A reallocation of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S packages brought a lot of hopeful customers to physical GameStop locations, according to a report from over the weekend Bloomberg and confirmation by a Kotaku Source. The staff shortage and the risk of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in the US left employees feeling both overwhelmed and insecure.
GameStop employees were first made aware of the assignment on Saturday morning, with just 15 minutes between the internal announcement and the email notification to customers. Like the next generation consoles almost impossible to findShops were overwhelmed almost immediately with phone calls and visitors hoping to get their hands on the limited inventory.
What was already a stressful situation just got bigger when GameStop’s point of sale system crashed when the event went live. The crowds waited for hours in retail stores whose precautions were already known fewer when Perfect.
An employee who wanted to remain anonymous said Kotaku The whole situation was “Bull Crap”.
“I have no idea what our corporate headquarters were doing to get people flocking to the store in the middle of the pandemic and the rising numbers,” the employee said.
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GameStop’s subreddit, which employees use to regularly anonymously complain about the company’s working conditions, is full of similar accounts.
Speak with KotakuA GameStop representative said the weekend’s events were the company’s way of stopping scalping. We have listed the company’s entire statement below.
“GameStop recently took stock of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S consoles received. In order to reward our most loyal PowerUp Rewards Pro members, we decided to exclusively inform these customers of the new range of consoles to express our appreciation for their business and trust in GameStop to meet all of their gaming and entertainment needs. Our approach to notifying these customers quickly should ensure that they, and not resellers, can purchase the console of their choice through our web in-store ecommerce application. We recognize that our approach to informing customers about this opportunity may, in some situations, have resulted in unintended reactions from both our employees and our customers. We apologize for any inconvenience. “
For the past few years, GameStop has had one massive reduction at both locations and in the workforce, but struggling business has managed to stay alive despite the complications caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the working hours of the remaining employees have been reduced so that GameStop managers often do not receive the support they need to cover both regular working hours and the currently extended hours of vacation time. A controversial internal advertisement recently prompted stores to do so compete for Black Friday hours by sending dances to the TikTok video sharing platform.
GameStop’s surprising weekend assignment is the cherry on the sundae that employees were treated to in 2020. Being a worker in a capitalist society is rarely a no-brainer and can only get more stressful when people are running around your business that seems so unconcerned about your wellbeing.
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