So I went to update
How Not To Be An Asshole At Gameworks and discovered that it was too long (whoops, so I decided to split it into one journal for the list, and one for the stories)
So a 50ish-year-old guy comes over to get my help with a game, because apparently he is incapable of swiping his own card, pressing the start button by himself, and choosing what type of car he wants. As I'm helping set him and his friend up on a game a six-year-old is capable of setting up by himself, his friend decides to share his wisdom
Asshole: "that hairstyle's not going to pick up a guy you know"
Me: "that's not really my goal"
Asshole: "Won't get you girls either"
Me: "also not my goal"
So, at Gameworks we're 18+ after 10pm, it's the law. Yesterday a group of three people came in, two girls, one guy. All three of them looked like they could potentially be under 18. I asked for their IDs. One of the girls just stayed where she was on the ramp, the other girl and the guy came over to my desk. The girl said that she didn't have ID, but that she was 20. I informed them that without ID, she couldn't be in there. The girl starts talking loudly to the guy about how that's dumb and they'll just take their money elsewhere (as if that makes any difference whatsoever to me). They went back over to the ramp and it looked like they were leaving, but instead they started walking up the stairs, which of course meant I had to chase after them. I went up the stairs after them and informed them AGAIN that she couldn't be in there if she was under 18 or didn't have ID. She starts yelling again about how she's almost 21 and they'll just take their money elsewhere (which was kinda funny since they hadn't bothered to stop at the one place in the venue where they could actually spend money what with their being underage and the restaurant being closed) and on her way out the door she yells "have fun being A BITCH". Even if she had looked like she was over 18 (which she didn't) that right there would've proved she wasn't mature enough to be there.
A homeless-looking man left his backpack and a grocery bag at a game, because he didn't want to carry them around. His backpack was turned in later, open, and it smelled, so I didn't touch it. When we closed an hour or so later, and asked him to leave, he starts freaking out about his
stuff. Another employee brings his backpack to him, and he starts accusing us of stealing his stuff. We tell him we aren't responsible for lost or stolen items. After another minute or so of him yelling, we have a conversation as follows:
Me: "sir, it's not our job to watch after your stuff. You shouldn't leave it lying around"
Him: "then what's your security guard for!?"
Me:

A guy comes over to the desk because he's having problems with a game. I ask all the basic questions to find out what's wrong with the game, him interrupting me every three words all the while, and I call a tech. He stalks off. About three minutes later, I'm helping other guests and he walks over and demands that I go look at the game to see what it's doing. I politely inform him that when I'm finished helping these guests I'll go check it out with him (even though there's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I can do about the game problem even if I do go look at it). Instead of accepting that and walking away like a reasonable self-entitled prick, he starts yelling about how he waited in line and I need to help him now. I informed him that he got out of line, and I'd go help him when I was finished helping these guests. Finally he stalked off so that I could finish the transaction I'd been in the middle of and daydream about the special place in hell waiting for people who are douchebags to service industry workers.
A lady walks over to me and informs me that darts is taking points off her card. I asked her what exactly had happened, and she informed me that she had only swiped once, and had finished playing, but the game had 23 credits on it and was still letting her make selections. I told her that if she only swiped it once, there was no way for it to take credits off more than once, and tried to explain that if someone else puts credits on a game and then you swipe your card, the credits that were on there before will still be on there. She continued to insist that the game somehow had her card number and was still charging her card for every game of darts people played. I informed her, again, that that was impossible. Finally after ten minutes of "this is what happened" "no ma'am, that's impossible" she gave up. About five minutes later she walked over to the new machine near the desk which checks card balances with her friend, checked her card, and said loud enough that I was guaranteed to hear "132, so next time, when there's less, we'll know".
I sold a girl and her boyfriend each a card. The cards I sold them were blue, as are all the cards I sell. They came back up to the counter about five minutes later because the boyfriend's card wasn't working. I didn't actually remember them (they were exceptionally generic, and it was a long day) and it took me a minute to realize that I'd sold them cards, which meant that the bright purple card he was holding wasn't actually his. I informed them that that card wasn't the one I'd sold him, but if he had the receipt I could switch his card over. If it had ended there, it wouldn't have been worth mentioning, but of course the girl decides to get defensive (over what I have no idea) and informed me that it was their first time there, so there was no way that the card she was now waving in my face wasn't the card I'd sold him. I explained that that was impossible, as I didn't even have purple cards, and once again asked for his receipt (so I could get them taken care of and out of my sight), she once again said her bit about it being their first time, blah blah blah blah blah. I explained that it's very easy to accidently pick up the wrong card, and asked (again) for their receipt. The boyfriend looked like he was pretty sick of all that crap, and finally got out the receipt. I switched over his card (which he'd obviously lost) to a new one and gave it to him, at this point bitch-girl informs me that I need to improve my attitude because the customer is always right. I can't help but laugh at that (or snort rather), so of course she insists on speaking to a manager (which is fine because the manager wasn't an idiot). On the way out, she informed me, once again, that I needed to work on my attitude. Bitch.
