HeroOfPellinor
Lifer
Gather round and hear my story of Best Buy Black Friday.
I got to Best Buy an hour before they opened and was around 400th in line. By the time I got inside, the video card I came for was, obviously, long gone. I had no right to, but I nevertheless felt quite jilted. Of course I had read that quantities were limited and no rainchecks would be accepted, but that sounded like legal jargon meant to absolve BB of any potential complaints. Most hot items at most other stores were well stocked. At BB, the only item well stocked was the much higher priced card in the almost exact same looking box as the card for sale. That was last year?s Black Friday.
I didn't sleep last night. I figured if I was going to go, I couldn't let myself sleep or when I tried to wake up I'd probably decide more sleep was more important than saving a few bucks on a video card I didn't really need. However, if I decided not to go, I'd be able to sleep in anyway. I was occupying myself watching Patriot Games and Blade Runner during what seemed like a Harrison Ford marathon on USA while my wife slept beside me on the couch. I kept thinking about it; weighing the pros and cons, doing the math. There was something else compelling me to go. It wasn't the thrill of getting something everybody else wanted. It wasn't the savings. I wanted vindication. Not revenge; just some recompense for my and their failing last year. I needed closure. I imagined myself standing about 20th in line, grabbing a voucher for a GF4 ti4200 video card, strolling calmly in to their store, redeeming the voucher and getting the hell out of there very satisfied with myself. I decided to go.
I talked about it with my wife. I said how I didn't really need it, but that it would be nice, but we should get some sleep, but we could go to other stores afterward and do some Christmas shopping. She offered to go with me, and, after thinking about it, I figured it was worth a shot. It was 4:00. I thought I'd have to get there by 3:00 to be assured of getting in on the video card deal. We left at 4:15 and got there at 4:25. We were seventh in line! There were more people camping out in front of Toys-R-Us than at BB. "Oh well" I figured, we may have an hour and a half wait, but at least I am assured of getting the card. Sure enough people began to trickle in. Doughnut holes and coffee were offered to all. We had some awkward conversations with the people around us. I yelled at a guy smoking upwind of me and my pregnant wife. The trickle quickened to a flood as the 6:00 hour neared and the parking lot was nearly full as the line wrapped around two sides of the building. A half dozen employees showed up with vouchers for the "carded" items and began going down the line. Oddly, there were no vouchers for the video card. I began to get a bad feeling. After the line crashers were warned and the assistant manager led everybody in a Best Buy chant, the doors opened and we were let in. I sidestepped a few people and was the first person to the video card section. I scanned the shelves for the BFG boxes. One by one I ruled them out. My wife took the ad and began helping me look for the boxes. The only 128 MB BFG card I could find was the ti4600. I turned and faced the entrance and watched the deluge of people streaming in. My time, my hour and a half of freezing cold patience, my slim advantage, was eroding quicker than a sand castle in a hurricane. I found the nearest BB employee I could find and asked him where the video cards on sale were. "You'll have to ask somebody in a blue shirt" the Sprint sales guy responded. I turned and spotted a guy in a blue shirt. He was over-weight and wore an emasculating half-hearted beard like Chris Elliot's; he obviously worked in the computer section. I asked him where the video cards on sale were and he said they were "floor stocked." Though I'd never heard that term before, I instantly knew what that meant and confirmed with him. They must have been placed somewhere else in the store. The video cards on sale were not with the video cards. Where were the video cards on sale? Had they placed them with the coffee makers? The DVD players? I lost hope. If they had been placed somewhere else, they were surely gone. I had surveyed the store on my way to the video card section suspecting something like this might happen but hadn't seen them, so I knew they had to be tucked away somewhere. Or maybe, there had been no cards to begin with. Maybe they were all bought up days ago by those weasels hoping to return and rebuy them on the day of the sale. Maybe the salesman had kept them for themselves or their friends and were using the "floor stocked" response to disavow any knowledge of the incident.
I walked around the store looking for the cards and didn't see them. I looked for people holding the cards and saw only two people with a video card and it was the ti4600 and they were glancing back and forth at the ad and the card with a befuddled look on their face.
No vouchers? Floor stocked? It didn't matter anymore. All I knew was that I had been duped again. I did everything right this time and still hadn't gotten a card. My wife saw the disappointment on my face. Either the cards were misplaced or they weren't there to begin with. Whatever the cause, it just didn't matter. My vindication and my closure were stolen from me and I didn't know what to do. Go home and get some sleep I guess. I could complain, but the store was full of people shouting and franticly darting about. We started heading out when I saw the guy who'd led us in the chant before the store opened. I was going to make sure this guy at least remembered me from the front of the line, so I could have some verification if I decided to call and complain. As soon as I began talking with him, an older lady employee approached us and said she'd handle it. She was promptly called off somewhere and promised to be right back. I spotted a guy with what appeared to be the card on sale. I caught him and asked him where he'd found it. He pointed towards the far right side and said he'd found it somewhere over there. I walked over to where he'd pointed and did find some cards but they were the ti4600s again. I hadn't bothered him to ask for a long hard look at the box he was carrying, so I can't confirm which he had in his possession.
