Reduced Price Guide Thread-Lucky Number XIII(FAQ in 2nd post)

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The Reduced Price Guide FAQ/OP has been moved to the SECOND post.

Below is SIX MONTHS or so(counting January 2010) of guide drop info. If you want to see the full list, please refer to the second post of the Reduced Price Guide Thread X that can be found HERE .

CE/SE/LE=HARDCOVER GUIDE
Red=Gamestop drop
Blue=Best Buy drop

Recent Drops(listed newest to oldest):

>>>Dropped on 3.07.12

Gamestop 1
¢

Battlefield 3 CE


>>>Dropped on 1.25.12>>Dropped on 10.19.11Dropped on 10.13.11Dropped on 10.13.11Dropped on 10.6.11Dropped on 10.6.11Dropped on 9.15.11Dropped on 9.15.11Dropped on 9.7.11Dropped on 9.7.11Dropped on 8.17.11Dropped on 8.17.11Dropped on 8.8.11>>Dropped on 4.27.11Dropped on 4.13.11Dropped on 4.13.11Dropped on 3.30.11>>Dropped on 2.21.11Dropped on 1.26.11>>Dropped on 06.25.10Dropped on 06.07.10>>Dropped on 03.18.10Dropped on 03.04.10Dropped on 03.04.10Dropped on 02.22.10Dropped on 02.22.10Dropped on 01.27.10Dropped on 01.27.10
 
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[quote name='Shan82']Has the CE pennied? :) If so, what's the SKU?

On a different note, I went into a Gamestop tonight and found Nostalgia, Operation Flashpoint and Ghostbusters guides. Drops from over a year ago?! :eek:[/QUOTE]

If you have the SKU for the Operation Flashpoint guide, I'd appreciate it. Even though chances are VERY LOW that any stores near me will have it, it'll take less than a minute to run an inventory search so why not?
 
Sku's:

Operation Flashpoint: 832408
Final Fantasy 4 Heroes: 830305
Brutal legend: 832381
Metroid Prime Trilogy: 832379
Nostalgia: 832411
Super Smash Brothers Brawl: 832136
Harvest Moon Sunshine Islands: 832414
Ghostbusters: 832365

These are all guides I grabbed tonight from a gamestop. My Halo Reach (from yesterday) I don't have on me and couldn't include the SKU. Hope these help! :)
 
Holy shit! 3 stores in downtown NY have the Flashpoint guide! :p

EDIT: and 6 or so have the MPT guide!

EDIT2: anyone know how hard it is to drive in downtown NY(yankee stadium and downtown area)

EDIT3: cheapest, your links in the first post are borked.
 
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I just did the same as I did for the prior thread, which was cut/paste the whole first post into the new one.:razz:

Which prior guide thread ones are borked though? I think some of the 5-6 year old ones weren't loading right but they take a bit to load in.
 
Alrighty. I unborked the 3 or so that I found to be broken. Though at this point I think unless you've got a really lazy bunch of employees at BB/GS in your area you're not likely to find stuff older than 3 months.
 
[quote name='bgame2']2 sealed Reach and a sealed FF XIII! Success![/QUOTE]

Congrats. Hopefully you're not in my area. I went to a GS store that showed both Halo Reach CE and FF XIII CE in stock and found neither. I was doubtful about FF XIII at this late date but thought the Reach CE might be real.

The GS locator link is interesting but I would be skeptical of the results, and definitely not make a special trip based on them (especially with gas prices now).
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']If they are a jerk to me or hassle me for the usual pre-orders and expect me to do one JUST to get them to shut up about it, then I'll buy something just so I could get a receipt to be able to do the survey from it to give them all 1's. Believe it or not Gamestop corporate values those surveys as much as Sears apparently.[/QUOTE]

Funny you should say that. Tonight I went to the Gamestop closest to me so I could check on the recent penny guides, trade in a few games, download Celebi to my Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver games, and pick up a copy of de Blob 2. Should be a quick in-and-out, right? Noooooooooo. The cashier tried to push more shit on me than anybody at Gamestop ever has.

