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I've noticed in my local GWs that the youngsters can ONLY talk about the hobby. They interrupt conversations with the staff to point something out in a codex, or show them how many 6s they just got.

When I was a nipper we had proper chats with the staff, and all this was fields...

 monders wrote:
I've noticed in my local GWs that the youngsters can ONLY talk about the hobby. They interrupt conversations with the staff to point something out in a codex, or show them how many 6s they just got.

When I was a nipper we had proper chats with the staff, and all this was fields...

Maybe all that drilling into their heads of "hobby-related conversations only!" has paid off...

Try working in a FLGS when your work mates and Manager tell every customer not to buy GW products because they're gak ( I kid you not i had a customer with about £150 worth of Orks in his hands and the Manager said "Why are you buying that c**p ? you'd be better off buying a Hornby trainset " customer puts product back on shelf and goes up the road to another shop and returns 20 mins later with £200 of Orks )

These are the idiots i work with !!!!!!!

 Grimtuff wrote:

 monders wrote:
I've noticed in my local GWs that the youngsters can ONLY talk about the hobby. They interrupt conversations with the staff to point something out in a codex, or show them how many 6s they just got.

When I was a nipper we had proper chats with the staff, and all this was fields...

Maybe all that drilling into their heads of "hobby-related conversations only!" has paid off...

A GW store I once went too considered kicking you out if you went off topic but realized how stupid it was. 2 months later they are enforcing that rule.

And the GW psychological conditioning of "PURGE THE NON GW" has indeed succeeded.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 master of ordinance wrote:
There was a lad at my GW whom glued his face to the painting table....
He had dropped his paintbrush and failed to notice the spilt superglue puddle when he bent to retrieve it. The side of his face made contact with the table, he grabbed his brush, then tried to get back up.
Sadly for him, this was old GW superglue, not the crappy new stuff. His face was stuck fast. I cannot remember how they got him off, but the story became a legend for us in Preston.
And the moral of this, is too always look before you reach.

Then there was the time I became the manager temporarily......

A face gluing allegedly occurred at my local GW as well. Never looked into it mind you but...

I had a fairly horrible experience with a filling in manager (The story got around quite a bit when I first posted it on Dakka ) where he wouldn't let me share a friends rule book when we where already half way through a game, and where told to pack up and that I couldn't play today. I then began talking to a friend, writing army/purchase lists and such with his help and then he butted in asking ''What I was doing'', to which I answered writing a list. He responded with ''You can do that at home'' and promptly kicked me out and threated to call the POLICE when I asked him to explain why he was kicking me out. ''For doing nothing'' is what he said. Horrible, Horrible man in my opinion.

But I got that sorted out when I talked to the *real* manager when he came back from holiday, had a lot of help off of Dakka in writing my letter of complaint, and gave it in. I later found out that my letter put him on a kind of ''To watch list'' so when he went back to his own store and some one complained, they took 'disciplinary actions' (From the mouth of my friendly Manager) and he no longer works there. So I guess he got his just deserts!

 Grimtuff wrote:


Maybe all that drilling into their heads of "hobby-related conversations only!" has paid off...

By Odin's Beard - Are they that corruptable when so young?!

 monders wrote:
I've noticed in my local GWs that the youngsters can ONLY talk about the hobby. They interrupt conversations with the staff to point something out in a codex, or show them how many 6s they just got.

When I was a nipper we had proper chats with the staff, and all this was fields...

Ah yes. I remember having some amazing chats with the old staff members at my local GW. I still have good conversations with them, except they are no longer GW employees, instead they are members of Red Steel-the gaming club at our FLGS.
But the stuff we talked about... Anything from Halo, too Firefly too the LOTR movies, too all kinds of stuff. DnD, Magic, what you had been up to, etc where all topics of conversation.
I do miss the good old days. But I welcome the new ones, as they have introduced me too a wider community and too other games that I can enjoy, besides the GW stuff.

I may start going too my local GW again after Yule. I havnt much time for gaming ATMO, due too the fact that my college is on the same day as club night, and on the day after. And I have recently developed sleep issues. So I hope that I can go and enjoy a game of WHFB or 40K as I used too at GW Preston.

monders wrote:I've noticed in my local GWs that the youngsters can ONLY talk about the hobby. They interrupt conversations with the staff to point something out in a codex, or show them how many 6s they just got.

