http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/blogs/1104-Post-Coital Video game message board with news, humor, an arcade, and more. en Thu, 23 May 2013 02:59:59 GMT vBulletin 10 http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/images/tnl4/misc/rss.jpg http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/blogs/1104-Post-Coital http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/662-OMG-I-HAVE-THE-ULTRA-RARE-NES-001! Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:40:18 GMT I felt a little feisty this morning, so I hit the sign and opened up 10 minutes early.
The first customer of the day is usually a good indication of how the day is going to go. Is there a crackhead looking bastard itching (literally) to get inside? Today is going to be pay out after pay out. Soccer mom drinking her Dunkin Donuts in her minivan? We might have some sales. Ten year old kid with a backpack full of games and a system? The cops will be by later.
Today it was a dude carrying a filthy Atari 2600 in a plastic bag. Before I can even say hello he says, "I want to sell this, but if I'm going to get less than $100 I am keeping it!"
I respond, "It looks like you're keeping it then."
"How much would you offer me? I've seen how much they're getting on eBay. I've seen them sell for over $300."
"If you want to look in the case over there, you will see that I have one that doesn't look like it was just unearthed from a landfill. It has all the hookups, two controllers, and 10 games. It's $40. So how much do you think a dirty system with no parts is worth?"
"Well, how come they are going for so much on eBay?"
"Not all Atari's were created equal. Most of them don't sell for very much."
"Hmm. Thanks for your time." Hung head low, he walked on out the door. Disgusting,loose Atari in his hand.

This scenario is so obnoxious, and it happens all the time now. When I first saw Pawn Stars, I really liked the show. Not because of the "WOW I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT OLD THING IS WORTH SO MUCH!" factor, but because of the history of things that they would get into. I loved American Pickers for the same reason. But then some cunt thought the guys on the show were what was interesting, not the items they were featuring and they started doing shitty sitcom skits and completely ruined both shows. But that's a different blog.
I really started to hate Pawn Stars when they started featuring video game stuff, because they were almost always wrong in their history and assessment of value. It broke my heart. It was like when you first figure out that your parents don't know everything and, as a matter of fact, are quite wrong about a lot of the things they tell you. It's a devastating feeling for a 4 year old.
If these guys were wrong about the stuff I did know, how could I accept their information concerning the stuff I didn't know?
So I stopped watching the show.
America continued to eat it up though.
Some time ago, I was suddenly accosted with callers asking how much I would give for their original nintendo systems. No one seemed overly happy with my answer. Finally, a guy said," That's it? This is the super rare NES-001 though! It's worth thousands! They had it on Pawn Stars!"
I lost my ability to speak for a second. "Sir, I'm sorry, but all of the original nintendos were NES-001. I have ten of them sitting here right now. I would be happy to show you."
"Oh..." I could hear his head fall forward, and before the phone clicked off I swear I could hear the sound a loose nintendo in a plastic bag being thrown across the room. ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/662-OMG-I-HAVE-THE-ULTRA-RARE-NES-001! http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/561-A-Return-To-The-Old-Form Thu, 28 Jun 2012 17:00:15 GMT I found a few things at a flea on Sunday, I've just been too lazy to capture their images and post.
In the meantime, this just happened.

A pair of teenage boys were coming into the store and dragging their bikes with them.
"I'm sorry, you can't bring them in here. This is a store, not a garage."
I hear one of the boys mumble something and then the other one said, "This FUCKING guy, I'm not getting my fucking bike stolen".
They then attempted to wedge their bikes in the area between the two entry doors.
"Guys, you can't do that, it's a safety hazard". More cursing from them. I should mention that I had a fella in here with his two under age 5 kids. I can not stand how it's become acceptable for people to act like they're on an episode of Jerry Springer 24/7.
So they put the bikes outside, and walk in with a couple of trade ins. (only one of them had trades, so it seems reasonable that the other one could wait with the bikes, doesn't it?).
I say, "You can take your trades elsewhere. I don't have to put up with children cursing me out and being disrespectful."
"I didn't say anything! I didn't curse you out!"
"You didn't"? You didn't say 'This effing guy'? I'm a liar on top of whatever else you said?"
"No..."
"If you are worried about your bike getting stolen, buy a lock. Now you can either apologize for being so rude, or you can go elsewhere."
"I'm sorry."
"Thank you. You're too old to be going around like a three year old and throwing a tantrum because you can't get your way. Be an adult, not a baby."
From then on, you'd think the kid was in church. All "yes, sir" "please, sir" "thank you, sir".
So there are some kids who do know their manners, but maybe they just need to be reminded of them.
But, I won't be surprised to find our windows covered in egg tomorrow morning. ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/561-A-Return-To-The-Old-Form http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/551-More-Hunts-More-Thrills Tue, 19 Jun 2012 09:43:54 GMT I didn't hit up many places this week and I struck out at the few that I did.
I went to Oswego to check out the couple of pawn shops that I was aware of. I never have much luck out there which always struck me as odd. It's a college town. Students are always buying shit they can't afford and then selling it for pot. It should be a gold mine.

My luck did not change. I got a couple cheap psp and ds games cib, but all the older stuff was damn near non existent or way over priced for my intentions. I was bummed!
I did get a very mint Jumping Flash 2 from a thrift for $3. It's not really worth anything, but it's a rare occasion to come across a ps1 thrift find that isn't sports let alone not scratched to hell. I forgot to take a pic. I feel terrible about it. Please accept my deepest apologies.
So whilst I was making my way to the next stop, I made a wrong turn and found myself in front of a new game store called Infinite Lives.