We have a machine that makes "dance cds" as it calls them. If you youtube "let me dance" I'm sure you can see some of them. It prints out a cd, and gives you a case, and that's all. It used to print cd covers, but hasn't for a very long time. So a lady makes one, doesn't get her cd cover, and comes over to me to ask me about it. I tell her that it doesn't give cd covers, just cds and cases. She says okay, and goes back over to the machine, and proceeds to make three more. Then she comes back over to me, all pissed off because her mother told her that it used to print cd covers. So she starts bitching about how she made so many of them and she wants her cd covers, because she spent so much money, and insisting that I call someone down to fix the ink and replace the paper (though both the ink and paper things are full, and it still doesn't give cd covers anymore). I tell her that it's not set to make cd covers any more, and that there's nothing anyone can do to change that (they've tried). She continues to yell at me because she felt that when she told me it didn't give her a cd cover, instead of telling her that it didn't give cd covers, I ought to have told her that it used to give cd covers, but doesn't anymore (because apparently even though she didn't mention the past at all, I should've). Honestly, I didn't understand what she was angry about (I still don't), but she kept yelling and yelling about how I should've told her that it used to print cd covers. In the end the man she was with suggested that I call down a manager (thank god for me), and after yelling at the manager for a few minutes, she went back to making MORE "dance cds". What. An. Idiot.
A couple comes in and asks about our prices. I tell them that we only have one bonus package ($35), and anything you buy less than that it's dollar for dollar. She asks me what happens if you buy a $25 card. I tell her it gets her $25. She asks if there's a special for $25 and I say no. The only bonus package is $35. She asks what you get for a $25 card. At this point I'm confused, because I can't imagine that anyone could be so incredibly stupid as all this. Turns out she was, and after three or four repeats of this she starts bitching about how our website says something else, and it should be consistent and it's all very confusing (our website lists the correct prices, but if you look at other locations hundreds of miles away's websites, the pricing is different). Later on in the evening, she comes down after having a problem with a game, and after finally getting her to explain what the problem was, I told her that I'd send someone upstairs to the game to meet her. She goes over and stands next to our ATM for about ten minutes, and the person I'd sent upstairs to meet her starts asking over the radio whether or not she's coming. I of course have no idea what she's doing, and tell them so. After a couple more minutes, she glares over at me and goes "uuuuhg, is he coming?" at which point I tell her (again) that someone will meet her upstairs, to which she responds "you could've told us that". I wish that it were possible to convey in writing the true depth of her stupidity and rudeness, but it's really not. Alas.
Another dance cd idiot, though a much briefer story, which is probably only notable because it was two or three days ago. It was four minutes until we were closing (and we'd been making closing announcements for 55 minutes) and a lady who'd just finished making a dance cd was about to go make another. I told her that we closed in four minutes, so she wouldn't have time to make another. She starts bitching about how our sign says we're open for another three hours (which is true, we, like the rest of town, were closing early due to inclement weather, and had been warning people that we would be for hours) and how it really wouldn't kill us to stay open for an extra five minutes for her. I told her that we'd be closing promptly at nine, and she really didn't have time, which was why we'd been making closing announcements since eight. She spent the next three and a half minutes until we closed ranting and raving about how ridiculous it was that we wouldn't just stay open a few extra minutes for her, and returned a couple of minutes after I'd finally managed to get her out of the building (by repeating the phrase "we really are closed ma'am" over and over in a bored voice) to bang on our locked doors and ask for the name of our General Manager. I take comfort in the fact that if anyone has to deal with her again, it won't be me.
