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It's not about the prices, it's about the fact that GW's propaganda account keeps posting ridiculous management nonsense about how awesome GW is, when in reality GW is a pretty bad company to work for. It's just funny that they were clueless enough to do it in a place where they don't have control over everything that's posted and people can be honest about their opinions.

If you start work for a company and find that it sucks, then you leave, simple really, I don't see the need to be outraged on behalf of potential employees.

If it winds you up so much, I suggest you turn your attentions to Indonesian sweat shops.

 mattyrm wrote:

If it winds you up so much, I suggest you turn your attentions to Indonesian sweat shops.

Then how will I get cheap Nike boots?

 Peregrine wrote:
It's not about the prices, it's about the fact that GW's propaganda account keeps posting ridiculous management nonsense about how awesome GW is, when in reality GW is a pretty bad company to work for.

Yeah. Because job recruitment drives are always on the up and up. Starbucks told me that they're not a corporation, they're a family!

It's just funny that they were clueless enough to do it in a place where they don't have control over everything that's posted and people can be honest about their opinions.

"Being honest about your opinion" does not require you to be a jerk.

 Kanluwen wrote:
Starbucks told me that they're not a corporation, they're a family!

That was just to try and stop you seducing all the womenfolk if you got a job there

 Kanluwen wrote:
Yeah. Because job recruitment drives are always on the up and up. Starbucks told me that they're not a corporation, they're a family!

Sorry, but I missed the part where people don't laugh at how stupid it is when other companies do it, or where a Starbucks recruiter wouldn't be laughed off a forum if they showed up and started parroting the standard corporate propaganda. I know you like to white knight for GW, but they are hardly the only object of criticism.

 mattyrm wrote:
Funny I don't see people trolling Nike on the football forums, have you seen how much they charge for boots?!

Oh get off your high horse. You don't think we'd cut through Nike or anyone's corporatespeak bs with a cynical blade? You think 'cause it's GW it's somehow different? Spin is spin, no matter who's spinning it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 motyak wrote:
Then how will I get cheap Nike boots?

Why do sneakers cost so much when they're made by little slave kids? What are their overheads?











I hope someone gets the reference otherwise the above's going to make me look like a real jerk...

 mattyrm wrote:
If you start work for a company and find that it sucks, then you leave, simple really, I don't see the need to be outraged on behalf of potential employees.

If it winds you up so much, I suggest you turn your attentions to Indonesian sweat shops.

But then you could say it's only fair that people are given a fair description of what lies in wait for them if they apply for a job for GW. Yes there have been a couple of needlessly snide comments and too much banter, but it's worthwhile reading RiTides comment from a few pages ago:

I'm assuming you're serious, but please leave the corporate pep-talk speak at home. You're not going to win any support with it.

I live in Maryland, and recently the old Battle Bunker location closed, before re-opening in another part of the state. None of the employees put out of work for over a year by this were guaranteed positions at the new Bunker, they were told they'd have to re-apply (and had no idea when the new one would open).

The GW in the Arundel Mills mall closed after several years of operation, as seems to be common with small GW stores trying to get market share in different areas, but not being there to stay long-term. And the GW nearest to me downsized their second employee (after hiring him less than a year previously) and cut the hours of the one man left running it, to cut costs.

This is NOT a family-friendly career, it does not help families grow and prosper as you had the gall (imo) to say. It does not help people find long-term work.

Instead, it's a high turn-over position, involving high pressure sales tactics, and high pressure management interaction with employees. It does not offer them career advancement, or job security. I would never, ever recommend anyone I care about working for Games Workshop.

This is my honest opinion, and imo you're just parroting back corporate lines that will do nothing good for the company you're representing. I'd stop posting in this manner if I were you, because no matter what your goal is, you're certainly not accomplishing it.

In my experience it used to be that most people lasted about 6 months in this job. Depending on that situation, that can be absolutely fine; you get to do a job that you can really enjoy, get a load of reasonably priced miniatures (although nothing like as cheap as they once were). In return, much like so many shop jobs these days (but again taken to an extreme degree) you have to leave your ability to form independent thoughts at the door and swallow the company mantra.

If applicants understand that, are happy with it and accept it, then fine. But it shouldn't be allowed to pass through the BS filter from the members on this forum who know what the score is with jobs like this.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 mattyrm wrote:
Funny I don't see people trolling Nike on the football forums, have you seen how much they charge for boots?!

Oh get off your high horse. You don't think we'd cut through Nike or anyone's corporatespeak bs with a cynical blade? You think 'cause it's GW it's somehow different? Spin is spin, no matter who's spinning it.

