Another B-Buster rant (but not what you think)

The BBQ Pit
21

I definitely don’t argue here - it’s a low-paying job that’s only going to attract kids or grown-up doofuses. So why would you expect them to know more than they’re capable of knowing? Cmon, gobear, have a heart. They’re dopey, they’re fun, they’re ignorant, but they’re them.

As for your typical convos, no question that’s what would happen if I asked for an older film. But you see, the mentality of the typical (typical, not all of them) BB employee mirrors that of the typical customer - they have memories only of movies that came out in the past few months. I know that going in to a BB, so I don’t ask them questions about The Man Who Came to Dinner. They won’t know.

They’re not there for you and me; they’re there for the majority of the people. Are most people movie buffs? Probably not. Anyway, I don’t blame them for not being aficionados when they don’t need to be so for most customers.

As for the DVD selections - the ones near me have a lot. Yes, they’ll have far more of the newest claptrap, but don’t forget, they have that “guaranteed” thing. If it ain’t there… So they cover their asses.

As for your pan-and-scan problems… :wink:

You know, some of us like it. In fact, most people do, whether it’s because of ignorance or just plain taste. That’s just a fact of life. People see a smaller screen, they don’t like it, no matter how many technical explanations one can come up with. Now, if the store has only P/S, then it does suck - no choices. If it offers both P/S and widescreen, then it’s good.

Oh, and you mentioned Potomac Video. Is this a chain? There’s one in College Park. I’ll never, ever go to it. They have freaking parking meters outside it (and all the other stores in the center). I’m not paying to go to a dang video store.

And further by the way…

If you love the older ones, there is a great online service called Home Movie Library. Shoot, I don’t have the URL with me. But what you do is order the movies online, they ship em to you (just like NetFlix, I guess), and then you send them back after I believe three days, with everything paid for. They have a lot of older ones - I got M, Green for Danger, and Medium Cool one time. (I’ll look for the URL when I get home.)

Also, there’s a store in Philly called Movies Unlimited that must have zillions of old and hard to find movies for rent. If they’ve expanded down here, I’d go. But I wonder if they do online orders, too…

22

Maybe he/she wouldn’t know how your day was if they didn’t have to hear half of your conversation. :wink:

23

You do realize you just insulted a fellow doper for no good reason? Did you mean to, or did you neglect to read and understand the OP?

24

Tequila probably knows what I mean. But I apologize anyway. :slight_smile:

Having worked in those stores for seven years, I know they don’t pay much, ordinarily. Whenever I had to place an ad for a new employee, nearly all of the applicants were high-schoolers looking for extra cash, or a man or woman looking for supplemental income. I’m just saying it doesn’t pay a lot, so people probably shouldn’t expect each employee to be an expert in movies.

25

I don’t mind being called a doofus. It’s pretty close to what I usually call myself anyway. I don’t know and haven’t seen every movie ever made as I’m not a film student. When a film snob comes in, I do commiserate with them about the lack selection and try to offer suggestions on finding it, or send them to a competitor. I try explain that pan & scan is and why widescreen is better to customers who’ll listen. I try to offer suggestions for a rewards weekday free movie to go along with their new release crap-o-the-week. I can tell you where 80% of the movies are in the Blockbuster library. I keep my voice very even and light when explaining to poeple, over and over and over and over that the cover boxes contain nothing and taking them to the counter will be a waste of time, or not to leave their retuns on the counter with the movies already checked in or they need to turn in both discs before we can check in the item. (Hey everyone’s entitled to have a bad day, we don’t need to get snarky because of it. Let’s make the day the same or better but not worse for them.) It’s a job folks, it’s not everything I am. I certainly hope it doesn’t define me as a person. It’s not my dream job, but I like most of it. The part I dislike about it the most is customers taking out their frustration on the kids who work with me. Or the people who think Blockbuster is so evil, they’re entitled to steal. Man, my job would be so much fun if it wasn’t for the customers! :stuck_out_tongue:

26

My sentiments exactly, dantheman. If you’re expecting a graduate student in film, you have to pay to attract an education. Needless to say, minimum wage (or slightly above) is unlikely to bring in people who review independent movies in their spare time.

