Reading is hard for parents and children alike.

So a while ago we got traded in a Donkey Konga game + the Bongos for the Gamecube. We decided that just putting the bongos on the ground just wasn't going to cut it, so we got some hooks and raised them so that they were much more visible. One problem with that though; it put the bongos at about shoulder height of the average 6-10 year old kid. What do kids like to do when they see a button? Push it. Kids were beating the crap outa this thing, and beating it so hard it was falling off the hook and hitting the floor pretty hard (while the parents would just look the other way and hope we wouldn't notice).

After about the fifth time it fell we (and by we i mean Steve) decided to put a sign over the bongos saying, "Please do not touch!". A very simple request i would think, and very visible. yet it is still on a regular basis ignored by parent and children who i KNOW know how to read.


So its a fairly average day in terms of traffic. All seems to be going smoothly till this family walks in. The Father had the classic pedophile look to him. The mother had an uncanny resemblance to a certain celebrity that I'm sure just about everyone in the world hates. 2 little girls as well that had to have been in that 6-10 range i mentioned earlier. The kids were jumping all over the place and messing up the racks, and just being plain loud and annoying.

I walk out to greet them and see if i can help them out with anything.

"Hey! Hows it goin guys? Help you out with anything today?"

"..."

pure silence. they look right at me and give me that "mind your own business" look. so after a few seconds i walk back behind the counter to continue working on something. They go for the NDS section and begin reorganizing it. I always hate that but it happens so often I've stopped caring for the most part.

The mom keeps going through the games while the girls get bored and start running around the store. Eventually the Bongos catch their eye. the run as fast as they can and begin pounding on them as hard as they can.

"Hey, can I please get you girls to not play with those bongos?"

they continue to beat them as hard as they can.

"Excuse me girls, can you not hit those bongos, they are for looking only."
i give it a bit more force this time.

Still being ignored and the parents are just sitting there starring into space i take action. I walk over to the bongos that they are still hammering furiously and pick them up off the wall and start heading for behind the counter. I get about half way there and suddenly I hear a big booming voice. I assumed it was the father but to my horror i turn around and find that it was the mother speaking.

"UMM....EXCUSE ME! My daughter were playing with that!"

"Sorry ma'am, we've had problem in the past with kids breaking these so I am going to be putting these behind the counter for now."

This didn't go over well with her at all.

"Well if you didn't want people touching them then maybe you should put up a sign!!"

I stop dead in my tracks, i walk calmly over to the sign that say, "Please do not touch!" it point for a solid 5-6 seconds while starring her dead in the eye. turn, and walk back to the counter. She then walks over to the sign and stares for a bit.

"You just put this sign up didn't you!?!"

"no ma'am, that sign has been there for quite some time now."

"You're lying!"

"Nope."

"Don't lie more! I know you're lying!"

"Sorry, thats signs been there all day."

"You're lying! I want to see the manager now!"

"I am the manager ma'am."

that last sentence shut her up pretty quick. I think she was trying to go for the "angry customer yells at manager till she get free stuff" thing. Good thing I'm immune to such nonsense.

After that little almost shouting match she shut up quick as I mentioned and went to the furthest corner of the store and put herself in it. The father began speaking to me and he wound up buying around $100 worth of stuff. The girls still were being obnoxious though.

why do people act like that? owell, I WIN!!!

-Andi

boring.....GTA IV DAY!!!!

so the past couple of weeks have been very uneventful, in the ways of morons that is. very busy sales wise, but not much else. i would have really liked to update but if i did that i would just be making up stuff and thats not cool.



so 2 days ago was Grand Theft Auto IV day. it might as well have been a national holiday by how hyped that game was. i gotta say though, i wasn't much of a fan of GTA III and its expansions or spin offs or whatever you wanna call them, but i bought GTA IV and it was actually pretty cool. I'm not gonna write a review or anything but just thought i'd let you know that this is actually a pretty fun game.



anyways.....we get our shipment of GTA IV in about 3 o'clock (supposed to be earlier but FedEx decided to screw us over.). it was flying off the shelves as you can imagine. everyone who bought it looked to be in their mid 20s to late 30s (much facial hair and balding, not to judge, but hey come-on.) so there really wasn't a need to "card" them on it when they bought it. towards the end of the day a small boy, probably like 10-12 years old came in and headed strait for the GTA IV case on the shelf.



"can i help you bro?"



"umm.....I'd like to buy this game."



he plops GTA IV on the counter.....like I'm gonna sell this kid that of all things.



"Sure thing man, you just need your parents here and then i can get this one for you."



he looked very stunned that i would refuse to sell it to just him. he quickly diverted his gaze to his shoes and did not make eye contact the rest of the conversation.



"oh....umm.....thats ok I already have all of them so i can get this one."



oh how many times have i heard that one before...



"Sorry, i either need to see your parents or proof that you are 17 in order for me to sell this to you, especially for GTA IV."