When I was a nipper we had proper chats with the staff, and all this was fields...

I believe GW has a store policy of 'hobby only' conversation during trading hours (9-5 or whenever), I've seen a couple of folks chastised for going off-topic

They have the same policy at my local Games Workshop, but only when it's crowded. I can always talk to the staffers about everyday stuff (and flirt with the hot manager) when there's only me or a few other people there.

I can understand why they have such a policy, but it's still stupid IMO.

This is relatively minor compared to the other stories out there:

Just last week I took a 4 hour trip to a GW store to pick up a Grimaldus for a friend with cancer. Got to the store, lights were on, doors were locked. Store hours and holiday hours stated the store should be open. Called in to the 1-800 number on the door...and after 10-15 minutes of being on hold/conversations we were told the store operator was home "sick" and wouldn't be in that day.

Not the most pleased.

Brillow80 wrote:
This is relatively minor compared to the other stories out there:

Just last week I took a 4 hour trip to a GW store to pick up a Grimaldus for a friend with cancer. Got to the store, lights were on, doors were locked. Store hours and holiday hours stated the store should be open. Called in to the 1-800 number on the door...and after 10-15 minutes of being on hold/conversations we were told the store operator was home "sick" and wouldn't be in that day.

Not the most pleased.

That's sadly the downfall of the 1-man store, if the employee gets sick and there isn't a regional guy to cover, the store is shut down.

I've got a bad store-ish story...
I've recently started playing HeroClix once a week at a local FLGS. The group isn't a bad group, there are some cool dudes, a few new players like myself, but the 'judge' can be a bit of a prick. He plays in the weekly events regardless of whether or not there is a need for a 'ringer'. Since he plays in the events, he feels entitled to the prizes. And since he's decently good, he manages to come in first every week. So the way this guy does prizes is that everyone pays him the event fee and he goes and buys a few booster packs and gravity feed (single model boosters). At the end of the event, we open them up and 1st place gets to pick first, and we just go on through the cycle until there are no prizes left. Usually everyone walks out with 2 models (about the price of 2 gravity feeds). So since the judge comes in first pretty much every week, he is able to snipe the best models, rarest models, etc... Now this kind of grates on me as someone that used to judge events for other games (Malifaux namely). I knew it was my job to be fair to the people playing in my events. During my events I would only get to play if there was a bye round, and no matter the result of that game, the person I played got a win (as per usual for bye rounds).

So this HeroClix judge either doesn't seem to realize this, or he knows what he's doing. I'm willing to bet that it's the latter considering he's expecting to play in an organized event tomorrow that he's running. Now this isn't just a normal event he puts on, but this is one of the monthly event kits that WizKids sells that cost like 20 dollars to play in, and has a limited edition figure or two up for grabs. As judge of the event he gets these models already as a way of WizKids saying thanks for running the event. Now I have no delusions of grandeur and know I have no chance to get some of these models, but it sort of sticks in my craw that he's doing this. I'm pretty new to this group, so I don't feel it's my place to say something... yet... and I might not even be able to make it tomorrow night, but the fact still stands that I'm a little miffed at this.

Sadly, this isn't the only shady thing he does. The store has a rewards system. You earn points for every dollar you purchase, and you can use these points for like 25% off a purchase, $30, $50, or $75 off of a purchase. I haven't been on the receiving end of this yet, but the week I started showing up, he had purchased a gravity feed box. It comes with 24 single model boosters, it costs like 75 dollars if you were to buy one of these boxes on your own (at like no discount). So it turns out the reason he was able to get that was because of the weekly events. Everyone pays him cash for the event (which is why I found out why he wanted cash for the event instead of me paying the store), he walks over picks out a few boosters and gravity feeds and purchases them from the store. So every week he's getting 18-36 points. After 12 weeks, he's earned pretty much enough credit to buy a gravity feed box. So money from a variety of people is pooled together at a store with a rewards system and the perks are reaped by 1 guy... I would assume you'd basically distribute the wealth back to the people that helped you earn it, add some extra prize support, have a raffle, but not just keep it for yourself... :-\

*sigh* I've yet to really meet TFG lists in the game, but this judge makes me not want to play at that store. Which sucks because the store isn't a bad place to play at and the store owner is basically looking for a thriving HeroClix community so he has a reason to keep stocking the product... I'm sure watching players leave for other stores is gonna do wonders for his pocketbook...

