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The Forgotten Ones

They are at the corner of our lives and serve a valuable purpose. Without them we would be bereft of joy, dead grey shells shuffling the land until death claims us. Their endless work goes unnoticed but has a strong effect, invisible to our eyes yet should be at the forefront of our thoughts.

I was in Game, trading in a few things and I struck up a conversation with the bloke behind the till. After enquiring about lg_basingstokewhat I wanted to trade in for and being told I was just waiting for games like Call of Duty to come out his face changed into one of consternation. Why? Pre-orders were through the roof for that title. Whilst that’s not surprising what surprised me was that I didn’t make the connection in my head between a popular game and this man’s job.

“It will be insane when it launches”

Think about it, he will have to be in work maybe from midnight dealing with loud excited gamers in a strip lit version of hell on earth. His wrist and arm will seize up from repeatedly using the till, the Game radio station will aggravate his ears and his nostrils will be filled with the stench of body odour and plastic. He will have to turn away underage kids and get abused by doing so, try to explain to stupid parents that the game is maybe not for their 4 year old children and all the while his inner gamer will be crying out to actually play the game. When he gets home do you think he’ll be able to? Exhausted, his game will stay shrink wrapped whilst he collapses in preparation for work the next day.

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So I raise a glass to our eternal friends, the video game store employee for your sacrifice, your hobby and your sanity so we can pwn noobs to our heart’s content.

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John Boyle

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6 responses to “The Forgotten Ones”

  1. The Rook avatar
    The Rook

    There are some pretty decent people working in the game stores. I went into GameStop to buy some microsoft points and pre-order Arkham Asylum and we were talkign about Fable 2 DLC that he had been playing. He was also thankful when I told him that the Batman demo was out two days later.

    So, yes, hats off to the workers who have to go through the panic of gamers trying to get their hands on a must have title on launch day,

    And a big thank you to those that take time to have a quick chat when at the counter.

  2. Simes avatar
    Simes

    Moral: Buy your games online. The poor overworked games store staff will have less stress, and as a bonus, your games will be cheaper!

  3. Duncan avatar
    Duncan

    I don’t know why, but while reading this all I could think of was that Samsung Jet advert “Impatience Is A Virtue.”

    I salute the hard working game providers. *stands to attention*

  4. James avatar
    James

    Having worked at both Game and Gamestation for 2 years, during a period covering both the midnight launches for Halo 3 and GTAIV, your comments hit the nail on the head. I sat here marvelling that “yes! It’s exactly like that!”

    Here’s to the continuing hard work of my former employers and co-workers!

  5. lordstar avatar
    lordstar

    im sorry but a jobs a job and scanning items at 12 midnight does not matter if its fruit and veg or games is not the hardest job in the world. Fucking hell if I can do it anyone can. My props goes to the cats doing the Christmas inventory day in day out in the run up to and after Christmas usually leaving the shop floor with a bunch of retards strait off the street to man the store while you do real work upstairs with little or no thanks.

  6. asamink avatar
    asamink

    It has never occurred to me to try and talk to the people in the shop where I buy my games. But I do get my games from Sainsburys. I doubt the 60 year old lady who has to rummage around the cigerette counter looking for the latest realese would know whether the DLC for Arkham Asylum was available from launch? Or maybe she did, I’ll never know.

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