I can’t see the word “Blockbuster” this many times without mentioning something (unrelated to the store) that has bugged me for years:
In popular parlance, a movie that does really poorly is a “bomb.” In contrast, a movie that does really well is a “blockbuster.” A “blockbuster” is a huge bomb. In what way does this make any sense at all?
Swimming Riddles– you go to a video store that carries letterboxed versions of 1.37:1 films? What’s up with that?
** does a little math **
Never mind. :o
LISTEN YOU MUTHAFUCKERS. Blockbuster Video does not hold a gun to the studios’ heads. They merely are choosy about what they distribute. That’s their right as a private business. And the last time I checked, Blockbuster didn’t have a Microsoft-grade monopolistic lock on the video rental industry.
Try this next time: next time you visit your local movie theater, ESPECIALLY if they’re a nationally run chain, ask the manager if they have a policy about NC-17 movies. Most won’t show them. The result? Movie studios try their damnest to pare their releases down to get an “R” from the MPAA. What Blockbuster does is no different.
And during my stint as a Blockbuster manager, I made it my buisness to know what films that the studios had cut down to meet Blockbuster’s “Family Friendly” standard, and to tell the customers, so that they could make a decision for themselves. “American Pie? We have the R-rated version that was released in theaters. The studio did release an unrated version to video, we don’t carry it, but the Movie Gallery down the street does.”
Now that that little rant’s out of the way, let me just agree with the original poster. The clerk stepped out of bounds when she made a judgement about the type of person who would like Pulp Fiction. I know I’d have a talk with them had it been one of my clerks.
Before escalating the situation to a supervisor, I’d have one more go with the clerk in question. Perhaps write her a clear statement of what you think she did wrong. Maybe print out a copy of this thread!
It is not so easy to confront a person for her own good, in a loving way, but if you have the courage to do it, it can be majorly effective: the person will have an open ear to you because she appreciates your coming to her, not her boss.
Now, BB wouldn’t approve of that kind of potty mouth!
No, BB doesn’t rent out porn or NC-17 … that’s fine. When they fuck with films and hand them out to unknowing audiences, that’s not cool! YOU may have told people that the film they were renting was a cut version. YOU may have done your homework and figured out which films were cut. Do you really think many other people did? How about the rest of your staff… did you brief them on what movies were cut and ask them to inform the people of Movie Gallery down the street? Most people I know are in the dark that BB fucks with movies.
The OP wasn’t just talking about some clerk who was rude, the OP was talking about a manager.
BB IS evil and over priced. The people who work there don’t know the stink of their ass from movies.
lol
“S-I-T…”
Since you missed the point of my post, here it is again: BLOCKBUSTER DOES NOT FUCK WITH THE FILMS. THE MOVIE STUDIOS FUCK WITH THE FILMS TO MEET THE STANDARDS OF A PARTICULAR RETAILER, WHO WHILE HAVING A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF THE VIDEO MARKET, IS NOT THE SOLE CHOICE OF DISTRIBUTION OUTLET FOR VIDEOS. Guess what? As long as their “family friendly” standard makes them money, they’re going to keep doing it. Vote with your pocket book.
As for these “unknowing audiences” here’s a few hints for you to make an informed decision: if after the title of the movie on the printed blockbuster label you see in parenthesis: “rated version”, “rated director’s cut”, “tame cover” or other similar phrases, odds are, the studio altered it to get it on Blockbuster shelves.
Well Duh! Of COURSE Blockbuster is evil. They’re part of a large media conglomorate: Viacom Incorporated. As we all know, corporations are all trying to dominate the world. Viacom’s particularly insidious about this. At one end of the spectrum, you have MTV and Showtits cough I mean Showtime as Viacom’s cable channel offerings, and on the other end, there’s Blockbuster, offered up as a sacrifical “family friendly” lamb to Soccer Moms everywhere. Absolutely devious.
There are cheaper places to purchase videos, yes. I can’t argue you on this one either.
For about half of the Blockbuster employees out there, you’re right. It’s just another minimum wage job to them. However, for the other half the reason they put up with crap for a paycheck is because of a deep seated love of film. Because it sure as hell isn’t the blue polo shirts with the yellow collars, no matter how sexy the customers tell us we look in them.
Do not dis Bosom Buddies. I loved that show.
Um… polite small talk comes to mind.
This is true. Here are some helpful tips for nailing said manager for calling a customer sick in the head for their taste in movies:
Find out if they were just the Manager on Duty that night, or if they’re a full blown Store Manager. If someone else is the store manager, that’s the person you should go to.
If they were the full blown store manager, their boss would be the district manager.
