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syanticraven wrote:

Howard A Treesong wrote:Once a month? How inconsiderate.

Lol nice one.
But yeah man surely you can give up your tables for the poor fellas, once a month and you still want to ruin there fun.

I wouldnt care much, except for the fact that they take up most of the gaming space, and take all the tables. Plus D&D is not something like 40k where games are over in an hour and a half tops, it takes all day.

Everytime someone says anything in the store at my local GW, the manager will always take the opposite side and start arguing.

I almost punched him one day he was annoying me so much.

Back in the day, I was running Mekton Zeta (mecha-based roleplaying game). I was looking for miniatures to use as mecha for my players. They needed to have about one-inch bases to fit on the hex map, and they needed to look like robots.

Not knowing what Games Workshop was aside from the name, I walked in and decided to see what they had in their minis aisles. They had some good stuff, but none of them really fit the aesthetic I needed. I had just put the box back on the shelf when an employee walked up to me, grinning broadly, and said, "So, did you decide which Chaos unit you wanted to buy?"

He then went off on a ten minute speech about how such and such a unit was really great and I should buy it instead of such and such a different unit because that one wasn't so good, slinging around numbers and acronyms and such. He seemed so excited that I just nodded sagely and when he was done, said I'd come back later.

I dunno, I guess I looked like I knew what I was doing, instead of a clueless newbie.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if he'd realized I had no idea what this game was at the time.

I miss my old workshop now :( .I thought having a one in my town would be good and all . The guy doesnt help you with games or anything unless your a new guy . Really annoyings me.

Well my bad experiences are at the till when he says,

"Ok, that will be ..." the rest is fuzzy because i'm normally having a mini financial fit

But in all seriousness mine isn't so bad when it's not filled with the 12 year olds screaming

One time, back when I was a seriously big newbie, a year or so ago. Infact, this was probably halfway through 2007 or something... anyways.. I was at my (then) closest GW, and while sheepishly browsing SM products overheard the manager there talking to two people (a woman and a man, presumably a couple) about the products and game. They were probably in early thirties or mid/late twenties. They came over and looked at the SM products. I just started to suggest they buy the battle for macragge set, as it was for beginners (not that I would now! O.O), and the manager starts having a go at me. What, you don't want me to help you get £40 and hopefully satisfy two of your customers?

Also, a time before at a newbie gaming/painting day, a bunch of us were painting sm's (admittedly, very badly - one model each). The guy who was showing us what to do said one of us would get his model that he was painting at the end. Everyone else just bugged him the whole time about the procedure. About halfway through, I asked him, "so who d'you think's going to get your model?" And he said; "Well, probably you because you haven't asked any questions yet."

I lol'd so much.

quick edit: I've had more bad experiences at home when I've been a good host to 3-4 "friends" and one or two of them steal/break models, WD's, computer games and DVD's of mine, all the while argueing the rules, telling me I can't use the sternguard metal sergeant as a normal sergeant, and eating my food. Jerks.

Hmmm, worst day was probably when as a regional manager I was at a store with no manager, we had about 14 people playing games on 6 tables, we had sold over $2000 worth of stuff by 4pm, the average transaction was over $50 and had lots of people signed up for events and classes that we were supposed to promote and had an area manager and trainer show up and say that the store was dirty and since the calendar wasn't up to date that everything was a mess and it would be better for the store to be closed.

Every metric that was being used at the time was being surpassed and we got crapped on. Then I was told to fire the one employee doing the best job.

well,that just sucks.

another thing that this reminded of was my local games workshop closed(when i say local i mean 2 hours away) now my "local" games workshop is 4 hours away.
it sucks also.

My worst experience was when I went to a LOTR battle at my local GW, the day before i had bought and painted the kazard guard set with balin. So the battle went well, my side won, but at the end of the game i noticed that 1 of my kazard guard was missing and started to accuse the staff of stealing my model, then accussing everybody else of stealing it and making a big scene. (I was 14 at the time, I think). the staff helped me look for it when i realised i forgot to bring the final model, when the other gamers found out they laughed at me. I was so embarised I didn't go back to the local GW for 2 years, instead going out of my way to FLGS that were not local.

