The Video Game Store and I

I have mentioned on here a couple of times that I am working at a video game store now kind of as a fun little hobby. Well, yesterday I was officially hired. The kicker is that there were several key things I didn't know about this place:

1. I am the most educated person that works at either of the stores and this includes the owners.

2. I have more sales and merchandising experience than all of the people in the store combined...this also includes the owners.

3. I am the oldest person working at this store...other than the owners.

What does all of this mean?

Let's just say I got the job. Oh yeah, I also have one of the stores to kind of use as my sandbox and figure out how to increase sales and traffic into the store. I have been hired as a "leader" of the store which means that there are really only two people I answer to and I have three people that now pretty much do my bidding when I am around. So much for this just kind of being a hobby job that I go to and relax.

So tonight, I went into the store and started looking at different things that could be done right off the bat to give sales a quick boost. There were two areas that my boss and I tackled tonight that I think will help tremendously. First, we created a bargain bin of really crappy or old games, marked them down and placed it right in front of the door. Anyone that comes in is going to see the stuff and so hopefully we can sell some of it. The second thing I switched up was the placement of newer games in hopes to attract peoples' attention as they come into the door. It was at about this time when my boss realized that I actually do have some experience with this kind of thing thanks to 7.5 years of Costco and told me he liked what I was doing.

Toward the end of the night, my boss and I were both busily sorting and alphabetizing games when out of no where two cops burst through the front doors, poised to shoot someone. After both my boss and I fervently swearing we worked there, the cops told us that our "stick up" alarm had been pressed and they thought there was a robbery in progress and came to thwart any would be criminals. This was obviously not what was going on.

So now the cops are wandering around the store and my boss is on the phone with the owners trying to sort everything out. One cop walks passed my newly placed bargain bin and exclaims, "Wow! These games are cheap!" Yes, yes they are; it is like those games are there for a reason....hmm. He immediately finds one title he wants and I tell him he should find another one so that he can utilize the buy two and get one free special we have on those games. After a few seconds of looking, he hasn't found a game that sparked his interest so I decide to suggest something.

"How about Grand Theft Auto?"

The cop's eyes lit up and he said, "Do you have it for the Playstation 2?"

"Yes, I do. And this is the Grand Theft Auto with the badass 80's soundtrack too."

"Sweet! I'll take it!"

And this is how I sold Grand Theft Auto to two uniformed police officers who had originally come into my store looking to stop a crime.

My boss gave him another game he was looking for as his free game and with that, the cops decided that they didn't need to fill out any paperwork for the incident, which meant that we didn't have to pay a $25 fine for the false alarm. All is well that ends well in video game land.