Stupid, stupid customers.
The sad part is, these people are serious.
A guy walks in, comes right up to the counter, doesn't really even look around. He asks if we sell iTunes cards and iPod charger cords. "We're a video game store. We only carry things for video game consoles." And I'm shaking my head, as I say so. "So you carry them?" How is shaking your head in a very obvious way a neutral response?
Guy and his lady come in with a boxed camcorder, and he looks around, then comes to the counter, asking if we carry charger cords for his video camera. Again, I shake my head clearly, giving him a funny look. "We're a video game store. We only sell video games, sorry." "So is that a yes, or a no?" And the lady's stare at me was just as blank.
"Hi, I'm looking for a phone charger for my phone. Do you guys have any?" "We're a video game store, sorry. Did you try the AT&T store right across the hall?" "Yeah, but they don't have one for the model of phone I've got." Then what makes you think a game store will have it?
And twice now, I've had people come in, and you know what it is that they're looking for? They want me to copy their DVDs for them. We sell video games and their systems. We can resurface discs too, but that's it. Where did they get the idea that we copied discs? Is that common practice, in some stores, and I was just completely unaware of it?
And the lady that came in with a portable DVD player, asking if we repaired them... "We're not a repair shop, sorry. Have you thought about asking a repair shop?" "Yeah, but Best Buy's too expensive." "Sorry." And then she got mad at me. "But you buy broken systems and fix those!" "Only video game systems." "But this isn't that different!" "Good luck with it, ma'am." "So you won't look at it?" "Sorry." And she storms out, pissed.
"Hey, so do you guys mod 360s?" "Mod? You mean, like, making the case look cool, or something?" "No, you know, like... mod chips and shit." "No. Absolutely not." "What if I paid you for it?" "We sell games. We're not going to help you pirate them." "Shit, man, why you gotta be so lame?" Look, I understand about playing backup copies. I do that all the time, because there's no way I'm bringing my original DDS discs or P4 to work every day with me. And I'll readily help friends do it too; I know that having a modded PS2 memory card so you can keep your stupidly expensive games safe is an awesome thing. And I see nothing wrong with using it to play imports (I have some on my shelf) or games that're prohibitively expensive or absurdly rare or otherwise unobtainable, or even games that you just want to try before hunting down on ebay and dropping $30 on. But why on earth would you go into a game store and ask such a question?
Similarly, I've had a couple guys come in and get into convos with me about the various systems, and PSPs in particular... and I've admitted about not having a PSP myself, but wanting to build one so I can mess around with it, maybe play one of my old PSX Spyro games on it or something. And then they start asking me to crack their PSP's firmware for them, so they can play downloaded ROMs. See, that's not even attempting to hide the fact that they only want to do it for blatant piracy reasons. And then I have to tell them "Absolutely not. We're a game store, not a piracy store." Telling me after that, "Come on, man, help me out. I'll pay you for it." isn't going to help that cause.
And one time, one of those PSP guys actually started trying to hit on me after I told him in no uncertain terms that I wouldn't crack his PSP for him, in an attempt to get me to cave in on the issue. Shudder.
I wonder if GameStop gets these kinds of annoyances too?
A guy walks in, comes right up to the counter, doesn't really even look around. He asks if we sell iTunes cards and iPod charger cords. "We're a video game store. We only carry things for video game consoles." And I'm shaking my head, as I say so. "So you carry them?" How is shaking your head in a very obvious way a neutral response?
Guy and his lady come in with a boxed camcorder, and he looks around, then comes to the counter, asking if we carry charger cords for his video camera. Again, I shake my head clearly, giving him a funny look. "We're a video game store. We only sell video games, sorry." "So is that a yes, or a no?" And the lady's stare at me was just as blank.
"Hi, I'm looking for a phone charger for my phone. Do you guys have any?" "We're a video game store, sorry. Did you try the AT&T store right across the hall?" "Yeah, but they don't have one for the model of phone I've got." Then what makes you think a game store will have it?
And twice now, I've had people come in, and you know what it is that they're looking for? They want me to copy their DVDs for them. We sell video games and their systems. We can resurface discs too, but that's it. Where did they get the idea that we copied discs? Is that common practice, in some stores, and I was just completely unaware of it?
And the lady that came in with a portable DVD player, asking if we repaired them... "We're not a repair shop, sorry. Have you thought about asking a repair shop?" "Yeah, but Best Buy's too expensive." "Sorry." And then she got mad at me. "But you buy broken systems and fix those!" "Only video game systems." "But this isn't that different!" "Good luck with it, ma'am." "So you won't look at it?" "Sorry." And she storms out, pissed.
"Hey, so do you guys mod 360s?" "Mod? You mean, like, making the case look cool, or something?" "No, you know, like... mod chips and shit." "No. Absolutely not." "What if I paid you for it?" "We sell games. We're not going to help you pirate them." "Shit, man, why you gotta be so lame?" Look, I understand about playing backup copies. I do that all the time, because there's no way I'm bringing my original DDS discs or P4 to work every day with me. And I'll readily help friends do it too; I know that having a modded PS2 memory card so you can keep your stupidly expensive games safe is an awesome thing. And I see nothing wrong with using it to play imports (I have some on my shelf) or games that're prohibitively expensive or absurdly rare or otherwise unobtainable, or even games that you just want to try before hunting down on ebay and dropping $30 on. But why on earth would you go into a game store and ask such a question?
Similarly, I've had a couple guys come in and get into convos with me about the various systems, and PSPs in particular... and I've admitted about not having a PSP myself, but wanting to build one so I can mess around with it, maybe play one of my old PSX Spyro games on it or something. And then they start asking me to crack their PSP's firmware for them, so they can play downloaded ROMs. See, that's not even attempting to hide the fact that they only want to do it for blatant piracy reasons. And then I have to tell them "Absolutely not. We're a game store, not a piracy store." Telling me after that, "Come on, man, help me out. I'll pay you for it." isn't going to help that cause.
And one time, one of those PSP guys actually started trying to hit on me after I told him in no uncertain terms that I wouldn't crack his PSP for him, in an attempt to get me to cave in on the issue. Shudder.
I wonder if GameStop gets these kinds of annoyances too?