So first, a girl comes up with a gift card and asks why it's not working on the games, I explain that it's a gift card, not a game card, and that she can use it to purchase a game card. I explain how the game cards work, and ask her how much she'd like on her card, she says that she just wants whatever's on the gift card put on a game card. I tell her that I can't check gift cards( Normally people write down the amount on a gift card, so it's not a problem that we can't check them), but that she can call the 1-800 number on the back of the card to find out her balance, or she can choose how much she wants on her game card, and then pay the remaining balance if there's not enough on the gift card. She says okay, and wanders off, calling the number. She comes back a little while later with her father. He's an asshole. He walks up to me, and then starts talking as if I'm an idiot, in a slow and incredibly patronizing way. "We have these gift cards, we just want to transfer them to these cards". First, I tell him that he actually wants to put them on blue cards, because the card he's holding up is non-rechargeable, to which he rudely goes "yeah, whatever". I explain, again, that I can't check the cards, and basically explain what I'd explained to his daughter. He starts bitching and moaning about how he'd never had so much trouble spending money before, and yelling at me (still in an incredibly condescending way) about how stupid it is that I can't check the gift card. Finally he calls the 1-800 number and determines that there's $30 on each of four cards. I explain how the cards work, ($2 for the card itself, plus whatever you want to put on it...) and ask him how much he wants on his card, explaining that if he wants $30 on his card, he'll have to pay $32 per card. He starts bitching about how stupid it is that it costs two dollars to transfer gift cards to game cards, and I try AGAIN to explain how it works, and he starts complaining about he already bought the gift cards and doesn't see why he should have to buy something else (I didn't bother to point out that it's stupid to buy gift cards for yourself and then have no idea how much you put on them). He didn't seem to understand that he wasn't transferring money from gift cards to game cards, he was purchasing game cards, which cost $2 for each new card. He hands me 4 $30 gift cards and says he wants "whatever he can get". I ask how many cards he wants several times, and he ignores me. After another 5-10 minutes I give up on having him tell me what he wants (he's still bitching) and just inform him that I'm putting $28 dollars on four cards. I make his cards, and hand them to him (he's still bitching) and tell them how to swipe them and such. He thrusts a different game card (not gift card) in my face and tells me he wants me to do the same thing with that one. I attempt to explain to him that that's not a gift card, it's a game card, and so it can't be used for anything other than to play games, and after a few more minutes of bitching about how confusing it was, he went away. I'd like to point out that gift cards and game cards do not look alike. Game cards are lightish blue on one side and mostly white on the other, and gift cards are bright blue and yellow on both sides.
A guy walks in, part of a private event which needs to reschedule. He walks up to the desk and asks me if the entrance nearest me is our main entrance, I say that we have two entrances, and neither of them is really a main entrance. He proceeds to inform me that the door nearest me is locked (which isn't true), and I tell him that it's not locked, and that I watched someone walk through it about eight seconds ago, he informs me that he tried it three seconds ago (which we both know isn't true, because he was walking ungodly slowly, and even if you walk quickly it takes at least a minute and a half to get from the entrance he came in through to the front desk where I'm standing), I say, okay sir (it's best not to argue with stupid people) but it really isn't locked, he still didn't believe me so I asked if he'd like me to check the doors out with him. I walked up with the doors, pushed on them gently (though I have no upper body strength, so even if I'd pushed on them hard it wouldn't have meant much) and they opened easily. I walked outside, shut the doors, then pulled gently on the handle and walked back in. Apparently this still wasn't enough for him, as our (fortunatly brief) conversation went as follows:
me: they seem to be working just fine sir
him: ARE YOU ACCUSING ME OF LYING
me: no, but they definitely aren't locked
him: I'm not a weak guy
me: okay sir
Instead of being a normal human being and accepting that they doors weren't locked and letting that be the end of it, he complained with a manager about my arguing with him. What did he want me to do, apologize to him for the doors being locked when they WEREN'T? What kind of retard does that?
A couple of guys get a promotion that comes with time cards. They come up to the front desk complaining that one of their cards worked, while the other didn't (which is pretty much impossible, but whatever) so I told them that if it was on the list sitting on the desk which was headed "Timecards will not work on:" then their time cards wouldn't work on it. Our conversation went as follows:
Them: no, it was a racing game
Me: Was it Initial D 3 or 4? Because it doesn't work on those.
Them: It was that racing game over there *pointing to a section in which there are about 15 different racing games (ncluding Initial D 3 and Max Tune 3 which timecards don't work on)*
Me: What was the name of the game?
Them: I don't know, that car one over there.
Me: Was it Max Tune 3, because we just got that one, so it's not on the list yet, but timecards might not work on that one.
Them: No, it's a really old game.
Me: So what color was the game?
Them: What does that mean?
Me: What color were the seats, were they red, blue, grey...?
Them: How should we know?
