If this an actual breakdown of what's going on at a GameStop you've been to, then there's absolutely no reason you shouldn't ask for the DM's number, or call our customer service. This is one o the reasons I feel that the company, as a whole, gets hammered by people all over the Internet.

The fact of the matter is that if you didn't pre-order a game, short of me not having enough for walk-ins, there's no reason you shouldn't get the game you want. Also, take into consideration the location of the store you're shopping at, and the game you want.

Is it a highly trafficked store that seems to always be packed, or just bustling, when you go to it? If so, then it's probably a high volume store (or the only one around in decent driving distance), and they tend to receive a higher allocation of product. So getting your game shouldn't be an issue. If the opposite is true, you've probably got a low-volume store (like my own), and allocation is tight, so pre-ordering is not so bad a thing (for two reasons: 1-We get allocated overstock for new releases by [my guess] about 2-3% per reserves. This is great for someone that just wants to get it and go. 2-GameStop has become much more prudent about how much they order from suppliers over the years. This sucks for niche titles, but it helps them keep overhead down [really should be a no-brainer here]. Old EB was terrible about that... They ordered a million of everything, and it was stupid)

Are you upset about being harassed about pre-orders on a title because it's something like CoD, where everyone and there mother gets an allocation of what feels like 100k copies a day, and you just want it? Or because it's something like Otomedius Excellent, where we were lucky to get allocated four copies over a month (if that), and you want it, but we have a "stack" of one behind the counter, and it's paid on and the employee won't sell it to you(happened at my store a few times, but with other titles)?

Regardless, this sort of behavior from one of my guys wouldn't be tolerated, and, if nothing else, we'd try our damnedest to hunt down the game you wanted from another store nearby, and ask them to hold it, if you wanted (and if you aren't being a complete and utter dickbag about it). Pre-orders are great for my store (because of the numbers game we have to participate in, true) because, it can mean the difference in one copy of a game or ten, sometimes.

GS manager for a few years, btw.