Wherein a customer informs me of my worth

[CancelMyService]

Some backstory: when you order an On Demand movie, our system doesn't actually charge you until the movie plays for longer than 5 minutes. That keeps people from getting charged for movies that don't start or those times where you realize you clicked the wrong movie 5 seconds in.


So this guy calls in and says he ordered a movie and didn't realize it was subtitled until it started playing. Lord knows reading is painful, but whatever, he said he only watched it for like 2 minutes so he's ok. Also I can check to see if anything is charged to someone's account, and it wasn't. So I try to explain this, but the guy is relentless about this movie. I tried again to explain and he's all "THIS BETTER NOT BE ON MY BILL" and I tell him (again) that it won't be, and if by some unforeseen circumstance it did show up he can just let us know and we'll remove it. He starts in with something about a totally unrelated issue he had months ago that he apparently had to make a follow up call again, so that starts a rant about how I better take it off his account right now because he's too important to have to keep calling. I tell him I can't take something off his account that isn't on there in the first place, and that must have short circuited his last brain cell because his response to that was to yell "YOU'RE WORTHLESS AS SHIT, YA KNOW THAT" to which I said and have a nice day and ended the call.

I mean, how dare I refuse to remove something off the bill that doesn't exist, right?

[BookstoreEscapee]

I think I'd have just said, "OK, sir, I'm taking it off right now. It's all taken care of." He wouldn't know the difference and it saves you being called names...

Then again, that doesn't make for as good a story...

[otakuneko]

I assume he ordered a foreign-language movie?

As an otaku, I cannot fathom watching anything foreign, dubbed. (There is one anime I've ever seen where I consider the dub equal to if not better than the original Japanese.)

If I want to watch something with English dialog, I'll find something that was originally filmed in English. The whole too-lazy-to-read thing doesn't compute for me, but then, I'm trained by years of otakuness.

[Lingering Grin]

(There is one anime I've ever seen where I consider the dub equal to if not better than the original Japanese.)

Outlaw Star?

[Hyndis]

I've found that watching subtitled movies isn't that bad. At first its kind of jarring, but after a while you get so used to it that you don't even notice the subtitles anymore, and suddenly think you're able to understand whatever language the movie is in due to reading the subtitles out of the corner of your eye while focusing on the center part of the screen.

That said, there's no excuse for the guy's ranting. If he didn't like subtitles, fine, he wasn't charged for it but wouldn't even let you agree with him that he wouldn't be charged.

[karath]

I've found that watching subtitled movies isn't that bad. At first its kind of jarring, but after a while you get so used to it that you don't even notice the subtitles anymore, and suddenly think you're able to understand whatever language the movie is in due to reading the subtitles out of the corner of your eye while focusing on the center part of the screen.

Wholeheartedly agree...though for me, I've kind of trained myself to read so fast that subtitles are just another part of the movie. It IS annoying if I'm watching a movie somewhere that has foreign subtitles and english voices, because then I'm instinctively reading the subtitles and get myself confused

And was that guy thinking doing that rant? I guess to his mind, there's nothing quite like making a complete douchewaffle of yourself to make sure your bill is in good shape?

[cinema guy]

Being somewhat deaf, I use subtitles a lot.

At the cinema, we have a couple of subtitled shows a week and we are required to warn customers that they are buying tickets for movies with subtitles for the deaf because it is a frequent occurance that customers come out and complain that their English language films have subtitles.

And on the very rare occasion we get a foreign film - you'd think the world had ended when a customer went in there and didn't know. Of course trailers for foreign language films usually don't have any dialogue in them, giving the potential movie no indication that the film is not in English.

[thehippie777]

This is a common occurance at hotels with pay-per-view. I have gotten, after the movie was done being watch, "I didn't like it, can I have my money back"

At some other hotel two years ago in Spain they screwed up the movie thing. (exagerated) Following by ballergant speak about how they know I will screw up. *rolls eyes*

They go to order and call down & ask if it's a 24-hr pass type thing. I tell them no, our system doesn't work like that. Then get yelled at that it works like that at some other hotel. They order it anyway.

Our system tells people how much each movie is. It's rather simple. They are all different prices according to release usually. So what question to I get most often, "How much are the movies?"

If a room was paid for with cash only, the movie system is locked out & gives a message about contacting the front desk. This only leads to people saying they will pay in the morning. This is a no-go due to people walking about without paying before. No, I can't do it "this once". Yes, I am serious I need a payment for the movie. When you come down, be sure how much it is so I can program the payment, don't just tell me the name of the movie...


etc etc etc

[saint]

I rented a movie last night and it had 2 options: english with english subs, or forign voice over w/english subs. wtf?

[smileyeagle1021]

To cancel my service, what the hell was his problem... do I understand correctly that he was upset about getting exactly what he wanted?

To Cinema Guy, you'd love the Megaplex chain in Utah... they have special subtitle projectors that will actually send the subtitles to a mirrow that can be attached to the seat for people hard of hearing without interphering with the main movie screen.

To Hippie, I feel your pain, I love the people who don't remember how much a movie costs, they want me to look it up, but want to give me something like "it's the 3rd movie on the adult section"... umm, no dice, my system has all movies listed alphabetically, I have no way of knowing which is the 3rd movie on the adult section on the on screen system... just tell me the damned name of the movie, I already know what movie every person watches if they use the automated system so this is not that much different

[sms001]

I've found that watching subtitled movies isn't that bad.

I watch almost all British/Irish movies with the subtitles on - helps a lot. And occasionally some Hollywood productions which have less than stellar dialog audio.

[Bagga]

It used to be awful watching comedy films in Poland, which were often English audio with Polish subtitles. So the actor would start saying his line, and the subtitle would show the complete sentence, in Polish.

So the polish audience would get the joke before he was half way through saying the sentence, burst out laughing, and obscure the punchline from those actually listening to the audio. Highly frustrating

[AdminAssistant]

I watch almost all British/Irish movies with the subtitles on - helps a lot. And occasionally some Hollywood productions which have less than stellar dialog audio.

I had to watch Mad Max with subtitles on.

(Of course it was dubbed - even Mr. Gibson - for the original American release.)

[Daskinor]

There is one anime I've ever seen where I consider the dub equal to if not better than the original Japanese

For me that's a tossup between 'Super Gals', 'Angelic Layer' and 'Kare Kano'

Yes I am am odd.

[cinema guy]

To Cinema Guy, you'd love the Megaplex chain in Utah... they have special subtitle projectors that will actually send the subtitles to a mirrow that can be attached to the seat for people hard of hearing without interphering with the main movie screen.

That sounds awesome.