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Maybe this should be in Off-Topic? I don't know. It's GW related at least.

So back in 2001 I was an employee at the local Games Workshop store in Concord Mills (how I miss it). I still have my GW Staff polo and employee handbook. Do I get geek cred for those? Or shame? Any other former (or current) GW employees in our midst?

We often joked about how our store chapter should have been the Thousand Sons, as we were stuck in some lost and forgotten corner of the Galaxy(United States) far away from the Light of the Emperor(Maryland and/or any other GW store). It became moreso the case later with the Inquisition(Regional) came down and cleared out all the employees in a massive purge for the misdeeds of our manager.

Current employees will not admit their identity as it could compromise their position with the company.

Ah ha. I was not aware of that rule. The handbook I (still) have is from an era before Forums were very big. Apparently I have truly arcane lore!

Anyone want an out of date Games Workshop Employee Handbook?

Try the Swap Shop...

GW, what a horrible company to work for. Cheap mini's was the only upside to the job. Low pay, harassment, and wrongful termination were my experience.

I opened the first store in Annapolis MD. One of the other employee's was Dirty Steve from White Dwarf fame. We were both new hires. This was back in '96-'97.

Our regional manager was an absolute terror (I cannot remember his name). He would come into the store and we would hear him SCREAMING at our manager in the back about unmet (and unreasonable) sales targets and whatever else he could concoct up. Once, Steve and I were working on a peice of terrain, a sort of ziggurat or pyramid for the then upcoming fantasy Lizardman release. We were both pretty proud of the way it looked and had put tons of time into it between us both. One visit, while he was performing his ritualistic screaming session with Dwayne (our manager), we heard a crash in the backroom. Steve and I were actually wondering if him and the Dwayne started fighting physically. The door opens, and the regional storms out of the store. Steve and I checked the backroom to see what had happened and our terrain peice was smashed. Apparently he did not like it and threw it against the wall.

Steve and I were totally aghast, you can imagine. Unfortunatly, we were all unaware of our rights as employees in the United States. If I had been a bit more informed at the time, I personally would of had him fired for this behavior.

My personal story goes a bit further. Apparently this regional over time had realised my distaste for him....and targeted me. I was constantly under fire for my "sales technique". Despite having highest sales in the store and second highest in his region for starter combo's sold (the only thing they tracked by employees at the time), my sales practices were not good enough. He saw me run a demo and I was very explanitory about the game. Explaining rules to customers and explaining the fun/hobby aspect of GW. I was not one of these annoying "in your face" employees that they have working for them today. You see, these guys will actually GET FIRED EVENTUALLY if they do not perform these annoying practices you experience today.

One day I showed up for work and Dwayne told me that I had been "Let go". Amazed, I asked him why. Like I said, I had some of the highest sales figures for the region and was really trying to go career with the company. I had hopes to get to be the manager of the next store. Anyway, the regional had told him to fire me b/c he had observed one of my demo games and I had not done it properly. I literally was fired from GW for not making machine gun noises for the kids I was running the demo for. I'm not kidding, not embellishing, this is the Gospel.

I dont know if Maryland is a "right to work" state or not, but this would've been more ammo against GW if I had decided to push the issue. I had never been verbally counciled, suspended, or had any disciplinary action against me during my time there. This termination was completely out of the blue.

My employment for GW was a nightmare. I should've been much more observant of employee's rights. In the end, I'm glad I didnt go on there. Retail is a crappy place to work, and when you work around it all day, the last thing you want to do when you come home is paint up your armies. The hobby was fun for me again after my distaste for all things GW wore off. I still have some sympathy for those guys in the store. When they approach me in their annoying ways asking me if I had seen the new Vampire Counts stuff even though I had just asked about the new codex for 40k coming out, I let it slide. I'm not angered by their annoying practices b/c I know why they do it. Pressure, pressure, and more pressure by the company. Some are probably afraid of losing their jobs.

Yea, I worked for GW and it was hell. HELL.

Your heresy has been noted, recorded and voxed to Terran kill teams.

Being a retail/sales assistant for any company is crap full stop.

Worked for many different places (never GW) and will never work in retail again.

I worked for GW some ten years ago at the randhurst store in Mt. Prospect, I can also agree with deadshane, the regional manager he speaks of was a grade A D-Bag. Nicest guy on the planet to your face but the minute you turned your back in went the daggers

@Deadshane1

Until recently I lived in Maryland and had no other place that was convenient to play other than the GW stores. I was not very happy with them.

I never went to the Annapolis store, but the other two I went two were not that great. One was full of the pushiest sales people I have even seen. In the other store I went to the people were okay, but they made people play by very wrong and strange rules. It was a strange combination of 5th edition and some half remembered rules from earlier editions.

