Don't like to rent out mature videos? Don't work at Blockbuster!!

The BBQ Pit
41

Yeah, I’ve seen that stuff at BlockBuster, too. I haven’t rented a movie from there in a long time, but when I did, I would sometimes move the soft-core boxes to more “appropriate” places. For instance, I’d take Female Perversions (yes, that’s an actual film) out of the Drama section, and put it in Employee Jill’s Favorite Movies. Always good for some laughs.

To the OP, I say report the bitch. How could you call a customer “sick in the head” for purchasing a service (the rental of the movie) * that you’re providing?* If she’s so morally opposed to this “filth,” why isn’t she working at The Disney Store or something? Instead she’s profitting from it. Wonder what her dead aunt would have to say about that? :rolleyes:

FWIW, I liked Gump, Pulp Fiction, and Mr. Deeds. I mean Deeds wasn’t exactly a cinematic masterpiece or anything, but it made me laugh. Sometimes that’s all I’m looking for in a movie.

42

Um, I’m not worrying about it. And, aside from this post, I only did one post referring to her. I just thought it was an interesting story to share, and laugh about with a “what-the-fuck?” attitude, along with other Dopers. Maybe they want to share stories of their own that are similar. What makes you think I’m spending time worrying about it? I frankly don’t give a shit what she thinks of me.

Why?

I wouldn’t mind if she said she hated it, or if it was the worst movie she’s ever seen. I wouldn’t care if she said it was sick and demented. It’s what she said about the viewers who liked it, along with talking about her dead aunt. I mean, just the way she said: “I guess people who haven’t had something like that happen to them couldn’t understand how truly sick these movies actually are, And how sick people are who enjoy them.”

Tomorrow I’m going to watch Pulp Fiction again. Probably even a third time before I take it back, and tell the manager that there was just NOT enough violence for me.

Anyone ever had an experience like the one I had with this woman? If I think about it, I’m sure I could think of some. Manly by hardcore religious types.

I know once when I was a child and went to bible camp, a counselor had asked the group of kids if they ever had thoughts of hurting someone, and to raise their hands if they did. I looked around and I was the only kid with my hand up. Later the councilor pulled me aside and said (exact words): “You know, I would hate to see you go to Hell for this”.

For some reason I was reminded of that incident after renting “Pulp Fiction”.

If you have any stories, please share.

BTW, I did a thread about Gump here:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=145783

43

Because I don’t see how her opinion could have mattered to you one way or the other.

44

How could you see if it did or not? You’re not me. How would you know what matters to me?:rolleyes:

45

Taste in movies varies from person to person. If you ask a complete stranger what they think about a movie, you really can’t get any useful information from that. It is a meaningless question. And you, yourself said:

If you don’t care, why bother asking?

46

I don’t care if she hated it in the sence that I wouldn’t hold it against her if she was that vocal about her discust. If she gave me a reason why she didn’t like the movie that I could relate to myself, I might think twice about getting it. Or I might think twice about watching it the same night I rented it because I was tired, and didn’t know if it was worth staying up for. Or I might try to see why she felt the way she did about the movie, while veiwing it. Plus I KNEW it was violent and was about to rent it wuth that fact in mind already. Her paticular critisim didn’t really relate to me much because in this type of movie, violence doesn’t bother me. In some movies it does.

On top of that, I like talking about movies. It was to make conversation.

I don’t understand the purpose of your first quote of me. I was saying I wasn’t worried about her or her offensive comments. Meaning, I don’t take it to heart. I don’t care what she says about me, or fans of the movie. I didn’t ask her about that!

47

Have you ever seen Female Perversions? It isn’t a softcore film.

48

1994 Best Picture nominees: Gump, Pulp Fiction, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shawshank Redemption and Quiz Show.

Are the two greats PF and SR or PF and 4W&F? Heck, you’re even allowed to think QS was great…it’s your life!

I had a similiar experience at a non-BB video store when I rented My Best Friend’s Wedding. Now normally, I avoid romantic comedies, as well as anything Julia Roberts is in. But a friend showed me this film, and I found it to be a cut above its type. More intelligent than the usual meet-cute, and JR wasn’t mugging and hogging the show as she usually does. I liked it enough to want to see it again, so I rented it.

I brought it up to the counter, telling myself I didn’t have to be self-conscious. Ha. The clerk, who I’d never seen before, said in disbelief, “You couldn’t find anything better than this?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Well, we’ve got a lot of movies better than this. How about Dogma?”

“I already own that.”

“Well, how about Buffalo 66?”

“Maybe next time. Right now I want to get this.”

“All right…I just don’t know why you want to waste your time on this.”

“It’s not a time-waster. It’s not about the girl getting the guy; it’s about the girl maturing. Believe me, I’m not a Julia Roberts fan; I just like this movie.”

“Well, if you want to see people maturing, how about The Opposite of Sex?”

“How about ringing me up?”

