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kannaophelia 2005-02-23 04:49 am UTC (link)

You know, I really do believe that people would think they could hire a movie and keep it forever instead of buying it, because I work part time at a movie store and I swear, the customers have a funnel inserted in their cranium before they come in and aren't allowed to hire movies until they've had their brains funnelled out. There is no level of stupidity I will not believe from people who hire movies. (Reply to this)

gal_montag 2005-02-23 05:04 am UTC (link)

Been waiting for the fit to hit the shan on this no late fees BS. I'm confused why Blockbuster would expect customers to know all the details without them being spelled out for them. People only hear what they want to. And it amuses me (as someone who works for an indy video store) that people would threaten me with going to Blockbuster because they didn't want to pay the late fee they'd racked up. Seriously, please do, your propensity towards, like, not returning your movies should work out well for you there. (Reply to this)(Thread)

cleolinda 2005-02-23 05:54 am UTC (link)

Seriously, please do, your propensity towards, like, not returning your movies should work out well for you there. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. *wipes eyes* Seriously, I worked at a Movie Gallery for about two years. Our customers also wanted know why turning our movies in to a Blockbuster wasn't sufficient. There's just something about movie rentals that reduces intelligent people to mush and stupid people to raging assholes. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dawnswalker 2005-02-23 06:32 am UTC (link)
	"Our customers also wanted know why turning our movies in to a Blockbuster wasn't sufficient." Oh... OW. OW. I think I sprained my brain trying to decipher that bit of non-logic. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	cleolinda 2005-02-23 06:43 am UTC (link)
	"Well, can't you just drive over there after your shift and get it? I mean, I turned it in SOMEWHERE." STAB STAB STAB. Yeah. Now you know why I don't work there anymore. That, and people asking for "that movie, with the guy in it." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

kannaophelia 2005-02-23 07:08 am UTC (link)

Oh thank heavens, I thought it was just ME who got that crap. Yeah, I have nothing better to do than run upaid courier service for morons. As I'm the only staff memebr on tonight, would you like me to close down the shop and get it for you now? That, and people asking for "that movie, with the guy in it." "I don't know if you remember, but I was in here a week ago, nah, a fortnight, and I almost borrowed a movie for my mother. Do you know what it was?" "Um, no. Do you remember what it was about?" "Nope." "Um... do you remember who was in it?" "Nope." "Was it a thriller, or an action film, or..." "Dunno." Special hate for customers who will come up to the desk and tell you their password - not their name, or phone number, or member number, or anything to identify WHICH BLOODY ACCOUNT IT IS, and expect me to be able to loan them DVDs. Or the ones who don't have their card, or know their password, or have any id, but it's okay, it's them. Or the ones who come in at closing time and they don't belong or have any id to sign up but "Can't you just lend them to me and I'll bring them back in the morning?" Or the ones who want to borrow movies that it is illegal to rent to the under-18s and are too lazy to get out of their car so they send their flipping eight year olds in to borrow them... "Sexth Predatorth 2. It'th for Mummy." And then come in and call me a fucking cunt because I wouldn't give it to the kid. Never mind the ones who accuse me of lying and saying their movie isn't in when it is, because it's apparently far more convenient to me to send them home, ring them up and serve them all over again... Just want to see their happy smiling faces again. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

cleolinda 2005-02-23 07:14 am UTC (link)

My favorite was when people would call me up and ask about movie theater times. "Sir, this is a VIDEO. STORE." "You can look it up! Don't you have a newspaper?" "DON'T YOU?!" Or come in and ask for movies that were clearly still in the theater. One guy was even like, "I know y'all got Austin Powers [the first one--this was about 1997] in that closet! Y'all employees always get to see things first!" It took a lot of strength not to be like, "Okay, yes. We do. Like, TWO WEEKS before we put them on the shelf. Not SIX MONTHS. Also: are you an employee? No? Then STFU, sir." "Sexth Predatorth 2. It'th for Mummy." Snerrrrrk. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

kannaophelia 2005-02-23 07:30 am UTC (link)

Yay, Jem icon. Or come in and ask for movies that were clearly still in the theater. They honestly think there's some secret conspiracy and we are lying to them about what is out because we don't want them to watch the movie. "It is so out!" "No... April 6." "It bloody well is." "No, I assure you, I don't have it, you moron, I DON'T HIDE MOVIES FROM CUSTOMERS TO PREVENT THEM GIVING ME THEIR MONEY." And - oh. The people who have us put on their accounts NO ONE IS TO USE BUT ME. ESPECIALLY NOT MY BOYFRIEND. And then the boyfriend comes in and tries to borrow and we refuse and he goes off and screams and threatens and throws things and then he rings her up and asks if she blocked him form her card and she says "No, of course not, baby" and he goes off again... and then she storms in and screams at us for getting her in trouble with her boyfriend... Ten years of university for *this*. The day I get a decent job... I'm going to really, *really* enjoy my final shift. (Reply to this)(Parent)

cellardoor28 2005-02-23 12:46 pm UTC (link)

