What is Digg?347 Comments
- UtahApocalyse, on 10/10/2007, -3/+244Im off to blockbuster to pick up some free *****.
- mt066, on 10/10/2007, -18/+240I'm a cool minimum wage employee who rages against the machine by breaking the rules in non-confrontational and insignificant ways.
- rhythmchanges, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1877. "Theft is bad"
--- I had my wallet stolen out of my car by some kids, who went straight up the road and rented 4 games with my card (and my money.) I saw the kids around my house and figured out who it was and called the police. The clerk on duty described the kids exactly and said they were on a security video. When the police asked for the tape, Blockbuster Corporate said they would just write off the expense and not worry about it. Therefore, no evidence, no arrest, no wallet, and a new Netflix member is born. - speedk0re, on 10/10/2007, -5/+186i remember when i lost the VHS tape for Terminator 2 in like 1992, and they tried to charge me $200 for it. Now THAT was funny.
- DarKnight90, on 10/10/2007, -3/+109Dugg for.
"Long story short, I was fired from Blockbuster for calling a female customer a “*****.”" - mrgreen4242, on 10/10/2007, -2/+106Actually, back in the VHS days the film studios had a deal going with rental companies where they sold early copies of movies for high prices so that only rental stores would/could buy them (you could order them through the mail, but no one stocked them because no one bought them). The basic premise being that it was good for both businesses. The movie studio got to sell 100,000 copies of a movie at 10x normal price to rental stores, who enjoyed a near exclusive rental period before movies were on sale to the general public. When DVDs came along the studios involved offered up more or less tha same deal to the big rental chains - we'll delay the general release of a DVD and have a ~2 month period where we'll sell it to you for $200 a disc. The rental companies declined and so now DVDs go on sale for the standard price to the general public on day one.
Long story short, if Terminator 2 was in its new release period, $200 was about what it would have cost them to replace it. - Botanicus, on 10/10/2007, -10/+85I worked as a trainer at Blockbuster for a few years and while there's some truth in what he says... he's quite wrong. Here's a quick synopsis of why:
10) I can't do that. - Basically thats a fault of our society. We often say we cant do something when we wont. Sometimes he's right, its the vindictive spirit of the clerk. Othertimes its because I said it because I didnt want to get fired for taking of a $350 late fee (no joke).
9) Computer locked down - Those computers are crap. They DONT lock down before you close, but they can lock down afterward or prevent certain functions (such as selling a movie pre-street date).
8) Restroom Broken - Sometimes they Do break. Othertimes he's right, we just didnt want people stealing our stuff.
7) Teft is bad - From 2000-2005 I called the cops several times and even had some of the merchandise returned. It was rare when we had enough info for the cops to do anything about it, but we've had people removed for tresspassing, or picked up for theft.
6) calling the other store - I caught some people doing that when I was training.... they got fired shortly after ;) Some employees DO call. If you're not sure first use logic, did they spend enough time on the phone to even seem like the other person looked. Remember, on a friday night they're probably busy and can't answer off the top of their head for an obscure title. Also, ask who they talked to.
5) Movie buffs - usually employees like movies, but aren't well rounded. We had a variety of people, i usually held down anime and sci-fi, the newly wed manager held down romantic comedies, the 30 something guy living in his parents basement was action and 'special interest'.
4) Reposting online - Completely true. there used to be blockbustervideo.com, a messageboard system for bb employees till Blockbuster got mad and kinda broke it.
3) No late fees - Ugh. There are late fees. I hate you Blockbuster, just call them what they are!
2) Netflix Vs BBV - Yeah. Basically Blockbuster is a greedy corporation and wants to make money. They're doing it the only way they know how, eliminate competition. the product they offer isnt bad, but the cost certainly can be.