Me: If it was Initial D 3 or 4, or Maximum Tune 3, your cards shouldn't work on that.
Them: Fine, I'll go check the name of the game.
*returns a minute later*
Them: I don't know, something asian 3
Me: That's Maximum Tune 3 (which is BRIGHT RED by the way), we just got it two days ago, and time cards won't work on that
So they stalk off. They return an hour or so later
Them: So you probably remember us (I didn't) we were having problems with that game that wasn't working, that car game
Me: Okay, are you having problems with a different game
Them: Well, we were playing that Tennis game over there, and we ran out of time
Me: Okay...
Them: So since we had problems earlier, we thought you could just give us another four minutes of time on our cards
Me: I can't ring up time at all
Them: It's only four minutes, it's not a big deal
Me: The only way I can ring up time, is if you pay the $15.85 for the meal deal (pointing at the flyer that advertises the one-hour combo)
Them: It costs $15.85 for five minutes?!?!?
Me: I can't make a five minute card
Them: Then just give us a few dollars on our cards
Me: I can't do that
Them: So there's nothing you can do for us
Me: Sir, I'm really sorry that you got a free game on something you weren't supposed to play earlier, but I can't give you free points on your card.
Them: We don't want free points, we just want compensation for earlier, when we waited in line
This asshole came in a while ago, but I apparently didn't include him in here. He and his family were playing ticket games, and started looking at the various prizes they could redeem. The father starts pointing out one of the lava lamps to his kids, and the redemption hostess who was up there informed him that they were out of that particular lava lamp:
Customer: Can't I just have that one (pointing at the display)?
Hostess: It would take at least half an hour to cool down, as it's been on all day, if you don't mind waiting I can ask if you can have this one.
Customer's daughter: Dad, I don't want the lava lamp, I want the doll (pointing to a Disney Princess doll)
Customer: I don't see why I can't just have that one now
Hostess: It's very hot, it would burn me getting it out of the case, and you once I gave it to you. It's been on for hours, and it's not safe to touch it right now.
Customer: Well that's just ridiculous, I don't see why you can't just give it to me!
Customer's other daughter: Dad, she wants the doll
Customer: This is just ridiculous, you're being unhelpful on purpose.
The customer came down to my desk and asks to speak with a manager, during the wait, while his kids were telling him that it was stupid and that she hadn't wanted that anyway he informs them.
Customer: If people don't give you the kind of service you want, you make them give you the kind of service you want.
Apparently being willing to be burned by a hot lava lamp is good service.
Some bitch came in today, wanting to buy the Play Your Way Thursday deal at 6pm. I explained to her that it wasn't available until 9pm and that since we were 18 and over at 10pm it wasn't for kids. First she started bitching about how the website says nothing about it not being available until 9pm, so I should make an exception for her (which isn't true of course
[link] note how it says "Play from 9pm to close for only $10" but whatever, some people are dumb and illiterate, so I let it go), I told her that the ad on the Gameworks website was exactly the same as the ad on the screen above my head (which is true) and it clearly states that it's from 9pm to close. She moves on to bitching about the fact that the kids can't be in there past ten and says that the website should've said something about that. I explained that different stores have different policies and that's why it says "see store for details" and that if she went to the Seattle website, it does say that we're 18 and over and 10pm, because of Seattle city law. She responds to that with, "well we came a long way, all the way from India, can't you make an exception". I explained that we couldn't, explained some of our other options, and suggested that maybe taking a look around would give them a better idea of what they wanted to play (admittedly I mostly suggested that because I was supposed to go on break soon, so I figured that with any luck I'd be gone when she came back, and someone else could deal with her). The co-worker who gives me my breaks came by, and I gave him a heads up that I'd already explained Play Your Way to her, but that if she was going to want one of our combo deals, he should make sure to warn her that there might be a wait for seating for minors (at the time the only seating available was in the bar), then I saw her coming down the stairs, told him that I was going on break, and left. That should've been the last I saw or heard of this horribly unpleasant woman, but no, after trying to trip up my co-worker and bitching and moaning to try to get free stuff, she actually lied to my manager, saying that my co-worker and I had been bickering in front of her about whether or not her kids could play for one hour. Complete and total bullshit since a) we don't bicker in front of guests (though we do bicker much of the rest of the time) and b) there wasn't a single time when all three of us were together. What. An. Asshole. I still don't see what that wretched bitch would even get out of lying (other than a reserved place in bad customer hell).