I'm merely pointing out the obvious, there are bigger fish to fry in the world of gak jobs than games workshop, and pretending otherwise is laughably disingenuous. There's little kids sewing Manchester united footballs for two pence a day in islamabad, but you are telling me with a straight face that you condemn everyone equally, and it's got absolutely nothing to do with a small minority of posters who feel really strongly about this issue thanks to their love of the hobby?

I'm not even having a go at anyone, I'm just pointing out that it's fething obvious, and proper having a go at a bloke for doing his job (advertising) is out of order. Clearly hobbyists have a dog in the hunt, it's not about standing up for workers rights across the globe, it's about some of the sites users venting because they are pissed off wargamers.

feth me.. Would some of you lot be happy knocking the gak out of a traffic warden as well?

 mattyrm wrote:
I'm merely pointing out the obvious, there are bigger fish to fry in the world of gak jobs than games workshop, and pretending otherwise is laughably disingenuous.

Sure, and when representatives from those companies show up and make laughably bad propaganda posts I'm sure we'll all be happy to criticize them. But right now GW is the only one doing it here.

 Peregrine wrote:

 mattyrm wrote:
I'm merely pointing out the obvious, there are bigger fish to fry in the world of gak jobs than games workshop, and pretending otherwise is laughably disingenuous.

Sure, and when representatives from those companies show up and make laughably bad propaganda posts I'm sure we'll all be happy to criticize them. But right now GW is the only one doing it here.

Fairy nuff... Be aware ive not stuck up for GW, the salary alone is enough to put me squarely in the "feth this" department regards wanting a job with them. I just dont see the point in having a go at the guy, it smacks of shooting the messenger.

As has been pointed out, bollocking the bloke on dakka isnt going to get your points addressed.

 azreal13 wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
To put it in a slightly less confrontational way:

A GW store is not a small business. They are retail outlets, nothing more, nothing less, so please call them that.




"When did I become the good cop!" - Rorschach, 'Rorschach & Deadpool'

Perhaps, but up until recently I ran my own business, which is freaking tough, and to be lumped in with jumped up till monkeys grinds my gears somewhat.

If I worked in a shop, I'd be feeling quite insulted by your little tirade there. Time to get off the high horse Mr "But hey, I'm just a guy with business qualifications, 7 years in management and 3 years as a company director, what do I know?" Which, by the way, makes you sound like one of those bs spouting contestants on The Apprentice.

This is my version:

I'm still serving in the Forces after 17 years of being operational around the world, including coming under fire(which is "freaking tough") and to be lumped in with with armchair general toy soldier players grinds my gears somewhat.

If the above statement sounds ridiculous its because it is meant to be and mirrors azreal13's little rant.

There are upsides and downsides to working retail for GW.

The good
They pay much more than most other retail jobs. I heard it was in the low 30s, with the potential to earn more if the store does well.
They have great benefits. I think they even included dental care.
You get a very substantial discount on models. It was my understanding that it was a 50% discount.

The bad
You will almost certainly be fired within a year.
You do not have the tools to make the store succeed. (You cannot choose your hours, hire employees, choose stock, advertise, etc.)
Your bosses will ream you out. To be fair, many jobs have this problem.

 Peregrine wrote:
It's perfectly justified hostility. It's non-constructive zero-content advertising by someone with no intent to participate in the community other than by posting advertising, so lock the thread and ban the poster just like every other spambot is banned.

 Peregrine wrote:
I'd rather settle for a 20% discount at an online store than get a 50% discount and have to buy (and paint) a fantasy army.

 Peregrine wrote:
It's not about the prices, it's about the fact that GW's propaganda account keeps posting ridiculous management nonsense about how awesome GW is, when in reality GW is a pretty bad company to work for. It's just funny that they were clueless enough to do it in a place where they don't have control over everything that's posted and people can be honest about their opinions.

 Peregrine wrote:
Sorry, but I missed the part where people don't laugh at how stupid it is when other companies do it, or where a Starbucks recruiter wouldn't be laughed off a forum if they showed up and started parroting the standard corporate propaganda. I know you like to white knight for GW, but they are hardly the only object of criticism.

 Peregrine wrote:
Sure, and when representatives from those companies show up and make laughably bad propaganda posts I'm sure we'll all be happy to criticize them. But right now GW is the only one doing it here.

 Empchild wrote:
I do know they are rated as the second worst company on the Forbes 500 only being beat by Walmart.

Link please. I'm not disputing anything, I just want to read what Forbes had to say on the subject.

 Grimtuff wrote:
I'll get the popcorn.

Pass the bag, please. I'd go to the lobby and get my own but this thread is too much fun too miss anything.

Do GW have offices in Tennessee?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 mattyrm wrote:
Funny I don't see people trolling Nike on the football forums, have you seen how much they charge for boots?!

