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 Captain Vyper wrote:
Some stores are now closed on Sundays and open tue-sat.

The idea that a games store with product aimed at late teens and young adults would be closed on the weeked boggles my mind...

 insaniak wrote:

 Captain Vyper wrote:
Some stores are now closed on Sundays and open tue-sat.

The idea that a games store with product aimed at late teens and young adults would be closed on the weeked boggles my mind...

Most people want the weekend of, one person store cant have that. Compromise between profit and retaining your employee.

While I can see that reaction, it really depends on the community you as a manger create. And plainly the one man store can be a grind. Imagine NEVER having a weekend off unless you take leave for it then only if you can find an on call person to cover your shop, that or close it outright and take the sales hit. Would you be surprised to know that at a shop making @$200K a year, Sundays were the least profitable sales day consistently? If that is the shop in question does being closed on a Sunday hurt the business?

Some people on warseer seem to b e doubting if he was a manager after all. Honestly after reading the responses he's either a manager or knows how to imitate one perfectly.

Warseer always wants to see the best in GW, so they'll doubt anything that might tarnish the company that can do no wrong.

Petrov wrote:
Most people want the weekend of, one person store cant have that. .

Yes, I realise that. It's just another reason that the one-man store is a silly idea.

 Captain Vyper wrote:
Imagine NEVER having a weekend off ...

I don't have to imagine it. I worked in a games store. I did wednesday to Friday nights, and weekends. It sucked, but it was the job.

Would you be surprised to know that at a shop making @$200K a year, Sundays were the least profitable sales day consistently? If that is the shop in question does being closed on a Sunday hurt the business?

I would believe it, yes. But for those who work, weekdays and saturdays are often out of the question, so being closed on sundays can simply mean that you don't get those sales at all. Being the least profitable day doesn't mean it makes any sense to not be open.

I don't quite get why people find this interview so fascinating? It seems like basic level chit chat from a guy who's not much beyond a register ringer and there's nothing really earth moving. I talked about more in depth stuff with our bunker manager at least once a week sometimes more so maybe I'm just more in tune with stuff (or more jaded). Maybe some people don't have a GW store in their area, or can't approach staff the same way?

It would be much more interesting to hear insights form someone higher up who has some impact in the decision making process or other aspects that the average employee isn't privy to. This stuff is just pretty standard fare for anyone talking about a retail job GW or otherwise. meh

I think it's because Taco Bell posted it as if it were some great insight into the inner workings of the GW machine when if we really wanted to look at the inner workings of GW all we'd have to do is look at you, Paulson, a guy who got (wrongly) sued for something he had nothing to do with. If that doesn't give us insight about GW then I don't know what does.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I think it's because Taco Bell posted it as if it were some great insight into the inner workings of the GW machine when if we really wanted to look at the inner workings of GW all we'd have to do is look at you, Paulson, a guy who got (wrongly) sued for something he had nothing to do with. If that doesn't give us insight about GW then I don't know what does.

QFT...

(Taco Bell, hmmm? I've never heard BOLS called that before... apt.)

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
I think it's because Taco Bell posted it as if it were some great insight into the inner workings of the GW machine when if we really wanted to look at the inner workings of GW all we'd have to do is look at you, Paulson, a guy who got (wrongly) sued for something he had nothing to do with. If that doesn't give us insight about GW then I don't know what does.

I think my unfortunate experiences give insight into the bully tactics, but that's a separate arm from the rest of the company. GW I see a three headed beast: studio, the stockiest, and legal/management. One of which is trying to assert itself over the other two, even if it means killing the whole.

