Did anyone buy the new Harry Potter book today?

[Josh]

Originally posted by Dolemite
You'd think it was Japan and the newest hentai date rape crowded commuter train groping sim was being released or something.

That is honestly one of the funniest things I have ever read.

[Yoshi]

I grabbed mine for WaldenBooks. It was 40% off there, so with tax it was $19.25. Not bad.

[frostwolf ex]

i am trying to read through all the others first, then go on with this one. I was actually impressed with what i have read so far, exceptionally well written books.

[station82o]

For fucks sake - I've just gotten off two back to back shifts at Borders dealing with the shitty Harry Pothead release. Last night we had an estimated 300-350 people at our store - it was just madness because we were stupidly understaffed. I must've answered at least 100 dumbfuck questions in a span of 50 minutes. I worked from 4pm to 2am and then had to go back to work from 9am to 6pm today, Saturday.

This Saturday morning was no picnic either, because we had about 50 people outside our store in the morning before we opened and we got blitzkreiged for the first couple hours of operation. I can't wait till work tommorow is over, and I can put this harry potter bullshit behind me. I've never read the books and never will on principle... after 3 years of hearing that title, last night's train of dorks put me over the edge.

I remember at one point, I was the only person on the floor fielding all the questions, cause all my coworkers were busy at the registers. I had dozens of people seeking my attention at once and I finally just got overwhelmed to the point where I grabbed my bottle of water, walked into the back room and sat down on a couple of boxes and drank in solitude for five awesome minutes... that was the only good part of the night.


I dont understand why people line up and act like complete retards to buy a BOOK at midnight. I can certaintly understand movie premieres and even video game system launches, because you take the system home and play games with all your mates till the fucking sun comes up - but who goes home at 1am and starts reading a book immediately?

[FX]

Originally posted by 88mph
That is honestly one of the funniest things I have ever read.

I know! I wish I could squeeze that into my custom status.

[Josh]

I am so totally copying your signature.

[Kidnemo]

Back when the "craze" was starting, I picked up either the first or second book at ye olde bookstore, read about 20 pages, and was wholly unimprssed.

I then happened to catch the first movie on HBO or something, and was actually surprised at the amount of no-suck it had.

Uhm...yea, I have a muggle in my pants, or, something.

Yea.

[Aurora]

Originally posted by 88mph
That is honestly one of the funniest things I have ever read.

No lie. That should be in EVERY sig...

[James]

First off, as to who buys a book at midnight and starts reading it at 1AM- Me, duh! 1AM is prime reading time, the entire world has shut down and is leaving you alone in peace and quiet. If there's any better time in the day to read I've no idea when it would be.

Next up, my tale of woe and aggravation- I get to the local bookstore at 11:30, wait half an hour for the book to go on sale and another 10 minutes in line (with people milling around not knowing which line to be in, thanks to the whole staff being behind the counter and not coming out for anything short of a tarantula invasion) only to find out that they announced at 10:30 that there were no copies left for the general public to buy. I was very displeased, if they'd even had a small sign to that effect I could have made alternate plans.

So I get to the mall today with 20 minutes to go before work and promptly hit Borders. A short wait in line, looking at the stacks and stacks behind the counter, yields me the information that every single copy they have is reserved. Same for Waldenbooks. Tick tick tick, think think think...

A quick dash across the street to Toys R Us nabs me a $20 copy of a good-sized stack. Running back in the mall through the Best Buy entrance shows that they've got a few stacks of it too and I could have saved myself a trip across the street. No big deal, and I make it to work just in time.

Read the first chapter and it's great. I'm quite enjoying pissy teenage Harry Potter so far.

James

[station82o]

The thing you have to realize with these events and especially a title this big, is that the major bookstores only recieve a mirror amount of copies that the total amount of customers reserved... extra "general public sale" copies usually come in the 11th hour - a day before the midnight release or even hours. Our store got our 11th hour copies at 4pm that day, but it was still a difficult in regards to what to tell customers.

Also, these events that happen at stores are not only confusing for customers, but they are confusing, frustrating and aggravating for employees who most of the time only know half of whats going on (we can't be in all places at once) - Its extremely difficult to appease 300 people at once, especially when you mix in misinformation, uncertainty and ignorance ("duh.... i had to reserve a book, er, why'd I have to reserve one?")...

Anyway, this is probably the wrong thread for me. As I just got off two brutal back to backs at work doing the Harry Potter midnight release (my first and last time doing so).