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When I worked at GameStore, I encountered all sorts of strange and horrible people. Not the least of which was the one ...in a Boy Scout uniform.
So it was a slow day, and the Holiday Returns season was just wrapping up, when into the store comes a 9~ year old boy and his father. His father was one of those stuffy types who you just know is loaded to the gills, wants the best there is for his little man, and will loudly chew out anyone who tells him otherwise. His progeny is clad in a smart little scout uniform and promptly goes to the Pokemon section to squeal.
Finally, the boy comes up to my counter with a pair of gameshark-like pieces of hardware, each of which containing codes and cheats for the Pokemon games. He asks his father for both of them, who promptly denies the little [angel] and tells him to choose only one. The child throws a fit.
Now, anyone who knows me will tell you that I am very tolerant and enjoy helping people. That having been said, I really should have known better.
TQ: Me
BS: Appropriately abbreviated Boy Scout
RF: Rich Father
TQ: Well, which Pokemon game are you buying this for?
BS: Shut up! I'm thinking!
RF: *snaps* Be nice to the young lady, she's trying to help you.
It went downhill from there.
Once I informed him that the Official Brand didn't have the game he was looking for on it, he physically /flung/ it over his shoulder (embarassing his father, who I actually pitied) and looked me squarely in the eyes, requesting the one remaining item. I dutifully rang him up and they left the store.
But oh no. This was not the end.
Not twenty minutes later, the pair returned to my store, the child screeching like the sky was falling and waving his game about, item attached. Apparently he couldn't wait to get home to open it.
RF: Hi, we were in a few minutes ago and purchased this item, I believe it was you who helped us.
TQ: Yes sir. What can I help you with?
BS: *blurts in* It's broken! It doesn't have all the codes on it and erased my game!
RF: We would like to trade it in for another.
Now this is a fairly easy procedure, but the problem is - there were no more of that particular item in stock, and we only authorize direct trade for opened items that are found to be defective. So I informed them of this and the gates of Hell themselves seemed to crack open before me.
BS: BUT IT'S BROKEN! THE CODES ARE GONE AND MY GAME IS ERASED!
TQ: Well, when you use codes to cheat in a game, you run a risk of your game being erased.
BS: YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT!
TQ: *helpfully points it out on the back of the packaging* There is a warning right here.
BS: I WANT ANOTHER ONE! I WANT A NEW GAME!
RF: *raising his voice* This is unacceptable.
At this point I wanted to figure out what the hell happened and get them out of my store. So I held out my hand.
TQ: Okay, well there may be something we can do. Will you let me see it?
BS promptly thrusts his game into my arms. Sure enough, everything is fine and working decently...except the memory of the unit itself. Where it's supposed to have codes, it just has blank memory. I'm able to salvage his game, though, by taking out the unit and plugging the game back in without it.
TQ: Well your game is fine. It looks like only the memory on the unit is gone.
BS: It had codes on it when I bought it and then we went into Office Smacks it didn't!
Now I know something's up.
After a bit more questioning, the following story comes out, compiled between BS and RF.
After coming into the store, BS delightedly shreds the packaging off the code module and plops his game into it, and RF decides to go into the office supply store.
When they walk in, the game sets off the security alarm. (I can only imagine the screeching and panic that ensued here.)
The door lady, an elderly woman who I would see occasionally when I'd wander over there for my lunch break (she was terribly sweet, bless her heart) said that it was the game setting off the alarm. Not knowing anything about computers, she RAN THE GAME OVER THE MAGNETIC SCANNER.
Erasing the module memory.
I explained to the man and his son exactly what happened, and that memory units and magnets don't get along. And then the little boy, resplendent in Boy Scout garb, slams his hands on the counter and glares at me. What he said next is forever burned into my mind as the funniest and saddest thing I've ever heard.
"I'm going to SUE that lady!" he declared.
My manager and I didn't know what to say. We issued the kid a store credit and he left with his dad. Once he was gone we both busted up laughing.
A boy scout suing an old lady...And to think they used to help them cross the street...
