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 Become Legendary NA wrote:


No we don't require you to buy models. I would question why you would want to sell miniatures, if you were not into them.

Ok I wasn't going to go negative until you said this as that's a bold faced lie and you know it! I worked for over a year and a half at GW in Seattle and we WERE required to buy models and rules for every system and at $8.50 an hour starting wage that was a little hard to come by, Not to mention that medical package you are raving about sucked up a bunch of pay as well. We were required to play games with customers but log out during said games as the company would not pay us for them. If we did overtime our mgr would fix the time cards so it looked like we didn't, and this wasn't the store mgr of no but regional. Now I am all for being nice on the forum especially in news but I do get upset when people at GW claim it's a great job when it isn't. If your store isn't making sales the whole store will be fired and new people hired as GW seems to think that it's the employees fault and not the location. It's fine to post about job openings and such but don't openly lie to people. Heck myself and a friend were told if we would move to the east coast we would be transfered job wise to those stores as they needed people, or trade and sales. Both he and I did (at different times) and we only found out we had to reapply completely and neither of us were hired because GW doesn't like to hire former employees.

 RiTides wrote:

 Become Legendary NA wrote:
I don't speak for Games Workshop, that is for other people who see a bigger picture than me. I look for people who want to work for Games Workshop. Our positions are not for everyone, but there are people out there that want to run a business and love our product. We are opening new stores, which is creating jobs in different communities, helping those peoples families grow and prosper, which in turn is spreading the hobby. It is easy to be hostile but remember that at the heart of the first message is talking about Work.

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.

This needs to be repeated for emphasis.

 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?

What's sad is that you think this is what you're doing.

From where I'm sitting it all looks like a bunch of vindictive trolling. If you don't want to work there, fine. All this ranting is just making a bunch of Dakkanauts look bad (or worse).

 Become Legendary NA wrote:
I don't speak for Games Workshop, that is for other people who see a bigger picture than me. I look for people who want to work for Games Workshop. Our positions are not for everyone, but there are people out there that want to run a business and love our product. We are opening new stores, which is creating jobs in different communities, helping those peoples families grow and prosper, which in turn is spreading the hobby. It is easy to be hostile but remember that at the heart of the first message is talking about Work.

It is rather ironic that you speak of families. One former GW manager had a wife and two kids. He had to work every weekend and thus rarely saw his wife. This put a real strain on his marriage.

This is definitely a job for a single person their 20s. Sadly, with such a job, you will likely remain single, as you will not have time to date on evenings or weekends.

We should also recall a statement from the previous fiscal report. It stated something to the effect that GW had 'backup' employees for a large percentage of their stores. The implication being that they could fire staff at will and not suffer a stoppage of work.

PLASTIC STEEL LEGION

 RiTides wrote:

 Become Legendary NA wrote:
I don't speak for Games Workshop, that is for other people who see a bigger picture than me. I look for people who want to work for Games Workshop. Our positions are not for everyone, but there are people out there that want to run a business and love our product. We are opening new stores, which is creating jobs in different communities, helping those peoples families grow and prosper, which in turn is spreading the hobby. It is easy to be hostile but remember that at the heart of the first message is talking about Work.

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.

I will add my 2 cents to the NOT a family-friendly career at all bit. It isn't. You work evenings and weekends. If your spouse has a normal job then you will not see each other very much. Your days off are Monday and Tuesday. Again, if your spouse has a normal day off that means you do not have days off together. You can take vacation. You can take time off. BUT... you will be spoken to if your sales numbers are low for that week. Because most likely they will not be able to send a replacement, so your store will be closed. You WILL have to answer for your sales numbers for when you were on your paid vacation.

It is not a business. You are not a manager. You are a sales person. You are expected to sell product. Which makes sense. It is a retail store. Your job is to sell stuff. Period. You will have sales goals. You will be expected to project your sales goals with like to like sales. They will NOT help you with that. They will NOT give you anything other than crap when you don't. You are expected to figure it out yourself. And if you don't they will fire you and get somebody that will. It is a very short term deal. They have no loyalty or sense of anything about any of their retail people. You are very expendable. Mostly because people jump to get a job at a GW store. They are never hurting for employees.

 Become Legendary NA wrote:
We are talking about a company that has 35 years of history behind it. Those years mean change, with change comes feelings that are good and bad depending on how you look at each issue. People have a right to their feelings.

Yes we have benefits, it is one of the most amazing packages I have had in my career.

No we don't require you to buy models. I would question why you would want to sell miniatures, if you were not into them.