1) After the clerk scans the games I want to trade in, I ask if they have any unopened copies of de Blob 2 for PS3. He says all they have is the floor copy. He then gives me a weird look and asks, “Why do you want an ‘unopened’ copy?”

“It’s a personal preference,” I tell him. “I just don’t like buying opened copies of games.” The last time I bought an opened “new” copy, I found save data already on the game. I don’t trust that they’re new anymore and I specifically ask for an unopened copy. No employee has ever had a problem with this until now.

“I’ll tell you what I tell everybody else,” he responds. “As soon as we open the game, it goes straight into a sleeve. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

“It’s also about the condition of the case,” I say. “It gets scratched on the shelf. Plus I hate the sticker that goes on it.”

“What sticker?”

“The price tag.”

He scoffs. “I’ll peel the tag off for you.”

“I’ll just take the credit, thanks.”

Yes, I’m truly a nut about the condition of my cases, but that’s my preference and he shouldn’t try to argue with me about it. There’s a less-trafficked Gamestop just a mile away on the same street that probably has an unopened copy, so I have no reason to settle for anything less when I don’t have to.

He rolls his eyes and says: “Well, you should have preordered it if you wanted it unopened.” Which transitions perfectly into his next pitch:

2) “Is there anything you want to preorder?”

I get this question every time I go into a Gamestop, so if this were his only pitch, I wouldn't fault him for it. “No,” I say, “I’ve already got everything preordered that I want.” It’s true in the sense that all the games I want to preorder are already preordered. He responds:

3) “The new Mortal Kombat is coming out soon.”
“I’m not a fan of the series.”

4) “How about Dragon Age 2?”
“I still haven’t beaten the first.”

5) “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was announced pretty recently. How about that?”
“I just started Oblivion last night.”

6) “What about the 3DS? I see that you haven’t preordered it yet. We're getting a bunch of preorders for them, and you can do either black or blue...”
“I’m not going to get it at launch.”

“What do you mean you’re not going to get it at launch?!”

“I’m just not that interested in it.”

“What kind of DS do you currently have?”

“…a DSi.”

“Well…” *tears off a slip of paper with a bunch of 3DS trade-in offers*

7) “You can trade that in towards a 3DS and only have to pay $xxx.xx.”
“Oooooookay…”

8) “Pokemon Black and White are coming out next week. Do you want to preorder one of them?”
“No, I’ve grown kind of tired of Pokemon.” (my first lie in all of this – I’m planning to buy Black at Best Buy with reward certificates on day one, but I don’t feel like explaining that)

9) “We’re doing preorders for the Sony NGP now.”
“Hmm.” No words this time. I figure it’ll only encourage him.

10) “Do you at least want to pay off some of your current preorders?”
*sigh* “I guess I can pay off Okamiden.”

11) “Great! Is there any other game coming out soon that you want to put the rest of this credit on?”
“No, I’ll just save the rest.”

12) “Do you want to finish paying off L.A. Noir too?”
“No.”

13) “Well you’ve got about $45 left after paying off Okamiden. What do you want to do with it?”
“I want to save it!”

Come the fuck on! There’s a difference between pushing stuff on people and forcing it on them. The entire transaction took about seven or eight minutes to complete. That’s not acceptable when all I want to do is trade in three games, and it’s ESPECIALLY not acceptable when there’s a long-ass line behind me and you’re the only cashier. I’ve never completed a negative survey for a store, but this has me seriously considering it. The only reason I hesitate is because I know the store manager and he’s hooked me up with penny guides in the past in exchange for perfect scores. He said the store typically receives low scores (undeserved, in my experience), so any good scores will pull their average up. He’s a cool guy and I don’t want to hurt his store’s reputation more than it already is, but I don’t feel like I can just let this slip.
 
[quote name='confoosious']The thing is, if you reported his behavior to the higher ups, he'd get a raise.

That's why GS is worst retailer of the century.[/QUOTE]

It is a business after all.

Other day at a gamestop one of the "higher-up" employees told 2 other employees you see this. You left 2 PSP boxes here. They were behind the counter, a far reach for any would-be thief. The person goes they can be stolen to the 2 employees. If they are stolen, no questions asked you will automatically be terminated/fired.