As you can see, they are attempting to revive videogames. I didn't know that the multi billion dollar industry that videogames has become needed reviving. BUT APPARENTLY IT DOES! WHY WOULD THEY PUT IT ON THEIR SIGN IF IT DIDN'T?!
I went inside and a nerd customer was trying to get the nerd employee to give him $5 for a loose Snes jr and a loose Donkey Kong Country. The twist was that neither item worked. The customer was telling him that, hey, you may get in a nasty looking Snes that does work. This one is beautiful. You can switch the cases!

I actually got to talking with both gentlemen and they seemed like nice guys. In the midst of the conversation I found out the reason I never find anything classic out here. The customer told me that he has made arrangements with all the pawn shops. If they get stuff in and don't sell it quick enough or don't feel like ebaying it, he comes and buys it and then he ebays it all. FANTASTIC!
All in all, Infinite Lives seemed like every other indy shop I've been in lately. They follow Gamestop's ridiculous prices on used newer items and want the high end of the eBay spectrum for the classic stuff. So I need never walk in there again, and I've decided the same thing about Oswego as a whole. Enjoy it Mr. P. Milligan. It's all yours.

I spent around $25 and priced it out to $60. Barely worth the gas to drive there.

On Saturday I headed out to the flea market in Cheektowaga. I usually send a buddy of mine around the different vendors who set up outside in the parking lot as most of them know me by now and automatically up the prices when I ask about something. (It's not just paranoia. I've seen it happen). However, he decided visiting his imprisoned father was more important than working all day for me for free. THE NERVE!
So I threw caution to the wind and set out on my own!

Within minutes of venturing out into the parking lot I came across a guy with a box of nes games. He had Mario/Duck Hunt and both Zeldas at the top of the heap, and a bunch of stuff underneath. One of the games I saw in there was Faria. Oh-boy! I asked him how much the games were and he replied, "A buck a piece except for Mario and Zelda. Three bucks for them." I asked how much for all of them. He thought for a second and said, "$30." I didn't even bother counter offering. "I'll take them!" I should add that these games were not in the best cosmetic shape. I really wish I took a before pic. It was obvious that they came from a smoker's house. But a little windex takes that orange-ish brown crap right off. I wasn't too worried about it. This is them after an hour and a half of scrubbing.



I didn't realize how bad the glare on that last pic was. The games above Willow are the two Wizardrys, Xenophobe, and the two Zeldas.

*BLOG POST INTERMISSION FUN TIME*

While I was setting the games up, some jerk took it upon himself to touch and mix shit around when I was helping another customer. Can you find the game I missed and didn't put back in order? I hate, Hate, HATE assholes who think it's okay to rifle through shit and mess up what is obviously in some kind of order. I was taught that if I were to touch something I should ask the proprietor if it was okay first. WHY ISN'T THAT SMALL COURTESY TAUGHT ANYMORE? It's so maddening. Back to your irregularly scheduled rambling.

As you can see, there are some pretty decent uncommon games there, and I got them all for less than $.60 a piece.


Underneath all the Nes games were some SNES games. Castlevania IV was on the top of the stack. "Oh, I didn't see these. How much are the Super Nintendo games?"
"Two bucks."
"How much for all of them?" I started digging through them and saw a few choice titles. Before he could answer I said, "There's 14 games. Would you take $25?"
"Yeah, that's fine."
These weren't quite so dirty, thank God.


He had a couple of Genesis and N64 games that he brought out. "You interested in these?"
I looked them over. Nothing worth anything. "No, not really. Thanks anyway."
"Ah, you can have 'em anyway." He threw them in for free!


There were three more aisles of vendors. Nothing down the second aisle. I got a grey Zapper for $1 down the third aisle.
Would I find anything in the last aisle????????

Yes. A boxed Saturn. A nicely boxed saturn. It's not PERFECT. But for being over 15 years old, it taint too shabby.






It even still had some of the paperwork!


And finally, the unit itself:

Such a shiny black unit. Doesn't a unit like this just make your mouth water?!

So not counting the Saturn, I spent $56. I priced everything out to over TEN TIMES that. I will realistically make nine times what I spent. Like I've said before, if I can double my money, I'm satisfied. If I can triple it? OVERJOYED. When deals like this come along?
]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/551-More-Hunts-More-Thrills http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/536-The-Hill-of-the-Thrunt Thu, 07 Jun 2012 03:27:46 GMT Today was an O-K day.
I decided to hit Clay/North Syracuse and DeWitt/East Syracuse.
The first place I stopped was K-mart in Fulton. There was a small blurb in the ad about clearance games being buy one, get one 40% off.
They didn't have much of anything. This Kmart is hit or miss with me. Fulton is a small city and there's a super walmart, which is where most people go. Kmart is usually a ghost town.
The employees rarely keep up with the markdowns, which is good for me. It's rare that a game rings up for what it is marked. After digging through the bin of games up front near the registers, I went to the electronic section. As I said, slim pickings but I did find these:

They're marked $6, but rang up $4.50. They didn't ring up buy one get one 40% off like the ad stated, but the inevitable argument with management wasn't worth my time. Not the greatest haul, but Tatsunoko is a solid game and I can mark the other two $15 and some cheapo will buy them. My goal is to at least double my money. If I can triple it (or even better in Tatsunoko's case), then I am a happy lad.

