Display Boxes: Two Video Store Quickies

[boffomusic]

Customer brings up display box with giant red sticker saying in all caps "DISPLAY BOX ONLY"

Me: Let me see if we have this in.
Cust: Oh, did I grab the display box again? I can never tell which ones are the display boxes.
Me: I know. It's so hard to tell. (Holding the box up and underlining the sticker with my thumb) I wish someone would put giant red stickers on them that say "Display Box Only" or something like that.

(I would only say this if I had been stretched exceptionally thin that night)

Then there was the woman who wanted to know why we had the display boxes out if the movie wasn't in right now.

Me: That's so we know where to put the movie when it comes back in.
Cust: That's stupid, you shouldn't have the display boxes out unless you have the movie in.

(This was for "The DaVinci Code," which we had almost an entire wall devoted to. She apparently thought we should put away about 60 display boxes whenever all our copies were rented out [we had about 500], and then put them all back out whenever one came back in [copies would frequently come in and go back out within the space of a minute or less, more than once I put my meager slight-of-hand skills to use for the benefit of a good customer wandering the store who had asked about a hard-to-get title].)

The manager tried putting signs under popular titles saying "If it's not here, ask up front, you don't need to bring a display box."

:sigh: Illiteracy.

[off-topic rant] Doesn't it bother anyone else, that in a country where you can go to school and learn to read FOR FREE, approximately 1 in 5 adults can't read or write? [/off-topic rant]

[Monica]

I know the feeling. We have display boxes as well. The number of customers that bring them up is shocking. Sometimes these people are regulars and should know the right way by now.

[lightmylamb]

The Video Store I work for is switching all the movies so there are no display boxes, so every movie has it's proper artwork and description on the casing. There are still some that have display cases, though, which causes some confusion. This is understandable, what isn't understandable is when we have 40+ copies of a movie on the shelves, and you feel you need to bring me the flat, plastic backing that was behind the movies, assuming that I have them all behind the counter.

[Sliceanddice]

but you also have to remeber the school systems only got so constant about 30ish years ago, that teachers are trying to make sure 30+ kids learn t he same thing and relively the same time, that schools get about 1/10 of the money they really need, and sometimes kids who have one little thing wrong or arent OMG YOUR SO PERFECT/SMART get totally ignored until they: flunk, get pregnant,wind up 35 and cant read or write, set fires, do drugs, go to jail, kill people, ect. ect.

I no long feel surprise when it comes to education.

[marty]

Oh my. The display box curse. We have to put console display boxes up in our store, so every day we get at least one person bring up the stupid $#^$%%expletive@#%#%expletive Wii box up, that clearly says, "For display only," saying they want to buy it. And when we tell them we don't have any, it's like the greatest tragedy of their lives and it's all our fault.

As far as the reading thing goes, those of us at my high school who did really well didn't even get attention, all the money for our school went to football.

[marasbaras]

Kinds on the high end of the academic scale don't get much attention either ... teachers figure they're already ahead of the rest of the class, so don't bother.

While I don't believe that the 20% of people who are illiterate are stupid, there IS that nasty bell curve. Someone has to be the unfortunate sod at the bottom end.

However, regarding CUSTOMER illiteracy ... I think that has nothing to do with IQ, school, and/or reading ability. It has everything to do with just being a fracking arrogant entitlement moron.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

My store has gone away from display boxes.

Instead, we put the entire boxed game console on the shelf. We have special locks that attach the box to the shelf so in order to purchase the console you have to have somebody come and unlock it.

They also have alarms in case anybody tries to cut the locks apart.

Game consoles were the only things we used to use display boxes for anyhow.

[TruthHurts]

:sigh: Illiteracy.

I think most of the time it's less illiteracy and more sheer ignorance. A lot of sucky customers are so wrapped up in themselves that they ignore things like signs and stickers and such. They expect everyone to hold their hands and heaven help the poor employee who expects them to use basic sense

[chops]

Oh my. The display box curse. We have to put console display boxes up in our store, so every day we get at least one person bring up the stupid $#^$%%expletive@#%#%expletive Wii box up, that clearly says, "For display only," saying they want to buy it. And when we tell them we don't have any, it's like the greatest tragedy of their lives and it's all our fault.

When I was looking for a Wii, that was a pet peeve of mine...stores who had none but kept the display boxes out. I did understand that (a) it was most likely a decision from corporate, not necessarily the individual store; and (b) that the display boxes did not guarantee stock.

It bothered me because it was a letdown. Even though I knew it was likely to be a letdown, it was still a letdown because the boxes did provide a glimmer of hope. Though I didn't turn into an SC about it, it's not much of a stretch to figure that plenty of people did.

Again, not a slam against you, just against the people who make the policies. I really don't mean to pick on your employer, honest!

[ArcticChicken]

I brought a display box up front, once. But it didn't have a sticker, and there was one of those cardboard display things behind it. I still felt pretty silly.