So it was a slow day, and the Holiday Returns season was just wrapping up, when into the store comes a 9~ year old boy and his father. His father was one of those stuffy types who you just know is loaded to the gills, wants the best there is for his little man, and will loudly chew out anyone who tells him otherwise. His progeny is clad in a smart little scout uniform and promptly goes to the Pokemon section to squeal.
Finally, the boy comes up to my counter with a pair of gameshark-like pieces of hardware, each of which containing codes and cheats for the Pokemon games. He asks his father for both of them, who promptly denies the little [angel] and tells him to choose only one. The child throws a fit.
Now, anyone who knows me will tell you that I am very tolerant and enjoy helping people. That having been said, I really should have known better.
TQ: Me
BS: Appropriately abbreviated Boy Scout
RF: Rich Father
TQ: Well, which Pokemon game are you buying this for?
BS: Shut up! I'm thinking!
RF: *snaps* Be nice to the young lady, she's trying to help you.
It went downhill from there.
Once I informed him that the Official Brand didn't have the game he was looking for on it, he physically /flung/ it over his shoulder (embarassing his father, who I actually pitied) and looked me squarely in the eyes, requesting the one remaining item. I dutifully rang him up and they left the store.
But oh no. This was not the end.
Not twenty minutes later, the pair returned to my store, the child screeching like the sky was falling and waving his game about, item attached. Apparently he couldn't wait to get home to open it.
RF: Hi, we were in a few minutes ago and purchased this item, I believe it was you who helped us.
TQ: Yes sir. What can I help you with?
BS: *blurts in* It's broken! It doesn't have all the codes on it and erased my game!
RF: We would like to trade it in for another.
Now this is a fairly easy procedure, but the problem is - there were no more of that particular item in stock, and we only authorize direct trade for opened items that are found to be defective. So I informed them of this and the gates of Hell themselves seemed to crack open before me.
BS: BUT IT'S BROKEN! THE CODES ARE GONE AND MY GAME IS ERASED!
TQ: Well, when you use codes to cheat in a game, you run a risk of your game being erased.
BS: YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT!
TQ: *helpfully points it out on the back of the packaging* There is a warning right here.
BS: I WANT ANOTHER ONE! I WANT A NEW GAME!
RF: *raising his voice* This is unacceptable.
At this point I wanted to figure out what the hell happened and get them out of my store. So I held out my hand.
TQ: Okay, well there may be something we can do. Will you let me see it?
BS promptly thrusts his game into my arms. Sure enough, everything is fine and working decently...except the memory of the unit itself. Where it's supposed to have codes, it just has blank memory. I'm able to salvage his game, though, by taking out the unit and plugging the game back in without it.
TQ: Well your game is fine. It looks like only the memory on the unit is gone.
BS: It had codes on it when I bought it and then we went into Office Smacks it didn't!
Now I know something's up.
After a bit more questioning, the following story comes out, compiled between BS and RF.
After coming into the store, BS delightedly shreds the packaging off the code module and plops his game into it, and RF decides to go into the office supply store.
When they walk in, the game sets off the security alarm. (I can only imagine the screeching and panic that ensued here.)
The door lady, an elderly woman who I would see occasionally when I'd wander over there for my lunch break (she was terribly sweet, bless her heart) said that it was the game setting off the alarm. Not knowing anything about computers, she RAN THE GAME OVER THE MAGNETIC SCANNER.
Erasing the module memory.
I explained to the man and his son exactly what happened, and that memory units and magnets don't get along. And then the little boy, resplendent in Boy Scout garb, slams his hands on the counter and glares at me. What he said next is forever burned into my mind as the funniest and saddest thing I've ever heard.
"I'm going to SUE that lady!" he declared.
My manager and I didn't know what to say. We issued the kid a store credit and he left with his dad. Once he was gone we both busted up laughing.
A boy scout suing an old lady...And to think they used to help them cross the street...
"You'd feel a Hell of a lot better if you'd just rip into the occasional customer." 
) anyway - kids were having to wait months for a place because loads of parents were signing their kids up, but none were prepared to actually volunteer as Scout leaders themselves. In light of what Mongo says I think that speaks volumes.
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