Our one person business model works extremely well. It means that person has sole responsibility for the success of that business. The job is not easy, but it can be really rewarding for people up to the challenge. People do fail at the job, just like any other role out there that is performance based. But there are also people who do really well with that kind of responsibility. It's not a fit for everyone. I can also say that I have learned so much about myself working for Games Workshop, and will always value my time with the company.

Benefits. They have the best benefits I have ever seen. They are simply unbelievable. Hands down. The employee discount is overly generous. The pay could be the best in retail. I'm not sure. If it isn't the best it has to be in the top tier.

No we don't require you to buy models. I would question why you would want to sell miniatures, if you were not into them.

This a thousand times this. This is how GW talks to its employees. They will NEVER say you have to buy an army. They will say crap like that. And then you walk away wondering. Did I just get threatened? OMG. I have to buy a fantasy army or they are going to fire me!

Now, that ISN"T what the manager said. They can deny that is what they said. When you work for GW you NEVER get a straight answer to anything. You are kept in the dark about everything. Told at the last moment. And often end up feeling like a jerk to your customers because corperate told you one thing... or denied what you and everyone else thought was coming... and then just dump the truth on you.

This is a great between high school and college summer job. It is a great job for various temporary situations. It is NOT a career. Heh... Corporate line is it is not a job "It is a way of life". If it isn't for you we can find somebody that can do it. (Always with the veiled threats, only way they know to manage.)

 draugadan wrote:
This is a great between high school and college summer job. It is a great job for various temporary situations. It is NOT a career. Heh... Corporate line is it is not a job "It is a way of life". If it isn't for you we can find somebody that can do it. (Always with the veiled threats, only way they know to manage.)

GW, like Starbucks and McDonalds put forth glowing advertisments about "careers" at their establishments and people like to attack said businesses for not revealing the unvarnished truth, so to speak. Still, do people honestly apply for positions at any of these companies hoping one day to be the CEO? Or do they apply as you say, seeing it as a short-term gig to earn some money in a job that seems cool (or maybe not) until they can get something better lined up? I'm thinking a lot of younger people apply at GW wanting to be liked or to be popular by being in the hub of things only to find out that GW is a business that's rather serious about maintaining their bottom line. Maybe the "you will not be missed" phrase in the books should also be in the employee manual, maybe not. But GW isn't the only company to manage this way. Sales is a rather ruthless business model.

 Become Legendary NA wrote:
Well thank you for the Welcome!!

I don't speak for Games Workshop, that is for other people who see a bigger picture than me.

That sounds so much like hard-core indoctrinated lingo, and gives such a frightening insight into the corporate attitude, that it isn't even remotely funny.

 Breotan wrote:
GW, like Starbucks and McDonalds put forth glowing advertisments about "careers" at their establishments. And people like to attack said businesses for not revealing the unvarnished truth, so to speak. Still, do people honestly apply for positions at any of these companies hoping one day to be the CEO? Or do they apply seeing it as a short-term gig to earn some money in a job that seems cool (or maybe not) until they can get something better lined up?

You would be suprised actually except the CEO of GW owns a majority of the shares so I am sure no one ever thinks they will attain that but they want to get to trade and sals or corp office some day. I have known tons of friends that thought this and were even told if they worked hard they could be a regional manager or even some day manage one of the countries.

Steelmage99 wrote:

 Become Legendary NA wrote:
Well thank you for the Welcome!!

I don't speak for Games Workshop, that is for other people who see a bigger picture than me.

That sounds so much like hard-core indoctrinated lingo, and gives such a frightening insight into the corporate attitude, that it isn't even remotely funny.

What?

Dude, what the hell are you talking about? "Hard-core indoctrinated lingo"? Seriousy? He's just saying he's here to post about open jobs at GW, and can't answer questions and concerns regarding product or company pricing practices. Wow. There certainly are legitimate reasons to criticize GW. Your flames address none of them.

I know GW is the great devil, but I doubt OP is even a part of GW proper. Most likely just somebody hired to be either a social media presence, or somebody hired to hire people. I would imagine that they don't know much about the inside working of GW or have drank from the fountain of kool-aid.

It's just somebody doing a job, reading of the script that was handed to them to answer the question thrown at them from a hostile crowd.

Be critical of GW if you want, but please represent DakkaDakka better than a bunch if angry fethers. Because of that guy is GW in our eyes, then we are all Yakface in the eyes of any outsider reading this thread.