Next stop was an indy shop in Clay called Microgame. In my five years of hunting in Clay, I've stopped at this place maybe 6 times. Their prices on modern games are Gamestop or a dollar cheaper, and their classic stuff is eBay at best, but often even more expensive than eBay prices.
A few examples for you. Super Mario Bros 3 averages around $10 on eBay. You can have it for the low, low price of $24.99 at Microgame.
Legend of Zelda? It eBay's for around $15. Microgames price? $28. Atari games? $4 no matter what the title. They're insane!
You see why I never go there? But things are different now. I'm hunting Nintendo Tapes not just for resale, but for myself. I'm willing spend consumer prices if it's something I personally want.
Sadly, they had very few CIB intendos. But I did get:

for $7.
They also had some commons buy two get one free. I grabbed these:

for $6 total. I will sell them for $5 a piece.
They also had a buy two, get one on PS2 and Xbox games. Picked these out:

for $20. I will be sitting on these for a while.
After I was rung out, the nice lady working the counter said I was free to pick out a DVD for free. I grabbed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Sorry, no pic.

From there I went across the street to The Great Northern Mall. That name is sooo deceitful. The mall isn't all that far north, and it certainly isn't all that great. First stop was Sears.
Now, I love Sears. For whatever reason, they carry games and I've never seen someone buy a single game from there that wasn't heavily discounted. Well, I guess the bean counters finally noticed that, and most Sears around here have started clearing out their entire stock. If they do quit carrying games, my ability to grab closeouts will be greatly diminished. I will still have Target and Best Buy, but how much longer will it be till they give in as well? I used to be spoiled with Media Play, Circuit City, and even FYE delivering decent deals on the regular. Now it's slim pickings and places like CAG have made it so more people are paying attention to this stuff than ever before.
Anyhow, Sears. While just about everything has been put on clearance, most of it isn't cheap enough to be worth trying to flip. I did get these though:

God of War III was $13, everything else was $10. Yeah, that's right. Flingsmash was $10 brand new with the remote. I've read on CAG that others have found it for as little as $8. I'm a little jealous, but that's okay.

Drove around the back of the mall and stopped at BJs. If you don't know what that is, think Sam's Club or Costco. They had nothing.

Next was Toys R Us. They have a buy a game for $19.99, get one 40% off deal.
They had nothing.

We leave the mall, cross over 481 and hit the plaza with Best Buy. PAY DIRT.
Best Buy recently started their own shitty print mag. I can usually read it cover to cover in the time it takes to do number two. The mag is worthless. The coupons inside? Priceless. Not only are the coupons for significant discounts, they also stack with sales.
I bought these:

and then bought these:

Thanks to the coupons Resistance 3 was $10, Deadliest Warrior was $10, and Dragon Age II was $5. Halo and Zumba 2 were on sale for half off msrp.

-Note: Some people may be put off by my buying these things in quantity for resale. To them I say:
1) I've seen quite a few "el hoardos" in action. If I don't grab this stuff, some other asshole will and most likely that asshole will just open them up to trade in to Amazon, Best Buy, or Gamestop. Who really profits from that? Shitty corporations. I do this to feed my family and keep a roof over their heads. I am not a soulless corporation. I'm a soulless individual. Fuck off.
2) These were bought from two different Best Buy stores, and though I had plenty of coupons, I did not clean the stores out. I grabbed two copies of each game from each of the stores and left a few of each on the shelf for others. I'm not that greedy. So really fuck off.

Back on topic, there was a small bin with a sign that said, "All games in bin $4.99 and up". Seriously, the "and up" was really small on the sign. Douchebags. There was nothing worth picking up in the bin BUT in front of the bin were five PS3 Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011 gun bundles marked $24.99. They have dropped to $49 at most places, so half off isn't a bad deal.
What makes it a better deal is that Best Buy was nice enough to send me a buy two new, get one free coupon in the mail. So I grabbed three. Paid $54 for them. That means I can under cut most places by marking them $40 and still more than double my investment.

I love that I can sell this stuff for less than what it would cost me to order it from a distributor.
Everyone wins.

I moved onto Target. If I love Sears, then I must be deeply, stupidly infatuated with Target. Sears is cool because I can get old, yet popular stuff on the cheap. Target is cool because they will put shit into clearance at the drop of a hat. If a newer title isn't moving, they won't wait for a price drop. They will clearance that shit out to make room for the next new release. I honestly don't understand how they can make any money. Two weeks after the collector's editions of Tiger Woods 13 and Resident Evil Raccoon City came out, Target had them clearanced for $35. Yeah. It was $25 cheaper to buy the collectors edition than it was to get the regular edition. Their business practices baffle me, but I ain't complaining.

Now that I've built it all up, I got nothing exciting to share. Thanks to the Avengers movie, I have seen an increase in sales of any Marvel related game. Last week I sold my last Marvel Super Hero Squad for Wii for $20 new.

Now I have three back in stock, at $10 a piece. It would have cost me $16 a piece if I ordered them from my distributor.

We leave Target, get back on 481 and head south to DeWitt. First stop is Sears. There I got:

Pokemon Black was $20. More than I would like to spend on a game that retails for $35; but it is A) popular, so it'll move quick B) the only one left, and C) would cost me $28 to order from the distributor. Pokepark was $10, and the Guitar Heroes for $4 a piece. They have a lot of games in the $13-$15 price range. Maybe they'll drop into my buy range next month.

From there I stopped at Kmart. They had nothing.

Next, and finally was the other Best Buy where I got the other half of the games in that other pic.