1. I was playing at my local GW, people brought in anything no point limit and some other players got to use store models, well anyway we were playing I used a chaos squad of my own, the battle goes then a sudden outburst of crying a kid couldn't deep strike his 'nids so in the end the guy who was running the game just put them on the table.

2. Something funny, a kid went to roll his dice and pulled his hand up really fast as he let go and smashed a building of the table and it smashed.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
1. Something werid happened to me: Deep strike 'nids fail


Well I was playing at my local GW, there was no point limit and store models were aloud to be used, well anyway we were playing and every turn this kid tried to deep strike his 'nids but was not working for him so he cried, after a while the guy who was running the game just put the 'nids on the table

2. Unnecessary violence.

Something funny happened this guy rolled his dice, but pulled his hand back a bit to fast and he smashed a building over the edge of the table.

1. I was playing at my local GW, people brought in anything no point limit and some other players got to use store models, well anyway we were playing I used a chaos squad of my own, the battle goes then a sudden outburst of crying a kid couldn't deep strike his 'nids so in the end the guy who was running the game just put them on the table.

2. Something funny, a kid went to roll his dice and pulled his hand up really fast as he let go and smashed a building of the table and it smashed.

Worst expieriance, got to be "the walkers go to war" apocalypse game. A chaos guy brought laong a rever titan, 2 bloodslaughterers, around 10 chaos dreadnoughts and a unit of plague terminators. This was augmented by 2 baneblades and a few other random things of other players. Because walkers were free he managed to field all this in a 1000 pt limit. Our side was stuck with only a baneblade and a stormlord as out only superheavies and they were store models. In short, we had nothing to dent them and we were overun by the dread horde.

Sorry to say lads, but those in America seem to have a worse service in their gws. Canada seems much better, but us in the UK are given the best service, with the exception of GW Stockholm which is uberuber.

othr then my previous listed experience i actually love my GW. its not that far of a drive (20 ish minutes) and they stuaff are helpful yet they dont pester. also the manager there is my biology teacher's husband so as long as i atay on her good side...

The best GW I've ever gone to is over 100 miles away... meh...


Yeah, so one time I went to GW St. Albans, and they were just closing up, the guy was literally on the inside locking the door. He shook his head and shrugged his arms, and I couldn't give him the £50 in my pocket. Just wanted that damned battleforce.

Never got it anyway.

well one of the best gws i have been to is in new york city


Automatically Appended Next Post:

SwanCo wrote:othr then my previous listed experience i actually love my GW. its not that far of a drive (20 ish minutes) and they stuaff are helpful yet they dont pester. also the manager there is my biology teacher's husband so as long as i atay on her good side...

dude thats awsome,i wish my science teacher's husband ran a gw.

it is pretty awesome. and he likes me even more because i bought a renegade strike force from him (220 ish $) so we get along well

i've never had a realy bad experience but at my local gw theres a guy whos always pestering me and other gamers , poking them during games , makign stupuid noises and "sound effects" he plays demons which are stupidly badly painted , im talking base coat and gold , worst of all hes in hi 30s , im 14 most ,people dislike him and hes been banned a few times im on the brink of complaining

Ah, poor blue shirts. Upsell like crazy and face the disgust of the paying public... or lose your job.

I just roll with upselling. It takes no effort whatsoever to say no thanks and said firmly enough, should bring their efforts to a swift close.

Kudos to the blue shirt in GW Oxford Street today. He asked what I was in for. I said I was killing time. We talked Skaven for a bit (discussing the merits or otherwise of Grey Seers without a Bell) and then he left me alone to browse through the Beastmen army book which I hadn't read yet.

I've never really had a bad experience in GW and I've been going for 30 odd years. I've never played or modelled there though. Maybe this is where the problems start?