About 3 months before Phantom Menace came out I had a full blown argument with a customer who was convinced we had it already and were keeping all the copies ourselves. I tried to explain that when it was out you wouldn't be able to move for tripping over it, but apparently this didnt cut any ice. In the end, I agreed with him, told him that the Manager had kept all the copies for himself and if he went to Woolworths they had them on the shelves. I can only imagine the fun they had at Woolies when he turned up :p (Reply to this)(Parent)

gal_montag 2005-02-23 08:06 am UTC (link)

That, and people asking for "that movie, with the guy in it." *tears out hair* My stock answer is always "Independence Day". Or people who seem to think I know what movies all the other stores in town keep in stock. People who don't watch their children and so I find myself constantly snatching toddlers out of the adult room. People who lose movies and don't understand why they're not allowed to rent (the saga of the silly little bitch who lost our DVD copy of Fear and Loathing is like a party in my mouth). People who make up movies. Had this one guy who upon finding out we got movies before their street date tried to convice me to rent him one on *my* account (no matter how much I insisted on the illegality of this). I wanted to leap over the counter and club him like a baby seal. Even though I mostly really like my job, I just can handle the lack of sense. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

cleolinda 2005-02-23 08:15 am UTC (link)

I wanted to leap over the counter and club him like a baby seal. Which reminds me: the employee area-of-renting-and-computers was a tiny little area that was not walled off too well from the open floor, and people were always walking back behind the counter, bold as brass, to paw through the newly returned movies. GET THE FUCK OUT BEFORE I TEACH YOU THE NEW MEANING OF PAIN, FOOL. Oh, and thank JESUS that DVDs were after my time. I don't even want to begin to imagine the baby boomer technophobe/idiot savant shit I would have been dealing with. The fifteen laserdiscs we had were bad enough. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littlebitca 2005-02-23 09:26 am UTC (link)
	The fifteen laserdiscs we had were bad enough. "Can I play this in my VCR?" (Reply to this)(Parent)

	thebratqueen 2005-02-23 04:46 pm UTC (link)
	When I worked in a Blockbuster I once had a customer ask, in 100% seriousness, if they needed to see Weekend at Bernie's 1 in order to understand Weekend at Bernies 2. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sesana 2005-02-23 06:35 am UTC (link)
	Not just movies. I used to work in a library that was forced to use a collections agency so we could get our damn books back. I'd say that over half of them were trying to get some items for free. (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Reply from suspended user)

	gal_montag 2005-02-23 07:52 am UTC (link)
	*facepalm* People drop our movies off all over the damn city except with us, and then get pissed because they're late. The name of our store, our address and out phone number is all over the case and the tape, the fact that you're too retarded to remember where you rentd from is not our problem. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sesana 2005-02-23 06:13 pm UTC (link)
	You would think that a bright green video box with "Giant Eagle Video" written all over it five thousand times in ugly yellow letters would keep people from being stupid enough to drop it off at a library. You would have more faith in humanity than I do. (Reply to this)(Parent)

mindset 2005-02-23 06:39 am UTC (link)

Well, my brother works for a Blockbuster, so my family found out about the "No More Late Fees" razzmatazz about a week early, when he brough home his script-dealio-thingy for explaining the new situation to customers. I was much amused at the directions it gave for talking *around* the fees beeswax... but it also did give exact directions for explaining the details if a customer straight-up asked "what's the catch". So, basically, New Jersey's full of crap... but everybody knew *that* already... (BTW, I don't know if this applies to your store, but being able to watch new-released movies up to a week before they officially come out -- isn't that the best thing ever? :) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	gal_montag 2005-02-23 07:58 am UTC (link)
	but being able to watch new-released movies up to a week before they officially come out -- isn't that the best thing ever? </a> So is! $3 used DVDs too. My boss is so good to her employees. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	nightfalltwen 2005-02-23 05:44 am UTC (link)
	HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *ded* (Reply to this)

	kalika_maxwell 2005-02-23 06:27 am UTC (link)
	http://www.actsofgord.com/ You want stories about stupid people from the perspective of a guy who owns a small video rental store, go there. Hilarious stuff. Also depressing stuff because these people are so dumb. Really, really dumb. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	innsmouth_eyes 2005-02-23 11:39 pm UTC (link)
	I sing praises to the Gord. The Book Of Vengeance is my guide to life. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	kijikun 2005-02-23 07:05 am UTC (link)
	And every day I thank all the tiny gods I don't work in Video store retail anymore. (Reply to this)

	khym_chanur 2005-02-23 07:27 am UTC (link)
	I dunno. On the one hand, it should be obvious that there has to be a catch to "No more late fees". On the other hand, "No more late fees" really is deceptive advertising on the part of Blockbuster. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	esorlehcar 2005-02-23 07:46 am UTC (link)
	Exactly. Though I hate and despite Blockbuster for editing movies and not telling anyone about it, and am happy to see anything that causes them grief. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	xanos 2005-02-23 08:36 am UTC (link)
	They edit movies and don't tell people? Doesn't surprise me, but now I'm curious. Care to explain? ^^ (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

esorlehcar 2005-02-23 08:47 am UTC (link)

