MovieBob's Re-Tales II: Tales From The Table
- Thread starter MovieBob
- Start date
Amen, brother, amen. That's why I'm so good at my job (I'm a librarian who buys the DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs, and video games for the library).MovieBob said:
Great stories, Bob. I liked the C.O.P.S. cartoon and collected the short-lived comic as a kid. It's one of those shows where seeing a main character who is black is rare, especially during the 90s.
Shame your bosses never gave you credit for your hard work. I'd call that another reason why retail stores are struggling to stay open.
Shame your bosses never gave you credit for your hard work. I'd call that another reason why retail stores are struggling to stay open.
Wow.. Now I'm just trying to think what crazy ass super villain shit management thought you could be trying to pull by selling reasonably large numbers of obscure dvds.
I remember C.O.P.S. We had a video with a couple episodes of it. Part of me always wanted to figure out more about it.
I distinctly remembered C.O.P.S (not the actual name, which I'm still so happy to finally have found out so it would quit bugging me) for three reasons - the guy with the machine gun in his chest, the guy with the half-armor and the dog (I have his action figure), and the final episode when they finally caught Big Boy(?) by trapping him in his car with a garbage truck. Good times...I think?
I should probably watch it sometime - it's so goofy looking I almost think a movie done with a bit more tongue-in-cheek than GI Joe would be a lot of fun.
I should probably watch it sometime - it's so goofy looking I almost think a movie done with a bit more tongue-in-cheek than GI Joe would be a lot of fun.
A perfect example of why working retail is soul-crushing. Even when you're an expert salesman, your reward is having suspicion cast on you and being made to think you did something wrong, all while the suits count the money.
I can't get enough of these stories of simple things that make people really happy. I just eat that shit up.
Ah... Retail, how I'm glad I left.
For the last 3 years or so years I'd worked in a video rental/retail joint, just quitting recently. Though I was lucky enough to make friends with the manager everything I heard from above there was hate and misunderstandings. For the time I worked there I was known as the shops best salesman with a constant 100% late fees collected and often getting praise from customers sent to my manager about me.
The only thing bad was the mystery shoppers report... 40%
The report for the shop was filled with contradictions and lies but all that seemed to matter to them was that one number, it took over a month to solve but it still left a black stain on my employee record so they often kept an eye on me.
[sub](Just as a punch to the guts the report said I recommended the DBZ live action movie when ask for family movies... Bleh!)[/sub]
Not all bad experiences though.
Selling the right stuff and making a customer happy was fun.
For the last 3 years or so years I'd worked in a video rental/retail joint, just quitting recently. Though I was lucky enough to make friends with the manager everything I heard from above there was hate and misunderstandings. For the time I worked there I was known as the shops best salesman with a constant 100% late fees collected and often getting praise from customers sent to my manager about me.
The only thing bad was the mystery shoppers report... 40%
The report for the shop was filled with contradictions and lies but all that seemed to matter to them was that one number, it took over a month to solve but it still left a black stain on my employee record so they often kept an eye on me.
[sub](Just as a punch to the guts the report said I recommended the DBZ live action movie when ask for family movies... Bleh!)[/sub]
Not all bad experiences though.
Selling the right stuff and making a customer happy was fun.
This is why I always bother to talk to the gamers at my local Gamestop. Three flavors: Two gaming geeks, one arcade goer from the same days I grew up in, where the SF2 cabinet had a line and an audience, and all twelve quarter-slots were always full, who loves to chat about "the good ol' days" (Yeah, I'm 23, and?), one guy probably twice my age who played AD&D in the Navy and is still into gaming as about anyone I know, two more recent, casual-ish gamers, who have taken a few of my suggestions and are genuinely interested in learning about gaming (I tend to talk about gaming history and where-it-came-from... neither of them knew about System Shock despite both liking Bioshock, for example), and two "Hardy har, my 360 is a 200USD COD MACHINE!1" types... and a manager who has one of the limited edition SEGA Dreamcast competition sponsor jackets.
I've gotten to know them pretty well, after one commented that "At least someone has some decent taste in games" when I picked up a copy of King's Field and Persona 3...
I've gotten to know them pretty well, after one commented that "At least someone has some decent taste in games" when I picked up a copy of King's Field and Persona 3...
Great story! Always interesting to see how retail actually works.
I somehow dreaded that the end would be something like: "I got fired and now I'm here..."
I somehow dreaded that the end would be something like: "I got fired and now I'm here..."
Ah Bob, you remind me of me sometimes its odd. Not necessarily in the viewpoint department (I can argue for days about some of the things you express) but rather in experience and events or nostalgia surrounding childhood.
I too was a retail monkey for many years, Blockbuster Video, Circuit City, Beast Buy (intentional sp), K-Mart electronics section... I think other than Walmart I've worked for every major retailer of games, movies and those strange discs people used for music... And other venerable things.
I have had many opportunities to see the behind the scenes "magic" of End caps, front and facing... All the damn sales tactics that really work if you put your mind to it and KNOW YOUR PRODUCT.
