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Bronzefists42 wrote:
I have a pretty shocking one. Back when I still played Orks and went to an official GW store I found another Ork player. He was an okay player but I ended up beating him. Then the manager comes over with a disturbed look on his face and tells my opponent to go clean up in the restroom next door. I go to over to his side of the table to find a puddle of urine. It was 2 years ago and I still feel bad for that guy.

Is it bad that the first time I read that, I thought the manager had told the guys to "Clean up the restroom" not, "clean up IN the restroom" ?

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

Bronzefists42 wrote:
I have a pretty shocking one. Back when I still played Orks and went to an official GW store I found another Ork player. He was an okay player but I ended up beating him. Then the manager comes over with a disturbed look on his face and tells my opponent to go clean up in the restroom next door. I go to over to his side of the table to find a puddle of urine. It was 2 years ago and I still feel bad for that guy.

Is it bad that the first time I read that, I thought the manager had told the guys to "Clean up the restroom" not, "clean up IN the restroom" ?

Loser cleans up the shop.

 gossipmeng wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

Bronzefists42 wrote:
I have a pretty shocking one. Back when I still played Orks and went to an official GW store I found another Ork player. He was an okay player but I ended up beating him. Then the manager comes over with a disturbed look on his face and tells my opponent to go clean up in the restroom next door. I go to over to his side of the table to find a puddle of urine. It was 2 years ago and I still feel bad for that guy.

Is it bad that the first time I read that, I thought the manager had told the guys to "Clean up the restroom" not, "clean up IN the restroom" ?

Loser cleans up the shop.

It was one of the few games I had actually won with my 6th ed truck list but it was by far the worst game I have ever played. I think the memories of that event drove me to stop running the list.

 gossipmeng wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

Bronzefists42 wrote:
I have a pretty shocking one. Back when I still played Orks and went to an official GW store I found another Ork player. He was an okay player but I ended up beating him. Then the manager comes over with a disturbed look on his face and tells my opponent to go clean up in the restroom next door. I go to over to his side of the table to find a puddle of urine. It was 2 years ago and I still feel bad for that guy.

Is it bad that the first time I read that, I thought the manager had told the guys to "Clean up the restroom" not, "clean up IN the restroom" ?

Loser cleans up the shop.

Bleeding hell! What caused him too let loose?

@gossipmeng - I used to hoover at my local GW when I was staying late. I was payed well in unused sprues

Few anecdotes from my time working at GW.

A kid came in to put together his metal models with our help (parent took note of the instructions that it was an expert kit and brought him in, fair play). Now, this kid was about 11 or 12, and was very hyper enthusiastic about everything.
I had the job to teach him how to put these things together (I can't remember what they were now). We'd got as far as cleaning up the models using files and clippers (wouldnt let him near a knife) when the phone rang and I had to go answer as my colleague had pop out on a Greggs sausage roll run. Turns out it was my area manager and wanted a good old natter about extending our gaming night hours. I was on the phone for about 5 minutes, when I hear a muffled yelp coming from the painting area.

Heading over there I find that the kid had decided to take the initative and start gluing the models together. Except somehow he'd managed to glue the side of his face to the painting table, and glue his other hand to the other side of his head. You have no idea how much I was torn between laughing and going "oh crap. there goes my job". It took about an hour of careful prising and superglue remover to get him unglued, by which point he thought it was the greatest experience of his life and couldnt wait to tell his friends.

Oh yeah, and the kid my old manager put in hospital with an asthma attack when he decided to empty and entire can of air freshener into the fan stating he was "purging the xenos filth".

 Stormphoenix wrote:
Few anecdotes from my time working at GW.

Oh yeah, and the kid my old manager put in hospital with an asthma attack when he decided to empty and entire can of air freshener into the fan stating he was "purging the xenos filth".

This part cracked me up, lol.

 AesSedai wrote:

 Stormphoenix wrote:
Few anecdotes from my time working at GW.