Jeez! People always joke about cashiers “looking at them funny” when they check out a particular item, but it shouldn’t actually happen!

49

When I worked as a cashier I would chat with customers about their purchases (They’re buying dog food, I would ask what kind of dog they had, they’re buying baby food, I’d ask how old their baby was) but I would never never never demean or insult a customer’s purchasing decision. That’s just rude.

Rilchiam is it possible the clerk in his ham-handed way was trying to offer your other selections? Kind of like, “Oh, if you like this movie, you’ll love this one?” He didn’t do it very well, but maybe that’s what he was trying to do.

In any event, I don’t rent at BB anymore. I find their service rude. But that’s another thread for another time.

50

Has nothing to do with videos, but my daughter had an experience that is of the same, well, flavor. When she was in 6th grade, and still going to public school, she joined an after-school group called FROG (Fully Reliant On God). I made sure, before she joined, that they knew she was Baha’i, not Christian. In the second meeting of the group, when everyone was saying prayes, my daughter asked if she could say a Baha’i prayer. The teacher who was leading the group invited her to leave immediately!!

51

Well, then I guess my plan backfired. II just saw the sexy legs on the cover and the title and did the math. The plot summary from the box would have told me nothing to confirm or deny my assumption, as many soft core films try to paint themselves as legitimate dramas in their descriptions.

52

Whoa! Check out the plot summary from IMDB!

Side note: Eve, I wish to heck I could have seen you in that Maltese Falcon getup!

53

She was a she. And, no, she wasn’t trying to offer selections in addition to MBFW; she was trying to dissuade me from renting it at all. “You couldn’t find anything better than this?!”

As I said, I’d felt self-conscious renting what was technically a romantic comedy, even though I wasn’t interested in that aspect of that, and her reaction just wasn’t cool. The thing is, I’d never seen her there before, so it’s not like she was one of the regulars who know what I usually like. I get a lot of French films there, for instance, so I can see the manager, who knows me, saying jokingly, “A movie in English, huh? You feelin’ okay?” But she was disdainful for no apparent reason. If romantic comedies were my thing, I would have been even more offended.

I didn’t complain against her, but funnily enough, she didn’t work there much longer.

54

“Ooh! Navy SEALs!”

–obligatory Clerks reference

55

Thanks, MFZ, I dusted off Pulp Fiction last night, mostly because this thread gave me the itch.

Probably the best film for film-geek in-jokes, ever. (I recently watched Shoot the Piano Player again for the first time in about 10 years, so this time around I “got” a few that I probably missed the first few times I saw Pulp Fiction.)

56

I would just like to update and say I’ve seen “Pulp Fiction” about 6 times since this thread. It grew on me.

57

You’re way off base here. Forrest did plenty. Saving his platoon? Taking all his money and buying a fishing boat? Running thousands of miles? Raising his son after Jenny died? All very admirable things, doubly so if you consider he had an IQ of 80. The whole movie’s about doing the very best with what you have. The historical tie-ins are put in the film for humor and to tie his fortunate life to something we all can relate to.

And Jenny was never an activitist… she was a follower, looking for the love her father never gave her. She followed the activism of the 60s (travelling around going to peace demonstrations) and the indulgence of the 70s (disco dancing and doing drugs all night), and wound up dying from it in the 80s (AIDS, presumably contracted from the loose sex or IV drugs). Far from redemption, her character showed what happens when you DON’T maintain you convictions and beliefs. Forrest shows what can happen (admittedly overdramatized) when you do follow your core beliefs.

If anything, the film makes me want to reaffirm my core beliefs and convictions each time I watch it.

I own both Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction, and think they’re equally good.

58

I always liked the Blockbuster store when I lived in a small town because I NEVER had to worry that the movies I wanted would already be rented out. Once I asked the guy to tell me what shelf Hedwig and the Angry Inch was in, and they had it in the comedy section. I thought that was interesting since I don’t consider that movie a comedy, actually though, I was just surprised they had it at all. It was also pretty much guaranteed that every foreign film would be in, and the artsy ones too.

59

Well, did you watch it and like it? I couldn’t get past the IDIOCY of Jay Leno interviewing John Travolta on the Tonight Show and showing a segment of the movie in which the two hitmen discuss what’s “french for” Big Mac (it’s Le Big Mac).

Then Jay and John laugh uproariously as if this is the funniest line in movie history.

I then saw a review by Siskel and Ebert in which they LOVINGLY and reverently describe the scene in which the two hitmen continue their “intense” conversation and walk down the hall of the tenement rather than killing the “target” right away. (Oh be still my heart, what ORIGINALITY).

Then, I watched several weeks of previews.

Not interested,and have never seen it.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, the “sequencing” is supposed to make it some great cinematic work of art of something…

I wouldn’t go as far as the lady at the store,but it looked like garbage to me.

60

Well, no question the clerk was unbelievably rude. But you gotta admit, (s)he had good taste in movies.