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So basically your entire problem stems from the staff doing what they are paid to do?

Wow. They really are idiots aren't they!

It's a polite question. It is not, as you put it, forcing a sale. It is asking if you need Glues or Brushes. Simple yes or no answer really. If you don't, say so. If you do, say so.

And to be perfectly honest, given your attitude, would I really want you in the store? Would anyone?

Now, buying something there and then for game, more than likely cool to play with it straight away. But if not, it's their store, not yours. It could be the manager or area manager enforcing the fully painted rule, but you feel free to take it out on the minimum wage mook, after all you are so clearly and evidentally superior, it's only right and good you put the vile little urchin in his place. And why not cut a switch to beat some manners and humility into the uppity little oik.

You say you are 38. Really doesn't seem it.

Bignutter wrote:

Old Man Ultramarine wrote:Why is it that when you roll in and have a couple boxes to purchase and they throw out that question. Did you find everything, ok? or You need any paint or brushes?

I know they are trying to be helpful, but if I wanted or needed that stuff more than likely it would be in my pile of items to be purchased.

Trying to force items on customers is just bad business and usually backfires on GW long term.

BUT

We do get laughs from posts like this.

So let me get this straight? You've never forgotten something in your life?
Heaven forbid the guy does his job right and suggest something you may need to go with what your buying. The number of times I've forgotten to get glue, or paint, or brushes when needing them and reminded makes me glad that the staffers usually remember to ask- and the number of times i've heard it asked and has resulted in someone needing something that they would otherwise have forgotten makes me feel its well worthwhile for the staffers to ask.

C'mon, man.

You go to hobby store with an idea of what you might be needing. You waltz in store and completely go blank? Maybe scribbling it down would be good idea.

Yes, I know they are doing their job, but pouncng on everyone like they are your next meal is extreme.

(My story above is just an opinion. Not my natural reaction, but it could be if pressed. )

If i remember rightly the glues behind the counter.... and that means you cant realy help yourself to it, as there is legalitys involed, so they kinda do need to ask, or you need to ask them... eather way conversation is needed,

Pouncing on you by operating the till you mean? Or cash register, whichever you prefer....

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:So basically your entire problem stems from the staff doing what they are paid to do?

Wow. They really are idiots aren't they!

It's a polite question. It is not, as you put it, forcing a sale. It is asking if you need Glues or Brushes. Simple yes or no answer really. If you don't, say so. If you do, say so.

And to be perfectly honest, given your attitude, would I really want you in the store? Would anyone?

Now, buying something there and then for game, more than likely cool to play with it straight away. But if not, it's their store, not yours. It could be the manager or area manager enforcing the fully painted rule, but you feel free to take it out on the minimum wage mook, after all you are so clearly and evidentally superior, it's only right and good you put the vile little urchin in his place. And why not cut a switch to beat some manners and humility into the uppity little oik.

You say you are 38. Really doesn't seem it.

Ummm ok. So let's get this straight. I threw a point of view out there and now I get bashed. What does age matter? I could be 8, 18, 58, or 88. Who cares? I'm just saying based on what many have experienced you have to step back and say maybe something needs to be addressed.

Or nothing. A handful of people whinging blindly on the Internet about others doing their job does not a problem make.

And you brought up the age matey.

As I said, asking if you need paints, glues or brushes is good practice. Sure, not everyone, and perhaps like, 50% of people will say no, but the ones who do need it will be glad you reminded them. Especially the parents. And given your age, is it unreasonable for the Staffer, who may not know you (I have no idea if you are a regular or not!) to assume you are a parent buying for a child?

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Pouncing on you by operating the till you mean? Or cash register, whichever you prefer....

What is your current status in the GW machine? You employed by them? In training? Please tell.

Got a trial hour in a store tomorrow, hopefully leading to a job. But I fail to see what that has to do with people being jerks to shop staff in general?

