GW dealt a death blow to South Jersey 40k and Fantasy community

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**Stoupe**

GW Voorhees Community wrote:This was originally posted on the official Games Workshop facebook page in the discussion thread for rants, so I will just copy and paste it from there. Thank you for reading.

Games Workshop USA dealt a death blow to the South Jersey wargaming community yesterday. At the GW Vorhees in Echelon Village, New Jersey, our local store manager is lovingly refered to as "The Emporer" or "Our Fearless Leader" and many other names. This guy was so beloved by our community, that as a redshirt, GW corporate recieved enough mail from our community that they elevated him to store manager. Since then he has taken #1 in sales last year and #2 in sales this year, out of all of America. As of yesterday, this great man was fired. Why? A few months ago, he was forced to ask a customer to leave for cursing repeatedly in front of other customers including women and children. I have a seven year old daughter myself and this kind of thing infuriates me, so I respect that he had the courage to ask them to leave. This was after he had politly asked them to stop several times before. Since then, this crude person and his friend made a fuss, purely out of spite, to the store manager's superiors. Did GW USA act professionaly and investigate? Look at the evidence as to how great an employee he is and how loved by his community he is? No. They show up in force, like a bunch of thugs and make all of us leave the store, lock the doors for an hour and then walk him to his car and make him leave right there on the spot. This is outrageous. Everyone in our group is furious about what GW USA has done, it was completly unjustified and inappropriate. Games Workshop stores are not a McDonalds where you place an order with some snot nosed teen you'll never see again. This gentlman has become a close friend to all of us, in store and out. We have a huge respect for him, and most of us come purely because he was the manager. Before he worked there, I didnt bother making the 45 minute drive because the current store manager was lazy and unproffesional. GW USA will come to regret their decision and I hope that the parent company, the origins of this great hobby we love so much, you in Great Britain, will take notice and investigate what was done here. We have a community page with over 140 people on it, everyone of which is pledging to no longer support the store under its new management. Many are even saying they will be moving on to play Warmachine. This is disappointing to hear, I have been a Games Workshop enthusiast for 20 years now and I'd hate to see the hobby die in our area. PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS INJUSTICE!! Sincerly, Josh Austin. Dedicated Games Workshop hobbiest since 1992.

I've been visiting the store for many months now, This CO was more then a sales person for the community. He went above and beyond the call of duty, often paying for prizes out of his own pocket, making community members feel welcome, and encouraging people to join. He did not push sales, still he made more money for GW then almost any other store. As a result many members of this community, including myself are refusing to return to the store. There is many posts on facebook and on other forums trying to drum up more support for our beloved CO, but none on dakka. I figure I might try to expose some of the injustice GW has done with this decision on Sunday.

**Kilkrazy**

You must exact vengeance through the medium of your wallet and GW's till.

In other words, boycott the store.

Write a paper letter to tell GW what you are doing and why.

**Eiríkr**

May I have a link to ze' FaceBook page?

It is absolutely atrocious for the suits to fire a gracious and seemingly well-loved pillar of the community like this. Caring red-shirts are a rare breed.

**bombboy1252**

Ya, What Killkrazy said...

The guy was just trying to keep the store a "Family friendly" environment...their was no reason to fire the guy!

**sennacherib**

I agree wholeheartedly. Sounds ultra weak on GW part. Boycot the store and write a letter to GW saying why. Ensure that all the gamers you know do the same. A little proactive work on your part can go a long way.

**Chibi Bodge-Battle**

So the guy got fired for doing what anyone would do (or at least should have done imho) in the circumstances?

There must have been something else happen for the equivalent of the MiB to march him out of the store?

**Hulksmash**

So let me get this straight. He asked someone to leave several months ago and is just now being fired without any investigation or research?

I hate to break it to you but they didn't even do that in the gung-ho days back in the early 2000's. It's one side of the story from a fellow who was well liked. I can understand being upset when a manager you like is let go but don't think for a second that this is the only side of the story guys.

I do however commiserate with losing a manager you respect and cared for.

**Kid_Kyoto**

Hulksmash wrote:So let me get this straight. He asked someone to leave several months ago and is just now being fired without any investigation or research?

I hate to break it to you but they didn't even do that in the gung-ho days back in the early 2000's. It's one side of the story from a fellow who was well liked. I can understand being upset when a manager you like is let go but don't think for a second that this is the only side of the story guys.

I do however commiserate with losing a manager you respect and cared for.

QFT. GW probably will not announce why he was fired but be open-minded it may have been other things. Maybe he was lax in supervising his folks. Maybe he was giving away too much in prizes and breaking policy. Maybe one reason he was well-liked is he was not doing some hard-nosed sales thing required by policy.

