Blockbuster tales: Zombified customers...

[ak]

I have read many a rant over the years on this forum concerning Hollywood's insistance on releasing crap upon crap upon crap.

I've worked part-time at Blockbuster since late 2003 and since then I have noted the very reason that we have to put up with this shit. The real reason we have to put up with this Hollywood garbage.

Let me explain further...

This is a Blockbuster superstore, loads of customers, loads of regulars. The store has nearly 4000 members.

Most of these customers rent purely out of habit. They don't rent because they want to see the film, they rent because it is something new, a new release. Coming to Blockbuster has become as much a part of their lives as having a dump, and I'm not joking.

The amount of people who have rented utter crap like White Chicks and Resident Evil 2 isn't even funny.
Most of the customers come back to us and say that these such films are awful (afore mentioned films in particular), yet, they paid to watch them, thus increasing the demand for shite just like it in the future.

Cinema is different. You choose to go and see a flick, because you are going out of your way, but stopping by at a Blockbuster store is just one of those daily things for a lot of people, and it scares me frankly.

People waste thousands of pounds each year on shitty rentals for the sake of renting.
I can tell a film that I won't like. I can tell a shite film. Even with 10 free rentals a week, I wouldn't even contemplate renting any old film, but it has now become apparent to me why these rants will forever keep cropping up - People don't care what they rent.

If it's new it must be good.

of course, I'm not discounting cinema or other mediums here, but renting really has got a more laid back feel about it, in which people don't care what they rent. In, £3.95, out, home, watch, eat, dump. In, £3.95, out, home, watch, eat, dump, and repeat...

[TheDeadWalk]

If I became a video store clerk I would just wind up lying to people.

When they ask if something's good, they don't really mean it. If they ask if anything good is in, they don't mean that, either. They just mean what new releases are in. And when they say "I like everything." No, they don't. Because the film you'll pick out they'll bring back and hate, or snubb their nose at the cover.

The Tuesday that Dawn of the dead came out on DVD I was in the store, getting a copy of that, and something else. This guy was in there and kept saying he wanted something scary.

I looked at him and said "Get Dawn of the Dead, I thought it was the best horror movie to come out this year so far."

So he picks up another cover of the movie and stares at it with a puzzled look on his face.

"I don't know if I've seen this one or not..."

Store clerk says, "It just came out on DVD today."

"Hmmm... who stars in it?"

Store clerk fumbles the ball, TDW picks it up:

"Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames (big black guy in pulp fiction), and some other folks like Mekhi Phifer..."

I stop at this point, because the cast has made it worse. He was expecting Julia Roberts or Morgan Freeman.

"What's it about?"

Knowing that he's not really reading the back cover, or he just could be illiterate, I answer with a synopsis, in the most retarded form I could say:

"It's the one about the zombies and the shopping mall..."

Suddenly, his goofy looking lips curl forward, and he puts it back.

"Oh, yes! I've seen this!"

YOU FUCKING LIAR!

He walked away to another shelf and got White Chicks.

[GoldenGhost]

I've recently came to the conclusion that I loathe Blockbuster Video.

They have anally raped me.

I was accused of renting Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and not returning it.

Much shit went down.

Pricks.

Oh, and I was innocent.

[movieguy1021]

Originally posted by TheDeadWalk
If I became a video store clerk I would just wind up lying to people.

When they ask if something's good, they don't really mean it. If they ask if anything good is in, they don't mean that, either. They just mean what new releases are in. And when they say "I like everything." No, they don't. Because the film you'll pick out they'll bring back and hate, or snubb their nose at the cover.

The Tuesday that Dawn of the dead came out on DVD I was in the store, getting a copy of that, and something else. This guy was in there and kept saying he wanted something scary.

I looked at him and said "Get Dawn of the Dead, I thought it was the best horror movie to come out this year so far."

So he picks up another cover of the movie and stares at it with a puzzled look on his face.

"I don't know if I've seen this one or not..."

Store clerk says, "It just came out on DVD today."

"Hmmm... who stars in it?"

Store clerk fumbles the ball, TDW picks it up:

"Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames (big black guy in pulp fiction), and some other folks like Mekhi Phifer..."

I stop at this point, because the cast has made it worse. He was expecting Julia Roberts or Morgan Freeman.