When pointing out the poor customer service to the supervisor over this manager in question, a confrontational approach is not likely to work. At the store manager and/or district manager level, the person you’re talking to has probably spent a great deal of time enforcing the store’s late fee collections. They probably have been accused of poor customer service over the phone, at least 20 times that day already.
Instead, try some ego-stroking. Let them think that you consider the store to be video rental Paradise, before you introduce the serpent of bad customer service.
I’ve already posted too much in this thread, but I’d just like to point out a rather delicious irony: before Tarantino became a big-time director, he worked as a video store clerk.
You are confusing blockbusters with Hollywood video
Ok, ok… I agree with a lot of what you’re saying.
You COULD say that BB doesn’t edit the movies themselves, and leaves it up to the movie makers to edit them IF they choose to let their films be rented by BB.
Or you could also say that BB insists movie companies butcher their films if they ever want to see any good money to come out of rental sales, because BB is the most powerful movie rental place in town.
Both are correct, one is a pretty harsh way of putting it, and another is a fluffy way of putting it. I think BB has the apprehend, and the film folks have little say about it.
Maybe it’s not WRONG for BB to do this. In fact, if they made it clearer to the customer that some movies are edited, what movies they are, I would have no prob with it. Whatever they put on the box doesn’t work and doesn’t seem clear enough. I wonder what kind of crap I might have missed in the movies that I rented from there now that I know.
I admire you’re honesty.
I admire you’re honesty.
I think I agree with you here. There was one guy I knew who worked a BB, and was getting screwed with either his pay, or something else, I don’t remember. I don’t think he kept the job for his love for films… I think their was another reason why working there was especially convenient for him… but I’m sure their are other people who aren’t getting much out of the job aside from the free rentals. So, I was sort of half wrong. When I said that.
Off Topic:
You seem like one of the good ones in it for the movies… So might you be able to suggestions a bunch of movies for me to rent next time I go out? (if not, that’s fine)
Basically tell me some of your personal favs. I really don’t care if they swept the Oscars or anything like that. “The Truman Show” was one of my favs, and was robbed come Oscar time IMHO. It’s not considered a classic, but I got a lot out of it, and their are worse films one could claim as their fav.
So basically I like the Dramedies. Not too stupid to be serious, and not too dramatic to be depressing. Don’t worry, there are no right answers.
You can Private Message me too if you want. Just so we keep the integrity of this thread. I love to hear what people like film wise.
Or just Email me at JRamsMan@aol.com
That goes for anyone else who has a cool list for me…
I haven’t been to a blockbuster in about 10 years but I recall that they did label videos that were edited with a “Family Friendly” sticker.
What’s the problem? If that’s not what you want to see, then don’t rent from them. They don’t have an obligation to provide it or to rent it to you.
Blockbuster is in fact evil, in fact, it’s 47 percent more evil than any other video store around, though Hollywood Video really is trying very hard.
As I understand it, the movie companies produce edited, i.e., bowdlerized versions of their films, in response to pressure from Blockbuster. Blockbuster, in turn, adopted this policy in response to pressure from Donald Wildmon and his organization (IIRC) The American Family Assn.
In some areas it is EXTREMELY difficult/inconvenient to obtain movies other than through Blockbuster. They have a history of using their economic clout to pressure mom and pop video stores out of business.
If it weren’t for porn, there might not be much alternative to Blockbuster. That said, I don’[t do mom and pops any more myself. My tastes are just too obscure for even them. I stick to Half.com, Amazon, etc. for my video rentals. That’s where you get some SELECTION.
I avoid Blockbuster on principle. I rent games for my kid there because it’s easy, and that’s about all. but given my tastes, I’m not really having to resist a lot of temptation to go to Blockbuster.
Example of Vile Blockbuster Censorship, from a movie I have seen both versions of:
Striking Resemblance is a Skinamax softcore sex flick. In one scene star Nicole Gian has a consensual sexual bondage encounter with a character. Fine and good. They kept the part where the guy makes love to her with her wrists tied to the headboard in missionary position, but cut out the part where she makes love to the guy with her wrists tied while in doggie style position.
I have no idea why the one position was OK and the other one was just Beyond the Pale. I think they’re just trying to boggle our minds. Or maybe they judge scenes on an incremental scale, by how far they differ from the old “Missionary position with the lights out, not too much writhing and moaning if you please” standard, and doggie style was just one step beyond…
No, I’m still boggled.
And it’s not as if they cut out that scene to make the movie family friendly. It’s not as if that movie would be ok for children if it weren’t for that one small scene. There’s NO REASON FOR THIS!!!
Well then how do you know tht was the reason it was cut?
Err… except that they’re not.
…except that they* don’t.
*the people who made the movie
…so how about they post those hints in the store for those few people out there who don’t read the SDMB? I think that BB would rather people didn’t know. (Note that I’m not saying they hide it or lie about it)