2 of the 3 branches are pretty reasonable and likeable folk, I've been fortunate to meet a lot of people who worked as managers and district level guys and even a few that were in Memphis. They were all great guys that I think they are a huge part of how GW got to be the industry giant that it is. They were really solid employees who were connected with the community and passionate about what they did. Problem is they are gone at this point and most of their like minded peers have been driven out of the company because legal & management is strangling things from within. Draconian control policies stifle creativity and passion which are the lifeblood of a gaming company. It's sad because as much as I dislike the legal end of GW there were plenty of really great people in the company but that pool is drying up rapidly.

 paulson games wrote:
I don't quite get why people find this interview so fascinating? It seems like basic level chit chat from a guy who's not much beyond a register ringer and there's nothing really earth moving. I talked about more in depth stuff with our bunker manager at least once a week sometimes more so maybe I'm just more in tune with stuff (or more jaded). Maybe some people don't have a GW store in their area, or can't approach staff the same way?

It would be much more interesting to hear insights form someone higher up who has some impact in the decision making process or other aspects that the average employee isn't privy to. This stuff is just pretty standard fare for anyone talking about a retail job GW or otherwise. meh

GW has such little communication with its customer base (in fact, it has none, down to disabling comments on their unlisted youtube channel) that even this seems interesting.

The dude is just a store manager? So in other words his comments are completely meaningless?

I honestly don't believe the register jockeys are any more clued in to the inner workings of GW than any of us here. They might get to look at some of the books a few days before the rest of us, but I'd say that's about it.

When you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you...

Be careful what you wish for guys, Emperor knows how badly Chaos has tainted the GW higher-ups...

 Harriticus wrote:

GW has such little communication with its customer base (in fact, it has none, down to disabling comments on their unlisted youtube channel) that even this seems interesting.

Quite possible, I hadn't considered GW's info black outs but that'd certainly make sense. People are so starved for any official interaction they could go gaga over even the most basic posts. GW News Flash! local store manager ate sandwich while on lunch, stay tuned for more on our gripping report!

 paulson games wrote:

 Harriticus wrote:

GW has such little communication with its customer base (in fact, it has none, down to disabling comments on their unlisted youtube channel) that even this seems interesting.

Quite possible, I hadn't considered GW's info black outs but that'd certainly make sense. People are so starved for any official interaction they could go gaga over even the most basic posts. GW News Flash! local store manager ate sandwich while on lunch, stay tuned for more on our gripping report!

Isn't that basically Fox news' business model?

weeble1000 wrote:
Parody.

In the US we call that an essential liberty. And GW could have strengthened its marks by licensing TSOLR.

Oh don't get me wrong, thats how I'd have handled it, seems they could have both made a bit of money from that but GW doesn't seem to work that way, not unless you are make apps for moble phones at least.

gravitywell wrote:
They do read. The GW Inquisition has already taken care of the manager

Yeah. Lol.
They do read but they will not listen.

 Captain Vyper wrote:
@ $33K a year is US starting or fresh store salary. There is also quite a nice benefits package attached. Medical, Eye/Dental/ 401K, stock options, profit share and life insurance. As well as 2 weeks a year vacation and 1 week of sick leave. Bonus weeks are added as you break longevity levels with the company.

Oh, well, uh, if it was in dollars I take back everything I said. Around £20,000 is pretty much exactly what I would have expected GW staff to get paid.

Yeah, I think I'll stick with my own career (Not that there was any doubt. - I have played 1 40k game in the last 6 months!)

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Warseer always wants to see the best in GW, so they'll doubt anything that might tarnish the company that can do no wrong.

It's not so much a forum as a support group.

 insaniak wrote:

 Captain Vyper wrote:
Some stores are now closed on Sundays and open tue-sat.

The idea that a games store with product aimed at late teens and young adults would be closed on the weeked boggles my mind...

Sundays and Mondays are our slowest days I believe. Fridays and Saturdays are huge.

 Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:

weeble1000 wrote:
Parody.

In the US we call that an essential liberty. And GW could have strengthened its marks by licensing TSOLR.

Oh don't get me wrong, thats how I'd have handled it, seems they could have both made a bit of money from that but GW doesn't seem to work that way, not unless you are make apps for moble phones at least.

