Yu-Gi-Oh Sunday.....ARUGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

[Stepharoonie!]

Ok...most of you know I'm a manager of a comic store. On Sunday, we have Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments. ARUGH! Let me tell you, it is a pain in the BOO-TAY!

We open at noon, and close at six on Sundays. I usually get here between 11:30-11:45, depending on how slow I am getting ready. There are ALWAYS at least 10 kids waiting outside for me to open up. The first tournament does not start until 1:30 p.m.; the second SHOULD start at 2 p.m., but lately, has been starting about 3 p.m. Of course, this makes the kids hang out much later than they should.

Until the actual tournament starts, they're supposed to stay in the two back gaming rooms and play amongst themselves, but they DO NOT LISTEN! We (myself and whichever co-worker is with me that day) are glorified babysitters. Kids literally run back and forth from the showroom to the game room; items are stolen like there is no tomorrow (and it's not just items that are for sale, kids steal other kids' cards, too); the trash heaps up everywhere; they are constantly using the phone to call home or friends; they plop down on the sales floor and start reading books, or watching tv; it seems I have to ask them to go back to the back AT LEAST 40 times a Sunday.....sigh. They do not respect me or anyone else in this store. The WORST part of Sundays is the card trading....literally every five minutes a group of kids run up wanting to trade cards, and try as I might, I just can't always do it. I'll tell them to come back at a specified time (usually about 4 p.m.) and ten minutes later they're back asking if it's time yet.

I've tried to be nice; I've tried to be patient; now I'm just getting angry with them, and I LOATHE working on Sundays. I don't like being a babysitter!

Anywho, had to vent a minute. I'm on my lunch break, so I can

Thanks for listening

 

[Lorix2]

Wow - I wouldn't look forward to that either.

Is there a policy you can institute about kids only allowed to enter the tournaments with their parents present for the event?

Maybe this will help keep some kids in line?

 

[momof2inPA]

I think Lori is right. This scenario happened at our Toys R Us, and they ended up cancelling the tournaments. It was too bad because my 6 year old loved to go, but other unsupervised kids were stealing from the younger kids, and the parents just dropped young ones off at the door and came back hours later.

It is a good game for learning Math, though; and I am sure some of the kids appreciate your hard work, even if they don't say so. Have you moved the high frequency shop lift items to the front of the store in view of the cashier? They tried that at our store with some success.

Monday will be here soon.