MovieStop gets stranger.. (possible employee reply)

While sitting here and realizing i’ve not updated in ages , I decided to check my comments sections, It was kind of funny .  I noticed a Comment sitting in moderation for my moviestop post that I had posted over a year ago. I had an problem with MovieStop, and after a few emails the situation was corrected, I thought it was spam until I decided to read it.

Policy is, if you reserve a movie they match the lowest “ADVERTISED” price. This means there has to be an in store advertisement stating the lower price. They do not match every price because they sell used movies which are always lower than any other store’s new prices. Sounds to me like you are one of those customers that all retail employees hate to have to service. You think that you should get the best deal even though the policy is different than what you want. Maybe step down from your high horse and come join the rest of us on planet earth.

Maybe I’m on a High horse maybe I’m not, but this comment is basically an attack,  let me break this one down.

  • Policy is, if you reserve a movie they match the lowest “ADVERTISED” price.

From my previous post: Before Leaving the Moviestop lot I had checked the window to see that there was a Large sign in yellow with black large letters “GUARANTEED LOWEST ADVERTISED PRICES”. When i had asked regarding this sign in the front of the store windows the person claimed that there was an asterisk in the sign on the front of the store. Checking the sign again there was No asterisk no Limitation no claim to see in store for details Nothing noting of any policy of what this person had spoke of.This item was new, and the price I saw was ADVERTISED, It was  in the best buy flier for the same week.

  • This means there has to be an in store advertisement stating the lower price.

See above

  • They do not match every price because they sell used movies which are always lower than any other store’s new prices.

That’s a given but, I purchased this product new.  generally used products fall under different rules which are printed in stores (Or at least gamestops that I’ve been too).

  • Sounds to me like you are one of those customers that all retail employees hate to have to service. You think that you should get the best deal even though the policy is different than what you want.

Now your getting a little snippy here, As far as being hated by retail employees, I don’t think so, Now i’ve been nice up to this point. I’m sure a lot of gamestop/moviestop employees are not like you, Hell I know my gamestop/moviestop managers and they know me but,you are a gamestop/moviestop employee In richmond, VA area, who has no  clue what went on and are assuming the customer is always wrong, I never believe the customer is always “right” but, there is a happy medium.  That right there is the first sign of bad customer service, Secondly I pointed out the sign issue, most states have laws saying they are bound by what the sign says unless its a grievously bad error, also by the federal trade commision .

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the main federal agency that enforces advertising laws and regulations. Under the Federal Trade Commission Act:

  • Advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive;
  • Advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims; and
  • Advertisements cannot be unfair.

But to get this kind of treatment almost a year later is kind of low, I’ve been mostly nice through this post but if MovieStop employees really think they are god to obviously which you think you are, you need to really sit down and think! How do i want my store to be and how can I keep people coming back to my store. Not find a post on the internet and bash the person because what you believe is right, quite simply you need to educate your customers and educate your self and CORRECT problems when you see them, If you store has a sign that says

“GUARANTEED LOWEST ADVERTISED PRICES”.

But, the sign only refers to preorders, The sign is incorrect! You need to correct the sign because the sign says quite different from the actual given “policy”.  A better sign would be

“GUARANTEED LOWEST ADVERTISED PRICES ON PRE-ORDERS: See inside for details”.

After this I think moviestop is on the shitlist again.

You kin do it! donuts *barf*

Dunkin Donuts is at it again with  a new advertising campaign but,  I can’t help but laugh every time I’ve seen the commercials. “You kin do it!” But, Seeing the words makes me think of another thing besides brand recognition.

Dunkin Donuts has appearently spent $100million on this new campaign which i find funny. The Waterboy movie on the otherhand spent $23 million making the movie and by any figure the 18 seconds of time Rob Shneider spent saying that line in the movie cost $76662.  Dunkin spent $100,000,000 on this so far in three 30 second TV spots.  So really it would be just cheaper to hire Rob Shneider for 90 Seconds at $383,310 vs $100 million. And people wonder why businesses are crying for a bailout?

waterboy_2

Oh the fun of Windows XP (fun with windows activation)

I’ve made some hardware updates to my machine and really the biggest pain of any machine I’ve built is one thing…  Windows XP.  As I sit here I have a legit copy of the software but, Every time I’ve reinstalled since maybe the 5th time I’ve reinstalled over the years there is one nagging thing that outright just pisses me off.

Windows Activation….. Its basically the most annoying prospect on this planet.  After entering the product key than clicking the keys in the small keys in the bottom right it says “you can activate windows over the Internet or over the phone” the Internet will be quickest and easiest .. my ass…  if you have had windows a couple of years you will run into this same activation wall.  Basically, once you have activated your windows a few times you will get an error:

“this copy of windows has been activated too many times”

An option for a entering another key comes up or you have to dial up the 1-800 Number, So you call the 800 number and you are greeted by a female robot that asks you questions.  Rather than being able to input your answers by keypad your stuck with dealing with a voice response system.   Now being a voice recognition system your already aggravated due to the point you have to speak like Anakin Skywalker from the first starwars movie,  if you don’t speak with any emotion or even twinge the wrong way you should get through the first prompts ok, but when it comes to the next part which is speaking a forty-eight digit string of numbers.

You will need the powers of a jedi , A vulcan and an android in order not to loose your sanity.