Now I play at the Chicago Battle Bunker, even though it is a bit of a drive for me, the employees and the players there are of a much higher quality. I wonder if the same regional manager is still working in Maryland or what.

svendrex wrote:@Deadshane1

Until recently I lived in Maryland and had no other place that was convenient to play other than the GW stores. I was not very happy with them.

I never went to the Annapolis store, but the other two I went two were not that great. One was full of the pushiest sales people I have even seen. In the other store I went to the people were okay, but they made people play by very wrong and strange rules. It was a strange combination of 5th edition and some half remembered rules from earlier editions.

Now I play at the Chicago Battle Bunker, even though it is a bit of a drive for me, the employees and the players there are of a much higher quality. I wonder if the same regional manager is still working in Maryland or what.

the regional manager was "asked to quit" a few years back, needless to say all of his underhanded tactics came back to bit him and he and GW decided it was best for him to part ways

Deadshane1, are you talking about the GW that used to be in the Annapolis mall? I remember browsing that store on the weekends when I was a Midshipman at USNA in the early 2000's. Good times...

Bonegrinder wrote:Being a retail/sales assistant for any company is crap full stop.

Worked for many different places (never GW) and will never work in retail again.

She Who Must Be Obeyed and I agree that every person in the US should have to work in retail or food service as a teenager, so that everyone can experience what job hell really is.

Frazzled wrote:

Bonegrinder wrote:Being a retail/sales assistant for any company is crap full stop.

Worked for many different places (never GW) and will never work in retail again.

She Who Must Be Obeyed and I agree that every person in the US should have to work in retail or food service as a teenager, so that everyone can experience what job hell really is.

Like some sort of coming of age thing or a american rite of passage.

Have them drafted into retail, make them live the pure suckage.

Remember that the people who become mid-level managers in Retail are the same people who, in their early 20s, were told they weren't smart enough to be in actual Business School, and so with their prior course load just kinda sloughed off into Retail Management, which is the closest to Business Management that people who can't hack it in Business School can qualify for.

It used to be awesome for the reductions you got on stock, the reduction on metal stuff in particular was mental and meant staff could get some really cool armies which were outside most peoples price ranges. Although I hear now that the staff discount has been reduced somewhat.

Generally people last 6 months to a year I find, a few brave souls (and members of the old guard) exist here and there however

Bonegrinder wrote:

Frazzled wrote:

Bonegrinder wrote:Being a retail/sales assistant for any company is crap full stop.

Worked for many different places (never GW) and will never work in retail again.

She Who Must Be Obeyed and I agree that every person in the US should have to work in retail or food service as a teenager, so that everyone can experience what job hell really is.

Like some sort of coming of age thing or a american rite of passage.

Have them drafted into retail, make them live the pure suckage.

Exactly.

My old Redshirt now lines my ferret cage.

I guess I was lucky in that our store actually met our sales goals, or missed them by so little as to be easily forgiven. I still have my limited edition 4th edition 40k rulebook we won as a prize in some contest.

I still agree that the treatment of employees is sub-par. Their idea seems to be that you "get" to work for them, instead of a normal employer-employee relationship. I left to work for the new Hobby Town that opened nearby, and was amazed how well employees could be treated, even without a 50% employee discount.

But this really didn't start out as a G.W. bashing thread, so I'll just say that you get a little, tiny bit of geek cred- but only in the right circles.

Deadshane1 wrote:GW, what a horrible company to work for. Cheap mini's was the only upside to the job. Low pay, harassment, and wrongful termination were my experience.

I opened the first store in Annapolis MD. One of the other employee's was Dirty Steve from White Dwarf fame. We were both new hires. This was back in '96-'97.

Our regional manager was an absolute terror (I cannot remember his name). He would come into the store and we would hear him SCREAMING at our manager in the back about unmet (and unreasonable) sales targets and whatever else he could concoct up. Once, Steve and I were working on a peice of terrain, a sort of ziggurat or pyramid for the then upcoming fantasy Lizardman release. We were both pretty proud of the way it looked and had put tons of time into it between us both. One visit, while he was performing his ritualistic screaming session with Dwayne (our manager), we heard a crash in the backroom. Steve and I were actually wondering if him and the Dwayne started fighting physically. The door opens, and the regional storms out of the store. Steve and I checked the backroom to see what had happened and our terrain peice was smashed. Apparently he did not like it and threw it against the wall.

Steve and I were totally aghast, you can imagine. Unfortunatly, we were all unaware of our rights as employees in the United States. If I had been a bit more informed at the time, I personally would of had him fired for this behavior.