While that is very true, companies, I think, need to understand that employees need flexibility to sell well, instead of looking simply at the numbers/total items sold per transaction/etc, because it can be a real pain to have someone trying to sell you something even after you say no. I dont have any bad GW experiences, really its just a matter of having the employees feel they need to give me a 10 minute description of whats new and cool and what I like. Not that it isnt friendly, just unncessary. Another game store I was at, the guy just asked me if I need any help, I said I was browsing, and he left me be! It was heaven.

Prolly my worst game store experiences was when I was at another store trying to find paints. The store (and 2 guys working) reeked of BO. Im hoping it was just a busy few days? But wow was it bad! And when i did get my paints, they asked what I was painting and at the time I was intending to paint some Salamander Space Marines (among other things). But when I said "Space Marines" the guys just kinda smirked with that whole "ugh another SM guy?" attitude. Very very very irritating.

Worst experience..... Going to a GW Store for a job interview and watching the managers eyes glaze over when he heard I play Squats.

Mine happened the last time I was in a GW store (odd eh?)

Anywho it was way back when I still played chaos. My brother and I walked in there to look around, and the guy asked the usual questions, I told him I play a home brew CSM army. So he asks me about it and such, and I got about 10 seconds into it and he cut me off to try and sell me some random crap. I mean he literally said "Yea well that sounds GRRRReat (tony tiger style)" BUY DIS!!!! DUUURRRRR

It was incredibly rude.

My GW is really good actually - most of the guys leave you alone. I think it has a lot to do with attitude - I used to work in high-pressure sales (the highest!) and if someone isn't giving you the 'buying signals' it's not worth wasting your time trying give them the hard sell. You learn to identify the 'buyers', IMO. That's not to say you should ignore people who don't give off the right vibes - try to get them interested - but if a person knows what he/she wants (as I so often do on the rare occasions I visit a GW) then trying to change his/her mind is a waste of time and effort when you could be speaking to someone who appears undecided. There have been a few occasions when a GW staffer has asked me if I need any paints/brushes etc. and I've suddenly remembered I needed some Devlan Mud!

The only real problem I have encountered in a GW is BO. That's a real turn-off for me. I wouldn't play someone who stank. If I know I'm going to a place like that for a few hours, where there will be other people in close proximity, I make sure I pay extra-close attention to my personal grooming - shower, shave, anti-perspirant, cologne, trim my nails, 'product' in my hair, ironed clothes - it's almost like going on a date! To me it's just good manners.

Albatross wrote:My GW is really good actually - most of the guys leave you alone. I think it has a lot to do with attitude - I used to work in high-pressure sales (the highest!) and if someone isn't giving you the 'buying signals' it's not worth wasting your time trying give them the hard sell. You learn to identify the 'buyers', IMO. That's not to say you should ignore people who don't give off the right vibes - try to get them interested - but if a person knows what he/she wants (as I so often do on the rare occasions I visit a GW) then trying to change his/her mind is a waste of time and effort when you could be speaking to someone who appears undecided. There have been a few occasions when a GW staffer has asked me if I need any paints/brushes etc. and I've suddenly remembered I needed some Devlan Mud!

The only real problem I have encountered in a GW is BO. That's a real turn-off for me. I wouldn't play someone who stank. If I know I'm going to a place like that for a few hours, where there will be other people in close proximity, I make sure I pay extra-close attention to my personal grooming - shower, shave, anti-perspirant, cologne, trim my nails, 'product' in my hair, ironed clothes - it's almost like going on a date! To me it's just good manners.

This made me laugh. I actually saw you combing your mustache

But I agree on most of that, I dont get all dressed up but deffinetly showered and cleaned up. I make sure Im not wearing my pants I spent the entire night before fixing a car in a non air conditioned garage.

KingCracker wrote:

Albatross wrote:My GW is really good actually - most of the guys leave you alone. I think it has a lot to do with attitude - I used to work in high-pressure sales (the highest!) and if someone isn't giving you the 'buying signals' it's not worth wasting your time trying give them the hard sell. You learn to identify the 'buyers', IMO. That's not to say you should ignore people who don't give off the right vibes - try to get them interested - but if a person knows what he/she wants (as I so often do on the rare occasions I visit a GW) then trying to change his/her mind is a waste of time and effort when you could be speaking to someone who appears undecided. There have been a few occasions when a GW staffer has asked me if I need any paints/brushes etc. and I've suddenly remembered I needed some Devlan Mud!

