The infamous video-game seller, GameStop, has recently caught quite a bit of flak for its many controversies. These range fr💫om inconvenient and ridiculous policies, to terrible employee treatment, to pure corporate greed (actually, this is mostly the problem). Longtime video-game shoppers and consumers might not be surprised by all of these things, as it's long been known that there are some sketchy practices going on behind-the-scenes of this retail giant. This is pretty much to be expected when you're the only large video game retailer (at least as far as brick and mortar stores are concerned) in North America.

However, there are a lot of things about GameStop that many people haven't yet discovered. Some of which are good, some bad, 🌄or none of the above. Don't let all of the bad media revolving around the corporate giant leave a bad taste in your mouth just yet... Allow yourself to be enlightened about a w🌜hole new set of problems (and perks) that GameStop has. If you don't have an opinion on them already, there's a strong chance that you'll come out of this article having feelings for them one way or another.

Have a bad GameStop story of your own? Did they wrong🌺 you in any way? Have they done something right? Let us know in the comments! Jꦗust know that we feel your pain.

20 ౠ Wait, That's Free? 🐬

That's right. Who doesn't love some free stuff? Even if you don't exactly need the latest Halo promotional poster, it would make a pretty sweet addition to your game room, am I right? It's a little-known fact that customers are free to help themselves to promotional posters and displays. With the reputation of being a cheap, greedy organization after each and every hard-earned dollar it can get its grubby hands on, it may surprise you to learn that GameStop has its own form of redempt🌃ion. All you have to do is walk into your local GameStop and ask if you could have a promotional display once they're done advertising for said game. Word on the street is that most stores tend to trade out their promotional materials on Sundays. If they still need to hang onto the poster (that you're just dying to have) a little longer, then you can rest assured because employees will either put your name and number on the back of it, or write it down and call you when you can come pick it up.

19 What's M꧒ine Is Yours

You know the annoying sales pitch you receive from the GameStop employees absolutely every time that you purchase a game? After receiving your Friday paycheck, you excitedly rush to the nearest GameStop to pick up that mainstream title that you just hadn't broken down to buy yet, but can't possibly wait a second longer for. Carrying your precious item to the counter, you become an unsuspecting victim of the annoying GameStop sales pitch; imploring you to become a member of their Pro prog🧸ram and earn discounts on used games. And lꦜet me tell you, employees don't care to repeatedly entertain this pitch to numerous customers, just as much as buyers don't care to hear it. In truth, the way to avoid this situation is simply to use someone else's Pro card. As long as you have their phone number, don't worry about having to be incognito. Unless you've got a picky cashier, they should be pretty okay with you using someone else's card.

18 "The Back"꧙ ꦏ

The back. The concealed world of games, full of unicorns, rainbows, and all of the secrets that GameStop employees must guard with their lives. At least, that's how customers tend to perceive it. It's happened a ton, and will inevitably keep going until the end of GameStop's days; the dreaded request to "check the back." An innocent conversation between game adviser and customer turns into a full-on debacle about whether or not the store is currently carrying a specific title. Of course, the customer doubts the helpless associate's knowledge, and implores that the employee check the back of the store for any unaccounted for copies. The worker walks to the back, goes to the bathroom, eats a snack, socializes, texts, anything BUT check for the game. That's what really goes on in the back of a GameStop store. All of the information they need is within the database of the computer, so don't be that customer.

17 𓄧 Lonely, Lonely, Lonely 🐬

Believe it or not, this is one lonely job. With the technological revolution, we've seen many video rental stores, like Blockbuster, seemingly disappear overnight. Not to say GameStop is on the brink of going under, but this possibility isn't totally eliminated altogether... Some of the inconvenient locations leave shopkeepers sꦯeeing hardly a soul enter the door for many of their days. Not to mention, if you work for GameStop, you're either a "game adviser" who likely gets less than ten hours per week, or you're a manager who gets forty. Most of these hours as manager are spent alone, which leaves essentially zero time to eat, go to the bathroom, or take care of any other important task without compromising the store hours. Plus, if advisers don't meet sales quotas then they lose more work hours, leaving more alone-time for the manager.

