Gamestop is fucking with me

PEE IN THE COFFEE MACHINE!

Same thing happened with me at Best Buy, kinda. My department didnt have enough hours for 3 part time and 2 full time. So, I got put into limbo. One of the managers is trying to fit me in where ever he can. I havent worked since January 1st. And I am broke ass poor. Im about to go find another job if I dont get some hours soon. Ive got a 1 month buffer for my car payments. I have enough money to make my February payment, and thats it. Then im dead.

Go get a new job in the meantime, Verbal. Just do something quick and easy, like working at a grocery store or something.

That sucks Verbal...same thing's happened to me recently, only been working 3 days a week, and I really need another job. Was going to look at a couple Gamestops actually. I need a bullshit job like Virgin Megastore or Tower or something. Anywhere I can get employee's discounts on shit I buy, basically.

But either way, look around for another job, it can't hurt...

Same thing happened with me at Best Buy, kinda. My department didnt have enough hours for 3 part time and 2 full time. So, I got put into limbo. One of the managers is trying to fit me in where ever he can. I havent worked since January 1st. And I am broke ass poor. Im about to go find another job if I dont get some hours soon. Ive got a 1 month buffer for my car payments. I have enough money to make my February payment, and thats it. Then im dead.

That's, um, an odd double post...

Hey, at least you didn't beg for a job at Barnes and Noble, give a fucking great interview, and then learn three months later from your stoner roomate that you got hired....

Whoa shit. Definately a double post. I think what happened was I clicked "resend info" or something like that when going back to the main page.

That's why you make a follow-up phone call, big shooter.

Best Buy does that to everyone. I have two friends right now that have 4 hours for the next two weeks. I keep on trying to get them to quit, but they need the "discount."

And Verbal, you should seriously look into other job prospects. Fuck Gamestop if they are going to pull things like that.

This is a way for the employer to get you to quit. If you quit you don't get unemployment.

No. It isn't. Here's the reality from the management standpoint.

Management is given a certain number of payroll hours to spend. These payroll hours granted by corporate are based upon projected sales. If sales are down, so, too, are the number of hours management can spend.

For example: Corporate says "based upon projected sales of $50,000 this week, you can spend 250 payroll hours." This means that corporate expects $200 in sales for every hour they have to pay employees to work. If sales are down from projection (and you don't know that until AFTER you've spent the payroll), corporate comes back to the managers and says ... "YOU OVERSPENT PAYROLL! This week, we have to make up for last week's shortfall, plus manage this week's payroll based upon (sometimes unrealistic) sales expectations."

Your management is caught playing catch-up, and having to cut hours. And yet they still need the same work done.

How can you help yourself?

Make DAMNED certain that you're the best value for the payroll dollar on the employee roster.

If you're one of those folks who stands behind the counter WAITING for the next customer to walk up to buy .... you're not it.

Be the one who says to management, "Hey, there are slow times throughout my shift. What do you want me to be doing when my assigned position is slow?"

Whatever doesn't get done on the floor has to be done by management, right? Make sure management doesn't have to do it.

Restock. Remerchandise. Dust, clean, recover zones ... do whatever you have to do to benefit the store during your downtime.

Be a team player.

EARN your hourly wage.

If you do, and you EARN it more than the guy next to you on the payroll ... you'll get more DECREASING payroll hours spent on YOUR paycheck.

Let me tell you, management KNOWS ...

I've only been in my management position for a couple of months ... it wasn't two weeks into the job that I KNEW who my "go to" people were. These are the folks who I will go to in a pinch --the lines are backed up at the registers, and at the Customer Service desk ... the shipping/receiving area is backed up -- boxes can't be unloaded because there's no room to put the inventory -- the cafe line starts invading the book floor, and the phone is ringing off the hook ...

If I ask you to cover an area NOT in your assignment for that hour, and you hesitate ... you whine ... you have the opinion that "that's not my job right now.." I can tell you honestly, that as I'm allocating reduced payroll hours in the future -- even the JOB YOU WERE ASSIGNED won't be yours.

Those folks who step up and HANDLE what needs to be handled, who take care of the flow of business from minute to minute, who take care of keeping me free to MANAGE, will be the ones who get the hours on their paycheck.

Take care of yourself by being the person they can't do without.

Seasonal hiring is part of the game. <heh, I made a pun...>

If you've been kept, that's an indication that the manager would like to have you on payroll even in the slow times....

But there are other people there ... and to give YOU more hours, means giving someone else less.

Is there anything you can do to make yourself more valuable, or is it a matter of understanding that you'll need to supplement elsewhere?

I have been astounded in the last week with two people I've had to deal with -- not even employees, but applicants for employment. They have felt that since they have APPLIED for a job, a job is owed them. They have demanded an explanation for WHY they aren't working with us. A visual image of the thickness of THIS MONTH'S applications file usually helps explain.

A single employer can't employ everyone who applies. A single (retail) employer can't give everyone the hours they desire ...

It's up to you to find and create the work you need. Sometimes it can be done with one employer. Sometimes it can't.

Don't blame the employer, though. If I say to myself, "Ah, Verbal needs the hours ... and I'm not going to take them from someone else, I'm just going to overspend payroll..."