"Power to the players/gamers" -- more like power to the chump-players/gamers that they can spend full price willy-nilly there.

Another time, someone came in to trade a game that they purchased used from GS because of whatever reason they picked up the wrong one. They said too bad no returns. wth?? Person was so pissed they left the game there saying I don't want it. The GS employed just goes here take your game. the person didn't so they put it back on the sales floor.

I like GS though when I do find gems. :)
 
[quote name='dabamus']http://www.gamestop.com/browse/storesearch.aspx?sku=830038

fuck yeah i'm a genius!

EDIT:
http://www.gamestop.com/browse/storesearch.aspx?sku=830040

^^Lunar Silver Star guide in the second link. I'll let you all revel in my geniousness with the first one. :D

EDIT2: did anyone know there was to be a Lost Planet 2 CE guide? I never heard about it but there's a sku for it at GS.[/QUOTE]


How accurate are those inventory trackers, usually, I've been to the stores that the tracker says has the guides, but none were to be found.
 
Google Cache tells me the SKU for Halo Reach Legendary strategy guide is 830265. Looks to be right, but won't let me reserve any of the available copies around me for store pick-up.

EDIT: Tried to do an in-store pick-up for the FF XIII CE guide...just got an email saying cannot be fulfilled, item cannot be found at store. Hold request + denial was all w/in 15 minutes.
 
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Kudos on the thread!

Picked up these @ BB for a whopping 6 cents last night :D :
-Super Street Fighter IV
-Lost Planet 2
-White Knight Chronicles
-Sonic Colors
-Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions
-Super Mario Galaxy 2 LE

I checked these to see if they had dropped but no such luck:
-Final Fantasy XIII (standard)
-New Super Mario Bros Wii
-Epic Mickey
-Halo Reach LE
-Metroid: Other M
 
[quote name='nixmahn']How accurate are those inventory trackers, usually, I've been to the stores that the tracker says has the guides, but none were to be found.[/QUOTE]I've said this a couple of times, but I have a strong feeling that the inventory tracker is showing the stores that had copies of the guide in question the day before the guide pennied. Since the penny guides are (technically) "discontinued" and therefore no longer in GS's system, stores will not update their stock of penny guides if a customer was able to find one or a GS employee simply took one. This is probably the case with your stores--they used to have copies (back when the guide(s) pennied), but now they don't.

In other words, there's still a fair amount of risk involved with using the inventory tracker; the older the pennied guide, the less likely it is that the results are accurate. I'm still not 100% certain that this is why the tracker isn't always right, but it makes the most sense to me.
 
[quote name='elrobo8']

too long to quote

[/QUOTE]



:shock: thats gamestop for ya. i remember when the ds lite came out one of them sold me a dented box. i asked them if i could get a different box (and i could see them on the counter) but he just said they were all the same. i ended up buying it so whatever.
 
[quote name='confoosious']The thing is, if you reported his behavior to the higher ups, he'd get a raise.[/QUOTE]

Don't say that! I know it's true, but hearing it from someone else validates how soulless Gamestop is. I'd like to think there's still an ounce of humanity left in their monolith stone heart, even if that is just a fantasy.

[quote name='nas6034']Other day at a gamestop one of the "higher-up" employees told 2 other employees you see this. You left 2 PSP boxes here. They were behind the counter, a far reach for any would-be thief. The person goes they can be stolen to the 2 employees. If they are stolen, no questions asked you will automatically be terminated/fired.[/QUOTE]

You'd be surprised by the size of the balls on some thieves. If they think they can get away with walking behind the counter and taking whatever they can, they'll do it; they care a lot less about subtlety than most people think. I've seen it happen and heard horror stories from other employees when I worked at Toys R Us: thieves take shit even when they know you're staring straight at them. All they have to do is get out of the store and they're home free thanks to corporate's rule that you can't directly confront a thief (which seems to be the standard amongst retail chains). So I'd have to agree with the manager in that situation. If you leave two PSPs out of the locked case and they get stolen, you should be fired.
 
[quote name='nas6034']Is the Final Fantasy 12 limited edition/collector strategy guide $.01 at GS? It's an old guide so I'm not sure.[/QUOTE]
No, $14.99. Been that way forever. It's one that doesn't follow the normal pattern.
 
