by Matt | Jul 11, 2001 | Imported Entry
Well, another crappy day at work. A few more details in Water..er..EB-Gate. After the manager checked the transactions in the computer, it seems that yes, indeed, the copy returned was the copy bought that afternoon around 5. I could have told you that. BUT it also shows that I didn’t sell only one copy of the game that afternoon. It could have been legit and the kids were the other transaction. Who knows? At any rate, I also got the full story from the phone call from the father last night. Today, the associate that answered the phone told me what he had said. I guess the father had thought that both the other associate and myself were somehow in league with the person who stole the game and that it was all an elaborate setup. Now lets be honest… this guys sounds like a nut job. 1. It’s not my job to watch you kids or their stuff. 2. After they left my store, thats the end of my responsibility. 3. They didn’t contact security when they should have, even after I advised them to. 4. Returning a game is not against the law, I had no right to assume it was stolen. 5. It happened in a DIFFERENT STORE!!! How many more times can I stress this? I do not control Best Buy, the people in it or anything that happens while you’re there. ARG! Lemme use this analogy: If you buy a car, a nice shiny new one, drive it off the lot, park it somewhere, leave the keys in it and the doors unlocked and it gets stolen, who in their right mind would go back to the dealership and ask for a new car? They would get laughed at. Honestly, normal people would call the police and let them take care of it. Just because a video game isn’t $20,000 doesn’t mean it should be treated any different. Something stolen is something stolen. Period. You should call the police and security and let them help you. End of story. I say this to the father of the two boys. Life sucks sometimes, please remove your head from your ass and be thankfull it wasn’t a new car.
Ok, I’m off to see Final Fantasy with the boys, I’ll let you know how it is. Later.
Current mood: Pissed off and tired of idiots. 
by Matt | Jul 11, 2001 | Imported Entry
Hmm, something funky is going on with LI this morning. So, I’m not sure if you’ll even see this for a while. Like I said (below) I’m working this morning to help out with a game launch. Guys, if you want to see Final Fantasy tonight, gimme a ring. I’ll be at work till about 6, then I’ll be home. How does a late one at Lowell sound? Later.
Current Mood: Tired 
by Matt | Jul 10, 2001 | Imported Entry
2nd worst day at work ever! Seriously. Lemme explain. I’ll leave out a few details due to the fact that the store may fall under legal action and I don’t want to get screwed. Also note, my opinions are mine and mine alone, not those of Electronics Boutique, so don’t bother getting pissed at them. Ok, roughly around 5ish, two teenage boys purchase a copy of the Diablo 2 expansion pack (referred to now as D2, for typing sake). I remember these kids since I was the one at the register. They leave and apparently go to Best Buy. At Best Buy, their bag containing D2 is stolen. They put it down and someone walked off with it. Instead of informing Best Buy or Mall Security, they come back to EB and tell me. They ask if anyone has returned a copy of D2 in the past few minutes (which no one has). I suggest they contact Best Buy security as well as the Mall Security since there’s nothing I can really do for them. They leave and do so. A few minutes later, one of the other associates takes back an unopened copy of D2 from a customer claiming they didn’t like it. No questions asked, this happens all the time so the associate doesn’t think anything of it, not knowing of the current situation. The kids return as the ladies who brought back the game are leaving. I notice that a copy was just returned and mention it to the kids and point in the direction the ladies walked in. They kids wonder off, try to find security, find none (big surprise) and we don’t see them for a while. They then return around 8 and purchase another copy of D2, having failed to apprehend the culprits. I consider the case closed. True, it sucks, I wouldn’t want it to happen to me, but what could have been done? As we’re closing, a pissed off father calls the store to yell and scream that his kids were ripped off and alleging that we had something to do with it. He plans to press charges and is very upset. We tell him that the manager will be in tomorrow and that he will receive a call back then. Now, at this point I have to ask myself a few questions. First, what really happened. Looking only at myself and my store I see that two things occurred: 1. A copy of D2 was bought. A normal thing. 