[TRENCHES] Thursday, February 6, 2014 - Secret Developments

Geth

Secret Developments
http://trenchescomic.com/comic/post/secret-developments

I guess he wouldn’t need the $5 scratch protection.

Anonymous

Back before movie and game rental stores became all but extinct, I worked for five and a half years at one of the major chains. Let’s call it, “BlotBluster” video.

What made this job in particular so interesting is the neighborhood that my store was located. It was known throughout the city for being a compilation of hipsters and ultra trendy folk along with prostitutes, drug dealers and some degree of gang activity. At some point I had heard that a few drug dealers in the area were starting to take movies and games as payment for cash, which was probably a better deal than what we offered for trades. Needless to say, it made for some interesting customers.

One day, a few seconds after opening the store, my first customer saunters in. I greeted him with my usual, keener-teenager-with-a-new-job “Hello, how are you today? Can I help you find anything?”

Completely ignoring me, he made his way straight our display rack, which I had just filled with empty cases of a new game that had just come out that day.

I walked around the counter and approached him, then I realized he was in the process of shoving as many of these empty cases as he could into his jacket. Being sixteen at the time, and slightly awkward, the only thing that came out of my mouth was “Uhhhhhh…”

To which he responded with pulling a switchblade out of his pocket, saying “Don’t try and stop me.”

“Okay.” I said.

Then he left, with around 15 empty video game cases.

I was torn between either laughing, or locking myself in the back room of the store until my manager came back from the bank.

RMS Oceanic

I'd be curious to see how that particular transaction went down.

Zython

RMS Oceanic wrote: »

I'd be curious to see how that particular transaction went down.

Probably with a punctured lung.

Warlock82

I'm not sure why you'd hide the name of the store but then make it so obvious, but whatever :P

Are any of those even still operating, or did they totally go out of business at this point?

Gaslight

Warlock82 wrote: »

I'm not sure why you'd hide the name of the store but then make it so obvious, but whatever :P

Are any of those even still operating, or did they totally go out of business at this point?

I think some that were franchised are still around, but all of the corporately-owned locations closed up last year.

marsilies

Warlock82 wrote: »

Are any of those even still operating, or did they totally go out of business at this point?

I'm not sure which video store chain you're referring to, but Hollywood Video went under in 2010:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Video

Blockbuster Video just closed all its stores a few months ago, on Nov 9, 2013:
http://www.avclub.com/article/the-final-movie-ever-rented-from-blockbuster-was-t-105450

I think the combination of mailed rentals (Netflix), rental kiosks (Redbox), and internet streaming (Netflix, Redbox, Amazon Instant) has killed most video rental stores.

RMS Oceanic

So does the comic mean the game has been Zynga'd?

Rottonapple

RMS Oceanic wrote: »

So does the comic mean the game has been Zynga'd?

or Pacavoid'ed? wonder if the staff will sue over the word "blade"? that's it, isn't it? Monica and Ty are going to spoof the whole "saga" mess.

Gamer8585

The tales are seriously making me laugh harder than the comic is theses days. With this one I can just imagine what happened to the thief when he tried to sell EMPTY cases to a serious drug dealer: "Here you go, can I have my stuff?" *Dealer opens the case* "THE F*@#K YOU TAKE ME FO'?!" Short version: Thief pulls a knife on the Clerk, Dealer pulls a gun on the Thief.

Gyral

Hey now, maybe the thief needed the cases because someone sold him the game/movie disc without the case and he's really anal about having his discs in the right cases.

Polaritie

That tale made my day.

Then again, dumb thieves are usually funny.