1) Good movies - Everyone has a different taste. I like anime, some people dont. Some people like black and white spanish films... I dont. Realize what your tastes are and ask your friends... If you know the employees or rent there often they can help... but dont take their word for Gospel.
just another PoV - justinil, on 10/10/2007, -4/+74that's funny... just the other day, I rented Blade Runner (top 3 favorite movies, just holding out buying til the uber-DVD this fall) and the guy that rang me up suggested I get something ELSE. "you sure you want to get this?" "yah, why?" "have you ever seen it before?" ... I said no, just to hear what he had to say. "it's not as good as it looks or as good as people say."
what are the rules for knocking some sense into blockbuster employees? - brstilson, on 10/10/2007, -4/+63I used to go to Blockbuster and they had this one guy working there that would proclaim loudly how awesome my movie choices were. "OHHHHH BLADE 3 THAT IS AN AWESOME MOVIE MAN!!!!" He'd try to have a discussion and everything. It was like, "Dude, stfu and take my credit card"
- Academicballa, on 10/10/2007, -2/+56Totally stealing ***** after work.
- zyl0x, on 10/10/2007, -10/+476 is *****. I've asked people to call other stores and hold an item for me, and when I get there, it's been held and waiting for me.
I think this guy's just a bit angry because he got fired from his whole 6 months of employment, probably for being a bitter punkass slacker. - blairgolson, on 10/10/2007, -1/+37The part about the employee (not) calling the other store was actually revelatory.
- speedk0re, on 10/10/2007, -0/+34that's pretty interesting and helps to explain a 15 year mystery to me... thanks for the info :)
- tdowling, on 10/10/2007, -1/+29So you flash your balls in the faces of kids who give you a hard time? I believe that makes you a pedophile. A very tall pedophile.
- SenorCardgage74, on 10/10/2007, -0/+28Not once did I see anyone running with a blade.
- amorrise, on 10/10/2007, -5/+33I love your attitude about good movies. It bothers me when people don't even want to understand them.
- lordtyros, on 10/10/2007, -4/+31You were probably one of those kids I wanted to murder during out-loud reading in elementary school.
You: "Teh, teh, teh, ... ... , Tehe, ..."
Me: "It's THOUGHT, you ***** idiot!"
Teacher: "Stay after class, Lordtyros." - bigteebo, on 10/10/2007, -2/+29I used to work at Blockbuser, so I am getting a kick out of these replies.
- Escamotage, on 10/10/2007, -7/+33Holy crap. This is by far the most accurate article I may ever vouch for in my life.
I worked 2 years at Blockbuster back in the late 90s. That corporation rapes all their employees as well as their customers. I could probably also make a list of how poorly they treat their employees. - Kat5, on 10/10/2007, -0/+24#6 is wrong (at least at the store I used to work at). We usually called other nearby stores and they also called us. It made the Friday/Saturday night rushes hellish as you tried to clear a line of video renters while answering 2 lines. Favorite tactic for answering phones while the store is busy - saying "Thank you for calling Blockbuster, please hold" before the other person on the other end could talk. That way you tied up both phone lines so you could clear the registers. It pissed of some people but when your line is over 30 people long, you gotta do what you gotta do.
- Grub, on 10/10/2007, -3/+25I work at Hollywood Video and I must say, I do a lot of the same things. Difference is, we dont have that online crap and I refuse to call other stores. I will give other people the number if they really want to.
At about the "computer wont let us" most of the time "the computer wont let us" because we're really not supposed to run around taking off 300 dollars in late fee's because the customer is mad. If you like me, I might be inclined to remove a few, reprice some of the larger ones, such as the movie you returned 271 days late, and should have just bought in the first place.
I had one lady call into my store one day. yell at me for 15 minutes about how me or someone at the store had stolen a game (i knew no one had, it was ***** Cabella's Alaskan Adventure. We had 3 copies, and in six months, 2 copies had been a rented for a total or 3 times (combined).) After he being rather rude and yelling at me for trying to handle it (i could have if she had honestly returned it) she hung up on me for not being the manager. Two days later I was working, and her mother came in with the game, with some ***** story like her ex-bf had it at his house ect ect. Pissed me off because this lady gave me some bs story about how she "personally returned the game and remembers doing it." Well, ain't that interesting, because I specifically remember your mom returning it 76 days late for you, because you were to much of a bitch to suck it up and face the truth and return it yourself. - rhythmchanges, on 10/10/2007, -0/+20I'd actually prefer to hear confessions of a 'triple x' employee.
- SLYK, on 10/10/2007, -7/+26Really? So was that guy. Jeez he was a *****.