Do you complain if the people who serve you your fries at McDonalds don’t know the difference between frying and sauteeing?

27

You know what, though… I wouldn’t mind at all working in a video store again. I loved it. Yeah, some of the customers had no brains. Many had big brains. (I’ll never forget the people who mangled the title “Dances with Wolves” or the multiple people who wondered about “Malcolm X” - “I didn’t know there were nine others!”)

It’s a good job for people looking for supplemental income or for people who don’t have a lot of expenses (i.e., teenagers).

Actually, most stores aren’t allowed to hire kids under 18, because the stores carry adult films. Sadly, BB doesn’t… :wink:

Anyway, my apologies, Tequila, I didn’t mean to offend. My mistake.

28

“Film snob”? Having standards is not snobbery. In any event, Tequila Mockingbird sounds like a credit to her profession–all work is honorable if it is well-done.

If you want a bigger screen, buy a new TV, preferably a 16:9 widescreen, so that the black bars are eliminated.

[/quote]

I don’t eat fries, and I don’t go to McDonald’s. In any event, the comparison is inapt. nothing at McD’s is sauteed, so the choice does not exist. A more accurate analogy would be a McD’s clerk not knowing the difference between a hamburger and a Big Mac (or a Royale with cheese.)

29

Gex, you are free to do whatever you like, but you are still an asshole.

Cashiers are people just like you. They have family, and dreams, and pets, and thoughts and feelings. They are not machines. The least you can do for another person is to look them in the eye when you talk to them. I can’t tell you how many times people have handed me money, recieved their change and got their item while talking on the phone to someone else, or averting their eyes. Aside from practical matters (if you are on the phone it is hard to communicate when your video is due, or that your credit card didn’t go throught, or that I can’t accept the check you handed me) it wears you down after a while of being treated without the simple respect that people afford to children and animals.

And if you can’t spare three minutes of your time to make sure you are fully there when you are conducting a transaction with another human, you are an asshole.

30

Thanks for the idea! Now if I could only afford a bigger TV…

Which might actually be one reason people don’t like them - they can’t afford the TVs that display them properly. At least not yet. The price will come down soon enough.

31

Who cares? A cashier’s function is to take money and give me back the correct change, and maybe tell me where I can find certain items. I agree that one ought not to abuse the help–no yelling, no throwing money at them, and smiling never hurt anyone–but a cashier is there to do her job, not be my buddy. I don’t give a rat’s ass about your family and dreams and pets.

OTOH, Gex Gex would be smart to put down the cell, not to heal the poor widdle cahsier’s wounded feelinns, but to check that he is a)getting the correct change back, b)that his credit card and receipt are handed back.

32

Isn’t there a difference between being a buddy and being a human? One doesn’t have to carry a conversation with the cashier, but why be deliberately rude?

33

Sorry the word “snob” offended you, gobear. But comments like,

“Anytime I have ever requested a movie that isn’t a Sandra Bullock Piece of Crap that Tanked Six Months Ago, the retail monkey has to look it up. C’mon, if you’re not familiar with the work of Stanley Kubrick, Billy Wilder, or John Huston, let alone Luis Bunuel, Akira Kurosawa, or Federico Fellini, you have no business working in a video
store.”

Led me to the judgement that he is a film snob. Not that it’s a bad thing to be discriminating, but it did come across as rather off-putting and if I encountered an attitude like that at work, I’d respectfully call him a film snob to his face. I don’t mean as is a derisive remark, though I have encountered people who actively scorn myself and my coworkers simply because we work where we do. Fields of interests vary and to some degree everyone IS a bit of a snob. There is special place in my heart for really old b&w screwball classics such as It Happened One Night, Bringing Up Baby and I adore The Marx Brothers and Danny Kaye films. I like mindless entertaining fun movies with lots of things that go boom, too. Not all film must be art. I even suspect some people may take it as a badge of honor to be considered a “film snob” by a lowly retail monkey like myself :stuck_out_tongue:

34

I’m against being deliberately rude–there’s no excuse for yelling, throwing money, or in any harrassing a cashier in the normal performance of her job, but, at the same time, a cashier has no right to expect a customer to gaze into her eyes and have a moment of emotional closeness during a transaction. If a customer wants to talk on a cell, read a magazine, or just look at a wall during a transaction, it’s his right to do so (although I thinkhe ought to make sure the cashier can count).