Given GW's legal problems with the Chapter House case, I have the impression their legal team was not fully up to speed with the actual status of the law and their own IP rights, so perhaps they just gave a knee jerk response of "NO" to TSOALR.

 Captain Vyper wrote:
While I can see that reaction, it really depends on the community you as a manger create. And plainly the one man store can be a grind. Imagine NEVER having a weekend off unless you take leave for it then only if you can find an on call person to cover your shop, that or close it outright and take the sales hit. Would you be surprised to know that at a shop making @$200K a year, Sundays were the least profitable sales day consistently? If that is the shop in question does being closed on a Sunday hurt the business?

Does that really apply to hobby stores aimed at teenagers (who have school mon-friday) and young adults (who probably work week days)?

Unless a lot of their custom are people who've got weekend jobs as well and can't come in on a saturday/sunday, but I'd have thought closing Sundays would cost them more custom than closing Tuesdays, especially in terms of walk-ins.

Perhaps it depends on the location.

In the UK, since Sunday shop opening became the norm, lots of people go to shopping centres and so on for a bit of a general wander around, and might be attracted to pop into a GW.

However the selling hours are restricted by law to 11 until 4, so you need a higher footfall to compensate for the shorter day.

Perhaps other countries have different laws and customs.

The selling hours are only restricted in some conditions I believe, something to do with the size of the store maybe, but it's not a blanket ban (the mrs's shop is open longer on Sundays).

couple things stand out to me:

this gw store operator feels that ~30k/year + benefits is substantial.

the gw employee has been subjugated by upper management to the degree that he - even anonomously - is unwilling to criticize upper management/attitudes/policies/decisions.

This is one of those threads that makes you feel dirty for supporting gw. brings to mind the saying 'don't look too close, you might not like what you see'

You people do realize that if they paid their cashiers more we'd be paying more for our plastic crack right?

Herzlos wrote:
The selling hours are only restricted in some conditions I believe, something to do with the size of the store maybe, but it's not a blanket ban (the mrs's shop is open longer on Sundays).

Correct, there is a minimum square footage before you come under Sunday Trading Laws, which is why the corner shop in your street can still stay open all day, but the superstores can only open for 6 hours. (Typically 10-4)

It's worth pointing out that Scotland hasn't got those restrictions. - Although, they do tend to close 30 minutes earlier on a Sunday.

Having moved down south not too long ago, I've got to admit, the whole Sunday Trading Laws thing annoys the hell out of me.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

A GW Store Manager wrote:GWs policy towards online interaction is that it's a waste of time...

Well. That's problem number 1 right there.

Well, I can understand how a company with a vocal "fanbase" online could adopt that attitude. Have you ever visited the forums for a game like WoW? It's a cesspool, and although Blizzard try very hard to reach out to the people on there it is obvious that it is a) never enough, b) usually falling on deaf ears and c) tends to snowball out of control very quickly with three line comments being analysed in more depth than Othello. And that's an online gaming company's website. We're dealing with a tabletop gaming company.

Xyptc wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

A GW Store Manager wrote:GWs policy towards online interaction is that it's a waste of time...

Well. That's problem number 1 right there.

Well, I can understand how a company with a vocal "fanbase" online could adopt that attitude. Have you ever visited the forums for a game like WoW? It's a cesspool, and although Blizzard try very hard to reach out to the people on there it is obvious that it is a) never enough, b) usually falling on deaf ears and c) tends to snowball out of control very quickly with three line comments being analysed in more depth than Othello. And that's an online gaming company's website. We're dealing with a tabletop gaming company.

Once again, I'll direct you to the fact that in spite of it being a fairly thankless task, Blizzard continue to try. I also shudder to think how warm and fluffy the most anti-GW thread on the most anti-GW board looks compared to anything happening on a WoW forum, I've never played myself, but the stories from friends who have spent more time on WoW than at work at some points in their lives, makes my mind boggle.