8 groups of 6 numbers each , or so you think….. you start slowly and speak each number like every emotion has been ripped from your head and your the original terminator .. if you succeed  you will hear a bell signaling that you’ve just passed the first trial, if not the “friendly” robot voice says it does not understand you and to repeat the numbers again.  You try the numbers a second time and wait for the bell.. if not your treated to the third form of this torturous adventure.  Keypad entry …. If you input the keys on a poor signal from say a cell phone, your fucked, because the robot will kick you back to voice prompt or the 4th option. If your lucky and you don’t fart breath the wrong way or scratch and itch you get to the end of the numbers.   The robot now tells you to hold on and is validating your install.. You breath a sigh of relief for a mo- “sorry I can not validate this install You are now being transferred to a representative”

In the moment you channel every emotion you’ve held back in the past 5 minutes and try to channel enough anger over the phone hoping that the robot explodes. As your own robot demeanor slowly turns into darth vader after finding out his ship was towed for parking in a non-sith  zone.

darth_xp

The thought of throwing the disc across the room and killing something with it comes to mind.. Finally you get an operator, They ask for the First six digits of the installation ID, Than after that it turns into a interrogation.

You get asked questions

  • Did you buy this software at a store…
  • How many Machines do you have this software installed on.
  • Is this your first time activating this software
  • How many machines is this software installed on(again)

This is what pisses me off to the core.. I purchased this software from a fucking store.. I have in my hand the damn case for the disk an original CD and now I’m getting 20 questions?  I did not pirate the damn thing.. (who would be stupid enough to call on a pirated disk ? ) And the fact they ask you twice about how many machines its installed on is just about Saying your trying to steal the disk.  what the fuck?   How about instead of beating around the bush.. just ask outright .  ARE YOU STEALING THIS SOFTWARE!  After the interrogation you get to the next fun part of the “easy activation”

Now i have nothing against foreign call centers but at this point your bloods boiling you’ve just used every ounce of mental strength not to go batshit crazy over the phone and now the fun begins.. you are read a forty-two digit code from someone who does have an accent that sometimes can be VERY hard to understand. So at times your asking to go back but occasionally you will get a person who is rattles off the numbers like they’re an Auctioneer onethreefoursevensixfive HOOOOOOOOOLD THE FUCK ON…

after what seems forever and a day and half you finally get through this depleted and wanting to kill something you have windows activated till the next time you upgrade/something goes wrong/you look at windows the wrong way/ your cat sneezes.

this activation crap needs to be fine tuned .. or at least have some sort of system where you can de-authorize an activation like bioshock did.  Honestly when it comes to the next edition of windows or even Vista I cant afford it.  So I’m stuck on XP. But every time I’ve had a problem i don’t feel like saying more numbers than a Stock sheet in the newspaper.

If you look at it, Its a 48 to 96+ digits for an installation key because of the autobot phone lady, Not to mention if that fails its another 48+ digits after that. six more digits If you get “too many activations and the megamaid robot cant authorize your windows”. Than another 42+ digits for the “confirmation ID”, so in total its anywhere from

Ninety-six to one-hundred and ninety-two spoken numbers over the phone..  that’s just totally insane.

Attack of the Christmas part II

Two days ago I posted about the Christmas Creep well, Today I went to mall to discover unfortunately how bad how the Christmas Creep was. It’s not a creep anymore. Its the christmas War on Holidays, the casualties so far .. Halloween, Thanksgiving and anything inbetween. From the front lines which I’ve personally witnessed and My friend david whom was overwelmed at the scene and cried on sight..

Corporations are destroying Christmas, People are already starting to be worn out of the meaningless push on wanting consumers to buy useless shit for christmas.

I dont mind so much about the week after thanksgiving for Christmas, but NOW? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO go away get out.. GTFO…

Just what you’ve always wanted with your coffee, printing! wait.. what?!

This is one of those things that keep you up at night.. how do i print on my coffee? Alrighty than… although the uses can be fun , hand your boss a coffee/latte that has a personalized message. just be sure to have your desk prepacked before you do so.

Anyways Onward to the video…….

Apparently from Oleksiy Pikalo page,  he wanted to create a machine to create art on his lattes, hey you cant knock it.. just think of the fun you could have with this…

Long time ago, I saw a great video about “Latte Art”, and figured that I absolutely must build a machine capable of printing the most beautiful art on top of my latte. So I bought a used x-y flatbed plotter (Philips 8155) on eBay and a great book by Matt Gilliland, titled “Inkjet Applications”. I put the two together, to get this nice Latte Art Printing Machine

If your the industrious type you too can make a coffee printer too..

the instructions are listed on the site to make your own… as for me thats definitely something I’d have some fun with.

Computing at starbucks..

Gotta love improv everywhere for all the silly weird shit they do,

Improv Everywhere

“For our latest mission, three agents entered a Starbucks one by one with their own giant desktop computer and CRT monitor. They bought coffee and worked at their computers as if they were laptops. One computer even had a Wi-Fi card installed, enabling our agent to surf the web. ”

Strangeness with Mp3 players.

late night conversation of Strangeness
[00:30:44 AM] Mike: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2007/05/smell-my-data-port.php what the fuck?
[00:31:34 AM] Jeff Ski: lol
[00:31:46 AM] Mike: that’s what you have right ?
[00:32:12 AM] Jeff Ski: lol .. it does kinda smell like bubble gum
[00:32:19 AM] Mike: lmao wtf
[00:32:37 AM] Mike: strange……….

Just read the link to understand this one…