Timewaster's Guide Archive

So I was canned last night from the video store for (get this) wearing the wrong pants.

Before anybody feels bad for me, remember that this was just spending money, I have a real job still and have no problem paying the rent or feeding the family. In addition, since I certainly have nothing where I really feel at fault, I'm not depressed about this at all. I have to find a new part time job to feed my comics habit, but that's relatively minor.

Anyway, it went down like this.

I was wearing jeans when this stupid cow, freshly fired from Blockbuster for letting employees break rules, came in and talked about how this had all gone down. I think nothing of it.

Apparently, she went home and wrote an email to the Hollywood Corporate, grossly overstating the condition of dress we were in, and outright lying about how the store was in terrible shape. Some VP gets wind of it and orders them to fire me and my coworker.

At this point, it should be noted, with what I feel is no exaggeration or hyperbole (but possibly some redundancy) that I was the single best worker at this store. The Burke, Virginia Hollywood Video is probably the only store in the nationwide chain that has the previously viewed DVDs for sale in complete and meticulous alphabetical order. This is because I took it upon myself, without being asked, to fix it. The store has been rearranged twice in the 4 months I was there, the first time I can claim to have done it almost singlehandedly, with only direction given by the manager. I never closed early. I have done hours of hardware tech support on the computers in the store that no one else there was qualified to do, all at the seven-and-a-half hourly wage I normally earn, even though such work would normally go for at least twice that much. I never missed a shift, and I picked up other people's shifts frequently. I came up with a number of ideas that are already being used not only in Burke but in a couple other area stores. I also fixed up the employee recommendations display so that people actually paid attention to it. My only sin is that sometimes I wore jeans instead of slacks. (Clean, dark jeans with no holes, but jeans nonetheless).

The store manager got wind of all the stupid cow issue on Friday night but was forbidden to say anything. (I'm reconstructing this from clues I gathered and what a co-worker told me, I'll be speaking to the store manager tomorrow). He argues with the district manager about both of us and manages to save my coworker's job, but since I was the one in charge of the shift, I am destined to be the scapegoat. John is unable to look me in the eye for the next several days. Scott (my co-conspirator) actually switches shifts so he won't have to work with me on Monday -- he's not allowed to say anything and he tells another coworker that he might throw up from it. A bit dramatic, but I understand.

Scott gets "written up," the prescribed punishment for being out of uniform. This makes sense. It sucks, because, frankly, Scott puts a lot more effort into his job than most, but I can't weasel out a justification.

Everyone things that the district manager is a real tool and is micromanaging the store for no reason, since by almost all metrics the store has improved roughly 200% since the store manager and our team took over.

The stupid cow actually comes in for a job interview.  It seems she has been angling to take over the store and bring all her blockbuster's buddies with her. The store manager tells her where to stick her application and where she should go to do this activity. This fills most of us with glee.

Last night I come into work. I start busting my hump on a couple outstanding projects the store is trying to complete. The district manager is supposed to come in, which we do not think sounds good, so we act extra good. He never shows up, however, and at 9 pm, he calls us up, and tells me I'm fired. Yes. Over the phone. But he's an even bigger tool than that. I tell him in a calm voice, using no profanity, that I think this is "messed up," and that I believe this course of action is foolish and will damage the store and company -- not because I will do anything in particular, but because everyone will *know* why I was fired, and think it's a total farce. Moral will drop. People will quit. The district manager says "it's out of my hands." I ask him if he mentioned anything like this to his superiors. He doesn't answer me. I eventually manage to shame him into saying that he will tell his superiors what I said, but I dont' believe he will. Or at least, if he does, he will say I was ranting or something.  The district manager is the sort of obedient sheep that doesn't care if something is unethical *cough*like PlayGuard*cough* (sorry, another story there). If he's told to jump, he only says "how high?"

So I hang up the phone, gather the cords and wires I'd been loaning the store, and say goodbye to Adam. Adam is dealing with the crazy Egyptian woman who comes in once a month to tell us how bad our MVP program is, and then renews her MVP for another month. Her conversations with the rep usually take about an hour. I actually help Adam, because I'm tired of this woman and don't wish her on anyone. When Adam is done he asks if I have the district manager's phone number. I actually do, and he dials the phone and tells him that he's walking out because he thinks that the store is being micromanaged and the employees treated unjustly. This makes me feel awesome, because no one has quit for me before. Granted, Adam had given his 2-week's notice the night before, so he was going to quit anyway, but this makes it 2 weeks sooner.

The manager left on duty confides in me that they had figured this was coming and were angry they couldn't say anything. He also reveals that there will be mass dessertion quite soon -- including the store manager. No one likes where the environment has gone.

So that was my week. Loverly, isn't it?

I had kept hoping that I would get written up and that things would go back to normal. The job was fun for a few months. Until the district manager started pushing unethical sales tactics on worthless products and meddling when the store manager had things well in hand.

So, if you can, I encourage you to not go to Hollywood Video for your rentals. Use NetFlix or BlockBuster instead. The Hollywood corporate office is screwy, and there are a couple practices I feel are dishonest. I'll be happy to expand on those if you want.

Anyway, as the subject says. I'm not grumpy. I'm not depressed. I almost think it's hilarious that these people operate this way. The store is going to lose money, almost certainly, what with the best crew they've had in years (this is not an exaggeration, I can tell you true stories that will substantiate it) desserting en masse. Yet the schmuck who made this call in the corporate office is probably not going to admit his error, but blame it on whoever the new store manager is.

Ok, game is restructured! I will be adding NPCs as the game goes on.

But otherwise, the game is ready to start. Begin submitting characters to me by PM or in the Character thread.

When making a character, remember that stealth, subterfuge, and people skills will be more useful than kicking butt with brute strength. 

Remember, everyone should be a rookie, or close to it. If it gets abused, I'll try again using actual rules.

Use this template when making your character.  You can post here in the thread or PM me through the forum. After you post, I'll let you know if anything should change.  I will keep the official set of profiles in one of my posts.

[b]Display Name[/b]:
[b]Character Name[/b]:
[b]Race[/b]:
[b]Skills, abilities, talents[/b]:
[b]Flaws, weaknesses, foibles[/b]:
[b]History[/b]:
[b]Personality[/b]:
[b]Appearance[/b] (description or picture -- remember PG13!):


Steve is offering OOP GURPS books in the form of a $2.95 pdf. No, they're not fourth edition, but who cares?

reference: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1492

In case you haven't noticed (and you haven't probably because I've been bad about sticking to it) TWG is no longer an every weekday publication.  I'm officially shooting for a MWF schedule. Once I get back int he rhythm this shouldn't be too hard.

However, I'm wondering what people feel about content. 90% (or more) of what we've gotten lately have been books and movies. I like books. I like movies. However, TWG has historically been about games first and books and movies second. I have no problem with raising the prominance of movies and books, but we've almost completely dropped games from our line up.

Seriously, we ran a column in webcomics over two months ago (Oct 10th); Tower of Cheapness's last contribution was back in February (it's the same as the most recent article for Video Games); Tabletop had something May, but it was a very tiny review, the last real review was a week before it;  RPGs is a little better, we've had 3 of those since the beginning of October. The last CCG article was in April.

So, do you guys see this as a movie/book review site? if not, how do you suggest we get mroe material. My sources have dried up. Most of my regular contributors of review materials have stopped sending stuff and don't respond to my queries.  Are you interested in original content? If so, what would you like to see? What would it take to get more of you to contribute regularly and in different areas?

iPod no play .avi files. Does anyone know of a freeware software package for windows that I can use to convert a few avi files into a format that iTunes/iPod will enjoy?