All that being said I wish the guy well, if he's all you said I'm sure he'll land on his feet somewhere.

**spaceelf**

GW runs through employees faster than any other company I have seen. They really need to realise that the store managers are a very important part of the hobby. They should be regarded as just as essential to the success of the company as the fluff or the rules.

**GalaxyGames**

[delete post - mispost]

**2moon1**

Hey guys, this is our facebook page and our manager was fantastic

http://www.facebook.com/GWEchelonVillage

**Flashman**

Probably more to it than what's been said. Whatever the real reason, sorry to hear you've lost a key member of your war gaming community

**xxvaderxx**

Wait wait wait, let me get this straight, you are actually hopping for GW to actually listen, no, futher more, ACT on it`s customers feelings and opinions?.

**Kanluwen**

Flashman wrote:Probably more to it than what's been said. Whatever the real reason, sorry to hear you've lost a key member of your war gaming community

Flashman pretty much says what can be said.

GW, despite being one of the most erratic corporate entities out there, does not just fire people because of two or three people complaining.

**xxvaderxx**

Kanluwen wrote:
Flashman wrote:Probably more to it than what's been said. Whatever the real reason, sorry to hear you've lost a key member of your war gaming community

Flashman pretty much says what can be said.

GW, despite being one of the most erratic corporate entities out there, does not just fire people because of two or three people complaining.

Actually it does, this is how they do business, has been how they do business for quite a while now.

My actual best wish for the community is that that service manager is able to open up an indi store.

**Hulksmash**

xxvaderxx wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:
Flashman wrote:Probably more to it than what's been said. Whatever the real reason, sorry to hear you've lost a key member of your war gaming community

Flashman pretty much says what can be said.

GW, despite being one of the most erratic corporate entities out there, does not just fire people because of two or three people complaining.

Actually it does, this is how they do business, has been how they do business for quite a while now.

My actual best wish for the community is that that service manager is able to open up an indi store.

No, they really don't. Not in the US anyway. I can't speak for other countries but if you don't live here and haven't worked for them I'd suggest not throwing out opinion as fact.

**RiTides**

Actually, we had a GW higher-up come in to investigate at our store and almost fire our manager. Similar situation- he's super well liked, lots of guys only come on his account, etc etc. The day the higher-up came a ton of us stopped by the store and bought stuff if we could, to show our support for him and demonstrate that he actually was successful in that a lot of us buy from the store.

Hard to know the reasons behind the investigation, but it was unjustified in our manager's case (seemingly, his not doing some of the pushy sales techniques... which would make sense, except that it would result in LESS sales from the rather mature crowd that frequents the store) and I would bet it is so in the case of the OP. Our manager weathered the storm, apparently the OP's was not given such a chance.

Don't assume the worst... innocent until proven guilty still reigns in the U.S.!

**warboss**

Is it bad that I instantly though this thread was some kind of Jersey Shore joke thread from the title??

I wholeheartedly support you guys and would love to boycott GW on your behalf but I'm already for the most part not buying their stuff as a result of their stupid decisions in May.

**nkelsch**

Yeah, sounds like there is more than meets the eye to this situation. Skeptical cat is skeptical.

**Grot 6**

To the OP, Vote with your wallet.

Put the store out of business by not shopping there anymore. Seeing the rabid FB page, I sympathize, but can't say I am very suprised.

GW won't tell you the real reason, but I would be curious as to hearing from the guy in question, why he was "Escorted out" and who thinks they are going to replace him, with a fanbase as rabid as this stores seems to be.

I don't see the need to disparage a guy for arbitrarily just being "Fired". It happens more and more in these stores.

GW is just a suck company to work for, thats just how it is.

**Ouze**

This is a fruitless enterprise and you should move on.

Games Workshop will never rehire this person, nor will they ever explain why they actually fired him in the first place. I'm not saying that his version of the story isn't true, but I strongly suspect it's incomplete.

If you don't like how your local gee-dubs is run, stop buying from them. Optionally, write them a letter explaining why, but do it to make yourself feel better, like writing a letter to Santa. It will be as effective.

**xxvaderxx**

Hulksmash wrote:
xxvaderxx wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:
Flashman wrote:Probably more to it than what's been said. Whatever the real reason, sorry to hear you've lost a key member of your war gaming community

Flashman pretty much says what can be said.

GW, despite being one of the most erratic corporate entities out there, does not just fire people because of two or three people complaining.

Actually it does, this is how they do business, has been how they do business for quite a while now.

My actual best wish for the community is that that service manager is able to open up an indi store.