The only real problem I have encountered in a GW is BO. That's a real turn-off for me. I wouldn't play someone who stank. If I know I'm going to a place like that for a few hours, where there will be other people in close proximity, I make sure I pay extra-close attention to my personal grooming - shower, shave, anti-perspirant, cologne, trim my nails, 'product' in my hair, ironed clothes - it's almost like going on a date! To me it's just good manners.

This made me laugh. I actually saw you combing your mustache

That's not me in my avatar pic - I don't have a muzzy, and I'm not black. Or Little Richard.



I DO like to keep myself nice when I go to my FLGS - hey, you never know! There could be hot chicks there! Or curious and vulnerable 17-year old boys....

JOKE! JOKE!!! THAT LAST BIT WAS JOKE!

Heh. You know me - I like to 'sail close to the wind', as it were.

My worst experience was back in 92 or so.

I was a pretty normal 13-14 year old, who got into the hobby side of things due to an artistic bent, liked the challenge of working on something so small. So an issue or 2 of white dwarf introduced me to GW, and on my next visit back to England (am half british) I went to the store.

Now, it bears mentioning that I did not advertise my hobby, I played guitar, soccer and was a popular enough guy. I didnt hang out with anyone who was interested in that kind of thing, and I had no desire to deal with the stigma of being a dungeons and dragons nerd. Let's face it, if someone caught you holding a lead soldier, that's what you were lol.

So I walk in the store in Newcastle, the old one that was streetfront before they opened the metro-center one, and it was a wonderland of fantasticly painted pieces sitting in the cases, my first time seeing them in real life. I was entranced by both the amount present, and the quality, just admiring the craftsmanship.

This was interupted by an extremely obese blond 14 or so year old kid playing spacehulk suddenly screaming 'DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!!!!' at the top of his lungs behind me.

I turned around wondering what the fak was that lol. He picked up the dice, and in morbid fascination I watched as he threw the dice, and any chance he had of ever touching a girl, and screamed 'DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!!!' again, bits of oreo flecking his teeth and flying out helter skelter as he did so.

I wanted to wedgie him right there.

I looked around for expected support from the others in the store, thinking they would already be stalking towards him with a mixture of feral glee and nerd crushing purpose glinting in their eyes.

No one even noticed.

I felt alone, and alienated, and walked out of the store lol.

Am I a closeted nerd hypocrite? Maybe. In my old age I have become more tolerant of that kind of thing, but hey, I always think that this hobby could actually be kind of cool or at least 'normal' if it wasnt for a few prize specimens like the screaming fat oreo kid ruining it for the rest of us who wanted otherwise normal lives lol.

petty3 wrote:We called up the Customer Service and told them the whole thing. Last time I checked that man no longer worked at the Games Workshop.

Dont you mess with petty3, one step over that line and he'll... F YOU UP!

MajorTom11 wrote:My worst experience was back in 92 or so.

I was a pretty normal 13-14 year old, who got into the hobby side of things due to an artistic bent, liked the challenge of working on something so small. So an issue or 2 of white dwarf introduced me to GW, and on my next visit back to England (am half british) I went to the store.

Now, it bears mentioning that I did not advertise my hobby, I played guitar, soccer and was a popular enough guy. I didnt hang out with anyone who was interested in that kind of thing, and I had no desire to deal with the stigma of being a dungeons and dragons nerd. Let's face it, if someone caught you holding a lead soldier, that's what you were lol.

So I walk in the store in Newcastle, the old one that was streetfront before they opened the metro-center one, and it was a wonderland of fantasticly painted pieces sitting in the cases, my first time seeing them in real life. I was entranced by both the amount present, and the quality, just admiring the craftsmanship.

This was interupted by an extremely obese blond 14 or so year old kid playing spacehulk suddenly screaming 'DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!!!!' at the top of his lungs behind me.

