http://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/07/inside-eb-games-when-the-dr…
basically young kids being exploited because its a 'cool place to work' mixed with sexual harrasment, racism and bullying because you know, kids should be exploited by middle management
EB Games and Their Horrible HR Record
tonyjzx on 20/07/2015 - 19:37
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Kotaku has the level of credibility of The Onion. Not going to take anything from them seriously.
The story actually broke on SMH a few months ago. Kotaku chased up on the sources.
Damn, that Mark DiStefano guy. I was thinking of joining of them when I was younger(during my high school years), but glad I haven't/didn't and now won't because of this.
From what I've heard internally, that guy was unfairly slandered. A lot of the basis of the plaintiff's was sexual harassment - particularly gay jokes - but… Mark is gay. Like, extremely openly gay. And these guys accused him of slandering them for being too friendly. There's also the part where they reported nothing during their time working there (and the integrity line, very easily accessed, is always available) and waited until a month later to do something. A guy at my store went to the integrity line over alleged mistreatment by a superior, and multiple meetings were had, the case was taken very seriously, and in the end I was told there was no chance the guy that complained could be fired (despite the fact that he was a crappy worker in the first place) because they didn't want to risk unfair dismissal cases.
Retail job with no barrier to entry + no heavy lifting etc = every man and his dog who plays video games wants a job there . I'd expect conditions to be pretty shit as you can easily be replaced. An article about poor management doesn't surprise me really.
So sad to hear!!!
I was fortunate enough to have worked at Video Games Heaven when I was younger (16 yrs old) and I have to say it was the best job ever! To this day I would say easily my favourite job to date due to the nature of the job and my managers.
I was 'forced' by management to play all the new video game releases so I had a better understanding of the game and its features, I was forced to play older console games to see if they worked lol.
1 hour lunches which included me having my lunch, relaxing and then doing a maccas run for them all at my leisurely pace, plus there was the incentive of a free apple pie for my troubles. They in turn took a 1 hour lunch and left me in charge of the shop where I would play games, stock count, re arrange things and greet customers.
All the managers were super friendly and had wicked sense of humor that made it more than worth my while to want to show up to work without fail. They taught me how to use a register, cross sell and up sell, buy older consoles and buying games for pittance and then turning them over for a decent amount (what % profit margin was with each deal), customer service and overall how to treat and to be treated by people.
So I would say this role did leave me with a great deal of skills and also taught that there are some decent human beings in management out there. It saddens me to hear stories like this with EB games, you want the youth of today to want to go to work and to enjoy the working environment, things like this only discourages them from wanting to work.
Video Games Heaven was the bomb!
Never heard of Video Games Heaven, is this a new store or something?
…or a really old store that I wasn't old enough to know about it? And this store is probably gone too, just like GAME was.
about 20 years ago, days of the NES/SNES megadrive days.
I think the last store near me closed up and were brought out by GAME?
20 years ago?! 1994? - I was only 1 year old then…. I'm 21 now. Yeah too old for me to have known.
jesus, I feel old now.
@godofpizza: Same. The benefit us old folks have is actually growing up with video games and watching it mature from the beginning. Kids these days have no clue as to how hard games used to be. Game over really was game over… Ha.
@Third_Gear: I agree, pre-internet days where you had to work out how to beat a game. Today, you spend at least 30minitutes of hand holding thru the controls/game inter workings.
@godofpizza: Well, I have never played any of those old games, but I'm guessing they would be impossibly hard - Zelda style game? Yeah I have trouble with those types. And getting 100% completion is really hard depending on what game it is of course.
Sometimes the answer is like right in front of me but I just don't see it. While other smart ass people who just sees it instantly. It is probably maybe after I fiddle around for a few more minutes to several more minutes is when I finally come and see the answer and usually before this I just get bored because the game is too hard and I can't solve the puzzle or whatever to get passed this point! And then I rage quit and play something else or do something and maybe come back with a fresh brain. hahaha
And if all else fails and even after I come back a few times and still don't fid the answer, I go on the internets and google a walk-through or a small tip so I don't spoil myself from spoilers. And if the games is completely unplayable by me for whatever reasons, I just use cheats/walk-through to power through the story and once I finished it, never to buy a game similar to it! hahaha
I guess what I'm trying to say is that these kind of games isn't my type, you know what I'm saying?
aoaoahhh, this reminds me of Dark Souls………………………………………………………………………………
@Zachary:I meant those games were so hard I couldn't finish it. Games of this generation are alot easier!
@trumpedup: They practically play themselves. Press X to not die! Remember when videogames required actual skill? Now you just need to press the buttons when they come up on the screen.
@FrankMcFuzz: Well, in FF2 and FF1, there were skills involved, weren't there? What about the Zelda games? The ones I've played on my 3DS XL didn't give me that much pointers on solving various puzzles….or I'm just too dumb to play this game? Hahaha
@trumpedup: Ohh….
I guess back then, they just assumed that all gamer were matured adults and smart and could solve anything, these days there are dumb people and smart people, and some in-between. I don't know, maybe this was the trend then? - I could wrong.
More of the fact that the games would only last an hr or two if they were easy.
I'm pretty sure battle toads on the game boy would only take an hour to finish but it was so hard I could never beat it!
@trumpedup: There's a video of a guy speedrunning Dark Souls in under 2 hours, you might just be right!
@Zachary: you should youtube The turles Nes game gap glitch.
anyone from that era would understand gaming frustration back in the day.@godofpizza: Maybe you were not supposed to get up there? I suppose if it's a deal breaker, than fair enough but if not and you can't do it don't try forever and then rage just play the game as it's meant to be played! hahaa
This is the video right?
Hahahaha and there was NO Facebook (or any internet really) to turn to to have a whine about being killed by player XYZ!
Some of the early consoles I played on, had no memory card, so game over meant starting over from level 1 lol!
Gawd, reading these kind of posts makes me feel old too. That and the handful of grey hairs that have started popping up recently!oh no, you needed to get past the gap to collect the missiles for the turtle van to get into the next area.
I think this was where gamer rage was born.They were around more recent than that.. at least till the year 2002 or so, I'm only 24 and remember them pretty well. This was knox city, vic.
So, sorta like playing SuperMeatBoy? haha that games frustrating as hell sometimes! hahaha
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