Oh yeah, and the kid my old manager put in hospital with an asthma attack when he decided to empty and entire can of air freshener into the fan stating he was "purging the xenos filth".

This part cracked me up, lol.

A febreeze-grenade works much more efficiently, but I might have to do this next time the yu-gi-oh players invade...

Which is about the only 'bad xyz' anecdote I have, Once-a-month at the FLGS, a guy hosts a board games day, everyone brings board games, we fill as many games to capacity as we can and have a good laugh and coffee and other such nerdly pursuits. So we are there one weekend, and the yu-gi-oh players walk in. I am not joking, the floorspace of the gaming hall is fairly large (I'm crap at estimating distances, so all I can manage is the highly accurate figure of bigger than a tennis court ), we were sat in the opposite corner, and we could see faint tendrils of adolescent geek-reek slowly encroaching on us.

Seriously, the game boards were curling up at the edges...


If it was one stinky guy in a group, fair enough, but this seemed to be a whole tribe of unwashed teens.

 Leigen_Zero wrote:

 AesSedai wrote:

 Stormphoenix wrote:
Few anecdotes from my time working at GW.

Oh yeah, and the kid my old manager put in hospital with an asthma attack when he decided to empty and entire can of air freshener into the fan stating he was "purging the xenos filth".

This part cracked me up, lol.

A febreeze-grenade works much more efficiently, but I might have to do this next time the yu-gi-oh players invade...

Which is about the only 'bad xyz' anecdote I have, Once-a-month at the FLGS, a guy hosts a board games day, everyone brings board games, we fill as many games to capacity as we can and have a good laugh and coffee and other such nerdly pursuits. So we are there one weekend, and the yu-gi-oh players walk in. I am not joking, the floorspace of the gaming hall is fairly large (I'm crap at estimating distances, so all I can manage is the highly accurate figure of bigger than a tennis court ), we were sat in the opposite corner, and we could see faint tendrils of adolescent geek-reek slowly encroaching on us.

Seriously, the game boards were curling up at the edges...


If it was one stinky guy in a group, fair enough, but this seemed to be a whole tribe of unwashed teens.

Because of how yu-gi-oh is it attracts many people with mental illnesses e.g: autistics- me. And as many of these people are in capable of proper social interaction e.g: me standing in a GW for ten minutes trying to work up the courage to talk, they tend to care less about personal hygiene. And there for stink.

 master of ordinance wrote:


@gossipmeng - I used to hoover at my local GW when I was staying late. I was payed well in unused sprues

Hoover? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

Swan-of-War wrote:

 master of ordinance wrote:


@gossipmeng - I used to hoover at my local GW when I was staying late. I was payed well in unused sprues

Hoover? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

With prices the way they are it doesn't surprise me

Swan-of-War wrote:

 master of ordinance wrote:


@gossipmeng - I used to hoover at my local GW when I was staying late. I was payed well in unused sprues

Hoover? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

Nah, a Hoover is kind of British slang for a vacuum cleaner

 Glaiceana wrote:

Swan-of-War wrote:

 master of ordinance wrote:


@gossipmeng - I used to hoover at my local GW when I was staying late. I was payed well in unused sprues

Hoover? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

Nah, a Hoover is kind of British slang for a vacuum cleaner

It's slang for a vacuum cleaner because it's the name of an American company which bought the patent for the first electric suction sweeper in 1908. But all of that isn't germain. What matters is that you apparently missed the intended attempt at humor.


That said I'll add my own horror stories:

The store I go to doesn't sell MtG or other "card games" and has no intention to do so. Which means the kiddies don't hang around... wait, that's a good thing.

Last month I put an email order in asking them to hold a Tau support cadre kit for me. I was supposed to pick it up on release day, but had to go out of town for 3 weeks. When I got back ... it was waiting for me even though it was a hot item at the store. hmm.. that's a good thing too.

Okay, this is one: Last summer, it was getting pretty hot in the gaming areas because the main A/C wasn't working right. So the owner bought a couple portable A/C units to keep things cooled off, which worked wonderfully... Crap, that was also a good thing.