Blockbuster is owned by fundamentalists, IIRC, and a fair number of the movies they rent are actually special Blockbuster edits that have been edited for content to remove anything they consider too offensive, like a movie on TV. The fact that they've been edited isn't advertised it any way, you can't tell by looking at the box what's been changed and what hasn't. The only way to tell is when you play the movie, the screen that tells you the film has been edited to fit your television also says, "and edited for content." Most people don't even notice. I gave up renting from them a long time ago when I realized about half the movies I brought home were edited. I've heard that they can't do the editing with thing DVDs like they could with VHS, but I have no idea if that's true or not. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kookaburra 2005-02-23 11:44 pm UTC (link)
	Huh. I've rented stuff from them which seems to have nothing edited out, which you would think would be. (IE- "Deliverance") (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	esorlehcar 2005-02-24 05:18 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know how it works, though it's worth noting all the movies I found that had been edited for content were recent releases. It might be easier to get the studios to agree to edited versions for for new releases, which would stand to lose a significant amount of money if Blockbuster refused to carry them. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	marlo 2005-02-23 06:32 pm UTC (link)
	OMG, YES. I hope they fucking go under because of this. They destroy all the good neighborhood stores. (Reply to this)(Parent)

squib 2005-02-23 08:54 am UTC (link)

My thoughts exactly. I had expected some kind of up-front membership deal for the "no late fees" thing rather than fees backended on, but I've avoided Blockbuster ever since finding out that they will fire an employee who happens to wear Wiccan religious jewelry. What I think is especially deceptive is the fact that not all Blockbuster stores even participate in the program, so there's seemingly no way to find out what the real deal is unless you interrogate the clerk at time of rental, and who has time for that? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	khym_chanur 2005-02-23 08:58 am UTC (link)
	that they will fire an employee who happens to wear Wiccan religious jewelry. At first, I read that as "set fire to an employee", and thought "Now that's taking things rather far." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	squib 2005-02-23 09:05 am UTC (link)
	But it would be more interesting that way. ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	khym_chanur 2005-02-23 09:24 am UTC (link)
	I can't find anything online about Blockbuster firing people for wearing Wiccan jewlery. Have a cite? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	squib 2005-02-23 09:32 am UTC (link)
	I'll look. It was quite some time ago-- '94 or '95, I think. Big flap on all the Pagan e-lists at the time. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	deadlettero 2005-02-23 09:18 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, I knew there was a catch as soon as I saw those commercials, as should any reasonable person. But Blockbuster can still suck my ass. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	kookaburra 2005-02-25 06:15 pm UTC (link)
	Two words: "Idiot Tax" (Not that I have any special affinity for Blockbuster- I just go where I can get movies, and it's getting so that they hardly ever have the films I want.) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	One word: darkrose 2005-02-23 07:33 am UTC (link)
	Netflix. (Reply to this)

	darkrose 2005-02-23 08:02 am UTC (link)
	Your icon makes the baby Jason ROTFL. (Reply to this)

tekanji 2005-02-23 06:10 pm UTC (link)

These days I never actually go to Blockbuster (Rogers and a local DVD rental place are far superior), and yet I still knew that the "End of Late Fees!" was the beginning of "Buy your late movie!" -.- But it does bring to mind an interesting problem - what happens if some jackass uses your account to rent a movie? Since they don't ask for any ID when renting the movie, it can happen. It happened to me, in fact. I was visiting my hometown like 3 years ago (after being out of the country where my original blockbuster card does not work) and I went to the video store. The clerk was like, "You owe late fees on Lilo and Stitch." And I was like, "Uh, no," and explained my situation. But, some jackass did indeed use my account to rent that video (it just wasn't me). If the late charges go directly to the credit card statement, I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few people got charged erroneously. Just another reason to be glad I don't use blockbuster. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2005-02-23 08:58 pm UTC (link)
	I'm just waiting for the lawsuits from people who were close to their credit limit getting bounce notices and penalty fees from their banks (or bouncing utility payments) because of this stupid Blockbuster plan. Heh. I wonder what happens if you try to rent from Blockbuster on a cash-only basis? - C (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tekanji 2005-02-23 09:20 pm UTC (link)
	I wonder what happens if you try to rent from Blockbuster on a cash-only basis? I think that in order to have a membership they take your credit card #. This is from the article quoted in the thread: The customers learn the sale cost only when they get their credit card statement, since charge accounts are used to open a membership, the lawsuit said. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	marlo 2005-02-23 06:37 pm UTC (link)
	This vaguely reminds me of a part in a Vandals song: "Blockbuster generates 20% of its revenue through late fees. My lifestyle does make a difference! By strategically failing, I am proactively participating in a concerted effort to expand this nation's GNP. This is my contract for a America!" (Reply to this)