I didn't find much for me personally, but I did find some decent stuff to sell. I'm working the next three days, so I won't be hunting again until Sunday at the earliest. Just in time for the new ads to roll out. :) ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/536-The-Hill-of-the-Thrunt http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/533-The-Thrill-of-the-Hunt Wed, 06 Jun 2012 00:43:43 GMT I'm going to shift the focus of this blog. I gotta be honest, there is only so much I can bitch about concerning videogame retail. It's the same stuff, different day every day. The faces change, but the stories are all the same. Hence the whole nine posts since this started.

So instead, I'm going to share my shopping experiences. You are so interested, ADMIT IT!
Most of what I sell is from trade ins or clearance sales. But a small part of it comes from me hitting up various other shops, thrifts, garage sales and so on. I usually go home upset at the wasted time and gas, but every once in a while I find something really good and or cool and it reinvigorates my determination. Did I ever tell you about the time I found Aero Fighters for SNES for $5? Or the CIB Spider Man Web of Fire for $8? Yeah, I know I have. Often.

Today, the first place I hit up was a joint called Tom's Bargain Stop. This place sells everything, and by that, I mean EVERYTHING. Tools, motorized wheel chairs, replica swords...you name it. It's very dirty and very disorganized and is really a dump. I love it. Classic games are all one price, no matter the title and the guy will give a discount of you grab a few things. It was this place that last week I got these:
Click for full size

for all of $20.
I dug into all the nooks and crannies, but the most interesting thing I found was Super Mario World for $5. I sell them for $15, so the profit was worthwhile, but it was covered in rental stickers and magic marker and I've a decent amount of them already. I left it for someone who might actually want it.
I was about to leave, but decided to dig through a shelf of 8 tracks and pc games (it makes sense that they would be stored next to each other, right?). This caught my eye.
Click for full size

I love Vonnegut, and though this is completely worthless; it was sealed and only $2. I bought it.
I was heading out the door when I saw a nerd taking pics of my car. I had to take a pic of a guy taking a pic of my car. Of course I missed the shot I wanted. Here he is walking away after taking four different shots. I love the attention that car gets me!
Click for full size

I stopped at two different thrift stores after Toms. One had a fat ps2 with a few junk games. They wanted $75. Fools.

Since I was sort of in the area, I drove out to one of our satellite stores. I don't usually go to other Game Craze's because we all tend to be on top of things, so there's little likelihood that I will find something cheap enough to flip. HOWEVER, since I'm on an NES kick and I'm not looking them just to resell, I wanted to see what they might have.
They didn't have much CIB, but I did grab
Click for full size

and
Click for full size

for $5 a pop. The boxes aren't as nice as I'd like, but they'll do until I find something better.

Here's the thing with me and collections. I tend to enjoy the hunt more than actually playing the game. So to help balance myself, I've instituted a few rules for this NES kick I'm on.
1) I will only buy things I might actually play
2) I will only buy CIB
3) I will only buy locally. No online and especially no eBay.
As long as I adhere to those rules, I should be able to build the collection slowly enough that I play the games as I get them, and not just throw them on the shelf. At least that's my hope. It's been about a week and I've already acquired 20 games, and the only ones I've played are Mario and Star Tropics.

So anyway, that was it for NES games. That particular store was having a buy two, get one sale on PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube games.
There was nothing decent on Gamecube, but I found a few PS2 and Xbox games.
Click for full size

Nothing too exciting, and some stuff may bear explaining.
Syberia II for instance. As it happens, I have a customer who has been looking for that game since she really liked the first one. I won't make much of anything on it since it was a little overpriced. But it was mint, and she is a good customer. So it's worth it to make her happy.
I have a thing where I will buy any RPG if it's cheap. They are always a safe bet as far as increasing value goes. Even the shitty ones.
I grabbed Everblue 2 because I don't see it often. Same thing with Echo Night Beyond.
The thing I was happiest to get was:
Click for full size

It's worthless and probably not fun at all. BUT! I had never seen it before. I'm around this stuff almost all day every day. I LOVE the rare occasions when I find something I didn't know existed.

Note: This particular Game Craze copied the Game Stop practice of placing their price sticker ON THE FUCKING ARTWORK. That shit is so lame. Thankfully, the stickers aren't overly sticky. I already peeled them off with no damage to the inserts with the help of a heat gun.

That last place I stopped was an indy shop I first ran across a few months ago. It is called Good Game. The owner seems to be a nice guy, if not entirely informed. More on that later.

He doesn't have much for classics, and actually had no NES at all. I was a sad panda. He had smattering of SNES carts, all with no prices. Nothing exciting, but I spotted Mario World and Mario All stars. I asked him what the prices were and he said he just looks them up on eBay and then knocks a few bucks off. So there was no way I was getting them for a good price. I then saw a Might and Magic III, and like Syberia II; I have a regular who has been looking for it. I asked him if he could check that one for me. He said, "You know what? It's been a while since I sold a super nintendo game. You can have it for $3. It's probably worth more than that."
I said, "Cool, thanks." I usually sell it for $8. So there's a little money to be made there.
He, too, was having a buy two get one sale on PS2. I dug through the couple racks of inventory. It was all Gamestop prices or higher. But I did find Suikoden V and Shadow Hearts Covenant for $20 a piece. I couldn't find anything else rpg-ish in the same price range (gotta maximize those savings!). But then I saw a GTA collection for $20. Done!
Click for full size

He rang me up and it came up to $43 and change after tax. I asked him if he remembered the SNES game, and he said No, but here, you can have it.