By the time I got back, I saw my wife following the older lady employee to the service counter. We waited while she went behind the desk and began looking something up on the computer. She muttered something and walked over to the video card section where she looked for the card for a few seconds then grabbed a BFG MX440 and started back towards us. She stopped halfway and we joined her. I explained, as she was slowly figuring out on her own, that the card was not the card advertised and we went together back to the video card section. She looked over the shelves briefly and said, "Well they were here this morning. I can show you the stock summary (or something) that says we had at least ten here." I said they should have had vouchers so people who got there early could have got one and she said they didn't have vouchers because they weren't part of the six-hour sale. She walked down the video card isle and returned and said that she could give me a card (whose name I couldn't discern) for the same price even though it was a "better" card. I asked her which one hoping it would be the ti4600 because it looked the same. Now that she was negotiating, I even began thinking about asking for the Radeon 9700. She took me over to the ATI section and pointed at the All In Wonder 8500DV. She was being reasonable. She chose a card with the same retail price before rebates to be fair and I wasn't going to try to be unreasonable in return by asking for a much more expensive card. Then she told me, as more and more geeky teenagers began buzzing around the video cards, that she was willing to do this because I was seventh in line, but that I had to tell her right now because she wasn't going to stand there talking about it. I said okay and she handed me the card. She took us back to the service counter where she wrote up a note giving me the card at the after rebate price of the other card. "I appreciate that." I said trying not to sound too excited as she gave me the note and disappeared into the crowd.
We got in line and began looking over the card. I have a Radeon 8500 128MB card at home that is more than enough for any game on the market today. I was going to get the GeForce4 card because I have a nice TV tuner card that won?t work with ATI cards and I?d lose money switching to an ATI TV Wonder card whereas I?d make a few bucks on the GeForce4 card after rebates and after selling my current card. Plus I?d have a slightly better card. Not a major enough reason to endure BB BF BS, but, like I said, I wasn?t here for the savings, I wanted closure and vindication and had one test still ahead of me at checkout, as you?ll see.
The line, like it does every Black Friday, wound around the store. It took over a half hour to get to the cashiers. My pregnant wife, the hero of the day, the one whose words had won over the old lady manager, was feeling a little tired and went to wait in the car. I was sent to isle 8 to checkout and after the guy in front of me got his receipt, I handed the cashier the card and the note. She was new. This was bad. She tried to get help from the cashier behind her, but she was too busy. Just then, somebody who seemed like the cashier manager sauntered by and she flagged her down and asked her how to do the transaction. After explaining it, the cashier manager asked her why they were doing this. I explained that it was a replacement for a card they apparently didn?t have enough of. The explanation on the note was that I was seventh in line and had gone to the wrong section. With a sigh and a frown she conceded. The new cashier girl got it all entered and as she turned to me to tell me the final price I interrupted her. ?Oh, and I have this 10% off coupon too.? After looking at both sides and nodding, she began trying to apply it. This was bad. After several attempts, she again tried to ask the cashier behind her, but she was, of course, too busy to be training the new girl. So, the cashier manager came back by and the new girl flagged her down again and asked how to apply the coupon. The cashier manager looked at both sides and goes ?Oh, the Best Buy coupon.? She explained how to do it--hit ESC, hit F5, hit F7--then asked, ?Why are we doing this?? ?Because it?s a coupon,? the new girl responded. The cashier manager quickly followed with ?We can?t do that. We?ve already marked it down.? ?It was originally $199,? The new girl added. ?Yeah, no, we can?t do that,? the cashier manager reaffirmed.
Now this is the culmination of a year worth of indignation, a sleepless night, an hour and a half in the freezing cold, and a fresh slap in the face. I usually won?t argue with a cashier, or a cashier manager, over a few dollars, but this was my chance for justice and I wasn?t going out without a fight.
With ice cold determination and without adjusting my stance, I turned to the cashier manager and told her very calmly that this was a replacement for a card they didn?t have enough of and I was going to apply the coupon to that other card had they had it.
I don?t know if it was something in my eyes or the tone of my voice, but she seemed to understand that I was immoveable on this. I was prepared for a war if it came to that and I?d called her bluff.
She stood there for a few seconds in silence.
?Just do it,? She muttered while turning to leave.
A few attempts later, the new girl had the correct adjusted price and I was swiping my card. As I left, I looked out upon the dawning sky that had been so dark when we entered the store. Night had turned to day. My vindication was complete. I had received my closure with a far greater struggle and a far greater sense of accomplishment than I ever imagined I would.
