Chasing Guitar Hero II

I was gonna wait on this one. Too much on my plate already.

But Circuit City was giving away 1600 MS points with it, and even though my success rate at getting anything new on the release date at Circuit City was about twenty percent, I figured I'd give it a try. Hell, I was awake, and I could be there when it opened.

Now as many of you probably know, when you get to Circuit City they have, I don't know, about 637 employees walking the floor asking if you're finding evertything ok. Are you finding everything ok? And if you 're in there to browse, a great number of them will approach you in a short period of time. Once, I was accosted and asked if I was finding everything ok before I'd made it 20 feet inside the doors. I just got here and haven't looked yet! However, when you know what you want and don't see it you become immediately plague-ridden and no one offers you help.

So where is it? A group of us scoured the video game section. Not here. Did they do it again? A big advertised special and already gone. No help. Ok, we all go to customer service and get in line. Finally, we ask, and the confused person at the counter relays the question to another, who relays it again, until finally someone emerges from the back informing everyone that they're on a pallet in the store room.

Well, now we're getting somewhere. We are in a line and waiting patiently. They now know where the product is. And it seems like someone's heading to the back to retrieve it. 10 minutes pass. 15 minutes. 20, and finally, a kid emerges with two Guitar Hero II Boxes and marches them right past the waiting line to other customers in a different part of the store. Yo, line here! Anyway, to make this short story less long, the display carrying many more copies of the game was rolled out, comically I might add, as this worker needed a lesson in spatial relationships. And after some more confusion as to where the points cards were, those of us waiting were able to buy our xbox crack and go merrily on our way.

So isn't it the point of these big box stores that we come, we see, we buy -- no hassles. It's all there, ready to go. A well-oiled machine. Isn't that why we don't need that small independent guy. That guy you might get to know on a first name basis. Might enjoy talking to. That guy who might come to know your needs and offer more personalized service. Someone who you wouldn't mind giving your money to, possibly knowing exactly whose mouths it would feed.

Oh well, I got mine, I guess. Wait, isn't that Best Buy's tagline? And that's what's important to me, now, in this moment. Isn't it? Yeah I guess. Why fight it. I think I need a shower.

Tele