That is "bonus!" that she says every two seconds, right?
I will sell the GTAs separately for a total of $25, and get $8 for the Might and Magic. That means I got Suikoden V and Shadow Hearts Covenant for $10 total. This is how we doooo iiiittttt.
On the way out the door, the guy tells me, "If you have any problems with that Snes game working, just use a little Windex on the board to clean it up. Whatever you do, don't use rubbing alcohol! It will corrode and ruin the board." That goes against everything I've ever heard, and over 20 years of my own experience. Still, he was a nice guy; so whatever.

So that was today. I may hit up some places around Syracuse tomorrow. I may stay in bed.
I should have started this blog last weekend when I got a Nintendo with two controllers, two light guns, and 55 games for $60 at the flea market. They were all loose carts, but it priced out to over $450. ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/533-The-Thrill-of-the-Hunt http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/311-Excitebike-Is-Such-a-Shit-Game Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:25:14 GMT I just had to share this. My nerd rage is off the chart.
There was a group of three guys in here, I'd say in their late teens early twenties. They're all looking at N64 games. One of them wants to buy A Bug's Life because his girlfriend liked it and Bomberman Hero because Bomberman is the greatest ever. While I can't disagree with the overall sentiment of Bomberman being the fairly great, his reign of greatness ended on the SNES.
Anyway, they see Excitebike 64 and the rest goes like this:

"Dude, you ever play the original Excitebike on Super Nintendo?"
"Yeah man, that game was such a shit game."
"Yeah, your bike overheated, like every five seconds. It was so ass."
"I read an interview somewhere and the guy who made it said that they specifically designed it like that. Why would you make a game where your bike overheats every five seconds?"
"May be just to see how far you could get before it overheats. Can you make it all the way across the screen? It's so dumb."

I've learned over the years that it's best to just bite my tongue and let people be. It sucks having a mouth so full of blood though. ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/311-Excitebike-Is-Such-a-Shit-Game http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/308-Christmas-Spirit Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:52:52 GMT The nicest thing about the Christmas season is that it's about the only time of year I get to see females who aren't complete hags.
98% of my customer base is male. The remaining 2% are either nerd emo girls who wear way too much make up and eat way too many Twilight emblazoned candy bars or they are haggard neighborhood moms with about a hundred miles of bad highway running down their hollow faces. I know there are hot moms out there, but they must all go to the mall locations 11 months out of the year.
The great thing about Christmas is that they sometimes are forced to come here because the other stores are out of something. The GREAT thing about this Christmas in particular is that the weather has been so mild that I'm seeing these fine female forms in relatively relaxed remnant.
I just had this broad in here who was looking for a Call of Duty T shirt, size medium please. She was plain in the face, but she had this green V neck sweater that plunged just deep enough to give a close up of her considerable cleavage. She wasn't all BAM IN YO' FACE. It wasn't slutty. It was more like, "Hey, these are really, really good. I know it. Have a peak and enjoy them. I know I do."
We only have a few stores that even carry licensed merchandise, but I called them all, even the ones that don't. I was in the presence of God's magnum opus of mammeries. I milked the moment for all it was worth. These tits were truly transcendental.

There. Not all of my blogs are negative bitch fests. ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/308-Christmas-Spirit http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/245-Ettiquette-For-Dummies Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:53:40 GMT I'm a shitty fucking mood today.
It didn't start that way.
Even though it was rainy and I didn't want to get out of bed, by the time I got in my car for my hour long drive to work I was feeling pretty good.
I opened the doors to customers at 11:55 am. By 12:10 I was ready to go home.

Nine times out of ten, the only people who are at my door first thing are people needing cash. Cash for diapers, cash for smokes, cash for drugs, and cash cash cash cash. One tactic that a lot of people use that makes me laugh is that a guy will send in his "hot" girlfriend to do the selling. As if I will hand out more cash as thanks for the eye candy. People are so dumb.

So this young lady walks in with a Mafia II in her hand. We sell it used for $12.99 and so we offer $5 cash or $7 credit. I tell her this and she says, "I'll take the cash". I do the payout and hand her the money. She walks out. Less than a minute later she walks back in. "Is there anyway I can give you back the $5 and get the game back?" The thought briefly crossed my mind to tell her to fuck off. BUT I WAS IN A GOOD MOOD. So I say "Sure" and we exchange. She leaves and then I hear the BANG of something hit the window.
I go outside in time to see a guy and the girl drive off. They threw the game at the window. The case broke, but the paper work and disc were fine, so I just threw it in a new case. They just gave me the game for free. I don't get the lesson they are teaching me by saying, "We will not take your money for this game, so here, have the game for free."

Two guys and a girl walk in. One guy has a 360 controller and asks if I would buy it. I say no, sorry. I only do store credit on controllers. He gets noticeably upset and as he walks out towards the door says, "That makes no fucking sense." I say, "Too many people try to sell me broken controllers. It's not worth the hassle for us." The girl told me to shove it up my ass.

A girl walks in with an Xbox 360 hard drive transfer kit in the box. I see our price sticker on it. "Hi, my boyfriend bought this the other day, but it turned out he didn't need it so I need to return it." She hands it to me, it's clearly been opened. I tell her, "I'm sorry, but we can not accept any returns on new merchandise that has been opened." She says, "What, the guy told me I had 30 days to return it." (but I thought the boyfriend bought it) I respond, "Yes, UNopened merchandise has a 30 day return policy. This has been opened, there's nothing I can do." She calls me a dick and storms out.