My personal story goes a bit further. Apparently this regional over time had realised my distaste for him....and targeted me. I was constantly under fire for my "sales technique". Despite having highest sales in the store and second highest in his region for starter combo's sold (the only thing they tracked by employees at the time), my sales practices were not good enough. He saw me run a demo and I was very explanitory about the game. Explaining rules to customers and explaining the fun/hobby aspect of GW. I was not one of these annoying "in your face" employees that they have working for them today. You see, these guys will actually GET FIRED EVENTUALLY if they do not perform these annoying practices you experience today.

One day I showed up for work and Dwayne told me that I had been "Let go". Amazed, I asked him why. Like I said, I had some of the highest sales figures for the region and was really trying to go career with the company. I had hopes to get to be the manager of the next store. Anyway, the regional had told him to fire me b/c he had observed one of my demo games and I had not done it properly. I literally was fired from GW for not making machine gun noises for the kids I was running the demo for. I'm not kidding, not embellishing, this is the Gospel.

I dont know if Maryland is a "right to work" state or not, but this would've been more ammo against GW if I had decided to push the issue. I had never been verbally counciled, suspended, or had any disciplinary action against me during my time there. This termination was completely out of the blue.

My employment for GW was a nightmare. I should've been much more observant of employee's rights. In the end, I'm glad I didnt go on there. Retail is a crappy place to work, and when you work around it all day, the last thing you want to do when you come home is paint up your armies. The hobby was fun for me again after my distaste for all things GW wore off. I still have some sympathy for those guys in the store. When they approach me in their annoying ways asking me if I had seen the new Vampire Counts stuff even though I had just asked about the new codex for 40k coming out, I let it slide. I'm not angered by their annoying practices b/c I know why they do it. Pressure, pressure, and more pressure by the company. Some are probably afraid of losing their jobs.

Yea, I worked for GW and it was hell. HELL.

The parellels between our experiences are truly amazing.

I worked at the St. Louis Mills store from the opening in '03 to the end of '04, and had almost the exact same experience. I'm actually thankful that I was let go, because it allowed me to look and find a much better job that paid much better and allowed me to actually use my skills, experience and schooling. (I was getting kinda comfortable there since they paid me as an assistant manager.)

I'm thankful to hear that the guy was let go, if it's true. I suspect it is. I vaguely remember meeting up with my former manager there at a Games day some years later and him telling me that he was forced to move on.

Grade A D-bag indeed.

If you work in the U.S. NEVER let a supervisor YELL at you. It's called Harassment, there are laws against it.

@Ruckdog

The Annapolis Mall location, (i think) opened after the initial annapolis location closed. The oringinal store was located in a strip mall right next to a large AMC or REGAL theatre. I forget what the strip mall was called.

I frequented the Annapolis store and the Bunker close by whenever I was in the Baltimore area. I remember the regional manager as I was pretty good friends with on of the managers up in NJ who was a wonderful guy. Some of the regulars mentioned GW "got to him." It was a joke, but I could see a real change in him over the years he worked for the company. Constantly worrying about meeting sales, if he'd get canned, etc.

Retails rough and the managers and regular employee's often seem to catche the brunt in the world of working for GW. Its always seemed backwards, why not work to retain quality employees? Having guys who know the hobby, know painting is better for consumers, and can inspire consumers to spend more, buy something just to work on. Briefly a store that died / got transitioned, GW Cherry Hill had a few employee's who didn't know the game. I think that hurt their sales at times. When your consistent patron's are doing your painting demo's, you know your in trouble.

Deadshane1 wrote:I'm thankful to hear that the guy was let go, if it's true. I suspect it is. I vaguely remember meeting up with my former manager there at a Games day some years later and him telling me that he was forced to move on.

Grade A D-bag indeed.

If you work in the U.S. NEVER let a supervisor YELL at you. It's called Harassment, there are laws against it.

@Ruckdog

The Annapolis Mall location, (i think) opened after the initial annapolis location closed. The oringinal store was located in a strip mall right next to a large AMC or REGAL theatre. I forget what the strip mall was called.

Supervisors can yell, if they yell at everyone equally. If they only yell at a few, or certain types of employees its Harassment.

I would have to say that this type of behavior is not exclusive to GW and is a systemic problem of any low wage retail environment. I worked for Wizards of the Coast when they had retail stores 10+ years ago and had a similar experience.

I've never been to an official GW store...

I don't think i'm missing much. I rather enjoy local retailers.

I worked there part time to help my buddy (the current manager) paint the required models that were constantly needing done (for the store and various GD events at the time). I only worked two days a week but got %60 off and the even sweeter bits order deals (basically %90 off metal bits).