2. A copy of D2 was returned, also a normal thing. Electronically this makes sense. It could merely be coincidence that someone brought back a copy of the game. It happens all the time, who am I to judge this person who’s returning a game? Should I suspect them of wrong doing and deny them the basic privileges granted by the store? No, in all fairness I can’t. I can’t say if that’s a stolen copy of a game or not and I have no right to judge. Also, did it really happen? The kids never brought back THEIR receipt. True, I remember them buying the game, but who’s to say that they didn’t go put it in the car? I can’t judge them either. I have to remain impartial. Also, I was never contacted by Mall Security, Best Buy Security or anyone other than those kids (until the father called). Lastly, why would the father be blaming EB or myself except out of misdirected anger? I was not present at the time of the robbery (if there was one) nor at the time of exchange (if it wasn’t legit). I was doing my job in both cases. In my own opinion, once an item is paid for and leaves the store, it is the sole property of the new owner. I should not be responsibly for carelessness one someones part simply because they shopped at my store. Now, I feel truely bad for those kids. They lost $34.99. To a kid, thats a lot of money. But shouldn’t Best Buy be slightly more to blame than me. Considering they do have a “security staff” as well as operating security cameras. It should also be mentioned that it could be viewed as the kids fault, for leaving their bag unattended in the middle of a busy store. For them I’m sure it’s a life lesson, they should be more careful. Finally, let me say this: Karma will catch up with someone in this one. Whether it be the kids for not really having a game stolen and trying to get me to give them a free one, or the people who stole their game, or the father for over-reacting or possibly even me for somehow not doing all I could. I hope its not me, I certainly felt bad for the boys and offered a course of action they should follow, but I don’t know what else I could have done. Time will tell. At any rate, I’ve been far too philosophical for one evening, I think it’s time for bed. A good idea since I’m heading back to the store in the morning. I agreed to help out with Grand Turismo 3 launch day so I’ll be working until after lunch time. It’ll also give me a chance to let Brent and Eric know about what happened last night. Boys, I’m assuming you all want to see Final Fantasy tomorrow night? Gimme a call after 6, I should be home by then. Later.
Current mood: Confused about peoples anger. 
by Matt | Jul 10, 2001 | Imported Entry
Just got word from Nick that he set up a journal of his own while he’s up in Alaska. Very cool indeed. Now we can all find out what he’s up to in his great Alaskian adventure. You can check that out Here. Oh, and Nick, if you’re reading this, remember you can use HTML tags in your posts as well, they get translated into whatever they need to be, like the link I just made. Anyway, today’s a work day, I’m going in a noon and stick around till close (yuck). I’m not really feeling that great, I’ve felt sick since I went to bed last night. I really don’t feel like going but I know I have to (since I’m closing). I’d probably feel more motivated to go if I’d actually see a pay check before x-mas. They’re one of those companies that hold your first paycheck for you, and since I get a paid bi-weekly, I don’t see a check until after 4 weeks. Very sucky. But I can manage I suppose. Oh, last night I also joined W.A.N (Webmasters Against Netscape). I don’t really hate Netscape the product or Netscape the company, I just don’t like Netscape’s rendering engine. In all my years of being a webmaster/designer, I can honestly say its a giant pain in the ass to design pages around NS’s horrible engine. Everything thing you do, from java-script to table tags to getting images to align with each other, is nearly impossible with NS. Now, I really do dislike Microsoft as a company, I think they’ve made only a few products I’d stand behind. (optical mice, sidewinder, etc) But I do think that they’ve made a better browser with IE6. And since there wasn’t any smart-tags in 6-beta and they’ll no longer be in the final build, I’ve got no problem using it. Trust me, if they was a decent alternative to both IE and NS, I’d be using it. Thats it from me, I’m off to work. Later.
Current Mood: Tired and working. 
by Matt | Jul 9, 2001 | Imported Entry
Welp, this is a little late in coming but my boy Chris just posted his top ten lists (movies and music wise). Check’em out if you get bored. Hmm, maybe that’s inspiration enough to do my own. (not to copy you or anything… hehe) Anyway, of for some more web browsing. Check ya. Later.
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