Guilty Pleasures

[alshrive]

so i have a confession, and i'm not sure Fr Owen would understand what i am talking about so i decided that this is a confession best aimed at the online community. On release day of 6th Edition i was not at my Local Games Workshop. I was on a weekend away and made the effort to go down to the store nearest to the hotel. so far so good.

I walked into the store, and rather than the friendly banter one might sometimes get i practically had a 6th Edition Rulebook forced into my hands and started to be ushered towards the till. It was at this point that something deep inside me snapped and i discovered a secret guilty please. I feigned ignorance. It wasn't until i was near the till (with the staffers manager in earshot) that i just chirped up and asked what he was doing. i claimed never to have been into a gw before and was more satisfying my curiosity at the large crowd and left the Staffmember behind the till dumbfounded and coming to terms with the realisation that he hadn't actually tried to talk to me, rather just empty my wallet in to the till.

I do not know what repurcussions, if any, will come of this and i do feel a slight twinge of guilt about doing that to a staff member in front of their management but YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IF I WANTED IT!!!

So now i would like to open up the floor to the rest of you. Who here has done something similar, who here has enjoyed it?

Rant Over,

ALShrive

[Wolfshade]

I would probably have done the same.
I think you were right to do so, the assumption that you know what the hobby was about and the way the sell was described it could be very much a turn off to a non-40k player.
I would say that the staffer would be reasonable to assume that most people in the store that day were for the new rulebook and it was the reason why you were there so the assumption was valid.

I think on reflection that that sell amde you feel uncomfortable which was not the atmospher GW usually engenders but on that particualr busy day things might have slipped.
I've never had that sort of experiance, my usual problem is trying to leave the store because I am having such a good conversation with the staff

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Ow man, that's cold.
I just tell people straight up that I'm happy with what I have.

Though GW Shrewsbury knows not to ask me to buy anything because I will buy it when I want it.

[Psychosplodge]

I've found that a lot of GW are like that if you're not a recognised face...

[alshrive]

yeah my local GW are brilliant with me, they should be, i used to work there! but it is this assumption that anybody they don't recognise must be already interested in the hobby that truly irks me

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Good thing that the ones in my area know me.

Shrewsbury, Birming'nam, Chester...

[pauljc]

That's actually pretty poor, even for GW's training standards. Having worked there as keytimer, fulltimer, and eventually an area manager, I can tell you they have a vast manual for this. In fact it is one of the key reasons they have become so big, and also one of the things I truly commend them for: they forged a system for selling and teaching miniature wargames. A template that could be applied globally.

But, any good GW store manager knows (even if secretly) how to tailor the system so that it is not simply robotic repetition.

Back to the point, though, all GW store personnel are taught how to approach and interact with customers. And while we might not always enjoy or appreciate such treatment, it definitely has it's place.

So, yeah, even as a store owner myself, I can't fault the OP for this guilty pleasure. The store manager hasn't done his job properly.

[heretic marine]

you know I would have done the same thing, I also may have been more rude to the guy too.

[juliusb]

You could've really played dumb and said "wow, I've never won anything like this before!" and run out of the store yelling "free Dungeons and Dragons books! I won!"

[SotonShades]

I've never done anything like this to a Staff member, but there was this kid once...

He was known the the staff at the store and the regulars for being an annoying little -*Censored by His most Hole Inquisition. All hail the Emperor!*- brat who made the more than the odd racist/homophobic comment, usually just under his breath where adults were within earshot. Well in this particular day, he decided it would be smart/funny to ask various people how much money it would take to let a man have intercourse with them. Most of them just got embaressed and just mumbled to get rid of him. When he got to me, I just answered yes with confidence as he decreased the amount incrementally.

The kid just started laughing and then one of my friends said "You know he's gay, right?" I'm not inclined that way at all, nor am I at all homophobic. It was so funny just to watch the kid's eyes bulge out of his head like I had just sprouted deamonic wings. He ran out of the store and, last I heard, he hasn't been in the store since. I even got a small ripple of applause for, ironically enough, playing the whole thing with a straight face.