More Blockbuster, More Problems: A Former Employee Chimes In

Hi Jon,

I just wanted to compliment you on your piece on Blockbuster. You can look at me as just another blue and yellow e-mailing you probably the same thing as everyone else if you want - I worked there for two years.

Store policy always sucked. The others I worked with rarely liked it, but we all had more power than we usually liked to use. Sure, we could usually take off those late fees, but if we were having a bad day and the customer was a real ass about it, then hell, we'd be a real ass back. You're right, we were too underpaid to really care. Usually everyone was waiting for their turn to be in their own world on the floor restocking and answering questions about whether a movie was good or not.

I would never lie about a movie. That was something that bothered me. People would always ask if a movie was good, and then say, "I don't know why I'm asking, you'll just say its good, so I'll rent it," and then laugh as if I hadn't heard that a thousand times. Like I cared if they rented a movie - I still got paid whether they did or not. Besides, I was usually too busy to watch them, which made me not such a great person to work at Blockbuster. That's something I always hated. Everyone asked me if a movie was good but I worked too much to watch movies - how would I know? Read a review. If I had time to watch a movie, it was usually a movie that was underappreciated that almost no one paid attention to, and I'd recommend those…but they'd get the J-lo movie anyways.

As for Blockbuster television, no one, well usually no one liked that junk. There was always one employee that liked all that pop crap, who actually liked the Blockbuster videos we showed. If it got really annoying, we'd fast forward to a not-so-annoying part.

I wish there were more "mom and pop" stores. I'd rather go there than be artificially treated like I mattered. The rude customers would always say they were never coming back…we'd put a note on their account about that and bet how long it would be before their account showed they rented again. Sad but true - they almost always came back. Blockbuster is an evil corporation that unfortunately bludgeons everyone else out of the business.

Ok, that's my part of the rant, you've probably heard it a hundred times before. Thanks for the entertaining read on your page.

Sincerely,

Becky

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Hey Becky...I think you're the first Blockbuster employee to see this piece for what it is: commentary disguised as (first and foremost) entertainment.

Actually, I haven't gotten a letter quite like yours before. Maybe it's because I have revised the original piece a bit, but your letter is a lot less defensive than most of the other employee letters have been.

What I like most about your letter is that you also see the big picture I was talking about, that the loss of independent video stores is sad and Blockbuster's dominant position in the entertainment world is problematic.

Of course, I agree with another key point you make: that employees have more power sometimes than they like to admit. Sure, Blockbuster store policy may be pretty rigid, but the fact is that individual employees do have some room to play with, and, certainly, if a customer is not being a jerk, it's nice to see an employee thinking on their feet and not ramming a policy down someone's throat. On the other hand, sometimes I cringe watching how some of my fellow customers behave in the store. As pissed off as I used to get at Blockbuster, I was never as big an idiot as some of the customers I see in the store.

I think it's cool that you were honest about the movie recommendations you made, and I'm not surprised that people didn't take you up on your "off the beaten track" suggestions. As much as I hate Blockbuster sometimes, it's a reflection of what the people want. If people didn't rent "Maid in Manhattan," Blockbuster wouldn't fill a huge wall with copies of the same.

You probably noticed in my that I mentioned how I would keep coming back, and that is indeed true. I try to rent from the last independent store whenever I can, but with new releases, I'm stuck with Blockbuster. So you're right, even the most disgruntled are forced to come back. The sad thing is that most Americans, though they claim to cherish freedom, are more than willing to accept increasingly homogenous entertainment options. There is lots of cool, independent stuff out there, perhaps more than ever before, but you have to seek it out. It won't land in your lap, eh?

But here I was in Blockbuster last weekend, looking for a copy of "Catch Me If You Can" like everybody else. The employees are a lot nicer these days; the store seems to be a lot better run. The canned advertainment television still drives me nuts, but I guess interacting with many interesting Blockbuster people like yourself has taken the edge off a little. It's time to move on to other issues, but I'll always keep a wary eye on the blue and gold.

Thanks again for your great letter.

JR

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Hi Jon,

I'm glad you liked my letter. As you cringed at other people's behavior in Blockbuster, I cringed at your review of us. Our behavior at the store wasn't something we were necessarily proud of (which is why you probably got so many defensive letters) but something we were resigned to because sometimes we were tired of trying. However, your writing was, from what I had seen, a true portrayal of us so why defend what people will recognize mostly as truth? Anyways, the one thing I might caution you on about my letter was what I wrote about my "power." When I was hired, I was told that I could do things, like take off late fees, that normal cashiers at other stores couldn't do. The reason I could do these things was because we were a very big store, I think one of the top 10 Blockbusters in the country, so the managers didn't want to be bothered every minute for something as small like a $4.02 late fee. So, I'm not so sure other cashiers had that same right, just to let you know if you didn't already. All right that's it, thank you for responding!

Sincerely,

Becky

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Hey Becky…

Thx for your response. I appreciate your further clarifications.

You are right about power - it's not a good idea to expect employees to circumvent standard store policies. Your point there is duly noted. My point is simply that employees have more power than they often exercise - not so much about policy and making exceptions to such policies, but in terms of improving the overall experience for everyone within those limitations. Don't get me wrong, I know what it's like to be stuck in a shitty job, just wanting to get through your shift and get out of there. And I know that many customers, with the entitled way we act, don't deserve any better than the standard policies. I think we're all a bit too frazzled to see how we can make each other's lives better, even within the context of a store environment that none of us have enough control over. I always figured it wasn't a picnic to work at Blockbuster, I think I see that even more now, after all these letters. :) I know we all have to "choose our battles," but I can only hope that when the times comes, we'll speak out and not just put up with the standard crud being handed down by Blockbuster corporate.

Thx again for your thoughts.

JR

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