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Friend applied for a job I formerly have but I don't think he's a good fit for it. Should I call my old job and give them my opinion? (1 Viewer)

DJackson10

Footballguy
So my buddy who quit his job working for a Go Wireless verizion store last year (I've talked about him here at length) finally got a job for the first time since last July working for Motorola as a sales pitch guy. Basically a vendor who goes into retail stores that sells phones trying to get those companies too sell his companies brands. I was coming home from work today and didn't see his car (Just started the job and he is off Sun and Mondays) so I figured he met up with an old coworker. His job entails a lot of travel and he will have to go up to State College Penn State Area which is a good 4-5 hrs drive which is on company dime and stay there a few days when doing stores up there. Anyway I get a text shortly after I'm out of the shower, that he applied to my old job at GameStop for a management roll. It's a Store Lead Director role. Naturally having worked there I asked him where at? he told me it's one of two stores in the township next to us but the interview was at my old store. I gave him my opinion on when I worked there what it was like. I loved the people I worked with and the fact I did a job and got to talk about a job I had a lot of interest and spend a lot of time anyway. I was screwed over by the DM at the time as my buddy had hired me and was gonna bring me on as non seasonal help. one thing led to another and he was told by our DM he had to take 2 other people one from a different store that closed and one person who was coming back into the company so he had no room for me still. Pay wasn't great but I was doing that while working my current job (Worked in a different department under different hours) and was just using the money from GS as spending money.

After we were finished talking my buddy and I, I realized it's probably not a great job for him. Based on my experience a lot of people at Gamestop at least manager wise have a lot of gaming background in different systems and tech involved. My Buddy sold phones has always owned a Sony Playstation and Nintendo as well as a Sega Dreamcast. However he really doesn't know the ins and outs of working at a place like a gamestop. Totally different atmosphere. A lot of the hire up bosses to say it kindly are horrible people, never take their store leads advice on anything, and theres been a tons of abuse at the top from corporate level on down. Now the managing isn't an issue as he's managed before as more or less he has no experience managing or working in a company like GS. Think for him it'd be best if he got an ASL (Assist Store Lead) position & learned from someone with experience already. Think if he goes straight into management the results are gonna fail. He's also not the best personality people wise in terms of sales. In fact he's pretty bad at it. I don't know why he continues to go for these jobs and you can't talk to him about because he's thick headed and thinks he's great at it. I got hired by my friends as I use to hang up there after work a lot. I would help solve issues without working there for customers. They'd come in next time ask where I was and say the problem was fixed and they'd tell the customer he doesn't work for us just hands out here with us as he works at the Grocery store and when he gets done hangs out here. The one guy I knew through his sister working with me

Before he texted me I have off Tuesday and was planning to go up there to maybe see if I could get my job back work a few hours a week etc. I figured while I was up there see the person who interviewed was there. Give him my own reference on my buddy. I'm not trying to not have them hire him but I want to maybe suggest to them if a ASL job and earn from a Store manager would be better for him. I'm actually trying to help him succeed as he's gone from job to job for the last decade or so since he graduated college. Despite some of the negatives its good company and the Store Directors get a lot of Cool perks including a trip to Vegas yearly for the corporate level meeting where SD's from all over the country go, get to check out the latest games and perks etc. They are also the only employees who have benefits with the company. It's a good job if you know what you are doing and have a good crew. Considering my experience already in the company I wanted to try and help him. He really thinks they will hire him for the manager job. 

Edit: Forgot to Mention he put me down as a reference as I use to work for them 

 
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Why would you do that -  maybe he’ll figure it out and it will work out well for him?

Wish him luck and maybe just give him a heads up about some of the things you know. But doesn’t mean he’ll face the same issues, good or bad.

 
You should talk with your friend, no matter how thickheaded he is, about what you think will help be successful in the job. Telling the people that hired him that he isn't a good fit would be a pretty **** move. I wouldn't do that to someone I disliked yet alone a friend. 

 
i'm wheezing at this thread. you're trying to save a multi billion dollar company from potentially hiring a local manager that if need be, they could fire and replace in about 2 days?

or, you know.. he actually succeeds at managing a local gamespot store just fine.

 
It's official the OP has to be my wife posting under an alias.  She's the only one I know that can take a 10 second answer to a question into a 15 minute discussion.  Bonus sometimes she doesn't actually answer the original question

ETA: Hi honey...

