On Reddit, one user shared the story of how he lost his job 20 years ago because he was just too engrossed in a game of Madden NFL with a colleague.
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What is this story? User “mypizzaproblem” shared the story on the gaming subreddit on April 13 of how he lost his job at a computer game store because he was too engrossed in a game against his colleague. While the two were distracted, a thief helped himself to the goods.
He only wanted to win once against his colleague
How did that happen? As reported by mypizzaproblem, he worked as a student at EB Games, a store later bought by GameStop. A co-worker he befriended stood out for his skills in the Madden NFL football game.
According to the Reddit user, this colleague regularly went to big tournaments, where he finished in the top 10 and won prize money. He never even remotely matched his colleague until a late shift the week after Thanksgiving in 2003.
It wasn’t much going on, so his buddy challenged him to a game of Madden. Lo and behold, mypizzaproblem had the game of his life: the whole time it was either a draw or he was only one touchdown behind.
How did the accident take its course? Anyone who has ever worked in retail knows that pretty much all problems start with a customer. The Reddit user remembers: There was an older man who wanted to buy an Xbox for his grandson. So mypizzaproblem unlocked the door to the warehouse, grabbed the console and cashed in, then returned to his match.
After a while, another customer entered the store, a middle-aged man in a suit. He looked around for a while while the two gambled and then left.
How did the game go? Although he had done well, mypizzaproblem was ultimately inferior to his colleague by a hair’s breadth. The two closed up shop and went home without realizing anything was wrong.
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What really happened that evening? The next day, the Reddit user was at the university when he received ominous messages from another colleague: Why isn’t the inventory correct? And after a security record check: “Ohhh, you’re screwed.”
As it turned out, the suit wearer apparently noticed how engrossed the two gamers were. He then snuck into the back of the store, where the door to the storage room was still unlocked, and stole $1,000 worth of Game Boy SPs.
How did he finally lose his job? According to mypizzaproblem, the district manager had to come to view the footage from the security cameras. He then discussed it individually with the two gamers.
The Reddit user initially thought he was safe because the recordings only showed his buddy while he himself was covered by an advertising banner. Any luck again? No, his own cockiness was probably his undoing.
Because with every touchdown he scored, the gamer jumped up jubilantly, right into the camera’s field of view.
How did the story end? According to mypizzaproblem, both were fired without notice, but quickly found new jobs. According to his profile, he now works in the film industry. The job in the game store was – apart from the catastrophic pay – still his favorite job.
The security camera footage was later shown at a manager conference in Las Vegas as a lesson in what not to do.
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