No GW stores here. Closest one's a full state away. I wouldn't have a problem with off hand comments asking about other things I might want, you get that everywhere (want fries with that?). If they get pushy then I might get annoyed. Requiring painted figs to play? I wouldn't be playing there, pretty much ever.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Or nothing. A handful of people whinging blindly on the Internet about others doing their job does not a problem make.

And you brought up the age matey.

As I said, asking if you need paints, glues or brushes is good practice. Sure, not everyone, and perhaps like, 50% of people will say no, but the ones who do need it will be glad you reminded them. Especially the parents. And given your age, is it unreasonable for the Staffer, who may not know you (I have no idea if you are a regular or not!) to assume you are a parent buying for a child?

Oops you got me on the age mess.

So by me just rolling in and picking out blister/boxes of product. Doing so in an informed/educated manner makes it seem ok to be tossed into any assumed category? Being that I appear so advanced by age, I couldn't be mistaking for a gamer that knows what I need?

Fine business practice.

Personally I hate the loud and periodic WAAAAGHs that they do when they have an event. In fact, I don't play in GW stores because of this.

Yes, I am a shy and quiet person, if I weren't I probably wouldn't have this hobby :-p

Come to the UK.

Waaaaghs haven't been common place for.....10 years now I think?

Games Day is different though.

And OMU, I didn't say it was a business practice, but a not unreasonable assumption.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: asking if you need paints, glues or brushes is good practice. Sure, not everyone, and perhaps like, 50% of people will say no, but the ones who do need it will be glad you reminded them. Especially the parents. And given your age, is it unreasonable for the Staffer, who may not know you (I have no idea if you are a regular or not!) to assume you are a parent buying for a child?

The impression I get is that the reason its annoying is because its all the time, (I could be wrong as i've only skimmed the thread) from my own personal experience I generally only get asked about once a month (ish) but i'm down my GW 2-3 times a week. Having said this there was one guy who used to work there who would ask me every time i bought something, even after I politely asked him to stop (btw I usually buy stuff when i'm in store) and I think its this persistence that is annoying people when they go instore (he also asked me a few times if I wanted paint and glue with my BL purchases). If I thought he was trying to be funny I think it would have been ok but when I go in, buy paints and glue on monday, figures on tuesday and thursday and still get asked repeatedly it gets quite old. I understand that the guys doing his job and he has rules to follow but hell when everyone else instore including the manager has stopped asking you'd think that he would as well. Incidentally I think that its probably guys like this that have caused most of the agitation seen against being asked bout paint and glue, not the regular staffer just doing his job. (I may well have rambled some here but you get the point)

Ok, on topic now, the most annoying/worst thing a GW staffer has ever said/done was that when I was like 14 (9 years ago now) I paintedsome figures instore and he's come up and asked to look at them, to whish i've said 'go ahead', after a few moments of contemplation he's said 'well theyre pretty s**t arent they'. which I think coming from a staffer is bang out of line (Apparently he had been on there for some years, he was'nt there much longer though as his manager had overheard the exchange)

Luckly for me that my store is fine, ive heard some pretty bad things but i do admit, some people in my store are fekkin weird. some kid went crazy and did a death threat to a tau player

Could we agree to write stories in other colours so they get easier to find?

Anyone ever buy "food" from McDonalds?
Do they get jsut as annoyed at "is that a large meal" and "Would you like fries with that?"
You do realise that if the staff do not ask these questions (called "up-selling" and "suggestive selling") then they are disciplined and possibly sacked?

A fair amount of behaviour from staff is because the managers/company policy DEMAND it!

If you have such a fragile ego that some minimum-wage kid asking you if you need anything else causes you to break into a cold sweat, reach for your inhaler and have to run outside the store in case you resort to physical violence, don't you think that is more YOUR problem than theirs?