[quote name='elrobo8']Don't say that! I know it's true, but hearing it from someone else validates how soulless Gamestop is. I'd like to think there's still an ounce of humanity left in their monolith stone heart, even if that is just a fantasy.



You'd be surprised by the size of the balls on some thieves. If they think they can get away with walking behind the counter and taking whatever they can, they'll do it; they care a lot less about subtlety than most people think. I've seen it happen and heard horror stories from other employees when I worked at Toys R Us: thieves take shit even when they know you're staring straight at them. All they have to do is get out of the store and they're home free thanks to corporate's rule that you can't directly confront a thief (which seems to be the standard amongst retail chains). So I'd have to agree with the manager in that situation. If you leave two PSPs out of the locked case and they get stolen, you should be fired.[/QUOTE]

You are right. Only Loss Prevention is allow to confront thieves. Most stores have LP. (Well Gamestop has District LP. not store LP cause it will cost too much money) I don't think associates should be fired if they left something out behind the counter. They should do a follow up/write up warning. If it happen again then management have the right to fire the associate.
The manager should train the associates better so those type of things don't happen.
 
[quote name='PapaSmerf']No, $14.99. Been that way forever. It's one that doesn't follow the normal pattern.[/QUOTE]


LOL. I saw this at FF12 guide at Gamestop. They scan the FF13 and said they couldnt sell it, but said they could sell the FF12 guide. The FF12 is in bad shape (the corners and binding looks worn out)

Does anyone know if Gamestop sell xbox 360 Faceplates still?
I saw a Resident Evil 5 Faceplate. It was odd since I never seen other Gamestops carry faceplates. wonder if it's $0.01:roll:
 
[quote name='airjumpman']Does anyone have the Gamestop SKU for the FF12 CE guide?[/QUOTE]

I dont have it, but I can look next time I run to Gamestop.
 
Also found some other gamestop SKU's

for other penny guides


Red Steel 2 Guide - 830045
Just Cause 2 - 830044
Lost Planet 2 - 830047
Resonance of fate - 830033
Star Ocean The last hope - 830026
White Knight Chronicles - 830024
Dantes Inferno - 830020

My local gamestop say they have some of these in stock
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Thanks htown01. Even though it hasn't(and likely never will) pennied yet I added it to the sku wiki.[/QUOTE]

You're welcome. I bought it for $13.49 since I knew if I didn't, I was not going to see it again :)
 
Gamestop SKUs - All are still valid.

Mass Effect 2 CE - 830019

Darksiders - 832323
Dead to Rights: Retribution - 830247
Harvest Moon Hero of Leaf Valley - 830255
LBP Superbook - 832362
Nier - 830256
Singularity - 832360
Spiderman Shattered Dimensions - 830303
Vanquish - 830308
 
Thanks for the SKU's, Ultragamer. I added them to the SKU wiki post.
[quote name='ragingst0rm6']Gamestop SKUs - All are still valid.

Mass Effect 2 CE - 830019

Darksiders - 832323
Dead to Rights: Retribution - 830247
Harvest Moon Hero of Leaf Valley - 830255
LBP Superbook - 832362
Nier - 830256
Singularity - 832360
Spiderman Shattered Dimensions - 830303
Vanquish - 830308[/QUOTE]
Thanks ragingstorm.

Any chance I can get ya's to post the SKU's before the guide names from here on out and put em in red? ;)
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Thanks for the SKU's, Ultragamer. I added them to the SKU wiki post.

Thanks ragingstorm.

Any chance I can get ya's to post the SKU's before the guide names from here on out and put em in red? ;)[/QUOTE]

Haha, sure. I forgot to check what the format was in the wiki. I might have a couple more lying around, I'll post them correctly if I find them.
 
Either way is fine actually. It only takes a minute or two to reverse the order on the bigger lists of SKU's.;) But I should check my guide collection n see if I can contribute any to this project. Lord knows I have enough of them.:lol:
 
Here's a list of SKU numbers from the last 2 Gamestop drops.

