Hello and welcome to another "Tales from the Video Store" installment. Today I am writing about working a certain morning and why it was important. Let's get into the story.
Not too long after I started at the Video Store, I remember my manager asking me if I was able to work during the day. I thought, that's a great opportunity! No way will it be busy during the day! She soon clarified, can you work opening shift on Tuesdays? That was oddly specific. My school schedule did allow for me to work on Tuesday mornings. So I was quickly put on the schedule. Why Tuesdays?
My first Tuesday morning shift arrived and it only took one shift to figure out why the manager didn't want to work Tuesdays in the morning. She didn't really warn me, but when I pulled up to the store about 5 minutes before it opened there were already people waiting in their cars for the doors to open. I unlocked the door, went inside and quickly locked the door as people were lining up and trying to follow me in. There are opening procedures that had to be done before officially opening, like turning on the computers, turning on the lights, etc. I briskly got things going and at exactly 10 a.m. I unlocked the door.
A flood of 15 to 20 people came rushing through the door. Have you figured out why they were so eager to get in the door so early? The answer is, Tuesday was New Release day for videos! The people would rush into the door, look up at the New Release board behind the counter and rush off to grab their copy of the new movies. Sometimes we only got a few copies of smaller releases and so being early meant getting your pick of the movies.
I was always amazed at the desperation in people's voices when they would rush in the door at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday and demand whatever new movies were available no matter the genre! They must have seen every other movie in the place, to be so in need of something else to watch. While it seems silly now, you have to remember that this is before Netflix when movies and TV shows were not instantly accessible. The new release day for people at that time was a new stream of entertainment, a movie they definitely hadn't seen.
After a few times working them, I got used to working on Tuesdays. It tended to be the same people that lined up at the door so I got to know most of them and would giude them to the new movies. I helped the manager get a break from the crazy and to be fair after the initial rush it wasn't so bad. I just had to make sure not to show up late or there would be some angry customers waiting to greet me at the door!
Do you remember planning your day around new movies being released? I think for me it would depend on the movie and and if I was waiting for it to come out but I wouldn't show up every Tuesday for movies from every genre that I may or may not like. I would love to hear your thoughts about working this shift and how people reacted to New Release day.
Thanks for reading and have a great rest of your day!
