Squid of Man

What EB Games must consider their typical 2006 customer

EB Games have never been big on customer service. Their fundamental lack of knowledge of either their current or upcoming stock, coupled with the "aww, gee sir" rawness of the young staff, does not bode well for any customer who is after something even a tiny iota above your standard, "Credit, please. No, I don't need a bag," transaction.

But what transpired today at EB Games in The Galeries, Sydney, escapes belief.

The Manager of the two city stores, a man I know only as "Beardo", was behind the counter. My goal? Ask a simple question: will EB Games price match a bundle deal their neighbours, JB Hi-Fi, were offering on the 360?

It required a simple yes or no response. I was prepared for a little more, since he has shown himself on previous occassions to be what i'd like to call mentally handicapped. What I got was an absolute tirade. I won't reproduce it in it's entirety, because to be honest i've forgotten half the random shit that flew out his mouth. But it went a little something like this (my futile interjections are bracketed):

"Hi, I'd like to see if you guys would price match this offer JB are running..."

"BRING IN YOUR GAMES TRADE THEM IN AS WELL 360 BACKWARDS COMPATABILITY IS TERRIBLE FORZA LOOKS TERRIBLE (but I don't have Forza....) WE DID A SURVEY ONLY 2% OF EB MANAGERS KEPT THEIR PS1 GAMES (But I want to keep playing Halo and Jet Set...) TRADE IN YOUR GAMES GET MORE MONEY YOU WON'T PLAY YOUR OLD GAMES ANYMORE JB NEED TO HAVE UNITS IN STOCK (they do...) BRING IN 10 GAMES AND YOU'LL ONLY PAY $499 (but this offer doesn't need any games and is only $50 more...) LOOK IT UP ON THE INTERNET EVERYBODY HATES BACKWARDS COMPATABILITY LOOK IT UP ON THE NET JUST BRING IN YOUR GAMES, OK (I don't want to bring them in) JUST BRING IN YOUR OLD GAMES YOU WON'T PLAY THEM....."

By which point I had turned away and walked out, and could still hear his ramblings trailing off into the distance. Honestly, i'd barely asked the question before all this shit started flying around like a retard blowing out his birthday candles.

It's not often I walk into a store intending to spend nearly $1000 on video games, only to walk out empty-handed. I thought only spontaneous combustion would have prevented that transaction. I guess I can add being grievously insulted by a complete fucktard to that list.

You're a fucking video game store, EB. You sell video games. Which means, the people in your store want to buy video games. It stands to reason they know a little bit about what they're buying. So stop insulting our intelligence with shit like this.

I am familiar with the "internet". I need not look up anything but alternate locations to purchase an Xbox 360.