"What's it about?"

Knowing that he's not really reading the back cover, or he just could be illiterate, I answer with a synopsis, in the most retarded form I could say:

"It's the one about the zombies and the shopping mall..."

Suddenly, his goofy looking lips curl forward, and he puts it back.

"Oh, yes! I've seen this!"

YOU FUCKING LIAR!

He walked away to another shelf and got White Chicks.

He could have seen it in theaters.

But then again, how could you NOT KNOW if you've seen a movie?

[Joshmo]

I stop in that hell hole about every 2 weeks to see whats selling used... a conversation I actually overheard:

Person #1: "Me-ha....do choo thin dey got dat movie we seen da utter day wid da guy figh-in da dev-o"?

Person#2: "Choo mean Constantine"?

Person #1: "Ches..dats it"

Person #2: "I dunno, less go axe."

At that time, the movie had been in the show for like one week..do people have a FUCKING CONCEPT of how long it takes a movie to get from the show to the shelf!?!? fucking NINE YEAR OLDS KNOW THIS!!!*ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would lose my mind if I worked in a BB and had to answer these stupid fuckers all day long... plus, I'm the type if you ask me some stupid generalized question like "Anything good"? Oh, I know you mean whats in thats NEW..but I dont fucking care that I know what you mean....you could come in every tuesday at 10 am, look at the new release marque and ask that question and I'd STILL fuck with ya!....ask me a question in that manner and I'll fucking rattle off stuff like Lawernce of Arabia, Dr Zhivago, Fiddler on the Roof, Mary Poppins, etc..just to be a prick....oh I like those flicks...but I dont like morons thinking I'm supposed to read their mind...

[A.J. Hakari]

Quite a few of the customers I get are zombified, but more regarding when movies are due out. Back in August, someone had rented the "Van Helsing" game for X-Box, but later they called back and complained because they thought it would be the movie. I have no pity for them because to get to where they got the game, they would have to enter the separate, caged section of the store where we keep the video games, look past all of the other box covers that had "X-BOX" plastered all over them, then look down waaaaaay at the bottom near the end of the last row to get it.

Free rental? Forget it, dumbass.













Actually, my boss did end up giving the guy a free rental anyway. This goes to prove why I'm no good in authority figure positions. :D

[Patrick Bateman]

I've got a friend who's a manager for one of the local Blockbuster's we have in the town I live in. And he's told me that he could hook me up with free rentals (provided I return them in a reasonable amount of time). As cool as this might sound, I have yet to take him up on it.
I just feel like I'm using the guy if i did. I hardly ever see him anyways. Sucks when I do actually, cause he looks almost IDENTICAL to Kevin Smith. And constantly has complete strangers even telling him so (like he doesnt know by now)! Even had a few dumbass' ask for his autograph. And refuse to think otherwise. He's very kind, and tells them that he is NOT infact, Kevin Smith. But like I said, some people just refuse to believe. So he just goes ahead and sign them.

But like ak said, he's told me that I wouldnt believe the amount of complete shit thats rented day in, and day out.

To quote Burt Reynolds from Boogie Nights:
"If it LOOKS like shit, and it SOUNDS like shit, then it MUST be SHIT!"

Pretty much my thoughts. But really, as long as people go out to see, and rent shitty movies, shitty movies will continue to get made. It's an endless cycle. Basically, hardly anyone gives a shit anymore. :p

Atleast not enough.

[Joshmo]

Ah..Boogie Nights...fuckin' MASTERPIECE!

"I like simple pleasures..like butter in my ass & a lollipop in my mouth" :D

-Floyd Gondoli-Boogie Nights

[ComeNightfall]

I used to work at a video store and customers would do the same thing, rent the new releases, no matter shitty they were because they were NEW RELEASES. I'd also get questions about how good or bad movies were. I'd be honest. If I thought the movie was crap, I'd tell them. Most still rented it so they could judge for themselves, but most did think it was crap too after returning it.

Now, there was one movie I rented and thought it was really good. It was bashed though by every critic alive and usually makes the worst film lists. That movie was Color Of Night. I rented it to see exactly why people hated it so much. Even though the plot twist was predictable, it still killed an evening for me. I just pushed past the creepiness that was Jane March and watched.