I'd advise against this. It may sound like fun, but you'll have to deal with clueless customers, managers, and higher ups every day. Seems like every time I go to my local Gamestop, they're always talking about stupid rules and having their hours shifted around , etc.

If you feel like this would make you content, go for it. I'm not here to judge anyone's path in life. However, if you feel like you want a house some day, a nice HDTV, all of the new games coming out for your shiny new Xbox 720, PS4, and Wii2, and a nice car; maybe a vacation every now and then, or a kid or two... forget it.

I'm not saying their living the life.  They just get by and they do it fine.

I also don't mean nice car as in brand new 2009.  I mean nice as in, newer.

The problem with most people now days, they think they need to make a ton of money to get by, they don't, they just spend money without thinking.

It's called budget, you can live fine off any wage.

$7.25 per hour x 32 hours (since a clerk is a part time job, not full time)=$232 a week. Take 10% for taxes so $208.80 a week. I'll round up to $210. So $840 every four weeks.

Rent: $400 (Fair, right? That's pretty low end.)
Gas: $70 (Two fillups a month. Any less than that is unrealistic.)
Electric: $50 (I'm paying three times as much so I figure this will work out correctly. I used to manage about $50 when I had a small one bedroom.)
Food: $200 (This is basically a diet of pasta, cheap shit food, some vegetables and cheap meat. Everything is grocery store bought.)
Water: $20 (I can't remember what my bill was but I'm sure it was in this vicinity.)

So that leaves you with $100 a month and is under the assumption that your car was purchased in total. It's $100 to use for medical services, car maintenance, and entertainment purposes. I suppose it is "possible" to live like this for a short period of time until you hit one single rainy day and your life turns upside down from that first problem that requires money to fix it.

To be fair, someone could room with another person and cut his bills in half. So ~$300/month which will get spread pretty thin anyways.

I know how to balance a budget, and I understand personal finances very well. I'm the only person I know who managed to go through college and end up without any debts at all. In fact, I had enough money to buy a new car outright by the time I graduated. If by nice car you mean a 10 year old Honda Accord for ~4.5k then sure, cause that is what I bought. I think it is nice, but I'd never tell someone else I have a "nice" car. Either they are racking up the debt, or your definition of nice is way lower than my definition of nice.

I know there are other ways to cut the budget down. I was merely using chaospluto's scenario at face value to show that it's far too little money to support that lifestyle. I didn't even get into the "having nice things" portion, but it's obviously not possible.

Salary is $8 an hour.

It's not very much, but if you choose to combine a work in Gamestop with playing Word of Warcraft in your free time, your expenses for leisure will be very cheap (just $25 per month if you have double accounts) and you'll be able to live and breathe games with your whole existence.

The vast majority of retail jobs start out at above minimum wage where I live.  Also, I don't think it would be that hard or unfun living on $7 an hour with occasional raises.  There are so many Gamestops, you likely wouldn't even need a car in many areas.  For example, a rent a room out of a house (very little money) and live within a mile of a Gamestop (and 50 other stores).  I could sell my car, work at Gamestop, and live a fine life, IMHO.

How much does an average Gamestop Employee make?

Maybe 18,000 to 20,000 Microsoft points per week. Not sure how much that is in real dollars.

I'd go to college and get myself a career >_>

It depends on what part of the country you live. Some places you can rent for $250/month, some it's hard to find under $700...

As for GAS, if you live close enough to walk to work some days and don't do much shopping, under $40/month is possible for some life styles.


That said, you could do better. It should be fine as a entry job, even for a few years, but generally wouldn't recommend it as a long term career choice. That said, as long as you can live within your means and enjoy the job, don't listed listen to what other people say you need to do. As long as you don't lust after 40+" flat panel TVs, all the latest consoles, etc, you can live off of minimum wage even if only 30 hours a week.