Guess who is going to be looking for a new management job...

There are levels you don't understand. There are levels I don't understand. All you can control is what you DO with YOUR level of the business.

Make yourself invaluable. If not for Gamestop, then for someone else, or for a few different entities.

And these two statements, Verbal, honestly don't make me doubt WHY you're facing decreased hours....

Clear the way for someone who WANTS to be there.

That's fine. Accepting a job isn't a life sentence.

Just know that you aren't ENTITLED. You have to EARN.

Why does it being a mall matter? Are the mall hours any different than a Lead Store's hours? Retail is retail, my man.

Don't talk to me about shitty hours.

Sunday night I worked the 3:30 - Midnight close shift, and had to manage the music/DVD inventory that stretched until 2:00am. And then had to be back for the 7am - 4pm shift on Monday. Retail hours are shitty. That's part of the gig.

If you want a 9 - 5pm, go get an office job. (and expect that they'll want you to stay late and come early ... and take work home.)

There are good managers. There are bad managers.

Once again, though, it comes back to areas that you can control. If you don't WANT to accept the practices of a bad manager, find a good manager to work for.

Alright, this is what must be done: The next time that you work, fall down...HARD. Break something. Scream like a woman. Cry like a little girl...Do whatever it takes to show them that you're hurt...Can you stand to live in a wheelchair for about a month? I'm tellin' ya, you may not get more hours, but a free paycheck would be a nice going away present....If all else fails, scream that the manager touched your ass! Yell, until somebody listens. Workmans Comp, or Sexual Harassment, both great ways to make a living.

I would have worked this weekend, and this week, had the manager remembered to look for hours for me. Best Buy obviously went over their alloted hour budget. Its been really dead all holiday season, and now that the holidays are over its gotten even deader. They wont fire me though, they've told me that they need me, and that im a very good worker. I think they've already fired 10 people. But not me!!!

Couple of things: here's the rub -- of course you got hours October through December. It's a little thing on the calendar that DRIVES retail. It's called Christmas. Take a look at that calendar. It's passed, and won't come again for several more months.

A very large percentage of any retailers business moves through the till in November and December. The leash is untightened on payroll in those months.

If the store has been well-managed, it's snapback time to non-holiday payroll expenditure. If the store has been poorly managed, then it's not only snapback time, but also make-up-for-the-overspent-hours-time.

The other thing: and this is a clue....

There are people on the payroll who are hourly. They want as many hours as possible because they don't get paid if they don't work. There are people on the payroll who are salaried. They get paid the same amount paycheck-to-paycheck no matter how much they work.

Listen up, Verbal, DJ, Connigit, friends of Guyute, etc ...

You keep me from working UNPAID hours (let's say anything over ~40 ('cause I don't get overtime and in my job description it reads something like "work as much as necessary to get the job done...")) by WORKING during your paid hours (instead of socializing, relaxing, playing games (reading in my store), or drawing the line at some imaginary "job assignment" line...) and you'll get the hours.

You're my kind of boss, Blo!

it's great to have you back dances.

Great to be back, my friend.

Aside from the lack of hours, what do you dislike about it? If I were to pick my ideal job/workplace (and money wasn't a factor), a game store and B&N would probably be my first two choices.

Im looking into finding some work in the meantime.

Most companies are like that. You rarely, if ever, find out from a manager how someone got fired.

Not since a manager can be sued for giving that information to people who have no need to know...

So I suppose me coming into distract your girls would not be a good thing.

Well, unfortunately for me, I pretty much lost my job today. The manager called and told me that he was unable to get any hours anywhere in the store, and that I might as well look for a new job because he doesnt know how long its gonna be. I cant afford to sit around and wait. So, im looking for somewhere to work in this fuckin town again.

Best Buy needs not people who preach the way of the Widescreen in their stores. Begone, knowledgeable workers. Begone, and come back from the indie store from whence you came.

Fuck Best Buy, fuck them up their stupid asses. Well, I got a new job today. Im gonna be working at the movie theater with Heart. No, not the theater that I quit from awhile ago. A different one. Im gonna be making less money there, but its better then nothing. Plus, Im gonna be with Heart, which is great. The GM there used to be the assistant GM over at the other theater where I worked. Real nice guy. He asked me to go into the office with him to talk. And he pretty much told me hed give me a job. I definately wont be passing up the opportunity to work for him. Its an added benefit that I'll be working with Heart as well.

Good, Dylan. Better to have a job with less pay than no job at all.

Yeah. Exactly. Heart working there is another reason why I accepted the offer.

Congrats, Verbal!

I was wondering why this guy was so filled with rage at Alex's disparaging comments about Gamestop.

This is funny, Verbal. Even you aren't immune to the internet's famous "let's hate GameStop!" tirade?

Fact: If you read the Max Payne 3 thread and then jump into here without looking at the date on the posts, it can BLOW YOUR MIND.

Yeah, it's amazing what can change in 6 years...

This is why I have quit every job I've ever had where I wasn't in charge. Because I've been in charge and know that petty shit like that isn't necessary at all and only shitty managers do it.