"well...I've played it and i don't think it deserves that rating, so i can buy it anyway"



"There are may games out there that are rated "M" that don't deserve the rating at all, but trust you me, GTA IV DEFINITELY deserves that rating."



just give up kid, your not going to win this.



"umm...well....FYE across the street will sell it to me!"


"Well thats cool, but if you want to buy it here i will need your parents presence or proof that you are 17."


he began mumbling and groaning uncontrollably for about a minute. after that he plopped the game on the counter, walked out the door, and started heading the way OPPOSITE of FYE.

foolish mortal.....I am invincible!!!!

the phone.....OF FOOLS!!!!

10:59 AM

the store isn't officially open but I've been open for around 15 mins because i'm such a nice guy. so anyways i get a phone call at 10:59 AM. i answer it as usual and i find that a small boy is on the other line.

"umm......I bought a game from you guys a couple of days ago."

long pause

"yes"

long pause

"well...umm....do you know what game it is?"

"no"

long pause

"oh...well...its x-men legends"

"okay"

we haven't sold any x-men legends in quite some time.

long pause

"well....ummm......could you tell me how to beat it"

*internal sigh*
"sorry, its against store policy for me to give you video game hints over the phone."

long pause

i hear him drop the phone and begin to yell at someone. i hear him and a older woman (his mother I'm assuming) argue. "he wouldn't tell me" and stuff like that i could make out through all the noise. i hear the phone being picked back up and a woman comes on the line.

"um..yeah hello this is johnny's mother."

"yes, hello is there something i can help you with ma'am?"

she starts to get that snooty, super mighty tone in her voice.
"yes, my son informs me that you refused to help him beat a game he has, is that correct?"

"yes that is correct."

long pause, must run in the family

"well why did you not help him out?"

"because thats against our store policy, if i were to help ever person who called asking for game tips I'd be here all day taking phone calls."

long pause

"well you can't just make an exception this one time for some of your best customers?"

we have caller ID....they have never been here on my watch + no member account i found after the phone call.

"nope, sorry."

well she didn't like that at all.
"THATS NOT FAIR. IT...IT...IT SHOULD BE THAT LAW THAT YOU HAVE TO HELP HIM. THIS IS THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING I'VE HEARD ALL DAY!!"

*sigh* trying to keep my cool i respond to this nonsense. i was having a good day and i didn't want to ruin it on her.

"I'm sorry you feel that way ma'am but it is against store policy, not to mention that all of the information i would give if i could is freely available on the Internet."

long pause....again

"WELL STILL......wait...what was that?"

"Is there anything else I can help you with today?" I cut her off really fast to avoid the obvious next question.

"umm...."

"well okay then have a nice day" CLICK!!!

when will people learn that lies and anger have absolutely no effect on......SUPER ANDI!!!!!!!

pwned

-Andi

dumb, dumb kid

this kids brings in a disc to resurface. zelda collectors edition. it pretty messed up and i can see the residue of a DISC DOCTOR attempt.

"it won't work on my gamecube"

"i can see why, $2.99 to resurface."

i start to clean the disc and they wander the sore. I hear many dumb thing leave their mouth like. "See that? thats the N64. thats the original Nintendo." and "Gamecube is the best system ever made, nintendo crushed Sony and Microsoft in the last console wars and they'll do it again." typical uninformed fanboy stuff.

i finish off the disc and and call him over.

"wow that looks really good, but its gonna look like that again in a few days."

"ummm...ok you could just put it in it's case and not have to worry about it being scratched up again"

he looks really confused at this thought.

"no, we are really proud of our games battle scars"

HUH? I'm not even sure as to what he was trying to say. the only things it could mean would be that they enjoy ruining their disc for some reason.

well he walks over to the store gamecube and takes the disc in it and drops it on the floor. he then puts his in. he thrusts his arm in the air apparently excited that it works and took his games out and walked out. he left our game on the floor......i can see why he'll be back next week to clean it again, no respect for anyones property whatsoever...

stupid kid

-Andi

PSP? SONY? WHAAA?

so short fat stupid kid walks in with mother. the kids walks up to the counter.
he holds up the sad remains of a psp charger. wires hanging out, covered in grime, just plain nasty.
"this wont charge my psp"

"I can see why."

"do you have an extra charger?"

i search the store, but we are sold out.
"looks like we are sold out at the moment"

"do you know who would have them?"

"i'd check Sony's website, or some of the local retailers around here."

"um.....ok....who is sony?"

"the people who make the psp."

now for some reason he gets defensive with me
"no they don't! psp makes psp."

"um no, Sony make the psp"

he gets a little burst of fury for some reason.
"no they DON'T!"

"yes they do, thats why whenever you turn on the psp it says sony computer entertainment, and it also says Sony on the actual unit."