So please remember rule #1 and carry on.

 d-usa wrote:
. Because of that guy is GW in our eyes, then we are all Yakface in the eyes of any outsider reading this thread.

So please remember rule #1 and carry on.

I will have you know I am much taller then yakface thank you very much

If GW have actually just dipped their toe in the water openly here (I know several employees and a few of the author/design team do read this forum on the quiet), then it's a shame we as a board just burned them to a crisp for it.

I'd love it if we could actually encourage the company to come out from it's shell and start interacting on open independently owned forums and engaged with reasonable conversation. I think the road to a better company and a healthier hobby can come from improved communications between us, the consumers and fans and them, the company GW.

If, as soon as an employee states he works for the company and is looking to recruit others here, he is accused of being directly responsible for the pricing or scrapping squats or even Jervis Johnson's infamous 'beard' phase, then he (or she) will just nod, have all the negative things that are said in corporate about forum be reinforced and go back to silence.

Please, lets try and not burn anyone with a GW paycheck anytime they appear here, lets just welcome them aboard same as anyone else and if we have questions, phrase them politely and ensure we don't spit or rant at them, it's highly doubtful we're talking to Tom Kirby or anyone else in a position to change things, but it's possible that they may report to someone who reports to someone who might be able to. If they get a better reception than 'aaah your a fool for working for the company and you're a bastard for trying to recruit others and your insane for asking 100 bucks for 3 trolls' to someone who's likely just a store manager or something, then we might actually open up honest dialogue.

Remain Calm.

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
If GW have actually just dipped their toe in the water openly here (I know several employees and a few of the author/design team do read this forum on the quiet), then it's a shame we as a board just burned them to a crisp for it.

I'd love it if we could actually encourage the company to come out from it's shell and start interacting on open independently owned forums and engaged with reasonable conversation. I think the road to a better company and a healthier hobby can come from improved communications between us, the consumers and fans and them, the company GW.

If, as soon as an employee states he works for the company and is looking to recruit others here, he is accused of being directly responsible for the pricing or scrapping squats or even Jervis Johnson's infamous 'beard' phase, then he (or she) will just nod, have all the negative things that are said in corporate about forum be reinforced and go back to silence.

Please, lets try and not burn anyone with a GW paycheck anytime they appear here, lets just welcome them aboard same as anyone else and if we have questions, phrase them politely and ensure we don't spit or rant at them, it's highly doubtful we're talking to Tom Kirby or anyone else in a position to change things, but it's possible that they may report to someone who reports to someone who might be able to. If they get a better reception than 'aaah your a fool for working for the company and you're a bastard for trying to recruit others and your insane for asking 100 bucks for 3 trolls' to someone who's likely just a store manager or something, then we might actually open up honest dialogue.

Remain Calm.

I agree. It's also a little silly that a lot of people here use GW products and the moment someone from GW shows up he gets flamed.

 Breotan wrote:

Steelmage99 wrote:

 Become Legendary NA wrote:
Well thank you for the Welcome!!

I don't speak for Games Workshop, that is for other people who see a bigger picture than me.

That sounds so much like hard-core indoctrinated lingo, and gives such a frightening insight into the corporate attitude, that it isn't even remotely funny.

What?

Dude, what the hell are you talking about? "Hard-core indoctrinated lingo"? Seriousy? He's just saying he's here to post about open jobs at GW, not can't answer questions and concerns regarding product or company pricing practices. Wow. There certainly are legitimate reasons to criticize GW. Your flames address none of them.

Indeed. Dakka itself had a news about GW appointing a new digital agency. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/456457.page

Now about six months later, someone appears saying they represent GW in an online forum for a new online recruiting initiative and sounding very much like a recruiter. This...should be entirely expected. As someone said just because a person does a job for GW does not make them the Great Satan of wargaming; they're doing their job as they were told to do it. They need to eat too. Shooting the messenger makes us all appear to be ignorant, especially if they merely a contracted party.

I also appreciate those who share the "real-life" side of the story. While I understand that recruiters of all stripes have to lie (a job that was genuinely rewarding with good pay, benefits and stability wouldn't need a recruiter after all), it's good that the people who are interested can go in prepared. When I was younger I might have been interested, but I doubt I'd have lasted with not being particularly extroverted.

The more I read on the topic though the issues highlighted are all variations on the callousness that is any corporate retail. The unreasonable sales goals and corporate pep-talks and staff churn seem to be rather common, and not a particular GW failing.

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
If GW have actually just dipped their toe in the water openly here (I know several employees and a few of the author/design team do read this forum on the quiet), then it's a shame we as a board just burned them to a crisp for it.