IIRC from my Heroclix days, Judges were not eligible for Prize Support for events they ran was a rule in WizKid's judges packet.

 Cyporiean wrote:
IIRC from my Heroclix days, Judges were not eligible for Prize Support for events they ran was a rule in WizKid's judges packet.

Looking at the Tournament rules, you're correct. If I see this happening, I might open my big mouth. I'm not so involved at this store that I couldn't afford to just not show up anymore...

Edit: A Dakkanaut has informed me that I might not have been too clear on this. I wouldn't tell WizKids since they would just pull support for future events, which would kill HeroClix at this store. I would confront the judge about it to his face, since a judge can be replaced.

I've seen this happen with magic a time or too.

 Swastakowey wrote:

 MRPYM wrote:
My local GW manager tried to make me feel guilty about buying GW models from my FLGS and that I was responsible for making sure he has a job and is able to feed his family.

Nathan of gw Wellington also did this to people.

I've heard so many similar stories that I reckon it's a trick taught them at GW basic training, under "Salesmanship".

 MRPYM wrote:
My local GW manager tried to make me feel guilty about buying GW models from my FLGS and that I was responsible for making sure he has a job and is able to feed his family.

A fine reply would be "No, it is your responsibility to find a more stable job to feed your family".
Guilt trips are the refuge of the lazy: they make their problem yours.
Sorry it happened.

That same happened t my store when someone came in with drop zone commander. The Manager said "Why didnt you buy from me, That was money I could use for food" I said to him "You stopped stocking them weeks ago"

Best one I ever was somewhat involved in happened about 10 years ago and sort of started the cracking of my rose colored glasses about GW. There were two US GW stores about 10 miles apart, a northern one and a southern one. I frequented the northern one (my store) and occasionally went to the southern store, enough to know the staff. IMO, my store had a great staff, while the other store had d-bag for a manager who not only was a suck-up, but also all the stereotypes for bad GW managers.

The southern store was having a tournament, with it and my store having a small competition on which store had better players. In addition, the regional Sales manager for GW was going to be playing. I was not able to attend the tournament, but several regulars from my store attended.

Quick side story about the Regional Sales manager. I, as well as several of my store's regulars, had played him and he was notorious for cheating. The two most common forms were pre-measure during his movement phase for shooting and assaults and front to back models during movement, or just measuring, pulling the tap measure and then moving the model. He would get called on this and kind of blow it off, with even the manager stepping in occasionally in a "come on man" fashion.

Long story short, the Regional Manager ends up winning the tournament with an illegal list. Not only that, at least one of his opponent had pointed out the list was illegal and that he was cheating during his movement phase. D-bag manager ruled that his list was fine and gave him a polite warning about his movement. After the tournament, several people complained about it to my stores manager and he basically said he could do anything.

Specific item that was illegal, he was playing IW and ended up with 5 heavies. He took a Land Raider as a transport for an elite unit and never paid for the heavy slot, taking 4 other heavies as well. He basically treated it like a rhino being added to a CSM squad.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Talizvar wrote:
A fine reply would be "No, it is your responsibility to find a more stable job to feed your family".
Guilt trips are the refuge of the lazy: they make their problem yours.
Sorry it happened.

I typically reply with "so do I".

For GW specifically, I point out that it's better for GW that I buy models at a discount than not buy models at all. I see the GW stores as being supplemented by corporate to have a place to play and promote the game, selling product is a secondary benefit.

FLGS is a completely different animal though.

 Bronzefists42 wrote:

Stuebi wrote:
A long Horrifying story

The store I go to has a "MTG night" and a "40k night" so the 2 groups don't come into contact much. But this sounds horrifying.

Yeah the store I go to has seperate rooms this sounds like the best idea yet.

 Agamemnon2 wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:

 MRPYM wrote:
My local GW manager tried to make me feel guilty about buying GW models from my FLGS and that I was responsible for making sure he has a job and is able to feed his family.