"no it DOESN'T!"

luckily i had a psp right next to me because i had just shown it to a customer. i pull it up, turning it on i point to the sony logo on the psp, and then a few seconds later showed him the intro screen in which it clearly said Sony.

the kids face went from angry to stupified. the kids mom decided to chime in at this point.

"thats not what his friend told him!"

"well, sorry about that, but he was incorrect, the psp is and has always been made by Sony."

the mom gave the kid a nasty look and they left the store without a word. kinda strange, but that kid deserves every bit of punishment he get for disagreeing with me!

I KNOW ALL!1!11!!!!! FEAR ME!!!!!!11!!111!

-Andi

are those gamecube wires?

so these kids + mom come in. they always come in to trade in the last system they bought from us. and they are always in 10x worse condition than we sold it to them. so anyways, today they want a gamecube and some games. all goes smoothly till they make their way to the register to pay for it.
*note: matt is the manager*

kid: "does the system come with the wires?"
matt: "yeah, all our sytems come with the wires and one controller"
kid: "So...Where are all the cords and the controllers?"
matt: "Right here man!"
kid: "So which ones are mine?"
matt: "Dude, your cords are right here, they're yours."
kid: "Are those gamecube wires?"
matt: "Yea man!"
kid: "and is that a gamecube controller?"
matt: "yeah!"
(akward silence)
kid: "...does the system come with the wires?"
matt: "Um...yea dude-"
etc...

So instead of typing this more then needed, just take that conversation, open notepad real quick, and copy and paste it about 4 times, and the extent of the conversation has now been realized.

PITY ME!!

-Andi

Um...well, it's workin for me?

Ok, this one's short and sweet. Set up: Relatively busy day, lots of come and go traffic when a kid and his dad walk in with a bag of stuff. I start to talk to em, find out that the kid wants to trade in a Gameboy Advance and some games, with a rechargable battery pack. So, I start to do the trade, when the kid's like "I just can't seem to get it to work, ever since I spilled water in it..." My reply was terse "We can't take broken systems." The kid looked shocked. Then proceeded in telling me the stupidest thing I have ever heard come out of anyone's mouth, ever. "Well, It works fine when I charge the batteries, but I'm just sick of it not working when the batteries aren't charged."
And the dad just sat and nodded...I wonder where the kid got the idiocy from?

-Brady

try before you BUY no make sense to retards

slow day today. despite the fact that we have a blog about the morons we deal with, i actual do enjoy helping people out. but when there are no people to help, it gets a little boring (you can only organize a wall so many times.) so to set my mood for you, I was really bored/irritated.

so late in the afternoon kid comes in. he is a regular. and by regular i mean he regularly comes in, he has never bought anything. he does have a member account so i can actually look up his purchase history and indeed he has bought nothing. he wanders the store for a bit stoping at each tv with wide eyes.

he eventually make his way up to the counter where i am helping a customer. He speaks over our conversation and say:
"Can I play the games on the tv?"
Me and the customer imediately stop talking. before i could get out my response of "hold on" the customer says in a very angry tone:
"Excuss me! we were having a conversation! That was extremely rude what you just did. I'm sure the nice man here would love to help you out as soon as he is done here!"
both me and the kid were shocked. he slowly made his way to the other side of the store. as soon as he was out of ear shot i wipered:
"thanks, a bunch."
"no problem someone needed to teach him, obviously his parents didn't"
i finished up helping this fine gentleman and he was off. the kid then slowly made his way up to counter yet again.
"Can i play the games on the tv?", he almost wispered.
"No not right now." i said
"but your sign says "try before you buy"" he said with little more courage.
"yes it does, so people who are going to get the game can try it before they leave." i said with no emotion.
"well...... i want to get......THAT ONE!" he then points aimlessly at the ps2 wall.
"sorry it is "try before you BUY" not "Arcade", plus i'm a little busy at the moment" just as i say this a horde of people, all in seemingly different parties, pour in store. and as it was a slow day i needed to help them out and try to get them to actual buy something. however the kid would not end our conversation.
he followed me to everyperson i helped and tryed to talk over every single conversation to ask me to try the games on the tv. Me and the customersi helped just ignored him. finally i got to the last couple, an older couple slighly hard of hearing, (i guessed from how loud they talked and how many times they asked me to repeast myself.) but very nice people.
in the middle of our conversation with the kid still asking ever 2 seconds she leans over to me and asks (in a voice she thinks is soft but we can all hear very clearly)
"Is that boy.....umm....i'm not sure how to ask this, but is that boy retarded?"
i leaned close to her and replied just loud enough for her and her husband to hear,
"yes, he comes in quite a bit and just repeats the same phrase over and over again, very sad really."
after our conversation i leave for the counter and i look back to see her on her knee talking very gently to the kid.
at this point i am almost crying trying not to laugh, laughing would totally ruin this moment.
after a minute the lady leaves the store and not to long after so does the kid.
about 30 secs latter doug (part time guy) walks back in from getting his lunch. its very sad that i am the sole witness to this greatness....

-Andi