 
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Before he texted me I have off Tuesday and was planning to go up there to maybe see if I could get my job back work a few hours a week etc. I figured while I was up there see the person who interviewed was there. Give him my own reference on my buddy. 
710am, somwehere in canada - my wife is looking over at me from the breakfast table, asking "wth are you laughing at?"

 
Unless the job really sucks and you want to warn your friend (I realize this is not the case), there is no reason to tell your old company. Who does that? And assuming this friend will get the job is a stretch too. A lot of folks looking for jobs right now.

 
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Ok, now that we're down the rabbit hole.....I'd actually be sort of curious to know what "problems" a guy in his early 30's with retail, sales and management experience would have running a gamestop. 

The store is like 800 square feet and like 95% of video game sales are online anyway. Who even goes in there with a "problem" that needs to be solved in 2021? What sort of "advice" would a store manager take up the chain that regional management would have to chose to ignore.

Seems like the hardest part of that gig is organizing the nap and weed smoking breaks for the 2 teenagers working there on any given day

 
You should talk with your friend, no matter how thickheaded he is, about what you think will help be successful in the job. Telling the people that hired him that he isn't a good fit would be a pretty **** move. I wouldn't do that to someone I disliked yet alone a friend. 
I’ll be honest, I would do it for someone I disliked if I was still on good relations with the place I left. I wouldn’t want them to hire someone who could be a problem. It would depend on why I disliked him or her, i.e. they were a bad person vs a husband of my wife’s friend that I thought was just annoying. The latter should come across in interviews the former might be hidden. Anyway, definitely would be some scenarios where I’d want to warn the place I left. Also, telling his old workplace he’s a bad fit is a total **** move. Telling him what he needs to succeed is the only real option and it’s kind of odd to not go there first.

 
Sometimes I wonder if this is real.

And if he's been playing 4D Chess this whole time. 

Never stop being you GB.

 
I’ll be honest, I would do it for someone I disliked if I was still on good relations with the place I left. I wouldn’t want them to hire someone who could be a problem. It would depend on why I disliked him or her, i.e. they were a bad person vs a husband of my wife’s friend that I thought was just annoying. The latter should come across in interviews the former might be hidden. Anyway, definitely would be some scenarios where I’d want to warn the place I left. Also, telling his old workplace he’s a bad fit is a total **** move. Telling him what he needs to succeed is the only real option and it’s kind of odd to not go there first.
I mean if a friend of mine hired someone I didn’t like and I thought that new hire would cause trouble for my friend, I would say something. That’s a pretty specific scenario though where I would ever open my mouth to take a job away from someone when I wasn’t directly involved as an employer, employee or customer. 

 
What kind of person would rat on their "friend"? I didnt even read the OP.
It’s not even ratting. His friend hasn’t even done anything yet. It’s worse than ratting, it’s trying to set him up to fail. I would sympathize more if he knew his friend was embezzling from the company or something and he was going to turn him in. That makes more sense than this.

 
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Before he texted me I have off Tuesday and was planning to go up there to maybe see if I could get my job back work a few hours a week etc. I figured while I was up there see the person who interviewed was there. Give him my own reference on my buddy. I'm not trying to not have them hire him but I want to maybe suggest to them if a ASL job and earn from a Store manager would be better for him. I'm actually trying to help him succeed as he's gone from job to job for the last decade or so since he graduated college. Despite some of the negatives its good company and the Store Directors get a lot of Cool perks including a trip to Vegas yearly for the corporate level meeting where SD's from all over the country go, get to check out the latest games and perks etc. They are also the only employees who have benefits with the company. It's a good job if you know what you are doing and have a good crew. Considering my experience already in the company I wanted to try and help him. He really thinks they will hire him for the manager job. 
If I were the company and I read what you wrote in your first post, I would hire him for the manager job. People are trainable. I would not give you your job back. Your self-interest is why you don't want your "friend" to get this job. Too bad the guy doesn't realize that you are not really his friend.

 
If asked then give your opinion.   Othwise no.    

If you give your OP and they hire him anyway and he does well they will say you don`t know squat and may tell your friend.   If you give your OP and they hire him and he is bad that shows they did not value your OP in the first place.

But for entertainment value go for it!

 
If I were the company and I read what you wrote in your first post, I would hire him for the manager job. People are trainable. I would not give you your job back. Your self-interest is why you don't want your "friend" to get this job. Too bad the guy doesn't realize that you are not really his friend.
He put me as a reference he said as well and they called me. What am I suppose to do lie to them? 

