The ScooterBlog

The previous post I made about Micro Center is a solid reminder of something. Common sense is a lost art, people now trust the piece of paper in front of them or their own lazy attitudes more so than actually using their brain to make an educated decision on something. There’s nothing like presenting weird scenarios to people to prove this point in a crystal clear fashion, that if they take a moment to use common sense, and are willing to, you know, call someone, better things would happen. Here’s how the story goes:

I found in my garage about 90 Atari 2600 cartridges in a plastic tub. This by itself is not really newsworthy, but since there is a way to get something out of them, there is in fact a story there. Toys ‘R Us has recently begun to advertise that they accept classic games, stuff that no one else wants, including Atari 2600 cartridges! A look at their web site shows that while for almost all systems, they differentiate between new and used games. However, they do not do this for the 2600, just one SKU. This is where it begins to go downhill.

I proceed to take my plastic tub of games to the local Toys’ R Us. Yes, there’s some shock and comedy factor here. So, I get to the front counter of the store where I was directed, show them the games, and after it taking two people to realize what they actually were (these kids were born after the launch of the SUPER Nintendo after all), they dig for 10 minutes to find their trade in scanner book. Obviously, if no one knows where the trade in book is and it’s buried, they are not doing much of a job of pushing their trade-in program!

When they finally do this, which is already 15 minutes into the trip, they look and find that there are 2 SKU’s for everything, including Atari 2600 games, and when they scanned the SKU for a non-complete (yes, they want box and instructions) Atari 2600 game, it did not allow them to take it in. I showed them the web site, explained that their own corporate office does not require the box and instructions to receive their tiny sum of a quarter per game, but they didn’t care, the book said how to do it and they would not accept them. Oh yes, it took three people to say this, and the manager did not seem interested at all into taking any effort into helping. Completely did not care. So, I took the games and left, disappointed in my experience there.

If you’re paying attention, this is the Sawmill Road location in Columbus. Just in case someone is reading this.

So, it’s about 8:20 at night then, and not a lot of places are left open. Just for fun, I decided to take the tub of games to a local mom-and-pop store up in Powell to see if they would take the games and how much they’d offer. Figured that since they’re common Atari 2600 games, they’d have a ballpark pretty quick. I walk in with the plastic tub, let them know I’m looking to get some trade-in credit, and after one of the associates in a smart-allic response said they’d give “a nickel” for the games, they say it’s simply too late to figure it up and I’d need to bring the games back later. Not even basically, they admitted they are too lazy to look it up, didn’t want to deal with it and told me to go away.

Now, realize this. Your sign says you are open! Such laziness and the admission that they do not feel like doing work is exactly why many stores like that never succeed, they don’t care. I whispered under my breath how much I appreciated their laziness, and while I hope they heard it, I doubt they did. Disappointing was the word for Toys ‘R Us. Just embarrassed is the word for this video game store, their owner should be ashamed of their employees, not even willing to take 2 minutes and throw out a ballpark figure for the games. Who knows, they might have gotten a deal, I would have sure been willing to sell low, diaper money always wins.

By the way, this was the Play ‘N Trade on Polaris Parkway just west of Polaris Fashion Place. You too have also been called out.

So, the games will end up on eBay, someone who actually genuinely appreciates them will get them for their fair market value. In the end, it’s probably the best solution for everyone.