I got to Best Buy an hour before they opened and was around 400th in line. By the time I got inside, the video card I came for was, obviously, long gone. I had no right to, but I nevertheless felt quite jilted. Of course I had read that quantities were limited and no rainchecks would be accepted, but that sounded like legal jargon meant to absolve BB of any potential complaints. Most hot items at most other stores were well stocked. At BB, the only item well stocked was the much higher priced card in the almost exact same looking box as the card for sale. That was last year?s Black Friday.
I didn't sleep last night. I figured if I was going to go, I couldn't let myself sleep or when I tried to wake up I'd probably decide more sleep was more important than saving a few bucks on a video card I didn't really need. However, if I decided not to go, I'd be able to sleep in anyway. I was occupying myself watching Patriot Games and Blade Runner during what seemed like a Harrison Ford marathon on USA while my wife slept beside me on the couch. I kept thinking about it; weighing the pros and cons, doing the math. There was something else compelling me to go. It wasn't the thrill of getting something everybody else wanted. It wasn't the savings. I wanted vindication. Not revenge; just some recompense for my and their failing last year. I needed closure. I imagined myself standing about 20th in line, grabbing a voucher for a GF4 ti4200 video card, strolling calmly in to their store, redeeming the voucher and getting the hell out of there very satisfied with myself. I decided to go.
I talked about it with my wife. I said how I didn't really need it, but that it would be nice, but we should get some sleep, but we could go to other stores afterward and do some Christmas shopping. She offered to go with me, and, after thinking about it, I figured it was worth a shot. It was 4:00. I thought I'd have to get there by 3:00 to be assured of getting in on the video card deal. We left at 4:15 and got there at 4:25. We were seventh in line! There were more people camping out in front of Toys-R-Us than at BB. "Oh well" I figured, we may have an hour and a half wait, but at least I am assured of getting the card. Sure enough people began to trickle in. Doughnut holes and coffee were offered to all. We had some awkward conversations with the people around us. I yelled at a guy smoking upwind of me and my pregnant wife. The trickle quickened to a flood as the 6:00 hour neared and the parking lot was nearly full as the line wrapped around two sides of the building. A half dozen employees showed up with vouchers for the "carded" items and began going down the line. Oddly, there were no vouchers for the video card. I began to get a bad feeling. After the line crashers were warned and the assistant manager led everybody in a Best Buy chant, the doors opened and we were let in. I sidestepped a few people and was the first person to the video card section. I scanned the shelves for the BFG boxes. One by one I ruled them out. My wife took the ad and began helping me look for the boxes. The only 128 MB BFG card I could find was the ti4600. I turned and faced the entrance and watched the deluge of people streaming in. My time, my hour and a half of freezing cold patience, my slim advantage, was eroding quicker than a sand castle in a hurricane. I found the nearest BB employee I could find and asked him where the video cards on sale were. "You'll have to ask somebody in a blue shirt" the Sprint sales guy responded. I turned and spotted a guy in a blue shirt. He was over-weight and wore an emasculating half-hearted beard like Chris Elliot's; he obviously worked in the computer section. I asked him where the video cards on sale were and he said they were "floor stocked." Though I'd never heard that term before, I instantly knew what that meant and confirmed with him. They must have been placed somewhere else in the store. The video cards on sale were not with the video cards. Where were the video cards on sale? Had they placed them with the coffee makers? The DVD players? I lost hope. If they had been placed somewhere else, they were surely gone. I had surveyed the store on my way to the video card section suspecting something like this might happen but hadn't seen them, so I knew they had to be tucked away somewhere. Or maybe, there had been no cards to begin with. Maybe they were all bought up days ago by those weasels hoping to return and rebuy them on the day of the sale. Maybe the salesman had kept them for themselves or their friends and were using the "floor stocked" response to disavow any knowledge of the incident.
I walked around the store looking for the cards and didn't see them. I looked for people holding the cards and saw only two people with a video card and it was the ti4600 and they were glancing back and forth at the ad and the card with a befuddled look on their face.
No vouchers? Floor stocked? It didn't matter anymore. All I knew was that I had been duped again. I did everything right this time and still hadn't gotten a card. My wife saw the disappointment on my face. Either the cards were misplaced or they weren't there to begin with. Whatever the cause, it just didn't matter. My vindication and my closure were stolen from me and I didn't know what to do. Go home and get some sleep I guess. I could complain, but the store was full of people shouting and franticly darting about. We started heading out when I saw the guy who'd led us in the chant before the store opened. I was going to make sure this guy at least remembered me from the front of the line, so I could have some verification if I decided to call and complain. As soon as I began talking with him, an older lady employee approached us and said she'd handle it. She was promptly called off somewhere and promised to be right back. I spotted a guy with what appeared to be the card on sale. I caught him and asked him where he'd found it. He pointed towards the far right side and said he'd found it somewhere over there. I walked over to where he'd pointed and did find some cards but they were the ti4600s again. I hadn't bothered him to ask for a long hard look at the box he was carrying, so I can't confirm which he had in his possession.
