Failure to Launch
Nov. 19th, 2006 02:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jsnlv11:01 PM: The Wal-Mart Lawn and Garden Center. The situation is tense: Wal-Mart was supposed to get a minimum of 20 units of the Nintendo Wii in; at our store, three units have been destroyed in the shipping process. A group of five hispanic teenagers in front of me claimed to be getting the 17th console. I shrug and hold my place in line, hoping for someone to bounce a check or enter cardiac arrest. (Well, maybe not hoping for someone to have a heart attack, but at least prepared should that unfortunate circumstance come to pass.)
The hispanic guys are talking amongst themselves; I don't really pay much attention. A couple of them walk off, and somehow I wind up talking with one of the remainder. He's wondering how much he might be able to sell his Wii on eBay for.
I laugh. "Not as much as you'd make on a PS3, that's for sure!"
"Oh, yeah? How much are those going for?"
"Well, when they were launching, people were selling 'em for over five thousand dollars." A couple guys in front of the hispanics nod at this, grinning. I pause, thinking. "Of course, we only had six of those to give out, so scarcity drove the price up."
The kid considers this. "Well, how much do you think the Wii will go for?"
"Uh, maybe $500?"
After discussing it with his friends, the kid gives me his spot in line and leaves the store.
Thirty minutes later, somehow I've gone from being the 17th customer to the 19th customer. I'm still not sure how it happened; apparently some people in the middle of the line had come in later, but they assured management that they'd been there all along. Customers number 15 and 16 tried to argue in my favor, but in the end it didn't matter. All of the newcomers got rainchecks.
I was going to write up the rest of the sordid adventure, but let me spare us both the unpleasantness with this summary: I went to two other Wal-Marts and nobody had any left. Then I spilled ketchup on my slacks and drove home.
The hispanic guys are talking amongst themselves; I don't really pay much attention. A couple of them walk off, and somehow I wind up talking with one of the remainder. He's wondering how much he might be able to sell his Wii on eBay for.
I laugh. "Not as much as you'd make on a PS3, that's for sure!"
"Oh, yeah? How much are those going for?"
"Well, when they were launching, people were selling 'em for over five thousand dollars." A couple guys in front of the hispanics nod at this, grinning. I pause, thinking. "Of course, we only had six of those to give out, so scarcity drove the price up."
The kid considers this. "Well, how much do you think the Wii will go for?"
"Uh, maybe $500?"
After discussing it with his friends, the kid gives me his spot in line and leaves the store.
Thirty minutes later, somehow I've gone from being the 17th customer to the 19th customer. I'm still not sure how it happened; apparently some people in the middle of the line had come in later, but they assured management that they'd been there all along. Customers number 15 and 16 tried to argue in my favor, but in the end it didn't matter. All of the newcomers got rainchecks.
I was going to write up the rest of the sordid adventure, but let me spare us both the unpleasantness with this summary: I went to two other Wal-Marts and nobody had any left. Then I spilled ketchup on my slacks and drove home.
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Date: 2006-11-19 07:00 pm (UTC)