J6Ps who work for BlockBuster (1 Viewer)

Dave H · Aug 20, 2001

Last Saturday I visited a friend I haven't seen in a while and I met his girlfriend who works at a local BlockBuster and has been for nearly two years. We ended up watching Wedding Singer (on DVD). As the movie appeared, I quickly noticed that it was not widescreen; to my knowledge, the disc contained full frame and widescreen. When I asked about this to make sure I was correct, the BlockBuster girl said: "you don't lose anything at all watching it in full frame." I didn't want to make her appear stupid (although I did), I explained to her, politely, that she was wrong and the reasons for it. Someone else also seconded what I stated.
Does Blockbuster take any time to educate its workers on aspect ratio or widescreen, etc.? Either they don't, or this girl just never got it.
[Edited last by Dave H on August 20, 2001 at 05:01 PM]

Adam Lenhardt · Aug 20, 2001

Probably not. I mean you don't need a working knowledge of aspect ratio to scan in barcodes, take people's money, and stock shelves.

Kwang Suh · Aug 20, 2001

Actually, if it was full-frame, there is no picture loss. If it was pan and scan, then there's picture loss.

nolesrule · Aug 20, 2001

Adam's right.
I spent a couple summers working at Blockbuster in between college semesters. They don't teach you anything about movies. That's what the free weekly rentals were for.
But in general, the customers were just as stupid.
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My DVD Collection

Nate Anderson · Aug 20, 2001

I used to work for Blockbuster for a year. I was one of the, if not the, most popular employee there. Customers loved me because I knew almost all the movies (except for the cheesy soft-core porn in the drama section, I left that to the hornier employees) and could determine which movie a person was looking for after they described it to me.
You're right. The customers were stupid. We had people call and ask if we had movies in stock that WERE IN THE THEATERS!!!!
I quit, on principle, when Blockbuster started pushing rental windows for DVD. Of course as I left, I expanded my DVD collection at discount prices. Five finger discount, in fact.
I always like to leave a corporation like Blockbuster worse off then when I found it.
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"What if he honks in the car?"
"I'm giving you a no honk guaruntee."

Scott Weinberg · Aug 20, 2001

I've never worked for Lackluster, but I did work for West Coast Video throughout my teenage years. Anyone remember this company? Heehee.
Assuming a video clerk knows about OAR is like assuming that a cow knows about ice cream.
Especially the cow part.
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Scott
Check out my Movie Reviews at Epinions. Help support my debilitating DVD addiction!
AOL IM: TheAngryJew29

Jeff Swindoll · Aug 20, 2001

WERE IN THE THEATERS

I worked for a mom&pop and one time we had a lady call and started asking if certain movies were in, after saying "no, that's only in the theaters" a couple of times, we realized she was reading the current theater listings to us.

That was almost as good at the time the customer came in and was mad because our tape messed up his VCR by getting tangled up in the workings of the damn thing

.
We also used to keep a list of the odd titles that people would ask for, like Harley Davidson and the Lawnmower Man. I wish I still had that list, some were dooozies.
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Dear WB : Release Wonka in Widescreen!
I didnt play Dungeons and Dragons all those years and not learn something about courage.
--Bernie Faulkner

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SteveMc · Aug 20, 2001

I worked at a local video chain and got some doozies coming in as well. My favorite was a drunk lady who came in and hit my boss with her videos. Or some guy (sounded like he was from africa somewhere) accused me of melting his tape AFTER he returned and said we had evil people working there

Ah, I don't miss customer service at all...
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Crash
"I don't even own a gun, let alone many guns that would necessitate an entire rack."
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Kwang Suh · Aug 21, 2001

Harley Davidson and the Lawnmower Man

Hmm, sounds good! When is it coming out?

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Mark McLeod · Aug 21, 2001

I've been trying to get a job at a video store recently and haven't even landed any interviews. My resume mentions my interest in DVDs and movies and mentions that I write reviews but it still seems I'm overqualified for the jobs. Sure I am overqualified but I've always wanted to work in a video store so that I could try and educate people.
I guess they don't want someone with some knowledge to help the customers just someone who they can control and program to scan the thing and move on.
Oh well.
Mark

Sean Moon · Aug 21, 2001

I am a manager of a Blockbuster and am pretty fanatical when saying why you need OAR. I put it very kindly that only an idiot would want pan and scan, but in nicer words and not so bluntly. Also push DVD on everyone who comes in.
Also get to watch the stuff early....Gump is going home with me tomrrow!!
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Edwin-S · Aug 21, 2001

--I guess they don't want someone with some knowledge to help the customers just someone who they can control and program --
You are going to find that it isn't just video rental chains that want this......it's every company!!

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Joe_C · Aug 21, 2001

You're right. The customers were stupid. We had people call and ask if we had movies in stock that WERE IN THE THEATERS!!!!

I worked at Hollywood Video when I was 16 and this happened virtually every day. I even got yelled at when I tried to tell some lady that Any Given Sunday had JUST come out in the theaters and that we wouldn't be carrying it for quite some time. She was adamant about it, insisting that she just saw a commercial for it that very day. Eventually, I just told her to call up her local movie theater to find out for sure. I told her that if she was right about it, that I would give her free rentals for life. Of course, she was wrong and she never came back in to our store again
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Digital Hoard

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Calvin Cullen · Aug 21, 2001

I tried to rent Patton at a Ballbuster once. Checked it out, took the disc home and watched the movie. Looked over the special features and realized that I was missing the second disc. So I headed back and asked the manager to look for it. He couldn't find it anywhere, but hey that's okay, "its just a bunch of extra stuff. The movie is on the first disc."
Long story short, I got him to credit my account. I don't know if this is standard policy, but I've never rented any DVD, two disc or otherwise, from them since.

