I know that if I preform decently I won't lose my job and I have a chance to move up.

Then again, I like the rewarding feeling of manual labor and hate selling things.

 Random Dude wrote:
So, as the title suggests, my local GW store just got its 4th manager in 2 years. The first stayed for 1 year but left after a fallout with management. The second left on better terms (He simply found a better paying job). The third was an interim who stayed for maybe a month. The situation puzzles me because the store itself has been doing very well. People are always in an out, buying frequently. I guess my question is this: Does GW treat its employees as commodities that are only there to make money for the company? I cannot think of many reasons why the turnover rate would be so high.

YES. GW is not very knowledgeable in running "Hobby Centers". They think that the England model works in the states, and in fact it fails miserably. Hence- 4 managers in two weeks, or the store shuts down within a year of opening, only to open down the street, or near the FLGS where they go into direct competition, and either of the two end up folding.

Does GW treat its employees as commodities that are only there to make money for the company? Yes. Sad but true. Worse is that new managers actually think that the company will do them solid, and up until the firing, or "Escorting out of the store".
They are in a majority great managers and would have been promoted several times in any other occupation. Think of a GW promotion as getting the thanks for making them money by firing squad. ( The Emperors Grace was mentioned several times by insiders as to how they get rid of up and comers who don't tout the blind party line, but are overall effective. Also known as Not being a team player, so we fired them.)