I had a little boy of about 8 come in with his parents a few weeks ago to trade in some of their GameCube and Wii stuff to put towards an XBox360. I start the trade and the dad wanted to know the value of every, single, item (we're talking over 50 games). I oblige, because, well, we were dead and I was in a good mood.
As I am processing said trade, the boy was browsing the 360 games. Now, anyone who is even a part time gamer knows that this system is geared more towards the 20-30 something men and not children. There are a lot of mature rated games with blood, gore, violence, and sex. The kid picks up GTA San Andreas, oh yeah, I get to ruin this kids night! Mom hands me the box after I finalize the trade and tell them the total store credit. I read off the back of the box for the rating and explain the whole prostitute and cop killing aspect. Mom says a firm no and puts box back. Ok this is going well so far.
Kid picks up Left 4 Dead. I tell mom its a shooter with zombies, language, and lots of blood. Mom says no. Kid is now getting upset. He grabs Call of Duty World at War. Oh, yeah this is getting better. /sarcasm
I inform mom that the first scene involves throats being slit. Now mom is arguing with this 8 year old about what games he can actually get. This boy stands in the middle of the store and screams at the top of his lungs "I am 8 and I love to kill people! I love to shoot people in the heads! I want a game I can kill people in!"
So the three other people in the store look at this child with horror on their faces and it took all I had to not go in front of his parents. I explain to the parents that this system does not have much for his age group and that they may want to hold on their Wii and GameCube a little longer.
Dad, who was very quiet throughout the transaction asked for the total again. I give him the amount that his stuff is worth and he said, "Nevermind, I'll put it on ebay"
So this family has wasted a half hour of my life now. I was not too upset because it meant that I didn't have to sticker, gut, and put away all those games. What I was concerned with was the way that 8 year old reacted. I almost told the parents that they may want to sell all the games and systems they had to pay for the therapy this child needs.
I stood there for about two minutes after they left with my mouth hanging open and glancing from the door to my co-worker, who had the same wtf expression.
As I am processing said trade, the boy was browsing the 360 games. Now, anyone who is even a part time gamer knows that this system is geared more towards the 20-30 something men and not children. There are a lot of mature rated games with blood, gore, violence, and sex. The kid picks up GTA San Andreas, oh yeah, I get to ruin this kids night! Mom hands me the box after I finalize the trade and tell them the total store credit. I read off the back of the box for the rating and explain the whole prostitute and cop killing aspect. Mom says a firm no and puts box back. Ok this is going well so far.
Kid picks up Left 4 Dead. I tell mom its a shooter with zombies, language, and lots of blood. Mom says no. Kid is now getting upset. He grabs Call of Duty World at War. Oh, yeah this is getting better. /sarcasm
I inform mom that the first scene involves throats being slit. Now mom is arguing with this 8 year old about what games he can actually get. This boy stands in the middle of the store and screams at the top of his lungs "I am 8 and I love to kill people! I love to shoot people in the heads! I want a game I can kill people in!"
So the three other people in the store look at this child with horror on their faces and it took all I had to not go in front of his parents. I explain to the parents that this system does not have much for his age group and that they may want to hold on their Wii and GameCube a little longer.
Dad, who was very quiet throughout the transaction asked for the total again. I give him the amount that his stuff is worth and he said, "Nevermind, I'll put it on ebay"
So this family has wasted a half hour of my life now. I was not too upset because it meant that I didn't have to sticker, gut, and put away all those games. What I was concerned with was the way that 8 year old reacted. I almost told the parents that they may want to sell all the games and systems they had to pay for the therapy this child needs.
I stood there for about two minutes after they left with my mouth hanging open and glancing from the door to my co-worker, who had the same wtf expression.
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