My most annoying moment was when I had been playing for a year and it was 4th ed by then but one of the staffers treated everyone like a newby and I was using chaos I had a termicide squad but because i hadn't modeled it I had one combi melta I deep striked right next to this ultra land raider of doom told him hit penetrated and destroyed and then he took away a dreadnaught that was obviously out of range ( 20/30 inches away)and got told that I'd shot that because my bolters could hurt it

My most funny was I was in a training thing for 5th ed and we basically had 10 separate 500 point armies a stompa and a banblade against 12 500 point armies and a stormlord i think it was I was playing orks and got the baneblade we had to get as many tanks as possible into the enemies deployment zone and the stompa didnt move for the entire game and my orks moved and I was just picking up the baneblade and he called time we lot because of this but all had a laugh

Basically the way as i see it , the over zealous behavior from GW staff comes from 2 reasons:

1) wanting to sell something ( thats what they are to do after all )

2) probably bored out of their mind if its not game day ( they just want someone to talk to , with #1 above mixed in )

Although they can do abit better with the following:

a) figure out if the person is new to warhammer or not , instead of trying to push product on to them.

b) never ever try to push another army's product on the the customer unless they specify " im looking for a new army"

Thus , if someone goes in looking for Eldar stuff , stop pushing marines in their face. Respect their choices , because
most of the time the customers already know what they are looking for when they step into the shop.

Aghhh, you guys make me laugh.

I have to agree with Mad doc on this one.

Maybe the staff in the UK are less annoying

I have several mates who work for GW and they are all cool guys

Old Man Ultramarine wrote:

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Or nothing. A handful of people whinging blindly on the Internet about others doing their job does not a problem make.

And you brought up the age matey.

As I said, asking if you need paints, glues or brushes is good practice. Sure, not everyone, and perhaps like, 50% of people will say no, but the ones who do need it will be glad you reminded them. Especially the parents. And given your age, is it unreasonable for the Staffer, who may not know you (I have no idea if you are a regular or not!) to assume you are a parent buying for a child?

Oops you got me on the age mess.

So by me just rolling in and picking out blister/boxes of product. Doing so in an informed/educated manner makes it seem ok to be tossed into any assumed category? Being that I appear so advanced by age, I couldn't be mistaking for a gamer that knows what I need?

Fine business practice.

Fine business practice? Of-course it is. As I have seen pointed out many times it is just courtesy and standard service to ask these questions. It is called upselling and everyone does it from being asked if you need a brush to being in a Mexican take out and being asked if you want a drink with that. The same arguments you are using for GW you could use in any shop. Do you need a case to go with the new glasses (when you have been in the shop for an hour)? Would you like to see the dessert menu? Are you interest in our new mailing list? Did you know our know {product insert} is out? Did you know we are having a BOGO @ 50% sale (when you go to the counter with only one pair of shoes)? The list goes on and on. It is basic shop theory and good ol' capitalism. You don't need to be so upleasant about it.

Whilst you are entitled to your opinion, my opinion is you sound like a bad customer.

Personally, I also find you reasoning logically wrong and don't understand why you cannot accept even a little bit of other people's ideas and entertain the idea they may actually have a point but hey, it is the internets, and reasoned discourse doesn't matter - you stick to your, IMHO, illogical point of view to the death of this thread.

I'll admit on a couple of occasions when asked "You ok for paints and glue?" at the till, I've remembered that I had actually run out of Glue or Chaos Black Spay. Now I'd have kicked myself when I got home where it not for the staffers reminding me. So yes it is a useful thing to ask.

TBH I can't really understand the mentality of anyone who would be annoyed a polite and often useful question.

Ok, on topic now, the most annoying/worst thing a GW staffer has ever said/done was that when I was like 14 (9 years ago now) I paintedsome figures instore and he's come up and asked to look at them, to whish i've said 'go ahead', after a few moments of contemplation he's said 'well theyre pretty s**t arent they'. which I think coming from a staffer is bang out of line (Apparently he had been on there for some years, he was'nt there much longer though as his manager had overheard the exchange)

That's pretty damn unforgivable, I'm glad the dude got fired. I can't think of anything else more destructive to the hobby than that.