Oh get off your high horse. You don't think we'd cut through Nike or anyone's corporatespeak bs with a cynical blade? You think 'cause it's GW it's somehow different? Spin is spin, no matter who's spinning it.

What's the point in cynicism? What's to prove?

 Henners91 wrote:
What's the point in cynicism? What's to prove?

He was being nice earlier so I expect he's simply doing penance for that heresy.

And that's why they closed the official GW forums =).

For every person who compliments, 10 complain.

It is the way of every company or product. People are more motivated to speak up when they have had bad service rather than if they had had good service.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 mattyrm wrote:
Funny I don't see people trolling Nike on the football forums, have you seen how much they charge for boots?!

Oh get off your high horse. You don't think we'd cut through Nike or anyone's corporatespeak bs with a cynical blade? You think 'cause it's GW it's somehow different? Spin is spin, no matter who's spinning it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 motyak wrote:
Then how will I get cheap Nike boots?

Why do sneakers cost so much when they're made by little slave kids? What are their overheads?

I hope someone gets the reference otherwise the above's going to make me look like a real jerk...

well played

and dayton, oh area ... hmmm thats my home turf...

Thanks for telling me about the employee discount!

If I were to apply as manager for this 1 man store, would I have to have an army for Fantasy and Lord of the Rings/Hobbit? I have a Fantasy army, but it's barely assembled, and not of GW parts >_>.

The LoTR game doesn't really interest me. Also would I be able to demo/sell (even if through direct sales), BFG, Bloodbowl, and some of the other specialist games that are not really supported, but are still available on site for purchase?

I think that you would be losing out on valuable sales if you had an employee with interest to run these games, but told him that he was not allowed to run these games for reasons x, y, or z

 Pacific wrote:
In my experience it used to be that most people lasted about 6 months in this job. Depending on that situation, that can be absolutely fine; you get to do a job that you can really enjoy, get a load of reasonably priced miniatures (although nothing like as cheap as they once were). In return, much like so many shop jobs these days (but again taken to an extreme degree) you have to leave your ability to form independent thoughts at the door and swallow the company mantra.

If applicants understand that, are happy with it and accept it, then fine. But it shouldn't be allowed to pass through the BS filter from the members on this forum who know what the score is with jobs like this.

 spaceelf wrote:
The bad
You will almost certainly be fired within a year.
You do not have the tools to make the store succeed. (You cannot choose your hours, hire employees, choose stock, advertise, etc.)
Your bosses will ream you out. To be fair, many jobs have this problem.

I do not think many of us are trying to be unnecessarily snarky, I (and these above me) are actually genuinely warning people that this is a bad job.

It actually makes me sick to think about. At both of the local GWs (the Arundel Mills, now closed, and the one in Columbia) I got to see an employee get a "talking to" / reprimanded in front of customers. At the Arundel Mills one, it was the manager doing it to a regular employee. At the Columbia one, it was a higher-up doing it to the manager.

Let me focus on the Columbia one. Apparently, the manager was not being enthusiastic enough in the GW-style. He had an older player base and catered to them accordingly. A higher-up came in, and demonstrated how to act by acting like a 10-year old with the only 10-year old in the store. Meanwhile, many of us who liked the guy had heard he was going to be observed and came in and bought stuff that day to show our support.

But I have seen too many instances of GW trying to enforce an "attitude" or "psychology" on their employees- it really makes me sick. I know other companies do it, but GW is a rather bad offender. Add in the high turn-over rate because people can only take that crap for so long, and it becomes a very negative position for someone to take, imo. It's the holidays- there are LOTS of other retail positions for people to take that will be short-term.

Finally, I mentioned the Bunker earlier. The old manager of the Bunker got some financial backing and now a new game store is open in the exact same store- yes, attached to the old GW US Headquarters. It's called Dropzone Games, and it has SUCH a better atmosphere than the Bunker did. And yet, it's the same guy running it. This is what I'm talking about- the forced attitude / "psychology" that GW rams down it's employees throats is negative for everybody. It's only good for short-term employee methods and short-term sales techniques. Hence the single-man stores where costs are minimal, entry games are played, product moved, and the store closed within several years and opened in a new location.

I just want people to view this as what it is, a short-term gig where as Pacific says, you have to swallow the company mantra to an extreme degree. It's not worth it, imo, and I wanted people to know that who are not familiar with GW's approach to its' employees (note: I'm not talking about it's customers here, as some folks seem to be doing, but it's workers).

 RiTides wrote:
But I have seen too many instances of GW trying to enforce an "attitude" or "psychology" on their employees- it really makes me sick. I know other companies do it, but GW is a rather bad offender. Add in the high turn-over rate because people can only take that crap for so long, and it becomes a very negative position for someone to take, imo.

Now we're edging into the "10 Laws" and the (unfortunately named) SS Camps of GW rumour and legend.