I'd love it if we could actually encourage the company to come out from it's shell and start interacting on open independently owned forums and engaged with reasonable conversation. I think the road to a better company and a healthier hobby can come from improved communications between us, the consumers and fans and them, the company GW.

If, as soon as an employee states he works for the company and is looking to recruit others here, he is accused of being directly responsible for the pricing or scrapping squats or even Jervis Johnson's infamous 'beard' phase, then he (or she) will just nod, have all the negative things that are said in corporate about forum be reinforced and go back to silence.

Please, lets try and not burn anyone with a GW paycheck anytime they appear here, lets just welcome them aboard same as anyone else and if we have questions, phrase them politely and ensure we don't spit or rant at them, it's highly doubtful we're talking to Tom Kirby or anyone else in a position to change things, but it's possible that they may report to someone who reports to someone who might be able to. If they get a better reception than 'aaah your a fool for working for the company and you're a bastard for trying to recruit others and your insane for asking 100 bucks for 3 trolls' to someone who's likely just a store manager or something, then we might actually open up honest dialogue.

Remain Calm.

Im not a big GW fan for many reasons (though I do buy their stuff now and then) but this sentiment does have merit.

I don't see people flaming this guy over GW prices and squats. I see ex employees taking issue with certain claims the recruiter has made about working conditions and the little matter of 'having to buy miniatures' to stay in the job.

 SilverMK2 wrote:
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.

Which means that you can still tell something about the company by the volume of complaints... since a company that provides good service will have fewer of them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 spaceelf wrote:
It is rather ironic that you speak of families. One former GW manager had a wife and two kids. He had to work every weekend and thus rarely saw his wife. This put a real strain on his marriage.

To be fair, that's not an issue exclusive to GW, but is pretty standard in retail. A lot of companies hire people specifically to cover weekend and/or night shifts, and if you're married, well, suck it up. When my now-wife first moved in with me, she was working 7am to 3pm in the office of a quarry, and I was working 3pm to 11pm in a photolab at Kmart. We made it work, because those were the jobs we had.

My relatively brief stint working in a games store (indie, not GW) I was hired specifically to cover wednesday to friday nights and weekends. Which, yes, makes it bloody hard to spend time with family... but I knew about it going into the job, and so we planned around it.

If you work in an industry that does most of its trade on weekends, then there's a pretty good chance that you're going to wind up working weekends.

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
I'd love it if we could actually encourage the company to come out from it's shell and start interacting on open independently owned forums and engaged with reasonable conversation. I think the road to a better company and a healthier hobby can come from improved communications between us, the consumers and fans and them, the company GW.

Talk is cheap. Unless GW is willing to follow through in dismantling the obstacles they have built that have burnt through so much goodwill, the only way GW is likely to make a healthier hobby is by crashing so spectacularly it serves as a warning to the others.

 Howard A Treesong wrote:
I don't see people flaming this guy over GW prices and squats. I see ex employees taking issue with certain claims the recruiter has made about working conditions and the little matter of 'having to buy miniatures' to stay in the job.

Right... this is News & Rumors, the OP made a post about job openings at GW, and people who have seen what those jobs are actually like are pointing those things out. Personally, I see nothing wrong with this.

If GW wanted to post a News or Rumor item about their products in this forum, I think you'd see folks rejoicing!

But posting about a retail sales position with the name "Become Legendary"... isn't going to merit the same response, no matter the company, but particularly one with a history of treating their retail sales positions like GW does. This is just the reality, no matter the motivation of the OP for posting.

Wow, I am seriously disappointed in the moderation in this topic. We all have several problems with GW and especially their pricing and attitude towards their customers, but seriously, who do you think you guys are to offend this guy out of the open? The fifth post immediately calls him a troll and it goes all downhill from there.

Do you seriously think that offending GW employees / head hunters will even make GW think about changing their course?

We all know that working at GW is not a "career" in a classical understanding...the salary is below-average and you are asked to work in your free time as well e.g. when it comes to painting new starters. What do you expect GW to do? Make an announcement saying "yo man we don't pay well and you have to work a lot but you love us and we love you, it's like a we're a big family!"? Every company does that. It's YOUR job to properly inform yourself before applying for a job and when browsing the internet, you will quickly get the information you're looking for.

Furthermore, GW frequently browses internet forums, let it be for getting their trigger-happy lawyers alone...guess why we may now not even post pictures of some leaked releases?