David Lambert · Aug 21, 2001

I even got yelled at when I tried to tell some lady that Any Given Sunday had JUST come out in the theaters and that we wouldn't be carrying it for quite some time. She was adamant about it, insisting that she just saw a commercial for it that very day. Eventually, I just told her to call up her local movie theater to find out for sure. I told her that if she was right about it, that I would give her free rentals for life.

I used to work as a manager for a chain that sells videogames & computer software. I got the same sort of thing, in that kids would read the magazines and mention to their parents a title they wanted. Then the parent would come in asking for the videogame. Often it was months off, and the mag was just mentioning that the title was in-the-works. An example of this was the first version for the Sega Genesis of "Joe Montana Football". As I recall, the title was originally due for Christmas, then got put off until right after the Super Bowl (early February). It was October-ish, and a lady came in insisting that she should be able to buy the title from me that day. I told her it wasn't originally due out for a couple of months, but had been delayed for two more months.
Get this: she said that she had seen it in stock up the street at Service Merchandise, and that her son's friend had already bought a copy while there. I knew it was untrue, but I couldn't get her to admit it. I eventually drove her out of the store, and probably lost a customer for life.
I later asked my district manager how to deal with that situation, citing that it wasn't the first time. He replied that I should respond to that sort of thing with this (in regard to the competitor named): "They're lucky. You're son's friend is lucky. Gosh!...we won't be able to get that item for months...you should consider yourself lucky that someone else can sell it to you now. But, if you can't find it any more because you're out of luck, I'll be happy to take your name & number and call you when we get it. In February."
He was right. It worked every time, thereafter! Ah, a lesson learned.

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DAVE/Memphis
My 3-year-old enjoying Superman - The Movie in widescreen:

(Some of my DVD's are to the left side of the picture)

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Sam Hatch · Aug 21, 2001

Mark - I've experienced the exact same thing on and off for some fifteen years now. I've put in enough applications at video stores to create a landfill, and as far as I can tell it's the hardest damned job on earth to get. Well, next to a job in a record store that is. It seems the less qualified you are for the job, the better. If I work hard enough now, maybe I can take the pay cut and finally get a call back when I'm old and retired...
The sad thing is that every time I walk into a video/record store, people always come up to me for help - despite the fact that I'm not wearing anything remotely similar to employee's garb. I explain to them that I don't work there, but then I answer their questions and help them anyway! But I'm obviously not qualified to get paid to do it!
Luckily, there's plenty of well-paying jobs out there that I know absolutely nothing about. Those I can get no problem.
Go figure!
And if I ever decide to go for those jobs again, I'm fucking putting 'basket weaving' under the interests section on the application!
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"Negative. I am a meat popsicle."

TheoGB · Aug 21, 2001

Heh heh, slightly OT:
My mate went into a local Dixons to check out some stereos (don't know if you have 'em in the States but they're your classic electrical goods store just there for the quick and easy sales).
After being badgered by a sales representative he stated he was after a stereo with Mini-Disc. The man took him to a low end stereo and ejected the CD tray.
He pointed to the 3cm CD single depression in the middle of the tray and said: "This one plays Mini-Discs, sir."
Wow!
I would like to say that there is no reason a Blockbuster employee should be expected to know anything about OAR. I don't want to sound snotty here but it is essentially a luxury item - you have to care more about the technicalities than the movie. I only want to watch things in Widescreen but that's because I am an anal movie nerd.
Now I'd have said most people get a job in Blockbuster to live, not because it's always been their dream to work in a video store. It would certainly be true in the UK to suggest the the sort of wages you're likely to get at BB are not conjusive to developing a massive DVD collection and pro-audio set-up. You're more likely to spend that money on boring bills and having a good time out on the town.
And frankly, so are a lot of the customers. There is no reason, therefore, that any special training, etc. should be done regarding this.
Theo

Rich Allen · Aug 21, 2001

I used to date a manager of a local video store a while back. I'd go in and hang out until the store closed. Every once in a while, she's get something worse than Joe Six Pack: Joe Quart Bottle!!!
Real losers. They's come in and wait until there was no one arround the counter and request a movie that was either still in the theaters or had just finished but wasn't out on video yet. They'd start out with a "I know you got it" and a "My friend Bob got it here last week" and finally a "If you don't let me have it, I'll let the cops know and you'll be in big trouble". We wondered if the first one that tried this was an undercover cop in a sting operation looking for bootlegs but it wasn't. They usualy reaked of alchohol.

Mike Gariepy · Aug 21, 2001

Nate Anderson -

I would seriously consider editing your post if I were you. Not exactly something you really want to advertise or sign your name to in a public forum.
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"Hi I'm Reddy Killowatt reporting a dangerous overloaded octopus connection in sector five!"
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[Edited last by Mike Gariepy on August 21, 2001 at 08:57 AM]

Marc Carra · Aug 21, 2001

Mike,
I just had the same reaction , after reading the FFD part of Nate's post. Oh My God!
Marc.

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