The first (and last) time I went into a GW store was when I was just thinking about staring wargaming, must have been around 15/16 I think. Anyway, I was scared off by the employee working at the store, practically loading my arms with stuff I really didn't want to get and really getting in my face quite a bit. Never gone back again and this is years and years later!

I understand the need to sell your merchandise, how else are you going to keep the store going? But a friendly atmosphere keeps people coming back time and time again which surely works out better in the long run?

Neither rumour nor legend. Been there, done that, left. Unfortunately the way they handle staff means that the only people who progress in the company are those who won't find employment elsewhere so wholeheartedly buy into the philosophy as they are determined to keep there jobs. These individuals, perfect employees in GWs eyes, ascend the corporate ladder and reinforce this behaviour ensuring fresh ideas are quashed and GWs dogma is rigorously enforced.

Totally don't have a facebook profile anymore... but it would be wicked boss if they had a 'reads white dwarf for money' position. I'd totally be on it. WHITE DWARF FTW!

 Flashman wrote:
Seriously? GW just started a thread on dakka?!.

Space marines...know no fear.

This is great. They really have no idea how many customers they have dis-satisfied...and worse turned into detractors.

alphaecho wrote:

 azreal13 wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
To put it in a slightly less confrontational way:

A GW store is not a small business. They are retail outlets, nothing more, nothing less, so please call them that.




"When did I become the good cop!" - Rorschach, 'Rorschach & Deadpool'

Perhaps, but up until recently I ran my own business, which is freaking tough, and to be lumped in with jumped up till monkeys grinds my gears somewhat.

If I worked in a shop, I'd be feeling quite insulted by your little tirade there. Time to get off the high horse Mr "But hey, I'm just a guy with business qualifications, 7 years in management and 3 years as a company director, what do I know?" Which, by the way, makes you sound like one of those bs spouting contestants on The Apprentice.

This is my version:

I'm still serving in the Forces after 17 years of being operational around the world, including coming under fire(which is "freaking tough") and to be lumped in with with armchair general toy soldier players grinds my gears somewhat.

If the above statement sounds ridiculous its because it is meant to be and mirrors azreal13's little rant.

*slow clap*

Well done, you can look at people's post history, and then quote it back. That's a mere statement of fact, no Apprentispeech there.

Perhaps I should mention that all but a small portion of my career has been in retail sales, including running my own shop, so in my case what I did/do is directly comparable to what GW employees do, but with a lot more responsibility, flexibility and accountability.

As for you being lumped in with armchair generals? Not one person has, or would, compare real world military operations to playing a game indoors with a beer in their hand, as those two things aren't comparable in the least, and if someone did they would deserve more than your annoyance.

Anyone else notice that most of the anti GW posters start their stories with that a friend of mine who worked for GW or I saw this happen to this one manager, but nevery really give any kind of idea of time frame of when it happened. Or have never worked for GW themselves.

If you look at GW US over the last two or three years you can see a steady change. They went from multi staff to one dude. They appear to be closing stores that don't work and are openning stores that do. Most likely your time frame of when you saw something is from a different point in their business model.

I don't have any friends that work at GW. But I do enjoy going into my Local store.

 Alfndrate wrote:
Thanks for telling me about the employee discount!

If I were to apply as manager for this 1 man store, would I have to have an army for Fantasy and Lord of the Rings/Hobbit? I have a Fantasy army, but it's barely assembled, and not of GW parts >_>.

The LoTR game doesn't really interest me. Also would I be able to demo/sell (even if through direct sales), BFG, Bloodbowl, and some of the other specialist games that are not really supported, but are still available on site for purchase?

I think that you would be losing out on valuable sales if you had an employee with interest to run these games, but told him that he was not allowed to run these games for reasons x, y, or z

That'd be a "no". Those stores are there for 1 reason only, to market the 3 core systems to new hobbyists, and to get them to buy into those 3 core systems. Everything you do in store needs to be based around that core ideal.

narked wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:
Thanks for telling me about the employee discount!

If I were to apply as manager for this 1 man store, would I have to have an army for Fantasy and Lord of the Rings/Hobbit? I have a Fantasy army, but it's barely assembled, and not of GW parts >_>.

The LoTR game doesn't really interest me. Also would I be able to demo/sell (even if through direct sales), BFG, Bloodbowl, and some of the other specialist games that are not really supported, but are still available on site for purchase?

I think that you would be losing out on valuable sales if you had an employee with interest to run these games, but told him that he was not allowed to run these games for reasons x, y, or z

That'd be a "no". Those stores are there for 1 reason only, to market the 3 core systems to new hobbyists, and to get them to buy into those 3 core systems. Everything you do in store needs to be based around that core ideal.

Specialist games don't exist. You never saw them.