Nathan of gw Wellington also did this to people.

I've heard so many similar stories that I reckon it's a trick taught them at GW basic training, under "Salesmanship".

This is valid. I'm in sales and if I don't collapse in tears at the prospect of losing my house/ my kids starving at least twice day then I'm just not working hard enough.
It's second only to the "double dog dare" sales technique.

Reading all of these stories makes me happy that my current FLGS (and it's owner), are so laid-back and welcoming. The owner/only employee is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, and will do anything for his customers. It doesn't bother him if you buy from him or not, he just wants to see people in his store having a good time playing their games.

 Agamemnon2 wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:

 MRPYM wrote:
My local GW manager tried to make me feel guilty about buying GW models from my FLGS and that I was responsible for making sure he has a job and is able to feed his family.

Nathan of gw Wellington also did this to people.

I've heard so many similar stories that I reckon it's a trick taught them at GW basic training, under "Salesmanship".

Whenever I have worked in sales I believe that statements of this type were illegal and if not illegal they were severely frowned upon. In short I am not surprised GW teaches this as their salesmen are inept to say the least.

 captain collius wrote:

 Bronzefists42 wrote:

Stuebi wrote:
A long Horrifying story

The store I go to has a "MTG night" and a "40k night" so the 2 groups don't come into contact much. But this sounds horrifying.

Yeah the store I go to has seperate rooms this sounds like the best idea yet.

Meh, I usually find it sad if you really have to literally put up walls between the two. Especially here in Switzerland the community is allready small enough at it is, so addiotional Fanboy-Flamewars would be really really stupid. Lucky, I have yet to witness a Story like that over here and I hope it stays that way.

Now, about that "Why didnt you buy from me?", others have said it, but that guilttrip-stuff drives me up the walls. Especially since it seems to be common. I helped a mate of mine make a Shopping-List for christmas, he wanted to start an IG army. He lives a few hours from my place, and since he has a shop fairly close to him that sells some Minis I went over and we entered the shop (It was a LFGS with some tables etc., afaik we have no official GW's over here.). He bought a Battleforce Box, brushes and a few paints ( Dont remember the exact name, something with Cadia me thinks.) but some of the Tanks he wanted werent in stock. As most people know, buying at your local store costs more, so Buddy decided to go over the numbers again before ordering the Tanks over the shop, lest he wouldnt be able to pay them after they arrive. Back home, after hammering those numbers into his budget, he realised that the if we bought everything locally, he would have to remove some vehicles from his shopping list. We decided to order the stuff Online on one of the 20% discount sites.

You would not BELIEVE the flak he got after entering the store again with his new tanks a few days later. Not only the owner, but every other player there switched to "Lecture/guilttrip"-mode instantly. Nevermind that he had allready spent upwards 150 CHF in the very same hut a few days before. I realise that Clubs and the like need the money from their players, even if they pay more. But there is a fething line. Some people dont have the money to buy entire armys locally, if this means around 100 bucks you payed extra. And as long as there are alternatives a Storekeep should be careful how he treats his guys, my Bud decided on the spot that he would take his business elsewhere, he even brought back the unopened battlebox and demanded his money back.

The above gets especially grating when you catch flak for buying systems the Store/Club doesnt even stock. If im not completely mistaken stuff like Malifaux and other less known systems arent in stock frequently. And still some Storekeeps will loose their gak if you even _mention_ infinity or Malifaux. Some stuff on the net makes me really glad that my local group is so great.

Oh wow, people really guilt trip you for making a sensible decision? That sounds horrible.

As it is, on the MTG front, my FLGS has a strong MTG and Yu-Gi-Oh fanbase. But they also have X-wing and the like. We have our gaming club on Mondays and we have never had any trouble as of yet. The MTG players are happy to welcome TT gaming, and many of us TT gamers also play MTG thus meaning that our interaction is really well. Besides, MTG night is on Friday so....

 master of ordinance wrote:
Oh wow, people really guilt trip you for making a sensible decision? That sounds horrible.