You know, I really can't think of a reason to bash this store. It's run by friendly welcoming people, well lit with at least 8 well stocked gaming tables, well run tournaments, has a fairly large and solid friendly group of gamer guys ranging from 20 to 60+, and will actively help a new player fit into the environment by introducing them to the regulars. Also, I have yet to run into a WAAC type player. Competitive? Absolutely. Even a couple of known travelling tournament gamers. But even in that mode everyone is having fun. All in all, it's pretty much a perfect scene.

Guess you other guys are just really unlucky.

my worst store experience was thus:

I had some very well painted OOP GK termies, and a FW contemptor holding the back edge of my table...

fatty mc fatterson who worked at GW went to the cabinet under the table, and his belly knocked off my models, chipping paint jobs, breaking off limbs, ect ect.

his response was "sorry, but you shouldnt put your models so close to the edge of the board, so its really your fault"

probably the closest I have ever come to punching someone over man dollies.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:

Swan-of-War wrote:

 master of ordinance wrote:


@gossipmeng - I used to hoover at my local GW when I was staying late. I was payed well in unused sprues

Hoover? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

With prices the way they are it doesn't surprise me

What.... Don't judge me!

 Leigen_Zero wrote:


A febreeze-grenade works much more efficiently, but I might have to do this next time the yu-gi-oh players invade...

Which is about the only 'bad xyz' anecdote I have, Once-a-month at the FLGS, a guy hosts a board games day, everyone brings board games, we fill as many games to capacity as we can and have a good laugh and coffee and other such nerdly pursuits. So we are there one weekend, and the yu-gi-oh players walk in. I am not joking, the floorspace of the gaming hall is fairly large (I'm crap at estimating distances, so all I can manage is the highly accurate figure of bigger than a tennis court ), we were sat in the opposite corner, and we could see faint tendrils of adolescent geek-reek slowly encroaching on us.

Seriously, the game boards were curling up at the edges...


If it was one stinky guy in a group, fair enough, but this seemed to be a whole tribe of unwashed teens.

A few years ago I seriously didnt beleive all that "Nerdstench"-stuff you read online, I just wanted to believe that its a bad stereotype. But after experiencing a lot of it first hand, I changed my mind.

Dont get me wrong, theres stuff you cant do anything about, or just lesser things that I dont care about. One of the guys from my MTG group usually comes from work when joining us, he has late working hours and lives too far away to take a shower in between. But he usually just takes a fresh shirt with him and uses some deodorant before entering, and thats more than enough! I've seen guys where I was POSITIVE they havent had contact with water in more than a week, where they're followed by an almost visible cloud of "Ewww".

Theres a little Toyshop I visit from time to time, that sells MTG. People sometimes bring in their cards and the shop has a Box filled with them, where every card only costs a few cents. If you get lucky, there are some really good ones from time to time. A year or so ago I was there browsing some old cards (That samurai edition, no idea how it was called) when a guy entered. You could almost HEAR the screams of the damned, as he took a few steps into the shop. I manage maybe half a minute within smelling distance before I had to flee and left the Box to him. I would NOT have been surprised if the cards were covered in slime after he touched them.

Also, a recent one:

One of the bigger cardstores I go to got a new Employee recently. That guy has NO idea what personal space is. I was browsing some Starter Decks when I suddenly felt his breath on my neck. After I asked him to get some distance he just kept following me around the store, allways a few steps behind me. Really creeped me out. He repetated it when I was there again yesterday, i'm not sure if hes paranoid that I steal something or if hes waiting for me to ask him stuff. But if this contniues I might not buy there again.

@the shrouded lord & stuebi

Yeah I agree that some stinks are unavoidable, and while I don't profess to know the full situation with these kids, but from my observation they were all young enough that they would still be in school, probably still living with parents, and were dressed in clothing that indicated that they weren't exactly destitude, but they were old enough to understand personal hygeine and at least the basics of how to maintain it.