Nothing wrong with critique, but you don't tell someone their models are "gak".

Gutteridge wrote:Luckly for me that my store is fine, ive heard some pretty bad things but i do admit, some people in my store are fekkin weird. some kid went crazy and did a death threat to a tau player

Oh, that's normal for Tau players.

LuciusAR wrote:I'll admit on a couple of occasions when asked "You ok for paints and glue?" at the till, I've remembered that I had actually run out of Glue or Chaos Black Spay. Now I'd have kicked myself when I got home where it not for the staffers reminding me. So yes it is a useful thing to ask.

TBH I can't really understand the mentality of anyone who would be annoyed a polite and often useful question.

No offence , but i find it insulting if the lvl of annoyance you assume we are complaining about is only simple like "do you need glue or spray paints".

Try 30 mins of browsing , followed by 30 mins of staff talking about something off topic.

Imagine trying to think in your head for what units to buy first , replaced with what super heavies the guy think is cool.

I have not been irritated by a GW worker in any way,
because atreides is doing the talking.

Lunahound, My response was made directly as a result of the statement by Old Man Ultramarine below. Specifically the "You need any paint or brushes?" bit. I wasn't making a comment on Upselling in general.

I know from my own experiences that when in frothy toy buying mode it really is quite easy for the mundane stuff like Paint and Glue to slip from your mind. "You need any paint or brushes?" is a just polite reminder. After all if you journey a long way to reach your GW and it's only when you get home you realize you forget to get Black Spray of Poly Cement it's going to be pretty damned annoying. If you don't need anything just say no. It's not like the Redshirt is going to burst into tears at your refusal!

It just plain inaccurate to describe this as "forcing items on customers".

Old Man Ultramarine wrote:Why is it that when you roll in and have a couple boxes to purchase and they throw out that question. Did you find everything, ok? or You need any paint or brushes?

I know they are trying to be helpful, but if I wanted or needed that stuff more than likely it would be in my pile of items to be purchased.

Trying to force items on customers is just bad business and usually backfires on GW long term.

BUT

We do get laughs from posts like this.

Up selling is part of the job. It's good for the company, good for the location, and not always bad for the customer.

The problem most people with with GW staff isn't their actions, it's their attitude while taking those actions. Up selling or suggestive selling is part of the discourse, but there's no need to be insanely obnoxious about it. I've felt more pressure to buy things at a GW store than I do at places where they're on commission.

I worked retail for years, as a clerk, as a sales rep, and as a location manager. Customers are mocked, and yes we hated customers that were jerks to us. But I can assure you that there were customers that we screwed with pretty bad, and it wasn't always their fault. My point is that when you're sales staff, you represent a company, you're not just a person. It's more ok to call people like that out for lousy behavior, because they're getting paid in the transaction. That's no reason to be rude or mean or to defame them, but as a person that literally once sold a $300 item to a customer while drunk, I know for a fact that there is some bad customer service out there.

There is good and bad customer service.
There are good and bad customers and staff.
It's a lot easier to complain about the bad. Most people won't notice the good service.

While some of the comments in this thread are most amusing, some are just people who should know better having a vent after things didn't go 100% their own way.
Most people grow out of this, but then most people grow out of playing with toy soldiers

Enjoy the Hobby.
Ignore the jerks.
Get over yourself already!

BlackSpike wrote:There is good and bad customer service.
There are good and bad customers and staff.
It's a lot easier to complain about the bad. Most people won't notice the good service.

While some of the comments in this thread are most amusing, some are just people who should know better having a vent after things didn't go 100% their own way.
Most people grow out of this, but then most people grow out of playing with toy soldiers

Enjoy the Hobby.
Ignore the jerks.
Get over yourself already!

You must be new to the internet.

LuciusAR wrote:You must be new to the internet.

Unfortunately, no.
Just blindly clinging to the last vestiges of civilisation!