You meet all kinds of people in video game stores. Yesterday I stopped in to my favorite video store (which has been my favorite because they work well with clueless moms), and asked "What would be the best strategy to employ to score a Nintendo Wii?"
They suggested I wait around 30 minutes and see if there was one on the UPS truck.
And so I did. Sort of. I went over to Target and got supplies. Checked back in...no UPS truck yet. Went down to Borders and bought a magazine. Checked back in...no UPS truck yet.
Each time I stopped back at the store there were more people waiting. Some of them were barely people. Young guys, early 20s maybe...young guys who should be in college or working jobs...standing around waiting for either a Wii or a Playstation 3. Talking about what games do what, what systems have what issues.
And then there was the corporate executive-type dad who was there to get one of each for his kids. Two kids. Planning to buy something like $600 in games consoles for them for Christmas. (My kids will share the one and have only the game that comes with it, unless we use money from aunts and uncles to buy more)
And then we had the moms show up. $80 haircuts, expensive running clothes that look like they've never been out for a run; long, well-manicured fingernails, which they used to punch the buttons on their cell phones to call other stores to ask if they'd gotten the consoles. Trying very hard to throw around power to get people to reserve a system for them.
And they were all standing there pointing to each other trying to determine who was there first and which console they were after. I stood in the corner staring at my wine magazine, pretending to read.
The UPS man showed up and everyone was civil. When the store employees announced that there were no consoles in the shipment, I slipped out. I'd parked my car fairly far from the store, and as I sat in my seat, organizing myself, I watched the door of the store. No one else came out.
I hoped that collection of people weren't all staying in there, trying to pressure the store employees about the next shipment.
I'll check back once or twice a week for the next few weeks. But I probably won't go out of my way to locate this thing. If I don't find one by the week before Christmas I'll probably move to other items on their Christmas lists. They've been warned that this might happen.
7:22:28 AM 
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