I turned around wondering what the fak was that lol. He picked up the dice, and in morbid fascination I watched as he threw the dice, and any chance he had of ever touching a girl, and screamed 'DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!!!' again, bits of oreo flecking his teeth and flying out helter skelter as he did so.

I wanted to wedgie him right there.

I looked around for expected support from the others in the store, thinking they would already be stalking towards him with a mixture of feral glee and nerd crushing purpose glinting in their eyes.

No one even noticed.

I felt alone, and alienated, and walked out of the store lol.

Am I a closeted nerd hypocrite? Maybe. In my old age I have become more tolerant of that kind of thing, but hey, I always think that this hobby could actually be kind of cool or at least 'normal' if it wasnt for a few prize specimens like the screaming fat oreo kid ruining it for the rest of us who wanted otherwise normal lives lol.

I know the feeling. The trick is to act sane around the crazy people and hope you rub off on them. Also, act crazy around the sane people and see if you can't crack them a bit.

Unfortunately you're not going to change people's minds that you're not just playing with 'toy soldiers' or 'action figures.' It's culture. Bleh. At least video games became somewhat cool. Maybe there's hope. Everyone built model airplanes when they were kids right?

Luckily for me, no horror stories yet. I'm a relative newbie to the hobby and to my local FLGS.

i had a bad day when i played against someone who is 2 years older than me. i beat him with my imperial guard 4 times in a row, and he started crying and going hysterical, and screaming like " I 'll never play this stupid game again!". that was a year ago, and we never saw him again... (wooohooo!)

MajorTom11 wrote:My worst experience was back in 92 or so.

I was a pretty normal 13-14 year old, who got into the hobby side of things due to an artistic bent, liked the challenge of working on something so small. So an issue or 2 of white dwarf introduced me to GW, and on my next visit back to England (am half british) I went to the store.

Now, it bears mentioning that I did not advertise my hobby, I played guitar, soccer and was a popular enough guy. I didnt hang out with anyone who was interested in that kind of thing, and I had no desire to deal with the stigma of being a dungeons and dragons nerd. Let's face it, if someone caught you holding a lead soldier, that's what you were lol.

So I walk in the store in Newcastle, the old one that was streetfront before they opened the metro-center one, and it was a wonderland of fantasticly painted pieces sitting in the cases, my first time seeing them in real life. I was entranced by both the amount present, and the quality, just admiring the craftsmanship.

This was interupted by an extremely obese blond 14 or so year old kid playing spacehulk suddenly screaming 'DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!!!!' at the top of his lungs behind me.

I turned around wondering what the fak was that lol. He picked up the dice, and in morbid fascination I watched as he threw the dice, and any chance he had of ever touching a girl, and screamed 'DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!!!' again, bits of oreo flecking his teeth and flying out helter skelter as he did so.

I wanted to wedgie him right there.

I looked around for expected support from the others in the store, thinking they would already be stalking towards him with a mixture of feral glee and nerd crushing purpose glinting in their eyes.

No one even noticed.

I felt alone, and alienated, and walked out of the store lol.

Am I a closeted nerd hypocrite? Maybe. In my old age I have become more tolerant of that kind of thing, but hey, I always think that this hobby could actually be kind of cool or at least 'normal' if it wasnt for a few prize specimens like the screaming fat oreo kid ruining it for the rest of us who wanted otherwise normal lives lol.

Oh, this. This this this 1000 times this.

I know exactly what you mean. I find other gamers to be the most embarrasing aspect of this hobby. Certain types, anyway.

My worst experience has to be at my FLGS. It's also recurring, but fortunately not often enough to put me off the hobby. The guys in our group are all really cool. We hang out a lot and grab a beer every now and then. Even the guys who aren't in our group are very friendly.

BUT...there is this one guy. It's just awful. He smells. He blows on his dice (with saliva and everything). He makes "KABOOOOMMM" noises when he wrecks a vehicle. He shouts, no, screams "YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!" when he wins a game. He fondles other peoples miniatures without asking. He also doesn't know the rules very well.