- mywhitenoise, on 10/10/2007, -6/+25Well, looks i'll be stopping by Blockbuster today and walk out the door with some stolen candy.
- frostieDude, on 10/10/2007, -0/+17That would have just gotten him arrested. He should have had his attorney file a civil action against the kids and suppeona the tape as evidence.
- spootmonkey, on 10/10/2007, -0/+17thats what you get for renting Blade 3.
- gmprunner, on 10/10/2007, -4/+19I would have smacked the kids up one side of the street and down the other.
- sgglynn, on 10/10/2007, -1/+16I worked for BB for the better part of 3 years, it wasn't that horrible, but yeah, we lie alot. The power of employees giving credits is basically limitless. Within a week there you learn about 10 other employees login ID's and passwords, so when you are doing credits, as long as you mix up which employee is giving the credit, no one will know, or care. Assistant managers give out there ID and password practically on your first day, just so you dont have to bother them to come put in their info everytime they should. The best way to get a credit, is just be nice to the customer service rep, I can't tell you how many times i've made a yelling customer pay a late fee because he was obnoxious. But if a friendly and polite person asked for a credit, it was never a problem
Just about every blockbuster employee hates his job, company, and customers. They are told that they should try not to credit off late fee's, but the moment the person gets pissed off and calls a district manager, they will call your manager and have them credit off the late fee, and usually give them a gift card on top of it for their "trouble". Nothing is more frustrating then being told to fight for the company, only to see how quickly they'll bail on you the moment they want a customer off their back. I strongly believe the entire system is designed to create disgruntled employees.
Also, if you are an employee, and your manager confronts you about stealing, or trading rentals for free food, always deny it. Your store manager will tell you they just want the truth, but the moment you admit, they're forced to fire you, but as long as you deny it, they'll probably drop the issue. - klutz642, on 10/10/2007, -2/+16I had the same thing I went to my local place and wanted to rent Idiocracy the lady gives me a weird look and says you sure you want that. I was like yes why. She said "O its just not that good of a movie not funny at all, no one seemed to like it." I just thought is everyone from where i live (west central PA) a stupid hick.
- rprince, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14Just don't go try it at Target as he suggested would be easy as well. They have a pretty solid loss prevention system. You may just see some guy standing at the door, but there is a whole team in the store, watching you. Those cameras on every aisle aren't there for decoration.
- CoronaVegas, on 10/10/2007, -13/+27Buried for thinking Blockbuster will somehow "drive Netflix into Bankruptcy and then rasie their prices". Otherwise, it was pretty funny.
- StuBeck, on 10/10/2007, -1/+15Yes, netflix is the one actually making money, while blockbuster online isn't.
- cupcrazy1027, on 10/10/2007, -5/+18Summary of Article:
Long story short, I was fired from Blockbuster for calling a female customer a “*****.”
She was totally acting like one, though...
lol - Neiby, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14Yep, it happened to me earlier. It removed the breaks from my nicely formatted response and made me look like an idiot. Digg's comment system is rather broken.
- Rustbelt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14There's nothing like having a bad day and then getting lip from the video store guy because he saw "Clerks" one too many times. I get tired of people who are tired of making minimum wage taking out their frustration on me. It's not my fault. When I had a crappy job I didn't like it either but I didn't take it out on the customers. You can spot who these people were later in life because they never completely lose the whole "they don't pay me enough to care" attitude. I feel like telling them to go do something that makes them happy and leave the rest of us alone.
- thecolorifix, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13Yeah I used to work at Blockbuster and whenever someone said "I don't like movies with subtitles" I immediately assumed they had poor reading skills.
- amoirae, on 10/10/2007, -3/+16Is someone making your whiny bitch ass stay here?
- zyl0x, on 10/10/2007, -3/+16Yeah, I just noticed "Long story short, I was fired from Blockbuster for calling a female customer a “*****.”"
That's.. yeah. - gmprunner, on 10/10/2007, -3/+16Do your parents know you've been cursing on this website, young man?
- Sechy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14I worked at Blockbuster for 3+ years. A lot of these are true and it is a horrible corporation to work for. The one about the theft was not true at my store though. I used to chase down the people who would steal and put them under citizens arrest. I used to get a rush tackling the thieves and then scaring the hell out of them so they would never come back in our store again. Most stores will not do anything about it though.