By the time I got back, I saw my wife following the older lady employee to the service counter. We waited while she went behind the desk and began looking something up on the computer. She muttered something and walked over to the video card section where she looked for the card for a few seconds then grabbed a BFG MX440 and started back towards us. She stopped halfway and we joined her. I explained, as she was slowly figuring out on her own, that the card was not the card advertised and we went together back to the video card section. She looked over the shelves briefly and said, "Well they were here this morning. I can show you the stock summary (or something) that says we had at least ten here." I said they should have had vouchers so people who got there early could have got one and she said they didn't have vouchers because they weren't part of the six-hour sale. She walked down the video card isle and returned and said that she could give me a card (whose name I couldn't discern) for the same price even though it was a "better" card. I asked her which one hoping it would be the ti4600 because it looked the same. Now that she was negotiating, I even began thinking about asking for the Radeon 9700. She took me over to the ATI section and pointed at the All In Wonder 8500DV. She was being reasonable. She chose a card with the same retail price before rebates to be fair and I wasn't going to try to be unreasonable in return by asking for a much more expensive card. Then she told me, as more and more geeky teenagers began buzzing around the video cards, that she was willing to do this because I was seventh in line, but that I had to tell her right now because she wasn't going to stand there talking about it. I said okay and she handed me the card. She took us back to the service counter where she wrote up a note giving me the card at the after rebate price of the other card. "I appreciate that." I said trying not to sound too excited as she gave me the note and disappeared into the crowd.
We got in line and began looking over the card. I have a Radeon 8500 128MB card at home that is more than enough for any game on the market today. I was going to get the GeForce4 card because I have a nice TV tuner card that won?t work with ATI cards and I?d lose money switching to an ATI TV Wonder card whereas I?d make a few bucks on the GeForce4 card after rebates and after selling my current card. Plus I?d have a slightly better card. Not a major enough reason to endure BB BF BS, but, like I said, I wasn?t here for the savings, I wanted closure and vindication and had one test still ahead of me at checkout, as you?ll see.
The line, like it does every Black Friday, wound around the store. It took over a half hour to get to the cashiers. My pregnant wife, the hero of the day, the one whose words had won over the old lady manager, was feeling a little tired and went to wait in the car. I was sent to isle 8 to checkout and after the guy in front of me got his receipt, I handed the cashier the card and the note. She was new. This was bad. She tried to get help from the cashier behind her, but she was too busy. Just then, somebody who seemed like the cashier manager sauntered by and she flagged her down and asked her how to do the transaction. After explaining it, the cashier manager asked her why they were doing this. I explained that it was a replacement for a card they apparently didn?t have enough of. The explanation on the note was that I was seventh in line and had gone to the wrong section. With a sigh and a frown she conceded. The new cashier girl got it all entered and as she turned to me to tell me the final price I interrupted her. ?Oh, and I have this 10% off coupon too.? After looking at both sides and nodding, she began trying to apply it. This was bad. After several attempts, she again tried to ask the cashier behind her, but she was, of course, too busy to be training the new girl. So, the cashier manager came back by and the new girl flagged her down again and asked how to apply the coupon. The cashier manager looked at both sides and goes ?Oh, the Best Buy coupon.? She explained how to do it--hit ESC, hit F5, hit F7--then asked, ?Why are we doing this?? ?Because it?s a coupon,? the new girl responded. The cashier manager quickly followed with ?We can?t do that. We?ve already marked it down.? ?It was originally $199,? The new girl added. ?Yeah, no, we can?t do that,? the cashier manager reaffirmed.
Now this is the culmination of a year worth of indignation, a sleepless night, an hour and a half in the freezing cold, and a fresh slap in the face. I usually won?t argue with a cashier, or a cashier manager, over a few dollars, but this was my chance for justice and I wasn?t going out without a fight.
With ice cold determination and without adjusting my stance, I turned to the cashier manager and told her very calmly that this was a replacement for a card they didn?t have enough of and I was going to apply the coupon to that other card had they had it.
I don?t know if it was something in my eyes or the tone of my voice, but she seemed to understand that I was immoveable on this. I was prepared for a war if it came to that and I?d called her bluff.
She stood there for a few seconds in silence.
?Just do it,? She muttered while turning to leave.
A few attempts later, the new girl had the correct adjusted price and I was swiping my card. As I left, I looked out upon the dawning sky that had been so dark when we entered the store. Night had turned to day. My vindication was complete. I had received my closure with a far greater struggle and a far greater sense of accomplishment than I ever imagined I would.