Underlying issues or no, if I was a parent, my kids would not leave the house smelling like that.

 Leigen_Zero wrote:
@the shrouded lord & stuebi

Yeah I agree that some stinks are unavoidable, and while I don't profess to know the full situation with these kids, but from my observation they were all young enough that they would still be in school, probably still living with parents, and were dressed in clothing that indicated that they weren't exactly destitude, but they were old enough to understand personal hygeine and at least the basics of how to maintain it.

Underlying issues or no, if I was a parent, my kids would not leave the house smelling like that.

Agreed, my Mom flat out tells me if I smell. It can happen in vacation or on a long weekend involving a lot of drinking, but I shower before I leave the house, and im pretty sure my parents would chase me with a garden hose if I didnt.

Besides, I usually wonder if people like that...dont notice how they smell. After a hard day of work I usually notice myself that a shower is in order, so it just amazes me that people supposedly ignore the issue.

I went to my only local game store when I was interested in Magic. It was a sealed tournament for Gatecrash I think. Anyway I encountered every bad tournament stereotype, at least two outright cheating and plenty of slow playing to push for draws. When any complaint about the behaviour was raised the owner outright admitted those who were long term customers or who had purchased the most would receive favourable treatment or the blind eye.

The store I occasionally frequent in Glasgow favours card gamers over any other type of purchase. So much so that with even if you have hundreds of pounds in your hands and want to buy it all, they'll serve the card gamers first, even if they just wandered up to the till in the middle of your transaction. A bit annoying.

Zond wrote:
I went to my only local game store when I was interested in Magic. It was a sealed tournament for Gatecrash I think. Anyway I encountered every bad tournament stereotype, at least two outright cheating and plenty of slow playing to push for draws. When any complaint about the behaviour was raised the owner outright admitted those who were long term customers or who had purchased the most would receive favourable treatment or the blind eye.

The store I occasionally frequent in Glasgow favours card gamers over any other type of purchase. So much so that with even if you have hundreds of pounds in your hands and want to buy it all, they'll serve the card gamers first, even if they just wandered up to the till in the middle of your transaction. A bit annoying.

That's pretty weird, I mean money is money after all. Unless the store owners just have something personal against any non card game customers.

 Leigen_Zero wrote:
@the shrouded lord & stuebi

Yeah I agree that some stinks are unavoidable, and while I don't profess to know the full situation with these kids, but from my observation they were all young enough that they would still be in school, probably still living with parents, and were dressed in clothing that indicated that they weren't exactly destitude, but they were old enough to understand personal hygeine and at least the basics of how to maintain it.

Underlying issues or no, if I was a parent, my kids would not leave the house smelling like that.

Some stink IMO is fine. PEople sweat during the day. But damnit shower if you leave the house.

I'm sort of curious about which store in Glasgow.

I went into another not too long ago, where, shortly after some MTG customers left, the owner complained very loudly that they spent 2 hours pouring over folders and folders of cards to spent a grand total of.... £1.60. (or so)

Stuebi wrote:

 Leigen_Zero wrote:
@the shrouded lord & stuebi

Yeah I agree that some stinks are unavoidable, and while I don't profess to know the full situation with these kids, but from my observation they were all young enough that they would still be in school, probably still living with parents, and were dressed in clothing that indicated that they weren't exactly destitude, but they were old enough to understand personal hygeine and at least the basics of how to maintain it.

Underlying issues or no, if I was a parent, my kids would not leave the house smelling like that.

Agreed, my Mom flat out tells me if I smell. It can happen in vacation or on a long weekend involving a lot of drinking, but I shower before I leave the house, and im pretty sure my parents would chase me with a garden hose if I didnt.

Besides, I usually wonder if people like that...dont notice how they smell. After a hard day of work I usually notice myself that a shower is in order, so it just amazes me that people supposedly ignore the issue.

