‘I Don’t Care if I Get Let Go at This Point’: GameStop Staff Reveal The Dark Side of Trade Anything Day, As Customers Harassed Employees and Deliberately Brought In Banned Items

A day after GameStop celebrated its Trade Anything Day event, the retailer’s staff have shared their experiences of handling everything customers brought in — including numerous items deliberately designed to shock or gross out employees at the cash register.

Yesterday, GameStop shared a bizarre list of items it proudly said it had accepted in exchange for store credit, including a taxidermied bobcat, a painting of someone’s dog with hair like Snoop Dogg, and a physical Netflix disc for the Nintendo Wii.

But, it turns out, the list of items GameStop couldn’t accept was even weirder — and staff have now recounted how they had to deal with customers looking to cause trouble or go viral on social media by filming their store visits, all while carting a range of dubious items in tow.

Numerous examples have been posted to TikTok and X showing encounters between customers and tired-looking GameStop staff as they are presented with objects clearly designed to cause them discomfort.

One such interaction sees a female employee get told they have “something big” for her, before the customer hands over a small potrait with the words “I Love Epstein” on it, complete with a photo of President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein together. “I want at least $5 million,” the customer states, as the employee responds that she’s unsure what to do with it.

Another example sees a customer bring in a Sonic the Hedgehog plushie, which a GameStop employee then begins the trade-in process for. “It’s hard to give up, I use him every night,” the customer states. It’s eventually revealed that the Sonic plushie has a Fleshlight inserted in its bottom.

@special_kram power to the players #gamestop ♬ original sound – Special_Kram

“Had someone come to the store and they full on slapped it on the table,” yet another GameStop employee wrote on reddit, recalling an incident where a man had brought in a dildo. The man was told to leave, though the incident escalated to the point where the employee said they were now worried they were in trouble with their regional manager.

“There were a lot of kids in the store and so I got upset and kicked him out,” the employee continued. “I don’t care if I get let go at this point. How tf is this man going to defend a dude for bringing a literal dildo into the store?”

Many employees have suggested that GameStop management clearly encouraged this behavior by designing a deliberately jokey promotion that prompted customers to push the boundaries of what was acceptable to trade-in.

Others called out the chain’s decision to play loud sound effects and background noise throughout the day, annoying both customers and staff alike. “To the corporate geniuses who had the frequently sped up voice sound effect, alarms, and klaxon noise on GameStop TV for Trade Anything Day,” wrote one employee, “I hope you all stubs your toes so hard. I had to work 11 hours today and it was horrible hearing this crap in the background while trying to process four dozen trade-in games.”

Amid all the awful experiences, there were some more positive interactions. GameStop has said that some customers brought in “canned food donations for local food banks and pet shelters.” Another employee said a customer traded in a box of donuts for store staff to enjoy. Still, with the likelihood that Trade Anything Day will now be repeated, there remains concern among many staff about what may be brought in next time.

Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social