 
If asked then give your opinion.   Othwise no.    

If you give your OP and they hire him anyway and he does well they will say you don`t know squat and may tell your friend.   If you give your OP and they hire him and he is bad that shows they did not value your OP in the first place.

But for entertainment value go for it!
I forgot to mention he did put me down as a reference 

 
He put me as a reference he said as well and they called me. What am I suppose to do lie to them? 
When you wrote your original post, you didn't know until he texted you that he applied for that job. You wanted to know if you should call them and give your opinion of him.  *Also, if they really have called you for a reference, they must be interested. Why would you put a wrench in your friend's opportunity to prove that he can do that job?  If he fails, he fails on his own, but he could very well succeed. 

 
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If asked then give your opinion.   Othwise no.    

If you give your OP and they hire him anyway and he does well they will say you don`t know squat and may tell your friend.   If you give your OP and they hire him and he is bad that shows they did not value your OP in the first place.

But for entertainment value go for it!
I forgot to mention he did put me down as a reference 
i find it hard to believe that you forgot to mention literally anything about anything in that wall of text up there i mean cripes your new nickname is tolstoy anyhow so i dont believe he put you down as a reference and i think you are just saying that now after literally everyone said dont be a laroosh and you are trying to save face now take that to the bank bromigo 

 
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It's official the OP has to be my wife posting under an alias.  She's the only one I know that can take a 10 second answer to a question into a 15 minute discussion.  Bonus sometimes she doesn't actually answer the original question

ETA: Hi honey...
Hey babe....

Best part is we live near each other too

 
When you wrote your original post, you didn't know until he texted you that he applied for that job.  *Also, if they really have called you for a reference, they must be interested. Why would you put a wrench in your friend's opportunity to prove that he can do that job?  If he fails, he fails on his own, but he could very well succeed. 
This isn't putting a wrench in it as much as he thought referencing me working there will get him the job. He's incredible entitled and thinks just because he puts me as a reference automatically helps get him the job easier. I actually worked for yrs to get to GS and prove people I could do it. Hung out at my local GS like I said numerous times and helped when I didn't have too customers. I went the extra mile. My buddy likes doing the bare minimum. 

Also I didn't know he applied and he told me this morning he put me down as a reference. Had he told me before applying I would've told him not to put me down 

 
If your comments to the potential employer are going to be anything other than a 100% glowing recommendation, you have to call your "friend" and tell him not to use you as a reference any more.
He literally put me on without telling me first. If he had asked I would've told him know. He's incredible entitled and for yrs his parents yes'd him. Very spoiled. He thinks putting me down as a reference will help him automatically get him the job. I found out this morning after I got a phone call from them about it. I told them if I could call them back or stop in after as I was coming up anyway for something else and I needed to talk to my buddy. Had he told me he put me down as a reference I would've told him not too kindly. I'm gonna tell them the truth and not lie to them because what does me lying get me? I'm gonna tell them he's a reliable and comes in on time, never calls out unless he's truly sick or some family emergency, gets along with coworkers. however he's not great at sales, he tends to let friendship with employees get in the way of his management at times with co workers. However I will tell them I think he learns the job under someone as an assistant maybe he could do better. I think one of his biggest issues is he's never been trained appropriately to be a manager especially at a major company. He's literally been just given manager roles for just being at the job and being one of the few people applying. He''s one of those who has gone from Manager to demotion, to manager, to demotion, to manager to getting a buyout or put in another store as a demotion. If he was as good of a manager as he thinks he is, well he wouldn't be going back and fourth so many times

 
i find it hard to believe that you forgot to mention literally anything about anything in that wall of text up there i mean cripes your new nickname is tolstoy anyhow so i dont believe he put you down as a reference and i think you are just saying that now after literally everyone said dont be a laroosh and you are trying to save face now take that to the bank bromigo 
Not  sure what you are talking about bro..but I will take it to the bank.

 
I'm torn here. The subject matter is genuinely hilarious.

But if none of this is satire, none of ought to be laughing and instead teaching this special young man some life lessons.

 
Grab Sandman's cane and turn heel on your "friend" already. "Friend" sound like a self-absorbed entitled SOB. He is definitely jealous of you GB.

And go cane the frostbitten tenant for good measure.

 
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