Women selling games is a topic I've wanted to talk about for a long time. I wonder what they go through? Is it bad? Are they mistreated by their coworkers? Do their opinions carry as much weight with customers as those of their male counterparts?
To get the answers to my questions, I conducted a few interviews. The results probably won't surprise you, and I discovered many of my assumptions were true. I collected some of the responses here and weeded out some answers to avoid redundancy. I've also removed the names of the ladies I interviewed to respect their privacy.
Question 1: Have your male coworkers ever mistreated you?
Respondent 1: Not really no. Most of the guys I worked with were really cool. There were a couple times where they would use me being a girl as a joke during a conversation, but it was really all in good fun.
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Respondent 2: I got hit on pretty regularly, but as soon as I complained it stopped.
Not a shocker here folks. There's really no excuse for any guy to ever mistreat a female coworker. Also, male workers hitting on female coworkers is pretty universal, and I've seen it happen at every job I've ever had.
Question 2: Did a male customer ever make you feel like your opinion didn't count because you're a woman?
Respondent 1: I dunno. It seems like most guys were having a hard time trusting my opinion on games and were skeptical like if they had a technical question or something and they wouldn't take my word that something would work.
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Respondent 2: Pretty much whenever I helped someone and showed them that I had the knowledge to talk about games they treated me like anyone else. There were a couple times, though, where guys wouldn't even talk to me. This one guy waited till a male associate was done helping someone to ask a question. There was also this other guy who just left when everyone else was busy.
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Respondent 3: Yes, daily, like all the time.
Mark Daigle: So they just wouldn't listen or they asked someone else?
Respondent 3: Well, most of the time it seems like they are trying to make it seem like they want a second opinion, but you can just tell it's because I'm female. Like if I had been a guy, they definitely wouldn't ask anyone else.
This seems pretty obvious as well. These women do their jobs well and have knowledge to share, but for some customers this isn't enough. The third respondent went on to explain several times where she felt really mistreated. This seemed to be a common theme with most of the women I spoke with, and I'm not at all surprised by this. On the flip side, a lot of these women spoke to me about regular customers they have who trust and defer to them for most game decisions. Progress is clearly being made, but old stereotypes are still having a negative effect on female workers.
Question 3: Have female customers ever treated you differently because you are also female?
Respondent 1: Yeah, like a lot of moms and stuff would ask me for help picking games for their kids. I think I just made them feel more at ease.
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Respondent 2: Mostly older women — they will approach me directly because they feel a little overwhelmed when coming in. [It] makes them feel a little more comfortable talking to a woman. Most of them have never been in our store before.
MD: So you've never had an experience where a younger woman might be a little rude to you because you're a girl at a game store?
Respondent 2: No, not ever.
With the gaming market expanding, large retailers can be intimidating places for first-time customers. It seems that having a female worker on-site at all times can be a great advantage. Also, we can see that women can identify with other women just as easily as a men identify with other men.
Question 4: Has a male customer ever asked you out or hit on you?
Respondent 1: Yeah, a lot. Most of it's just harmless flirting, and it's like that with all my other jobs so its not a big deal.
MD: Have you ever said yes to anyone?
Respondent 1: Yeah. One time, this guy was pretty good looking so we went out. It was terrible though. All he wanted to talk about was games, and then he invited me back to his place to play Halo. I mean, I like games but that's not all there is to me, ya know?
MD: So no second date?
Respondent 1: Haha, no.
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Respondent 2: All day. Every day.
MD: Have you ever said yes?
Respondent 2: No.
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Respondent 3:Yeah, but its no big deal. It happened at all my other jobs, so I'm used to it.
MD: Do you ever say yes?
Respondent 3: Yeah, I went out on a couple dates but the conversations were only ever about games. One guy even asked me to help him get a job at my store.
MD: So, no second date?
Respondent 3: No.
Now, we all know that some men will hit on pretty much anything that walks, but I find it interesting that the two respondents that said yes to dates ended up with guys that only wanted to talk about games all night. Gaming is not necessarily what they identify with, fellas.
Like I said, none of these responses really shocked me, but I still found the process and the conversations interesting. Thank you to all the female employees that took the time to speak to me.
If you have any experiences with female video-game retail workers (or you are one), please feel free to share in the comments.