First a man came up having problems with DOC (two of the six units weren't working properly) I told him that I'd call someone to check it out, and they'd be up as soon as they could but that it could be a while. He left and I called a tech. He was frustrated, but nice about it, and acknowledged that it wasn't my fault (which I appreciate). About twenty minutes later, bitchlady comes up. She asks to speak with a manager, and of course I ask her what it's regarding (since different managers have different specialty areas it makes sense to check first). She tells me that it's about DOC and after confirming that it's still only two units that are broken and that she didn't lose credits, I called down a manager. I told her that a manager was on their way down, and asked her to please step aside so that I could help other guests (whilst she was bitching a line started to form). As I'm helping other guests I hear her re-telling her sad tale about how twelve of them came down and they wanted to play on the six units so that they could take turns (apparently the dumb bitch either didn't realize that twelve is as easily divisible by four as it is by six, or she just liked being an asshole), and about how she worked in customer service for years before becoming a nurse (oh how I pity anyone who has this bitch as a nurse) she starts talking about how I need to give better service, and the "floor attendant" she talked to (it was actually a server) was really nice but I needed a better attitude. Then proceeded to complain about how I basically said "oh well, luck next time" when she told me that they wanted six of them to play at a time (which I didn't even get close to saying) and then about how I shouldn't tell her that it'll be fixed in a second if there's going to be a wait (which is interesting since the dumb bitch wasn't even there when I told the guy in her group that it would be a while for the game to be fixed) and again how I needed to improve my attitude because the customer is always right (which just made me think of
[link] and wonder if any of the horror stories on there are this dumb bitch). I just hope that her little place in that special hell smells like urine, and doesn't have any itch-free fabrics.
This one is half douchebag guest and half awesome guest (who prompted me to write
How To Be Super-Awesome At Gameworks in which this story is included)
So an older man stalks up to my desk, irate:
Asshole Guest: "Switch my card over!"
Me: "Do you have your receipt with you today?"
Asshole Guest: "NO! This card is 10 years old!" (as he's saying this he waves a card in my face that's a year and a half old at the very oldest)
Me: "Alright sir, what exactly is wrong with your card?"
Asshole Guest: "I NEED A NEW ONE!"
Me: "So what does it say when you swipe it?"
Asshole Guest: "How should I know? I haven't swiped it!"
Me: "okay" (I swipe it through the machine to check cards, and it works just fine) "well sir, it looks like it's working just fine"
Asshole Guest: "So you're not going to get me a new one?"
Me: "There's nothing wrong with that one"
Asshole Guest: "Sounds like I need to talk to a MANAGER!"
(at this point the guest behind him in line, who had overheard most of our little interaction stepped in)
Super-Awesome Guest: "Why? Because you can't figure out how to fucking swipe your card?"
The asshole guest stalked off, and didn't ask to speak with a manager.
o, at Gameworks it's two dollars for new cards. They never expire, and the $2 goes on your card as credit, so for normal people who're capable of listening, this is generally not a problem. On Thursday however a lady comes in, and tells me what kind of card she wants and then goes "and I have a card already so don't you dare try to charge me $2" (turns to friend) "they do that here".
Me: "I'm sorry, I can't take someone else's credit card."
Guest: "That's dumb, why do you do that?"
Me: "Why do I not let you use another person's credit card?"
Guest: "Yeah. That's dumb. It's my step mom's"
Guest's little brother (to guest): "Yeah, but anyone could say that. It makes sense."
Guest: "That's dumb. She gave it to me."
Me: I'm sorry sir, kids can't be in here past 10pm
Customer: That's ridiculous! We drove a long way down here.
Me: I'm sorry sir but it's city law, kids can't be in here.
Customer: In that case, I'm going to need to use your phone
Me: Our phone doesn't make outgoing calls, but if you go across the street, there's a payphone
Customer: Nobody carries cash these days. I guess you'll have to get me your manager so I can use your phone.
(I call a manager, and she comes over to speak to the guest)
Customer: I need to use your phone to make a call
Manager: Our phone doesn't make outgoing calls, and I don't have my cell phone with me, but there's a payphone across the street.
(The customer walks over to a group of other customers)
Customer: Can I use your cell phone? These people won't be accommodating enough to let me use their phone.
(Apparently not bending reality to his will is "unaccommodating" of us)
Guest: "Do you have air hockey?"
Me: "Yeah, it's up the stairs *points to stairs* over in that corner *points to corner*"
Guest: "Oh, how do I get upstairs?"
Me: "The stairs"
Yeah. These are the kinds of dumbasses I have to deal with.