- Remmiz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13Blockbuster has an amazing loss prevention system, they just don't use it. A friend of mine got fired from a manager position for "stealing" $5. What happened was he rented a movie out under his employee account and on the 7th day he couldn't find it. So he went into work that night and literally minutes before the store closed, he manually checked in the movie so it wouldn't auto-sell onto his account. He opened the store the next morning and brought the movie in before the store was even open. Loss prevention somehow found out about this and fired him over the case that for the couple hours the store was closed, no one could rent the movie he falsely checked in. They charged him $5 and fired him on the spot.
***** jerks. - lordtyros, on 10/10/2007, -6/+18Paragraph breaks, *****.
- jeffeb3, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13That point was a little sketchy to me too. If either netflix or blockbuster controlled enough of the market, they would aim to increase their profits by decreasing value or increasing prices. Based on the recent closings of blockbuster stores, it seems to me like netflix has a better change at gaining a monopoly. Plus, you can use the in store coupons for games. That's reason enough for me.
- CptnObvious, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13I work at Blockbuster and have done all but the last. I tell people exactly what I think of the movie, although my boss tells me not to, but I could care less what he tells me. Heck I wouldn't be sorry at all if Blockbuster goes under.
- ahknight, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12It's the internet. Who needs sources?
- dorianh49, on 10/10/2007, -5/+16As far as I know, it's not so much the cost of the video as it is the cost of the LICENSE that Blockbuster purchases for each copy that gives them the right to rent out the video for money. You can't legally go to Target, buy some DVD's, and open your own movie rental business renting those movies out without paying some sort of licensing fee to the studios, the MPAA, local regulators, and whomever else wants a piece of that pie.
I'm not justifying Blockbuster's actions by any means, but I have a feeling that there's more to the movie rental business than most people think. - SenorCardgage74, on 10/10/2007, -2/+13Truth be told tho Idiocracy did suck, just not for the reasons she probably thought it did.
A brillient idea executed terribly.
Missed the mark way more often than it hit. - pooper, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11Yeah, it's pretty easy to rip off blockbuster... I was working some slow night, and some guy literally came in with sunglasses and a trenchcoat on. At the Blockbuster i worked at, the entrance is a one way door and the only exit is behind the counter. So the guy had his girl hold open the one way door and he ran off with a load of movies. We couldn't get the security tape until the next morning. Anyway, he was never caught and I never heard anymore about it.
- RobbieS, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10I used to work in Hollywood Video in high school(also in Phoenix, as it seems the author did). Most of the stuff is pretty accurate. I never worked retail before (I did construction, and then went to Uni after that), and I never want to again. You don't really realize how stupid people are until you have to serve them.
-People rent the dumbest *****, and then act so surprised when Action Train 4 didn't turn out to be so good! Pretty much anything new, they gobbled up.
-Customers are ***** suckers for the bundles. We'd say for like 2 or 3 bucks more, they can get a bag of popcorn and a soda, which would save them a dollar or something. Nevermind there was a supermarket right next door, and for the same amount, you can get a big 2 liter and a whole box of popcorn, but no...they bought it everytime. Nevermind that most of them really shouldn't have had it anyways, considering their current state of health.
-Customers love re-arranging movies for no reasons.
-That being said, there were the occasional good movie watcher who would come through, and I really enjoyed talking to them. Anybody with a basic level of intelligence quickly figures out that most of the people that work at video stores are *****, but when they notice someone who is moderately smart, we can then have a good time talking about good movies. And that almost salvaged the rest of the job for me...when I got to talk to real movie loving customers.
-I don't know how BB did it, but at Hollywood, people would accumulate huge late fees, and they would always maintain a balance. it was like we were a credit card. Some people had $50, $100, or upwards accumulated from 3 or 4 dollar late fees. It was unbelievable. - paidhima, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10That's the difference between "priced for rental" and "priced to own." If you remember the print and TV ads for VHS movies, you would frequently see/hear "priced to own now, from blahblahblah" or something similar. Look in a vendor's catalog, however, and you'll see "priced for rental" all over it, with those exhorbitant per-unit prices.
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