It wasn't a real job to me so I never worried about much and the manager was a cool guy (still is!). Just sat at the paint table and painted/watched hot girls walk by. Ah...those were the days!

sourclams wrote:Remember that the people who become mid-level managers in Retail are the same people who, in their early 20s, were told they weren't smart enough to be in actual Business School, and so with their prior course load just kinda sloughed off into Retail Management, which is the closest to Business Management that people who can't hack it in Business School can qualify for.

Glad that makes you superior.

Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:

sourclams wrote:Remember that the people who become mid-level managers in Retail are the same people who, in their early 20s, were told they weren't smart enough to be in actual Business School, and so with their prior course load just kinda sloughed off into Retail Management, which is the closest to Business Management that people who can't hack it in Business School can qualify for.

Glad that makes you superior.

Example One in why everyone should work in retail or food service at least once. The codicil to that of course, is watch how a person treats those workers. Its an excellent window into their true personality ( tip from She Who Must Be Obeyed).

Deadshane1 wrote:I'm thankful to hear that the guy was let go, if it's true. I suspect it is. I vaguely remember meeting up with my former manager there at a Games day some years later and him telling me that he was forced to move on.

Grade A D-bag indeed.

If you work in the U.S. NEVER let a supervisor YELL at you. It's called Harassment, there are laws against it.

@Ruckdog

The Annapolis Mall location, (i think) opened after the initial annapolis location closed. The oringinal store was located in a strip mall right next to a large AMC or REGAL theatre. I forget what the strip mall was called.

It sounds like you might be talking about the Harbor Center (it has a large lighthouse in the parking lot).

Anyway, that's interesting; it sounds like GW is actually on their third Annapolis store!

Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:

sourclams wrote:Remember that the people who become mid-level managers in Retail are the same people who, in their early 20s, were told they weren't smart enough to be in actual Business School, and so with their prior course load just kinda sloughed off into Retail Management, which is the closest to Business Management that people who can't hack it in Business School can qualify for.

Glad that makes you superior.

Between High School and College, I worked retail/foodservice for about 5 years. I understand the Sales Associate Supervisory role from both the perspective of the subordinate insider and the aloof outsider.

Frazzled wrote:Example One in why everyone should work in retail or food service at least once. The codicil to that of course, is watch how a person treats those workers. Its an excellent window into their true personality ( tip from She Who Must Be Obeyed).

Yeah, as I've aged I've decided there's a difference between being force and standing up for ones self and being rude.

If I have to deal with a customer service line, I always try to be polite. Thank the rep, always be nice, treat them with respect. If they aren't helpful, ask to escalate, but don't demand things.

It worked this weekend. Had a screw up with vacation plans, the patch-up was less than satisfactory, but I was polite yet forceful and ended up getting a slight upgrade.Not having to change some plans was more important than the upgrade, but... Also made sure to let higher-ups know a rep was helpful.

Much the same, I know people who like to mess with telemarketers. I don't any more. They're (generally) just normal people who probably hate their job more than I hate mine. They don't deserve to be messed with. I jsut tell them I'm not interested and hang up. No games.

sourclams wrote:

Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:

sourclams wrote:Remember that the people who become mid-level managers in Retail are the same people who, in their early 20s, were told they weren't smart enough to be in actual Business School, and so with their prior course load just kinda sloughed off into Retail Management, which is the closest to Business Management that people who can't hack it in Business School can qualify for.

Glad that makes you superior.

Between High School and College, I worked retail/foodservice for about 5 years. I understand the Sales Associate Supervisory role from both the perspective of the subordinate insider and the aloof outsider.

Still makes you sound like an ass. You may not have intended that effect, but intent and effect can be two different things.

spireland wrote:

Supervisors can yell, if they yell at everyone equally. If they only yell at a few, or certain types of employees its Harassment.

I would have to say that this type of behavior is not exclusive to GW and is a systemic problem of any low wage retail environment. I worked for Wizards of the Coast when they had retail stores 10+ years ago and had a similar experience.

Actually, no they cannot. It's called creating a hostile work environment...and there are laws against it.

If a supervisor is yelling AT YOU, collectively or just you, he needs to back away from the coffee machine and calm down. Supervisors have no right to raise voices to employees. Not in America they don't.

Being someones supervisor does not all of a sudden give you the right to treat that person however you want. Speak to your subordinates politely, perhaps with anger, but politely. Yelling is unacceptable anywhere where employees know their rights.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Ruckdog wrote:

It sounds like you might be talking about the Harbor Center (it has a large lighthouse in the parking lot).

That's it, thats where it was.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Frazzled wrote:

Still makes you sound like an ass.

Rule #1 Frazz....be polite!