As it is, on the MTG front, my FLGS has a strong MTG and Yu-Gi-Oh fanbase. But they also have X-wing and the like. We have our gaming club on Mondays and we have never had any trouble as of yet. The MTG players are happy to welcome TT gaming, and many of us TT gamers also play MTG thus meaning that our interaction is really well. Besides, MTG night is on Friday so....

I've been guiltripped by a store that I had bought over $500 worth of models from because I bought $60 worth of stuff online that I knew would take them months to get.

While I was holding $60 worth of their merchandise in my hand that I was about to buy.

I didn't know whether to laugh or be angry.

My FLGS owner is a really likeable guy, and owns 3 gaming stores in the area (just far enough away that they don't directly compete with each other, but close enough that he can usually drag people from 1 store to another for larger events .

When my buddy and I were starting to get people interested in Warmahordes, a pair of brothers bought the 2 player starter set online, brought it in fully assembled and started getting the painting done. He walks over, and says, "Huh, I don't remember selling you those kits." Gives them a wink and walks back to helping some magic players the guys looked at him and said, "we were impatient, sorry..." He was giving them a hard time because the friday night gamers (including those two brothers) buy about 200 bucks of stuff every week, so he's certainly not hurting from us buying from other stores. We support his store whenever we're there, because we play there.

But if he said, "I have a family to feed", etc... we might give him the stink eye. He's certainly not ignorant of the fact that we can get stuff cheaper from other stores, so he does what he can to keep us happy. He gives us a nice, well lit place to play, he gives his regulars a 10% discount, has a discount system in place for other people (15% after 100 dollars spent on the back of his business card), has a 'deal' for magic cards, and sells booster boxes for 100 bucks on release night, and guarantees you that box.

And then the other store I go to overcharges :-\

My dad and I went in there and we bought a few X-Wing models I didn't have, and my dad was complaining about the price after we left, and I had mentioned that he marked everything up. Like this gak is sometimes hard enough to justify as it is, why would you mark it up?!

 master of ordinance wrote:
Oh wow, people really guilt trip you for making a sensible decision? That sounds horrible.

As it is, on the MTG front, my FLGS has a strong MTG and Yu-Gi-Oh fanbase. But they also have X-wing and the like. We have our gaming club on Mondays and we have never had any trouble as of yet. The MTG players are happy to welcome TT gaming, and many of us TT gamers also play MTG thus meaning that our interaction is really well. Besides, MTG night is on Friday so....

Aye, this makes the whole thing even more moronic. Its absolutely no biggie to just designate different days to different systems and have everyone get along. But sadly, as you probably know, there are allways those people that just NEED to let you know that:

"My Thing > Your Thing."

Its such a childish attitude.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:

 master of ordinance wrote:
Oh wow, people really guilt trip you for making a sensible decision? That sounds horrible.

As it is, on the MTG front, my FLGS has a strong MTG and Yu-Gi-Oh fanbase. But they also have X-wing and the like. We have our gaming club on Mondays and we have never had any trouble as of yet. The MTG players are happy to welcome TT gaming, and many of us TT gamers also play MTG thus meaning that our interaction is really well. Besides, MTG night is on Friday so....

I've been guiltripped by a store that I had bought over $500 worth of models from because I bought $60 worth of stuff online that I knew would take them months to get.

While I was holding $60 worth of their merchandise in my hand that I was about to buy.

I didn't know whether to laugh or be angry.

I would've put the stuff back on the shelf and been done buying there.

My FLGS knows I buy online (both M:TG and 40k) and doesn't care - since I've spent a few thousand dollars there and have traded in cards that have gotten them a significant amount of money.
Guilt tripping your regulars makes zero sense.

Stuebi- I think you misunderstood my meaning. We have two rooms next to each other one with war gaming tables (the store has WM/H. Flames, Bolt Action, Star Wars, Star Trek, Malifaux 40k, and Fantasy games regularly.) Then they have a room next door with regular tables for those who wish to play magic or board games or hobby. Also there tables are lower to the ground making them more comfortable to sit at. Also they do a wonderful job of eliminating any funk issues.

 captain collius wrote:
Also there tables are lower to the ground making them more comfortable to sit at. Also they do a wonderful job of eliminating any funk issues.

They can also be a good tool for pinpointing which side produces the most funk, should that ever become a big enough issue