830293 Cheat Code Overload 2010 Volume 1 (Green cover)
830258 Codes & Cheats 2010 Fall Edition
830305 Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
830265 Halo Reach CE

830267 Alan Wake
832289 Animal Crossing City Folk
830352 Assassin's Creed Brotherhood CE
832383 Assassin's Creed II
832368 Codes and Cheats Fall 2009
832346 Codes and Cheats Summer 2009
830274 Crackdown 2
830020 Dante's Inferno
830279 Dead Rising 2 CE
871893 Dragon Age: Origins
830043 Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
832382 Fallout 3 GOTY
830038 Final Fantasy XIII CE
830044 Just Cause 2
830006 Left 4 Dead 2
832401 Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks CE
830004 Lego Indiana Jones 2
830047 Lost Planet 2
830040 Lunar: Silver Star Harmony
830016 Mass Effect 2
832221 Metal Gear Solid 4
830287 Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
830276 NCAA Football 11
832402 New Super Mario Bros.
830042 Nintendo DS Pocket Guide
832329 Pokemon Platinum
830269 Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands
870026 Sims 3: Ambitions
870030 Sims 3: Late Night
832135 Splinter Cell Conviction
830270 Super Mario Galaxy 2 CE
830333 Tron Legacy
 
[quote name='Ultragamer']Here's a list of SKU numbers from the last 2 Gamestop drops.

830293 Cheat Code Overload 2010 Volume 1 (Green cover)
830258 Codes & Cheats 2010 Fall Edition
830305 Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
830265 Halo Reach CE

830267 Alan Wake
832289 Animal Crossing City Folk
830352 Assassin's Creed Brotherhood CE
832383 Assassin's Creed II
832368 Codes and Cheats Fall 2009
832346 Codes and Cheats Summer 2009
830274 Crackdown 2
830020 Dante's Inferno
830279 Dead Rising 2 CE
871893 Dragon Age: Origins
830043 Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
832382 Fallout 3 GOTY
830038 Final Fantasy XIII CE
830044 Just Cause 2
830006 Left 4 Dead 2
832401 Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks CE
830004 Lego Indiana Jones 2
830047 Lost Planet 2
830040 Lunar: Silver Star Harmony
830016 Mass Effect 2
832221 Metal Gear Solid 4
830287 Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
830276 NCAA Football 11
832402 New Super Mario Bros.
830042 Nintendo DS Pocket Guide
832329 Pokemon Platinum
830269 Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands
870026 Sims 3: Ambitions
870030 Sims 3: Late Night
832135 Splinter Cell Conviction
830270 Super Mario Galaxy 2 CE
830333 Tron Legacy[/QUOTE]
Holy giant list, Batman.:shock: I'll get to cross referencing the current list in the SKU wiki post versus this list and add any that're new.

Thanks for the ginormous list, Ultragamer.;)
[quote name='neocisco']What's the best way to insert the GS SKU's into a search?[/QUOTE]
Best way I've found is to just bring up one of the links that works in the address bar, load it in and then just swap out the SKU in that URL for the one you want and hit enter. It should reload the page and change the guide to the one for the SKU.

If that fails though, best bet is to copy a working link, replace the SKU, then re-copy the new URL and paste into the address bar.
 
Got it, thanks.

Does anyone know what the qualifier is for the "pick up at store" option? I've seen it on some guides but not all.
 
Ok here's the 5 drops before the ones I previously listed. If there are any other SKU's people are having trouble finding or need for Gamestop let me know and I'll try and track them down.

830323
Blood Stone 007
830306 Enslaved Odyssey of the West
832247 Fable II
832352 God of War III
830302 God of War Ghost of Sparta
832371 Kingdom Hearts 358/2
830303 Spider-man Shattered Dimensions
871898 Starcraft II LE
830252 UFC Undisputed 2010
830308 Vanquish