No, they really don't. Not in the US anyway. I can't speak for other countries but if you don't live here and haven't worked for them I'd suggest not throwing out opinion as fact.

You see the problem with that statement is that this post is actually open for a reason. You can post again when the action is reverted.

**Howard A Treesong**

You don't know the reasons, I would guess that where not a case of negligence of some sort, he pissed off the wrong people in more senior positions. Maybe he was getting good sales, but perhaps he wasn't following their decreed approach and following the rules is more important that raw sales because they don't want people doing their own thing.

Anyway I took an idle look at GW careers and my god GW wages are bad. £14K starting for a *manager* going up to £15K when they give you a shop.

**Carmine the Wolf**

Grot 6 wrote:I don't see the need to disparage a guy for arbitrarily just being "Fired".

What else do you expect?

Someone posts an emotional thread to defend the Manager and in that thread admits that he was "escorted from the store" and that they have no explanation beyond the swearing incident to justify the action by GW.

The standard response on any internet forum is to pull the OP apart and speculate wildly that there must be something sinister about the case beyond the info provided based on the fact that he or she is defending someone rather than putting them down.

If someone had posted the opposite opinion, that GW were doing the right thing the thread would be swarming with posters saying that the guy was a victim of corporate stupidity.

An opinion stated on a forum attracts posts that assert the opposite stance as readily as a dog's bum cigars attract flies.

**chromedog**

What can I say?

Apart from that it seems that the old adage is proven true yet again.

"No good deed goes unpunished."

Now if he'd been a useless oxygen thief on a couple mil salary a year, he'd no doubt have been rewarded with a board seat.

**Byte**

This story pisses me off. I hope HQ removes head from arse on this one.

**mikhaila**

I've personally known this person for about 20 years. He came into my shop as a skinny 8 year old kid. Very polite person, very into his gaming. Played in a lot of GT's, paints well, low key sales techniques, very big into the hobby and running events. He was between jobs a couple of years ago and worked for me at my shops, and did a great job. He started up in Voorhees, and moved into the managers spot when they went to one person stores. On his off days he'd bring a half dozen guys over to my store to game and make scenery, buying the scenery supplies himself, and making sure his store had good tables for players to use. I'm quite shocked to see him let go by GW.

**Tronzor**

I have to disagree with a lot of the "don't complain, nothing will happen" approach a lot of people are posting here. Games Workshop, as a company, will realize that if there is a public outcry from their loyal gaming community and those people are committed to shopping elsewhere, hitting GW's bottom line, something will have to be done. That may not be the answer everyone is looking for, but they will respond. However, they could do the same thing Starbucks did 10 years ago, ignore their customers, alienate the loyal base and lose the business to sustain the store and shut it down. Hopefully they realize that this isn't the way to success but time will tell.

I can say this too, I feel really badly for the new manager, he's stepped into a hornets nest and he's going to have a hell of a time for the next few weeks/months explaining to people how he's going to make that location as good or better without the old manager. Time will tell what's going to happen here.

**SonsofVulkan**

My first ever introductory 40k game was played with this individual that was fired... The only reason I would drive 40-50 minutes to play/buy at GW Vorhees instead of the other FLGS in NJ is because of him.

Ofcourse the regional GW corporate managers would bring multiple "reasons" for his separation(code/policy/operating procedure violations and etc) in order to justify it. And their extreme scrutiny was bought upon by a few certain individuals....

This generic story happens too often in corporate institutions:
1. No life individuals complained to corporate
2. Corporate forced to respond and sent inspectors to inspect the store.
3. Inspectors found minor/mild deficiencies
4. Corporate used these deficiencies to justify the removal of manager without giving the employee chance to correct deficiencies.
5. Corporate's macro business approach is flawed because they did not take local/community(micro) factors into consideration.
6. Store's sales declined heavily.
7. Store closes
8. Competitor stores(independent retailers) benefits

**Kanluwen**

On a whim, I looked at the Facebook page.

I have never seen so many "mature adults" behaving like spoiled children.

Oh Internets, how you make people look ridiculous.

You have several "regulars" talking about how because this individual was fired, they're going to instead take their business to online retailers and game at each others' homes.

I wonder how long that will last?

You have a "Jesse Newton" who is doing nothing but trolling, likely because he found a link to it from sites like this where the poster has made his hyperbolic statement about "GW dealt a death blow to South Jersey 40k and Fantasy community".

This is why you don't air your dirty laundry in public, and especially not when you don't have all the facts. For all you know, this guy could have been fired because of any number of reasons which GW wouldn't put forward to preserve the guy's integrity.

Tronzor is definitely right though. It's going to suck majorly for the next manager.