Those are just a few of the lovely people I've had to deal with today. But that's the kind of shit I deal with every day, and before you all start screaming GET ANOTHER JOB, fuck off. For the most part, I like what I do, and this isn't about that. It's about the lack of decency and respect people have for one another.
When did it become socially acceptable to assault (both verbally and physically, I've dealt with both) the guy behind the counter just because you didn't get your way? You need gas money? NOT MY PROBLEM. You need money for rent? NOT MY PROBLEM. But I'm supposed to feel so bad for your inability to manage your money that I take a loss? Where's the logic in that?

Every day, people come in with games and systems and they're just beat to hell. I see so many scratched up Playstation 3 games lately. You know how hard it it to scratch a blu ray up? There's youtube videos about it. It's not impossible, but you really have to work at it. So they come in with this GARBAGE and because I won't take a chance on A)it actually working or B) someone actually wanting to buy it when it's in such poor condition I get called a motherfucker. I get called an asshole. MY GODDAMN CAR GETS KEYED. I want to scream, "TAKE BETTER CARE OF THE STUFF THAT YOU BUY AND IT MAY STILL BE WORTH SOMETHING WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH IT." at the people, but it would do no good. They've no respect for anything.

People have become less than animals. There's no honor. There's no respect. There's no common decency, and it's not just between me and the customer. It's parents and children. I can't tell you the amount of times I've seen children screaming and hitting their parents because they won't buy them a game. OF COURSE THEY THEN BUY THE GAME. Not long ago, there was a kid who could have been no older than ten who called his mom a fucking cunt because she wouldn't buy him both Pokemon White and Pokemon Black. Does the kid get a slap in the face? No, he goes home with both goddamn games.

What the fuck is going on with us that we think this is acceptable behavior? If this keeps up, it won't be long before kids are dying in the streets and we just casually walk on by. ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/245-Ettiquette-For-Dummies http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/204-Out-Nerding-the-Nerd Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:09:11 GMT You can take it for granted that I hate most customers. Ok, all customers.
But the ones that I hate the most, the ones that I'd love to shove my arm down their throat, grab hold of their raisinet balls and rip them out through their mouths? The goddamn game nerds.
They're all the same, and they're all the worst. They always come in in pairs. They're like the goddamn Sith of video game retail. There is Super Nerd who makes sure to point out all the "interesting" facts and anecdotes behind obscure games to anyone within reach of his annoying nasally voice, and then there is Super Nerd In Training who walks a few steps behind Super Nerd. He's sort of hunched over, like a bridesmaid carrying the brides train. Only instead of a beautiful silk gown, he carries the weight of all the nuggets of nerd information that Super Nerd is sharing. He's like a sponge, soaking up all the wisdom the Super Nerd is spewing out left and right like an epileptic cetacean.
What really aggravates me is that most of the time, Super Nerd is wrong on a lot of his facts.
"Atari was the first game system!"
"Nintendo saved video games!"
"The Genesis was Sega's first console!"
"Conker's Bad Fur Day is the rarest Nintendo 64 game!"

I could lift a city block with my eye muscles, the result of years and years of rolling my eyes at these jerks.
The other day I had a pair in here that were almost beyond the scope of the English language when it comes to terms of description.
Most nerds are portly, dirty, and greasy. This Super Nerd was a rare variant. He was in great shape. He was Super Nerd Who Works Out. His apprentice was the normal variety nerd. He's got a tough road ahead of him if he hopes to one day battle the master and usurp the leadership position.
Super Nerd wore a black wife beater that showcased his well muscled arms. He wore camo pants with a thick black leather belt that kept his fatigues clasped right above his navel. He wore black patent leather boots. He walked with perfect posture. He had a shaved head. He spoke like Toby Radloff. I wanted to slit his throat.
"Oh My God. Is That Gunstar Heroes For $40 Complete? I Would Like To Look At It"
I take it out of the case to show him that it was.
"I Don't Want To Buy It, I Just Had To See It."
I imagined how far the arterial spray would arc if I used the edge of the Gunstar case to cut him.
Moby Radloff wandered around the store a bit and saw a Suikoden II in the case.
"Oh My God. I Need To Take A Picture Of That And Send It To Dan. He Has Been Looking For It Forever. If I Hadn't Spent All Of My Discretionary Income For The Month Already I Would Purchase It For Him."
He takes a pic with his phone and sends it. Both he and Darth Jar Jar are giggling like little girls. They start the pilgrimage around the store again. I don't remember specifics, but Super Nerd is broadcasting color commentary on just about everything, and shock of shocks, he's actually correct in everything he's saying. He's still a douche bag. But at least he's a well informed douche bag.
Somehow the topic of Battletoads/ Double Dragon comes up and Super Nerd and Super Nerd In Training are discussing what system to get it on and Super Nerd says something about the NES. I chime in with, "I think it was only SNES and Genesis." Super Nerd replies, "Oh, No. It Was On Nes. The Dream Team."
I do a quick google search and sure enough, there it is. I've owned it. How the hell could I have forgotten about it? Doesn't matter. I just got faced.
It doesn't happen often, but the worst of the worst of the worst? It's when I get out nerded by a nerd. ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/204-Out-Nerding-the-Nerd http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/129-The-Customer-is-ALWAYS-an-Asshole Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:58:00 GMT "How are you doing today?" Guy is dressed nice and offers the first greeting. This should go well!
"Fine! Is there anything I can help you find or any questions I can answer?"
"Yeah, how much can I get for this game?" Whips out a PS3 Modern Warfare 2. I open it and check out the disc.
"You're looking at $20 cash or $25 store credit."
"Can't you make it $25 cash? I need to go to the DMV and..." Why do people think I give a shit why they need the money? You're not my friend or family, and this is not the fucking Red Cross. I've had people berate me for not buying their scratched and broken discs, like I told them to bring their garbage here. Like I sneaked into their abode and ruined their belongings. BUT I NEED GAS MONEY! GET A FUCKING JOB! Call me crazy, but if at any given moment you may find yourself in need of gas money then YOU SHOULDN'T BE BUYING GAMES AND DVDS! We continue.
"Sir, I'm not trying to be rude, but I can only offer what I'm told to offer." I've found that if you turn it into a Hey Man I Only Do As I'm Told type of deal, most assholes will back off. Not this guy.
"C'mon man, I need $25 to go to the DMV. You know you're going to sell this for $60."
"We sell it brand new for that, but if you look at the wall right there you will see used copies for $40. You are getting what we will get. It's 50-50."
"Fuck, just give me the money. I know Gamestop would give me more" I pause for a second, but do the payout. He snatches the bill from my hand and walks to the door. When he reaches the door he yells "It's fucking robbery!" I've bitched about this phenomenon before. I swear the floor tiles in this store are imbued with a magical force that can transform an asshole's balls exponentially the closer to the door and further from me they get. In a matter of 20 feet, what was once BB's are suddenly bowling balls. It'd make a great segment for Ripley's Believe It or Not. Or America's Funniest Home Videos.
Anyway, I holler, "No one forced you to take the money!"
"What?"
"I said, no one forced you to take the money. You're more than welcome to take your game elsewhere."
Now that he's almost out the door (and hunched over from the wrecking balls in his pants), I get a "Fuck you" and off he goes.

