There was nothing quite like browsing through your local Blockbuster... nothing quite like browsing through any local video store, really. Thanks to Redditor _PM_ME_UR_TIDDIES, we now know the answer to this age old question: "Redditors who worked at Blockbuster as the company was going under, what was it like working at your store during those final days?"
"We had a huge..."
We had a huge liquidation sale, and we just stopped caring since there was no longer video renting to customers, just selling remaining videos and games. I remember when I was first hired, our district manager said "Video stores will be obsolete by 2010, internet video watching will be the future." He was right.
"The liquidation sale..."
The liquidation sale at my local Blockbuster is how I got a copy of LA Noire for only $20, not even 7 months after the game came out. They let me mix and match the disks (360 version is 3 disks) between their copies so I could have the ones with the least amount of scratches on them
"Honestly..."
Honestly... we kind of had a blast. Nobody gave a crap anymore. By corporate policy, we were only allowed to put 'PG' and below movies on the in-store television system... but we watched Jurassic Park 24/7 and now I can pretty much quote that whole movie. We wrote funny signs for the hardware (e.g. "Large-size filing cabinet - makes a great stocking stuffer!") and made a special display for our very last bag of Twizzlers. And on the last day we threw stuff at the big Blockbuster sign in the store and made a huge hole in it. Maybe I'm looking at it with rose-colored glasses because it's been 10+ years but for some reason I remember it fondly.
"It sucked."
It sucked. It sucked hard. And it started sucking long before we knew for sure that it was the end (which for my store came in a mandatory meeting just a few days before Christmas).
We stopped taking our own gift cards. Had to redirect the customer to corporate because in store, they had no value at all.
I worked there for 8 years. My team was exceptionally close, and most of us had been together that whole time. On the night that we transferred all the rental inventory over into sale items, it was more of a going away party that lasted all night. We sang, and laughed, but it was also very sad.
My love of working for BBV wasn't necessarily because of the job itself, and it definitely wasn't because of the company. It was my coworkers, and (most of) our regular customers. I still miss them all nearly that many years later.
"I was an early casualty..."
Giphy
I was an early casualty, our district started setting ridiculously high sales goals and pushing up selling merch. (I guess someone up the ranks was optimistic?) But my particular store was located in a lower income, largely rural area, and the bulk of our customers were people who had the monthly unlimited pass and would just trade out their movies every couple of days. Naturally we did not hit goals and our district manager fired me as "an example", as I was the lowest assistant manager on the totem pole.
"It was fun..."
It was fun and rough at the same time. Stores closing, combining with other local stores, team members being relocated or let go as stores were shut. It was such a fun job, everyday was work of course but, a retail form of the entertainment business. We had regulars that would come in often, kids that were excited to come in, etc. Something about families picking out games and movies together, not just selecting on a screen, made it kind of special I think. Buying candy, buying used movies, gift ideas for holidays and such. I will always miss being there.
"I left..."
I left before the literal final days, but worked for a few years just prior to them. I actually started in 2010, and it was already over. The environment was weird. Our SM was obliged to overperform a sense of "everything's fine" that literally no one believed. No one else cared even a little at all. I mean, we did the job, but the stakes always felt non existent when it came to things like making candy sales or getting game preorders and stuff.
Customers were all pretty great, though, and anyone who was an ahole...well we just felt no obligation to cater to anyone so there was a lot less "customer is always right" and a lot more "I mean you're welcome to leave if you're going to talk to us like that."
Honestly it was a wild first job experience. Not quite like anywhere else I've ever been.
"We took the hundreds..."
We took the hundreds of AOL free trial CDs that we had and every night after we closed we would take them out of the packages and frisbeed them onto the roof of the building.
So many discs. Those little buggers are probably still up there, blinding low flying planes.
"Worked at one..."
Worked at one as the company spiraled the drain and was fired before the stores in our area started to shut down.
The first six months - year that I was there was awesome. We were a franchise location so things like upselling and add ons weren't really emphasized.
Then we sold out to the Blockbuster company because the guy who owned our store wanted to get out while the getting was good.
Basically all of our policies changed overnight. We went from having our goal being, ya know, finding the right movie to rent to someone to getting penalized if they left with only a movie.
There's an episode of King of the Hill where Hank spends a month talking people up about finding the right grill for them and then like Bobbie is hired to be a propane tank wiper but he sells people the grills they don't need and at the end of the month, Hank has to swoop in to sell people the stuff they actually need.
I was like Hank Hill. I knew movies and knew most of our regulars well enough to know who needed what so basically every day I wasn't in the guys who were good at sales were getting them what they didn't need and I would have to clean up the mess the next day.
People always say that Netflix killed Blockbuster but honestly what happened was Blockbuster panicked and then got greedy and shot themselves in the foot. Instead of providing decent service to people they decided that the best thing to do was try to make as much money as quickly as possible.
"When I was first hired..."
Giphy
When I was first hired, we went from 10 employees:
- Store manager, assistant manager, 3 shift managers, 5 CSRs.
To 5:
- Store manager, assistant manager, 3 shift managers.
It was weird the way corporate tried to make us cut costs. If a store is telling you to reuse old garbage bags, you know they're in a bad place.
There were days where only 2 employees ran the whole store. One of the lead managers came in to open, and a 2nd manager came in to help close in the evening.
We weren't allowed to give any refunds for any reason. If the customer didn't want an item after it was rung up, we weren't allowed to cancel the transaction.
If the register was under for some reason, the store manager made the closer pay the rest and said they would refund them later. Often times they didn't.
They still made us push the rewards program up until the end. But instead of rewarding us for selling rewards cards, we would be given a write-up or fired if we didn't sell any in a month.
It kinda got a bit scary at the end.
The old wives' tales.
They are the stories of legend.
I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.
Where did they originate?
WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!
You don't hear about them as much anymore.
It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.
But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.
Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:
"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"
"Wait an hour to swim after eating."
What a crock!
So many summer hours wasted.
I want revenge for that one.
Say Nothing
Giphy
"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."
LonelyMail5115
"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."
I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA
Say Something
"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."
Severe_Airport1426
"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."
crappycurtains
"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."
AlbinoShavedGorilla
Body Temps
"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."
chriseo22
"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."
"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."
apocalypticradish
Arms Down
"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."
Fatmouse84
10 Years Actually
Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Giphy
"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."
"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."
Gecko-911
I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.
This tale is haunting.
High/Low
Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace
Giphy
"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."
LeastFormal9366
"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."
IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI
The Cursed
"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."
"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."
SmoreOfBabylon
Stay In
"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."
"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."
worldbound0514
Dreams and Facts
"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."
"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."
mattshonestreddit
"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."
Darthdemented
Cracked
Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office
Giphy
"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."
Choice-Grapefruit-44
"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."
MacyTmcterry
I love my knuckles.
Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
