Why I left Gamestop after 20 years - My Story

Thanks for sharing your experiences!! ❤

Thanks for the video Jay. It was like that as a retail tech. They wanted us to upsell if possible when talking to customers. And if I get excited about tech I will go into a deep dive, I was so close to closing a sale worth a lot of money, it was a medium sized local business who wanted several desktops and laptops as well as tablets. My manager came over and dragged me away, and when I tried to explain what was going on he said he wanted me to stay in the tech room for an hour. I had nothing to do in there as all the systems were doing their things and I just sat there thinking that he just cost us an order worth probably 15+ grand.

Well Jay glad you got out when you did. ❤

Thank you so much for sharing Jay. That last bit hit me hard as I can totally relate. My last day at Game Stop while I walked out the door I just saw business carry on as usual like I didn't matter. I was very greatful to have WillyLo's support in my final days there but I definitely felt the "I'm not being heard" feeling from the company.

Such a great video! This speaks to anyone across any industry that is is expected to deliver results while not being giving the tools or support to achieve these goals, To add to that the undermining and continuous threats is gross mismanagement. Sadly the people who actually care and want to succeed are the ones most often subjected to these environments. By sharing this experience someone will be empowered to make a change, thanks Jay !!

This is going on everywhere, I left my retail job during Covid as well. The mighty dollar seemed more important than my health. I am glad I left, scary at first but so far I have managed.

Thanks for sharing with us! I bet during time there you have touched peoples’ hearts and have made a positive impact on people (both customer and coworker) more than you realize!

Dude.. Everything you said brought back so many feelings.. Best decision we ever made.. It was hard to leave our "family" we had in our group of stores.. We made some of my best memories of my life.. I can only imagine what it was like your last few years.. Especially during the pandemic.. Sorry to hear you went through all that.. On to bigger and better dreams buddy!

I’ve worked retail and I get exactly what you’re talking about. Never worked GameStop but it’s like all retail is similar. Dated a woman who worked a clothing store and exactly the same too. No wonder so many stores are failing.

Yup EBGames 😢. My sis loved that store.

Thank you for sharing your experience Jay. Working for EB Games was a similar roller coaster of emotion for myself where it was also a dream of mine to work for what seemed to be such an illustrious company. Yet the true colours were eventually shown to be just another soul sucking retail environment disguised as something better than it really was. The toll that takes on one's mental health is staggering, and to think that I only endured about one tenth of the total time with the company that you had put in! Not to mention the terrible working conditions you endured from the pandemic era. I will always appreciate many fond memories with the EB family all in it together, which is probably the greatest takeaway one could possibly have from working anywhere retail. I'm glad you were able to shed light on and move forward from this past. Onward to better times!

Great video. I’ve worked retail before, not a game store specifically, but many of these points sound very familiar. I hope things are better for you now though!

now we know and knowing is half the battle GI JAY !! reminds me of me and my front end manager job at WALMART uhh 😬 was that Job brutal!! thanks for sharing 🦇✌️ Batstan

Great video, Jay about your experience with EB Games into Game Stop. Sorry to hear some of the misery you endured there. The salesman pressure to keep up-selling is a horrible thing when it's required or you're fired or demoted. Customers don't always like it either. 20 years of your efforts and management talent and they still didn't care. That's awful. Great to hear you're out of that business to something better. I worked in retail at stores for years, many years ago, and it was bad because there is constant pressure from the bosses to keep selling extras to the customers and if you don't, something is wrong with you according to them. "Why are your numbers down this week? What's wrong? Why aren't you up-selling each time? You're not meeting the minimum requirements and failing to achieve." I would say I need more help on the floor. "Too many customers and I'm only one guy." They kept adding more work for you to do and accomplish, more quotas to meet, but no raises to match being stretched thin. Treated as a disposable employee. Not fun if the bosses and rules are very strict and oppressive. Nice to have a better job that's a lot more fair and less pressure. Thanks!

Awesome video Jay..Yeah, my experience working in Retail from 16 to 35 was soul destroying. It seemed to be the same throughout the various companies i worked for. And as you said, it was rarely the customers that were the problem, it seems to be some preset for upper management in retail to be souless, clueless and totally problematic. No matter what uniform I wore it was the same experience. Eventually I had to get out. Sometimes I think it's because a retail job is were 95% of us start, and companies know this, so they treat you like drones. Anyways, thanks for sharing your experience mate. All the best.

Wow Jay I that was really interesting to watch. I also worked at GameStop for several years and my experience was very much the same as yours. Loved my fellow store employees and most of my customers but most of the upper management were full of bologna. My last year there was pretty miserable as I pretty much worked alone every day until the closing shift would come in. I have worked for several retailers throughout the years and none of them were as bad to me as Game Stop was. I could go on and on but I’ll just say everything you said was spot on and I’m glad you are past it. I’ve never regretted leaving them. Cheers man!!!

I feel for you dude. That is incredibly tough dealing with that level of negativity day in and day out. Especially tough when you work your butt off in a job that was your dream and you just get beat down day after day. I’m glad you were able to get out of there and find peace.

Thanks for sharing this with us here Jay! Cheers brother! ♥️🔥🤘😎🍻

I can’t remember if I commented on this video or not already - but yay, engagements! - on a repeat viewing, that part about your boss not even coming to see you or anything hits me harder today than before. It sure sucks when you devote decades to any organization and they can’t be bothered with the simplest of kindnesses when your time’s up.

I feel ya jay! I’ve worked in retail for many years. And yes. 90% of the time it’s been the same story. They expected people to make miracles happen.