I started the day in such a good mood too.
People are such assholes.

I've had no less than ten pieces of shit walk in here with their half smoked cigarettes stinking up the place. I'm sorry your ticket to cancer costs upwards of $10 a pack now, but please, finish the fucking thing outside. Even when I smoked, I couldn't stand the smell of that shit. Now the fucking store smells burnt garbage.
Assholes stink. ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/129-The-Customer-is-ALWAYS-an-Asshole http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/82-KA-KLANG-KA-KLANG-KA-KLANG-KA-KLANG-KA-KLANG-KA-KLANG Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:40:27 GMT There's a common misconception concerning me going around the community I work in. No, not the racism stuff, that is true. No, I am referring to the idea that I hate kids. I don't hate kids. I love kids (w'sup Mzo, Shine). I have friends who are kids. I do hate the "parents" of most kids that come into the shop though. I put that in quotes because I think parents is a misnomer for these people. From what I can tell, there isn't any parenting going on.

I'm going to get curmudgeonly here, but when did it become okay for people to let their kids run wild through someone else's place of business? When did the concept of Look, But Don't Touch get moth balled? Hell, at this point, I'd be happy if all they did was touch (w'sup Mzo, Shine). I've had kids grab stuff off of the counters and rip it open, and not like 3 or 4 year olds, who might possibly get a pass for not knowing any better. I'm talking 7, 8, and 9 year olds. The "Parents" either completely ignore the kid, grab the kid by the arm and scuffle out the door, leaving the mess for me to pick up, or turn into Kimbo Slice and start beating the shit out of the kid. No one ever offers to pay for the merchandise that was just ruined though, or even apologize. It's like as long as they don't acknowledge the situation, the situation does not exist.

I'm in too good a mood to get started on the asshats who let their kids climb all over and kick our glass showcases.

Due to the size of the store and the amount of stuff we have to sell, keeping everything out of the public's grasp just isn't possible. Also, from a merchandising perspective, it's not profitable. No one looks around them to see what's in the store. Our 360 section is right behind the cash register area where I am 95% of the day. I wish I had a nickel for every time someone walked up to me and asked where the 360 games were. I'd have handfuls of nickels. HANDFULS! The point is, if you don't throw something in the average persons face, they'll never see it and never realize how badly they need it.

That also reminds me of the time a little girl kept telling her father that she didn't feel good and was going to be sick. He kept telling her to shut up till he decided which $5.99 Xbox360 game he was going to buy. She threw up all over the floor. He yelled at her, grabbed her by the arm, and hustled out the door. It worked out though, because I woke up that morning with the desire to clean up the yak of someone else's kid.

There's a woman named Twilight who comes in here with her kid. I'm pretty sure she's a stripper. A middle of the afternoon stripper, not a headliner if you catch my drift. This is how every one of their weekly visits plays out. She brings her kid in here and he starts screaming I WANT TWO GAMES! She will say no, and he will throw a tantrum, kicking and screaming. She will say You Aren't Getting Anything and leave. Only she leaves. He's still in the store. He will look at me and say She's Not Leaving Me, She Will Be Back. Will You Get Those Two Games I Wanted Out Of The Case Cause She's Going To Buy Them For Me We Both Know It. After 10 minutes and her popping her head in the door and saying Come On Lets Go You're Getting Nothing, she comes in and says Fine But You Better Love Me and buys his two games. E-v-e-r-y w-e-e-k this happens, and it's been going on for months.