Anyway, back to my point. Step down and cool down, guys. He's a head hunter looking for people who want to work for GW, nothing more, nothing less. If you have a problem with GW's policy, feel free to vouch it in any of the other countless threads on how bad GW is. The hostility shown here by some people, however, is uncalled for.

Remember: you always have the option to not post.

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
I'd love it if we could actually encourage the company to come out from it's shell and start interacting on open independently owned forums and engaged with reasonable conversation. I think the road to a better company and a healthier hobby can come from improved communications between us, the consumers and fans and them, the company GW.

If GW wants that kind of open and reasonable interaction then perhaps they should come and make reasonable posts instead of just parroting GW propaganda and spamming their recruiting link? What they've done is not a constructive two-way discussion, it's exploiting an existing community as nothing more than a free advertising space.

It is indeed a person's job to inform themselves about a position before taking it.

However, on an open, independent forum people are going to be told the truth about positions such as this.

I agree that calling the OP a troll is out of bounds / uncalled for- just hit the yellow triangle to alert a moderator to such a post and they'll deal with it if necessary. Posting a thread ranting about people ranting doesn't help much

 RiTides wrote:
It is indeed a person's job to inform themselves about a position before taking it.

However, on an open, independent forum people are going to be told the truth about positions such as this.

I agree that calling the OP a troll is out of bounds / uncalled for- just hit the yellow triangle to alert a moderator to such a post and they'll deal with it if necessary. Posting a thread ranting about people ranting doesn't help much

Agree, I think the four or five of us who have stated what working for GW was really like have been mature about it. I never commented on half the junk they pulled on us that was far worse or said I hate them or even flamed them. Flaming is generally a trolling thing yet if somone has first hand knowledge that counters the ideal and we are on a open gaming forum we hold the rights to state as much. I can definately say for certain that I have never had my past employees talk about how I treated them poorly as I never did, but if I had and they did then that would be their right. This is far different from somone commenting on theft of IP or this person sucks with no explanation why this is several people who have worked for them who can attest that a lot of the lines stated are so out of context. I do have the right not to post, but at the same time I have the right to post as long as I am not vulgar or rude about it which from what I have seen a majority of the people haven't been. I find it interesting that people saying we are being mean keep brining up prices and what not yet those who have said what it was actually like as an employee have not said any such thing.

I prefer PM'ing mods instead of using the report function...but that's another issue.

I fully agree with you - and let's be said again, I am a fond enemy of GW''s current customer-hating policy (e.g. removing gaming tables from their stores).

It's the tone that matters though...and that's what really irritates me. Normally, most people, especially those who have been around for a longer time, have a nice tone to them, but as soon as it's about GW, suddenly, the hate-trigger is activated and language goes down the drain. That's what makes me itchy.

To me, it's appropriate to make post like "Working at GW? Yeah, I'm in for terrible wages and long working times!" but while those ALL CAPS POSTS made me smile, I do not consider them appropriate and fair.

I disagree with the last part though...even an official warning will not make people change their mind, and neither will any post. I do want to express my opinion though especially given all the unjustified negativity and hostility by some fellow dakkanites.

Be advised, though, that I only refer to those harsh comments. I really, really appreciate the actual reports of former GW employees. Those usually are fair and well-written posts with some actual thought behind.

 Sigvatr wrote:
I prefer PM'ing mods instead of using the report function...but that's another issue.

I fully agree with you - and let's be said again, I am a fond enemy of GW''s current customer-hating policy (e.g. removing gaming tables from their stores).

It's the tone that matters though...and that's what really irritates me. Normally, most people, especially those who have been around for a longer time, have a nice tone to them, but as soon as it's about GW, suddenly, the hate-trigger is activated and language goes down the drain. That's what makes me itchy.

To me, it's appropriate to make post like "Working at GW? Yeah, I'm in for terrible wages and long working times!" but while those ALL CAPS POSTS made me smile, I do not consider them appropriate and fair.

I disagree with the last part though...even an official warning will not make people change their mind, and neither will any post. I do want to express my opinion though especially given all the unjustified negativity and hostility by some fellow dakkanites.

Ya see the problem is you can't convey tone over the internet so to that angel it is your own perception that is kicking in.

Personaly, I feel that many of the negative comments are uncalled for and rather childish in many instances. I am by no means being a white knight for GW but I am fairly certain the original poster is a contractor, much like most of the American employed are. So venting on him is much like slapping on a boats hull repeatedly, everyone hears it, some know what is happening, and others are mildly confused and in the end it does nothing.