This is why I think retail has gone down the shitter in some resepect: People who work in retail don't bother to know the product. I've seen it at GameStop even where I would figure they'd at least educate their CSR/Salesfolk enough to talk about the product. I think it is mostly the younger generation fresh out of high school who think that minimum wage is beneath them and spend more time texting than working. I'm not saying all of the younger folk are like that, just a lot I have worked with (or seen while shopping) that suck at their job. My only view of that is those kids didn't get any personal responsibility taught to them prior to going into the real world and they're just finding out that no experience and a HS Diploma doesn't get you far in life.
I do wish to point out too that when I started working, minimum wage was almost 2/3 of what it is now and barely enough to pay rent/utilities, gas, insurance and food and this was when gas was .99c a gallon. I actually had to work at restaurants to make up the difference part-time. I never complained about it because my first job was one I liked mostly cuz I got to talk about movies and music and games all day. Sure there was manual labor but none of it backbreaking.
On point though, I worked through the Saturn launch, the 64 launch and the PSX launch (not in order) and loved every minute of it. Plus I sold custom gaming PCs on the side and found that during my shift I could find like-minded people who loved gaming and didn't have a PC, since none of the stores I worked for at the time sold PC parts or PCs I could easily make orders (not on company time) and sell the PC games we did have in stock. I almost did well enough to become a 3dfx distributor... then Nvidia bought them.
I too was a retail monkey for many years, Blockbuster Video, Circuit City, Beast Buy (intentional sp), K-Mart electronics section... I think other than Walmart I've worked for every major retailer of games, movies and those strange discs people used for music... And other venerable things.
I have had many opportunities to see the behind the scenes "magic" of End caps, front and facing... All the damn sales tactics that really work if you put your mind to it and KNOW YOUR PRODUCT.
This is why I think retail has gone down the shitter in some resepect: People who work in retail don't bother to know the product. I've seen it at GameStop even where I would figure they'd at least educate their CSR/Salesfolk enough to talk about the product. I think it is mostly the younger generation fresh out of high school who think that minimum wage is beneath them and spend more time texting than working. I'm not saying all of the younger folk are like that, just a lot I have worked with (or seen while shopping) that suck at their job. My only view of that is those kids didn't get any personal responsibility taught to them prior to going into the real world and they're just finding out that no experience and a HS Diploma doesn't get you far in life.
I do wish to point out too that when I started working, minimum wage was almost 2/3 of what it is now and barely enough to pay rent/utilities, gas, insurance and food and this was when gas was .99c a gallon. I actually had to work at restaurants to make up the difference part-time. I never complained about it because my first job was one I liked mostly cuz I got to talk about movies and music and games all day. Sure there was manual labor but none of it backbreaking.
On point though, I worked through the Saturn launch, the 64 launch and the PSX launch (not in order) and loved every minute of it. Plus I sold custom gaming PCs on the side and found that during my shift I could find like-minded people who loved gaming and didn't have a PC, since none of the stores I worked for at the time sold PC parts or PCs I could easily make orders (not on company time) and sell the PC games we did have in stock. I almost did well enough to become a 3dfx distributor... then Nvidia bought them.
Oddly enough, I liked Dragonball Evolution, but not because it was a good homage to the original Dragonball, not even close. I liked it because I just found it hysterically stupid the entire way through. To me, it kind of reminded me of Dragon Ball Z Abridged, but with less talented actors.Deimir said:
I do like how the point of the C.O.P.S. story is that the leader, Bulletproof, is black so the splash on the main page features a picture of one of the nondescript white C.O.P.S. Longarm, IIRC.
You know, it's things like that that remind me of just how real the race issue still is. I never think about it because pasty white bread don't have to think about it. But at the time, and probably still to this day, there aren't that many black heroes, much less black leaders in children's adventure properties.
I don't remember the character of Bulletproof being all that noteworthy, much like the show he was in. But to that guy in Bob's story, he was everything. That's significant and it's something I don't even know how to begin to comprehend. I don't know how to what these TV shows where the characters all are decidedly not like me or maybe there's a token like me character who's there for laughs or to rap over the end credits. And then to find a show where not only is there a like me character, but the like me character is IN CHARGE.
I just can't wrap my head around it. Growing up in the 70's, my head is full of old and dusty wiring that still things the canard of a character with a gender-neutral name turning out to be female is a twist worthy of O Henry.
You know, it's things like that that remind me of just how real the race issue still is. I never think about it because pasty white bread don't have to think about it. But at the time, and probably still to this day, there aren't that many black heroes, much less black leaders in children's adventure properties.
I don't remember the character of Bulletproof being all that noteworthy, much like the show he was in. But to that guy in Bob's story, he was everything. That's significant and it's something I don't even know how to begin to comprehend. I don't know how to what these TV shows where the characters all are decidedly not like me or maybe there's a token like me character who's there for laughs or to rap over the end credits. And then to find a show where not only is there a like me character, but the like me character is IN CHARGE.
I just can't wrap my head around it. Growing up in the 70's, my head is full of old and dusty wiring that still things the canard of a character with a gender-neutral name turning out to be female is a twist worthy of O Henry.