GameStop sued by Passive/Aggressive employees

GameSpot (omg same letters!) is reporting that GameStop is being sued by store managers in Louisiana for not letting them be real managers and not paying overtime:

According to the suit, "All store managers are required to follow, in precise detail, the store operations manual which dictates the procedure for operation of the retail establishment. ... The job of store manager requires virtually no actual management of employees or exercise of discretionary function."

For example, the plaintiffs say GameStop decided how much to pay the store staff, made all pricing decisions, decided what (and how much) to stock, where items would be placed on shelves, and how they would be promoted. The suit also says store managers couldn't even hire or fire their own employees, that power being reserved for district managers.

Welcome to Retail. You may as well be flipping burgers. I'm sure that not getting overtime is the biggest reason why most GameStop E3 Passes ended up being sold for cash on eBay. Whatever. I feel no pity for the worker who hates their job, thinks they are getting shafted, and goes back to it day after day. Quit. Find another job. Something you like. Something that makes your heart sing inside.

Something that doesn't make you take out your aggression on customers instead of your District Manager.

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Why do I have a feeling that these used to be EB Managers? EB gave most of these responcibilities to their managers. I hired, I fired, I scheduled. Using EB's planogram, I had authority to make slight changes to the layout of my store. I promoted dozens of part time associates to Assistand Managers and I was instrumental in promoting several Assistants to Store Managers. Now that GameStop has taken over, everything has gone in the crapper. I knew it was going to happen, that's why I left in May '05, not long after the announcement.

It's one thing to knock those that get jobs and immediately complain but do nothing about it, its totally different to talk smack about those that have put years into their store just to have everything change. Where are they going to go that provides anywhere close the level of enjoyment that was Electronics Boutique (note: I'm not talking about EB Games, or as I call it, the beginning of the end)? There are no Speciality Retailers left that sell Video Games exclusively, and those that do are not going to provide the stability that we were used to.

I say fight! Fight Fontaine, fight him to the death. And screw Steve Morgan, that friggin' pansy is the reason why you got pestered by store personel to preorder this, or sign up for that. He's the reason why you can no longer return crappy games like you used to. Don't blame the Store Managers. They are actually fighting to regain control over their stores and actually help the customers.

I can see where having had the job responsibilites at one time, only to have them taken away would be more valid for this lawsuit. But there is no distinction in any of the reports I've been seeing. If it turns out this was the case, then I'll have some sympathy. For now, these guys still sound like they took jobs as Stable Boys, and are suing because they have to shovel shit.

Interesting. I wasn't aware of the culture differences between Gamestop and EB either...