"And you have all the new releases?"

An interesting observation came to mind today as a client walked in and asked me about the system. He didn't want to sound like a total moron at first so he made it sound like he knew what he was talking about: "This is the same concept as the one on St-Charles?" To which I answered with a "yes", I started to list the small differences between the two systems after that. His face didn't alter, or even looked surprised or confused. After the comment about a universal dispenser, he asked me to repeat myself, to which he answered "Oh yes, of course." I explained to him a slight difference in cost and he then swollowed his own foot by saying "Why a 6 hours charge when you guys aren't open 24/7?"

A client's approach to me signifies a lot and tells a lot about who they are. It's somewhat proportionate to the population: 90% of people have the exact same approach "How does this work?", 5% look like they know what they're doing and 5% are listening to words never spoken before. It's somewhat the same distribution as the bell curve for IQs.

The one question that always makes me laugh are how defensive people are about the database. A lot of people aren't concerned about how the system works as much as they are about the system having the list of movies they would want! The interesting part is when they ask me about movies that aren't on DVD. The client mentionned above asked me if I had television series, I answered I had very few. So the client got specific "Do you have Boston Public?". With a quick tap of the keyboard, I found out Boston Public wasn't out of DVD. The choice was hard to make; inform these slobs about the avalaibility of this series or simply tell them I don't have it. The latter was less confusing for them so I answered that way.

The whole question about our database always interests me because very few people rent out independent films or international films we own. They rent out the latest American big budget film along with the latest straight to DVD Van Dam or Wesley Snipes film. Very few people rent a variety of movies, especially movies that haven't been released in the past 3 years. We do hold some classics, but you sure bet they won't be rented. Unless, of course, they involve Schwarzenegger as the star ready to kill unnamed henchmen.

I guess it's people's way of defending their investement. "Will this be profitable later on? Will I always be able to watch what I want? Even movies I'm unaware of that will soon exist?" What I wonder if how they believe ANY video store decides on database. Surely they don't believe that a video store will open to exclusively rent out Nicolas Cage films do they? Then I wonder if, when I answer that we have the latest American films, they actually believe me or simply tell themselves: "This guy's out for my money!" What I do want to say is "Actually, this is a very underground hip video store that only distributes films in a language not afficiated by any known country just yet, but we're hoping for a 2035 regognition as the first fully anarchist state where we can have sex with family members and eat dead babies freshly delivered by the next door abortion clinic. Thank you, have a good day. And all pray Joe Pesci!"