832405 Bakugan
832393 Scribblenauts

832321 Alpha Protocol
832342 Batman: Arkham Asylum
832351 Bioshock 2 LE
832325 Borderlands
832353 Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
832323 Darksiders
832417 God of War Collection
832377 GTA: Episodes From Liberty City
830255 Harvest Moon Hero of Leaf Valley
830261 Kayne and Lynch 2: Dog Days
832362 LittleBigPlanet Super Book
832355 Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
830256 Nier
830033 Resonance of Fate
832360 Singularity
830026 Star Ocean: The Last Hope International
830259 Transformers: War For Cybertron
830024 White Knight Chronicles
871895 World of Warcraft: Dungeon Companion
871884 World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

832399 The Saboteur

830041 Battlefield: Bad Company 2
832381 Brutal Legend
830030 God Of War III CE
832414 Harvest Moon Sunshine Islands
830248 Iron Man 2
830250 Modnation Racers
830042 Nintendo DS Pocket Guide

Also on an added note, Who's gamestop has this is stock?
http://www.gamestop.com/browse/storesearch.aspx?sku=830244&utm_source=linkshare&u%20tm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=deeplink&cid=afl_%2010000087&affID=77777&sourceID=FKSJxY2VJAk-b.tR7OMbgsg5bv5.klusTA

Edit: I just found a SKU for a bayonetta guide by bradygames hidden in gamestops database. It doesn't appear in the store tracker though. For those of you wondering it's 832324
 
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[quote name='confoosious']The thing is, if you reported his behavior to the higher ups, he'd get a raise.

That's why GS is worst retailer of the century.[/QUOTE]Not it you state that the person harassed you with details, and state that because of that you did NOT make any purchase or pre-order and won't be revisiting that store again because of that experience.
 
[quote name='guinaevere']Not it you state that the person harassed you with details, and state that because of that you did NOT make any purchase or pre-order and won't be revisiting that store again because of that experience.[/QUOTE]

I actually did this once. The guy was absolutely obnoxious. Tried to sell me everything he could. I normally don't bother with bad surveys and only do good ones when the cashier is nice (BB too). But the kicker was I asked for a sealed copy and he browbeated me like I was the insane one for wanting a new copy. He offered to seal it for me. I'm like "dude, this manual is f'ed up. I'm giving this as a present. How am I gonna explain the stain on it?"

He got promoted to store manager at a nearby store. I then had to stop going to that store which had originally been my favorite.
 
[quote name='guinaevere']Not it you state that the person harassed you with details, and state that because of that you did NOT make any purchase or pre-order and won't be revisiting that store again because of that experience.[/QUOTE]

And you can say the store was messy, unorganized, and the employees were playing the demo units
 
[quote name='neocisco']Does anyone know what the qualifier is for the "pick up at store" option? I've seen it on some guides but not all.[/QUOTE]does it matter? I don't think we want to be using this option. GameStop uses their internal IT service line a LOT.

As soon as an on the ball manager gets a report to pull a pennied guide... or maybe a second pennied guide, he's going to call Dallas and let them know there's something in the system letting us see the penny guide locations and we're even given an option for Pick Up.

Soon as that's done, we may lose this locator. Cisco, I don't like to be paranoid or a total downer, but if any of the managers in one of our local districts gets a pull for pick up report, they're calling that in. And it won't kill it just for atlanta, it will kill it across the board.
 
[quote name='confoosious']I actually did this once. The guy was absolutely obnoxious. Tried to sell me everything he could. I normally don't bother with bad surveys and only do good ones when the cashier is nice (BB too). But the kicker was I asked for a sealed copy and he browbeated me like I was the insane one for wanting a new copy. He offered to seal it for me. I'm like "dude, this manual is f'ed up. I'm giving this as a present. How am I gonna explain the stain on it?"

He got promoted to store manager at a nearby store. I then had to stop going to that store which had originally been my favorite.[/QUOTE]Numbers mean a lot to this company. Not actual sales, but their pre-order and subscription sales. Those are HUGE. I can't stress that enough.

We have one manager in the district who, the moment he hears from a customer that they want to cancel, he calls another associate over and tells them "I don't do this, you do the cancellation." Because he doesn't want to blemish his numbers. This isn't uncommon for the guys that see how the system is worked.

So chances are, this guy you're talking about was already on the promotion track. But don't let that stop you, if you get a gsa or manager or whoever harassing you, that's a definite unhappy customer report that i'd be sending in immediately.
 
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