16 🐻 ꦆ Tortured By Bad Taste

As a sales associate at your local GameStop, you would probably go into the job assuming that you can insert your wicked video game knowledge into the minds of all of the unknowing individuals that enters your store. Wrong. Oh, so wrong. Unfortunately, the majority of your time spent working in a GameStop, you only witness the most popular games getting bought, as those indie games or otherwise unheard-of titles go untouched on the dusty store shelves. Meanwhile, every basic gamer will wait in line for the latest Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto game. This is tremendously painful for anyone passionate about gaming th🐟at thought this job would bring out their inner nerd. Nope. On top of that, the people whom you're actually working for p💃robably haven't played a video game in over twenty years. That's right, the majority of the regional managers and above don't even care for them. Talk about dispiriting.

15 ไ Grand Theft Gamers

It may not come as a shock that GameStop stores൩ have their fair shares of break-ins and burglaries, however, it happens A LOT. Of course, a lot of this depends on where exactly the store is located; some may get robbed more often than others. What makes this slightly more unsettling, though, is the fact that the majority of the stores are only being manned by one person. That's right, recall that fact that GameStop doesn't like to have too many people working at one time? Imagine working as a defenseless store manager and getting robbed on a weekly basis. One particular YouTuber shared that when she first became a store manager, it had been robbed several times within her first week of work.  There have also been Whisper confessions that reveal GameStop corporate individuals reprimanding store managers whom don't fight back to armed robbers. Only a real OG can handle this type of job.

14 ﷽ The Holidays Have Never Been So Un-Merry ⭕

If the robberies and immoral customers haven't totally killed the appeal of working at a GameStop for you, then imagine those combined with a dash of chaos. One of the worst aspects of working at a GameStop is the way they do holidays. To make one thing clear, as an employee, you never work on an actual holiday because the corporation doesn't want to have to pay time-and-a-half for you to stand around and alphabetize games all day. However, the season alone is bad, and one particular day is the worst: Black Friday. Many new employees will actually begin their first day of work on Black Friday. With little-to-no training, they must take on the stampede of desperate consumers. Employees work long hours, put up with extreme customer demands, and they're usually not equipped with 🗹enough games or training for that matter. That's right, GameStop often doesn't even purchase nearly enough games even though they know tons of people will show up in a frenzy on holidays such as Black Friday.

13 Used Games And Movies Are As Mysterious As Pandora's Bo🌞x

Believe it or not, GameStop employees have encountered several different things other than games in the trade-in cases, which are astonishing to say the least... A few Whisper confessions from previous and current GameStop employees reveal that customers, whether intentional or not, leave certain surprises in the game cases. Upon opening a game case, a certain customer left an inappropriate film in the case instead of the used game he'd intended on trading in. It was an embarrassing moment for the customer to say the least, but definitely amusing on the employee's end of things. In a less humorous matter, another customer brought in a used copy of Arachnophobia and upon opening the case, the employee was unpleasantly astonished🐈 to see baby✤ spiders spilling out of it. That would probably be the breaking point for many employees.

12 You're ꦡExpected To Bꦫe A Game Encyclopedia

While there are many drawbacks to becoming an employee at GameStop, one of the worst is the customer expectation that employees have played every game ever made. For instance, a customer walks into the store looking for a game that'll be a gift for his niece. So, instead of asking, I don't know... the girl's mom or something, the customer will stroll up to the desk and ask the sales associate what he/she thinks would be a great game for the young girl. Okay, first off, employees aren't mind-readers; everyone's taste is different and it's difficult to choose a game for someone you haven't even met. Secondly, do you really think a 20-year-old Star Wars fanatic has played Harvest Moon or any games of that sort? Said customer then proceeds to talk about an indie game that he loves, wh♑ich the associate has also never played, assuming that said employee will jump into full-nerd conversation. Commence customer disappointment.

11 ♔ Job Perks Included 𒆙

Working in an underpaid position with too many responsibilities for your pay grade can be a bit unappealing. Not to mention there's ne🅠ver an opportunity for overtime pay, or even holiday pay. With all of the negativity surrounding this job, it's a wonder that any employees even exist at GameStop. Well, allow yourself to be enlightened by the beautiful perks of this job. For one thing, many people do not come in to pick up their bonus items included with their preorders. This is fair game for all employees, and if you're an especially cool customer, you may have an opportunity to receive something from your associate. There've also been instances that people have gotten off the hook for various things purely because of the fact that they work at GameStop. This includes getting out of a ticket or possible arrest from the police in exchange for a game hookup. That's kind of unbeatable as far as perks go.