This is a favorite discussion between a coworker and I . I'm 34. If I acted the way these kids are allowed to act, my father would have taken me home, beat me with a belt, then driven me back to the store to apologize to the employees. My coworker is 25. She says her mother would have beat her if she acted that way. So somewhere between 1995 and now, parenting became a lost art. Somewhere between then and now it became okay for children to grab the NES light guns out of the dump bin and chase each other around the store whilst unloading uncountable imaginary bullets into each other. I probably wouldn't care as much if the noise those guns made when you pull the trigger were imaginary. Fuck whoever thought that feature was a great idea.

People just don't care how their kids act anymore. In the words of Mr Zach De La Rocha (who of course purloined them himself) Welcome To The New World Order. ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/82-KA-KLANG-KA-KLANG-KA-KLANG-KA-KLANG-KA-KLANG-KA-KLANG http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/67-Y-all-Got-Cash Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:14:35 GMT Ah Summer Time!
How I loathe thee.
Summer means the stinky people that frequent the store are even stinkier.

Summer means the greasy people that frequent the store are even greasier. Seriously. Usually I only have to wipe down the glass showcases at the end of the day. But if the temperature outside hits anywhere higher than 72 then the glass looks like someone smeared Vaseline all over it within minutes of opening the door.

Summer means everyone has decided they don't need their video games anymore and it's time to hightail it Game Craze and sell them bad boys. Unfortunately, Summer means that those games you all bought in the winter are past their prime and are now damn near worthless. Yes, I know you paid $60 for this game last November, but if you look on the wall right there, you'll see that I have a stack of them already and that the big orange price tag on it says $14.99. That means you are looking at $5-$7 for it. Sorry.
I had a guy scream at me and call me a thief when I offered him $30 store credit for his PS2 that we sell for $50. "I PAID $300 FOR THIS!"

The worst of it though are the fucking fiends I deal with who literally steal from their own children in order to support their habits. There's this one guy who has been coming in here for a few months now and sells shit for cash. He started with DVDs. First, they were all adult (not porn, just...stuff an adult would watch), but soon they were less adult and more childish. Dude would come in with Barney and Care Bears and shit. When those dried up, he started in with the 360 games. Then DS games. Three weeks ago he came in with a DS Lite and a copy of Marvel Super Hero Squad and said, "I have to get these back Friday, how much will it cost me?" I told him, "I'll give you $50 now, and it you want them back it'll cost you $100." He replied, "Ok, but you've got to promise me you won't sell them on me." I told him he had til Friday, and he got really agitated. "I will be here Friday! Just this is all he has left so you gotta promise me you won't sell it before then!"
Every week since then he has brought them in for the $50, then bought them back on Friday for $100.
A part of me feels bad for ripping him off so thoroughly, but really, fuck him. He's taking his kid's stuff and selling it for drug money. That piece of shit deserves it. I guess every addict has to hit some kind of low point before they realize how fucked they've become and want to get their life in order. I would hope selling your kid's toys would be that low point. The only option lower is selling your kid.


I'm going to set a wireless web cam up in here. Trying to get pics with the blackberry is too awkward. ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/67-Y-all-Got-Cash http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/23-Y-all-Got-Them-New-Xbaks Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:37:09 GMT The phone rings.
I muster up all the possible enthusiasm that I can and answer with a dead pan monotone, "Game Craze"
"Yo! Y'all got them new xbaks?"
"The one that was just announced that it is shipping to retailers and will be available by the end of the week?"
"Nah man! They just said it's out today"
"Nah man. They just announced that it is shipping to retailers and will be available by the end of the week."
"Oh...So what this Xbaks do?"
"Well, it does everything the old xbox does, only smaller and quieter. It also has a built in 250 gig hard drive and wifi adapter."
"Yo, how much would I get to trade my old xbaks in to get the new one."
"That depends. Do you have a hard drive?"
"Yeah man, I got that 160 gig hard drive."
"Really? Cause they don't make a 160 gig hard drive. It's 20, 60, 120, or 250."
"Well, all I know is it's one of those big ones. Am I going to need a memory card for the new system?"
"...that depends on you."
"Alright yo. You think you'll have any left at the end of the month? Cause I wanna come in on the first, trade my shit, and get that new joint."
"I'll be sure to put one on hold for you."
"A'ight."
Click.

It amazes me when people come into the shop and ask,"Hey, do you have game X?" I reply, "Yes.", and then they say, "Okay, I just wanted to check." A white hot heat washes over me and I just want to grab them by the fucking throat and scream, "Did you honestly get up from what you were doing, get in your car and drive here, walk through that door with no intention of buying anything just so that you could ask me if I had a fucking game? How is it you can operate a motor vehicle but a fucking phone is too arcane?"
But I never do. In the end the possibility of a dollar going into my pocket is worth more than the airing of my righteous indignation.
If I'm going to be completely honest, my hatred and anger stems from rampant jealousy.
I wish that the grand sum of all my worries could be alleviated by knowing if a store had Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 in stock. ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/23-Y-all-Got-Them-New-Xbaks http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/19-Post-Coital Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:33:10 GMT I've never seen the reason to have these things. Most people just are not that interesting, and have nothing interesting to share unless they heard/read it from some other far more interesting source.
But we all want to be noticed.
We all want attention. Especially those of us who say we don't.
The only things even remotely interesting about my everyday life are the people who frequent the game shop I work at.
So I plan on filling this space with pictures and anecdotes showcasing the bold and the beautiful that step foot into my little slice of heaven.
It's fantastic because not only do I get the attention of anyone who bothers reading this, but I get to make myself feel better by mocking those around me. Win win.
So, join me and let's forget all of this was done years ago and to far funnier effect in Random Acts of Gord. ]]> Some Stupid Japanese Name http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/19-Post-Coital