This passage–“Cashiers are people just like you. They have family, and dreams, and pets, and thoughts and feelings”–is utter tosh.

35

As an ex-cashier, I agree - heck, I don’t want you to gaze into my eyes, lovingly or not. But as pointed out earlier, it’s in the best interest of both parties if everyone’s paying some amount of attention. If you can talk on the phone and pay your bill, that’s no problem as far as I’m concerned. But if there’s a problem with the transaction - say, you have a movie out that’s late, or your card has been rejected - then you should respond to me respectfully saying, “excuse me” and hang up (or put the person on hold) for a moment while we settle things up. But for the normal transaction, it’s not really the end of the world - unless the customer’s throwing stuff at the cashier, or yelling into his/her phone, etc.

36

Resolved, with thanks to Gex for showing us the light:

Cashiers are there to take your money. Your only obligation is to give them legal tender, after which you may ignore them, avert your eyes, or otherwise treat them as subservient.

Bathroom attendants are there to attend to your bathroom needs. So long as you leave them a nominal tip, you may pee on them, wipe yourself on them, or anything else that strikes your fancy.

Bus boys/girls are there to clean your table. You may leave all manor of organic debris and detritus behind including, but but not limited to, vomit so long as the table suffers no physical damage.

For more bits of wisdom on interacting with your inferiors in the service industry, visit your local bookstore [being sure to work over the salespeople] and get a copy of G. Gex’s seminal work, Hey, Fucko! You Are On Earth To Serve ME

37

This is what I’m talking about. Too many people are willing to excuse crap because they have the excuse, “It’s just a popcorn movie.” A film can be a fun, mindless, action film, but it should be a GOOD fun mindless, action film. Take for example, the 1999 version of The Mummy. It has no deep thematic significance and it says nothing especially profound about the human condition, but it is well-acted, well-made, and it is a nonstop thrill ride. I really liked it a lot, and I have it on DVD.

Now, let’s look at its sequel, The Mummy Returns. It’s badly written and dull, with a ridiculous ending. Yet people will excuse it by saying, “It doesn’t have to be art.” Rubbish! It may not have to BE art, but it should at least try to be good.

38

Then we are in agreement.

Waverly, you cannot be serious.

Yes–after all, it’s a service position.

Bathroom attendants are a superfluous position employed by restaurants and hotels that wish to appeal to the more upscale clientele. One should tip them well ( I always tip handsomely), but peeing on them would constitute assault.
[quotBus boys/girls are there to clean your table. You may leave all manor of organic debris and detritus behind including, but but not limited to, vomit so long as the table suffers no physical damage

[/quote]

Yes, that’s their job–although if you’re going to upchuck at the table, Miss Manners decrees that you do so quietly in your napkin.

No, only people with poor upbringing abuse sevice people. One should always treat one’s inferiors with grace and kindness. (And no, I don’t think everyone is my social equal.)

39

I liked The Mummy Returns more than the original. I didn’t find it dull, and the writing was a bit silly, but I took it more as tongue in cheek silliness rather than dreck. I bought the DVD because it’s a good movie to watch with the whole family, a little scary but good fun. When I fist saw The Mummy, I guess I didn’t get it. I thought it was choppy, tried to hard to insert humor when it wasn’t needed and I didn’t like the whole thing. After watching the sequel, I rewatched The Mummy and liked it better. I even liked The Scorpion King. I was expecting a modern Conan type movie and I wasn’t disappointed. I could follow the story and it was a fun movie. It wasn’t art, though it did have some visually stunning scenes and stunts. (Yes, I do recommend it for people looking for a good “guy” movie.)

40

It’s camp. And there’s a fine line between campiness and crappiness. In the middle, there must be crampiness…