lbd_nytetrayn

My Blockbuster Video, the one I work at, is developing a serious habit of pissing me off by not getting in things that I'd like.

For example: we've been getting the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DVDs, and I've watched through them, but had seen them all on TV, up through Battle Nexus(a bit further, really). We just recently got our cable back, so I've missed quite a bit of that and Sonic X.

Next week, "City At War" comes out, which I've been looking forward to... and it's not in the system. Except as retail.

Fuck.

Seems to happen for a lot of other stuff, too, games specifically. Mega Man X8? Negative. Neo Contra? Nosir. TMNT2: Battle Nexus? Nuh-uh.

Of course, it won't stop them from ordering a ton of copies of some crap game or movie or whatever...

"Pauly Shore Is Dead," which I enjoyed somewhat, gets a full trailer on our DVDs we run night and day in the store. Catwoman had a blurb among other movies that took about 5 seconds, if that.

So come release day, we get like, around 30 copies of Catwoman.

And as for Pauly?

ONE copy.

So figure that shit out. They told me that decision making from the higher-ups was pretty faulty the day I came in, yet they still impress me. Or depress. Both are fitting, perhaps.

Personally, I think they could do better in their anime section as well, which I think I heard buzz about them downgrading or de-emphasizing, since it's not doing so well.

Well, DUH.

Here's a hint: striking a better balance between the mainstream commodities and the hardcore stuff might be a good place to start. Instead of getting individual DVDs for something like Dragon Ball GT, which people can see on TV for FREE, wait for the box set as you do for TV seasons, and then do the usual "rent them individually" thing. BUT, wait to do that after you get stuff that CAN'T be seen on TV so easily. Movies, for example. Why can I rent episodes of DBZ, but have to BUY a movie that's not been on TV, and may not be for the foreseeable future?

Why fill it with Yu-Gi-Oh dubs, but not get the subtitled Japanese? Go for the latter, that way people will be renting something NOT on TV, or at least not the way they see it on TV.

How about some of that US Adult Swim stuff that we aren't getting here? Trigun, Big O, more stuff like that.

Incredibly, they've got Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, even godforsaken BEYBLADE, but no MegaMan NT Warrior in sight.

An odd double-standard that fits into my initial complaint. I don't particularly like NT Warrior, but I don't neccessarily hate it, either. I just think it's a very shitty dub, but I do admit to getting some entertainment value out of it by seeing what's been changed, or how a voice will sound.

Of course, there are OTHERS who like NT, and I'm sure they'd rent that as soon as they would Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, or Beyblade.

Of course, this is the same company that has Pokemon in Children's away from the rest of the stuff, somewhat understandable, except that it's practically snuggled between 101 Dalmations and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Yeah, you read that right. Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Adult Swim material, is in the children's section, while a chunk of our Spongebob collection resides next to Space Ghost in the TV section, and Watership Down is in Action.

Lately, I've been doing "PRP" pulls, taking used stuff off the rental shelves of the games section for previously played retail selling, but it's getting REALLY hard to make stuff fill those shelves. Maybe if they focused more on diversity instead of plunking so much cash into caseloads of shit like The Guy Game, Killzone, and Goldeneye, things might balance out better.

Had to rearrange the retail the other day so that the 8 most recent titles were up front on the top shelf. I was baffled by how many titles we didn't have. Not that we sold them, we never even HAD them.

Much as I enjoy my job, it's the little things that drive me crazy, and this stuff adds up. Every time they seem to have a smart move, it seems to have a trail of stupid followers close behind.

Star Fox Assault. Available everywhere else February 14th, but at Blockbuster Video February 1st.

Well, some Blockbusters. Not ours. And we're a "Game Rush" store, games is our BUSINESS, or a good chunk of it by comparison, anyway.

I also hate the seeming "drone" mindset they seem to force upon stores, where they want all stores to be the same, even if they're not, or not able to be.

I could probably go on and on, but I'll just stop here for now and say this.

Maybe if Blockbuster paid a little more attention to what they were doing and didn't perceive their customers like this...