So.. you're old enough to drink and you have a job.. but you live at home? wow. Words just fail me.

clively wrote:

Stuebi wrote:

 Leigen_Zero wrote:
@the shrouded lord & stuebi

Yeah I agree that some stinks are unavoidable, and while I don't profess to know the full situation with these kids, but from my observation they were all young enough that they would still be in school, probably still living with parents, and were dressed in clothing that indicated that they weren't exactly destitude, but they were old enough to understand personal hygeine and at least the basics of how to maintain it.

Underlying issues or no, if I was a parent, my kids would not leave the house smelling like that.

Agreed, my Mom flat out tells me if I smell. It can happen in vacation or on a long weekend involving a lot of drinking, but I shower before I leave the house, and im pretty sure my parents would chase me with a garden hose if I didnt.

Besides, I usually wonder if people like that...dont notice how they smell. After a hard day of work I usually notice myself that a shower is in order, so it just amazes me that people supposedly ignore the issue.

So.. you're old enough to drink and you have a job.. but you live at home? wow. Words just fail me.

Im 21 and still in my apprenticeship. Most people over here can only afford to move out once they got an actual job. Currently, I could only afford to pay rent and then i'd have to hunt rats for nourishment. But good to know that you judge with barely any background information.

 Compel wrote:
I'm sort of curious about which store in Glasgow.

I went into another not too long ago, where, shortly after some MTG customers left, the owner complained very loudly that they spent 2 hours pouring over folders and folders of cards to spent a grand total of.... £1.60. (or so)

I don't think you could have found an example that was more stereotypically Scottish there...

 Compel wrote:
I went into another not too long ago, where, shortly after some MTG customers left, the owner complained very loudly that they spent 2 hours pouring over folders and folders of cards to spent a grand total of.... £1.60. (or so)

To be fair, it's common for me if I'm looking for a specific card to look through a stores binders/boxes for an hour or so and, not finding it, walk out without purchasing anything.
I went to 4 stores in the Houston area in one day looking for a specific card and at one of them spent $1.08 on 4 Vizzedrixes because I saw them and laughed.
The only reason I had to look through all the binders was because there was no inventory that the person behind the counter could consult.

I don't presume to say much about the game, however, it does seem to be a little rude to do so, when you're taking up half the counterspace, making it difficult for actual customers to be served in a store that's not much bigger than my living room.

(It was Static Games I was in, by the way)

clively wrote:


So.. you're old enough to drink and you have a job.. but you live at home? wow. Words just fail me.

Depending on where you live, living with your parents in the UK is inevitable.

For example, if you live in London, a studio flat will usually set you back £700 a month absolute minimum. You can tack on probably another £75 in water, electricity, gas, and internet bills on top of that. Add in at least £150 for food. And then you have the pleasure of your local council tax. Then your travel bills if you don't work locally.

Considering that after tax, a full time minimum wage worker takes home about £950 a month , staying at home is often not a choice. It's either that, or live in a six bedroom dive where the roof leaks and eat cheap rubbish for food.

 Compel wrote:
I don't presume to say much about the game, however, it does seem to be a little rude to do so, when you're taking up half the counterspace, making it difficult for actual customers to be served in a store that's not much bigger than my living room.

(It was Static Games I was in, by the way)

So it's my problem that's how the store's inventory is presented (and I'm told to look through it on the counter, not take it to the tables)?
Seems like the store doesn't actually want to sell anything from those binders/boxes then.

Believe me - I'd rather they had an actual inventory (my local shop is mostly accurate). I'd rather they let me take the binder to a table. It's not my choice. And that automatically means I'm rude for shopping there or that I'm obligated to buy something I don't want?

In my example it was Static Games also.

Heh, weird. Admittedly I've only ever been there about 4 times, however, all the folk there seem to do is complain about the MTG customers. :p

But then, hey, when you're dealing with very small, independent stores like Static with only 1 or 2 people who actually work there, including the owner, it's never going to be a surprise that its not run by Alan Sugar. (Or Donald Trump, for those overseas.)