My favourite place to visit it a local store, I wish they made stronger efforts on getting others involved in the selections of games but no world is perfect.

I'd just like to say that although I have no problem with Headhunters per se (they have a job to do like anyone else) I don't see how, with all the negative feelings towards GW here on Dakka that it's a good idea.

It seems that most of the hate directed to this poor guy stems purely from frustration. There have been numourous threads on Dakka over the last 18 months with titles like "I emailed GW and got no response", and "Why won't GW listen to me!". Obviously, GW will ignore all but the most threatening email (which they would just pass on to the police). As soon as a supposed GW 'Mouthpiece' appears and tries to recruit for the company that refuses to listen to its customer base, that 'Mouthpiece' will take flak. It's human nature. The best example would be someone yelling at a member of the ground crew at Heathrow, because your flight was delayed. It's not his fault, but he is representing the company that wronged you.

And a lot of people feel wronged by GW. It's not just a hobby, for a few of us, it was a part of our childhood and has carried on being a part of our adult life.

I'll post this one here because to me it tells the true story about the corporation.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Games-Workshop-Reviews-E11822.htm Though there are only 8 postings on this site, I like the part from this poor unfortunate.



“Somewhere between a dream job and fever induced night terrors”
Former Hobby Center Operator in Dallas, TX – Reviewed Sep 13, 2011

Pros – Truly INCREDIBLE employee discount
You get to sell games for a living and play them in your spare time
Awesome community of customers that are incredibly loyal and effectively become part time employees
You get to teach painting models as well as paint in your spare time
Fixed hours that are amazing for retail management
Generous pto and sick leave
Good insurance
Regular and productive meetings in Las Vegas and corporate HQ
When your store hits bonus, it's a really great bonus
The customers make the job worth coming in to every day, they are so loyal to you and your products it is quite simply staggering. You want to hug them at times.
Great work/life balance. You literally still play the games you sell at work in your time away from work

Cons – The discount invariably means that you spend large chunks of your salary on the games
Stores are obsessively and very strictly numbers driven
You must always be in sales mode even though most of your customers will literally be in the store as much as you are
One woman/man stores mean if you are sick, have car trouble, etc the store isn't getting opened and you will loose sales for that day which is a very bad thing
Taking vacation and sick leave to take care of your kids can and/or will be used against you because not being open is no excuse for not having sales unless you are fortunate enough to work in a city with a floater
UK management really does give the impression of not having a clue as to how the US markets function even though we are very different
Zero room for advancement
Upper management has constantly shifting ideas
They will tell you it's not a numbers driven game but all reviews are strictly numbers based
Don't expect to get bonuses often
Upper management is turning the information pipeline into a very narrow trickle and is aggressively and openly keeping their store managers in the dark
Rarely do you recognize people from one year to the next at meetings given the turnover

Advice to Senior Management – Realize that the US is very different from the UK market. Become more open and stop making employees be the last to get info that is going to anger customers. Store managers should be prepared at least somewhat to tamp down the latest thing we did to anger customers. Try placing some trust in the store managers and allow them to do things that they know works. Quit angering customers even though you know they will still remain loyal as puppies to you. Even if you are a manager that gets treated well, you see how others are treated and it is discouraging.



And as far as the first one that is quote "Hobby Center Operator". I'm glad he likes his job. Been there too. I go to Ivars every year because of the excellent sea food. However I am not particularly impressed with that site.

And finally as far as Alamo California store closure. No fault of the staff or the people in that community because it was a success for what it was. The Fault is squarely on the corporation for Alamo store did not fit the current one man micro stores I know what has been said about the reason for its demise as well as the lease issues. But like I have said before. I specialize in real estate and I know what it takes to renegotiate a long term lease.

So yes there is a lot of negative comments that are validated by actual experiences because of dealing with that corporation in one form or another.

How could it be any less?

Staffer discount is crap.

Even with 50% off everything, you're still better off just paying full RRP for Mantic stuff from the perspective of a gamer looking to save money. Plus webstores offer GW at 30% off anyway. When it was 90% off it was actually good. Remember, those plastic sprues take about 4 pence each for GW to roll off their production line, they're making phat profit even at 50%off...pay the employees and then encourage them to give half their wages back to you in exchange for a few pennie's worth of plastic. GW's staffer costs are seriously low once you take into account the "pay them with product" angle.

Pretty good if you've got a stash ready and want to ditch the job as soon as you've abused the hell out of the staffer discount and get a nice windfall from hocking it all on ebay.. but otherwise no.