Loyal Gamestop Customer

December 29, 2021:

I'm not supposed to be here. Driving to my local Gamestop was not a part of my route today. I promised Mom that I would go to the grocery store. That was it.

But the gamer inside of me wanted to buy Magic cards.

After spending money on groceries, I only had $10 to spend at Gamestop. Just give me 5 minutes... I prayed.

I found a parking space in my Mom's sedan. (I don't have my own car yet.) Pretty vacant save a few cars and a UPS truck next door. I step out of the car, stroll over to the Gamestop, and was met with a white paper sign: "Limit of 5 guests in store." COVID-19 is a buzzkill.

I walk inside Gamestop. I was met with AC and disinfectant smells. I helped myself to the automatic hand sanitizer dispenser at the door (took me two waves of my hand to get it to work). Again, COVID is a buzzkill.

A male Gamestop employee in casual wear greets me from across the room. I was eager to navigate through the stands and shelves to get to the Magic: The Gathering merch. I was like a nervous adventurer anticipating the gold or the treasure at the end of the road.

I hear the Gamestop guy ask me if I needed any help finding something in the store. Stupidly, I tell him that I was looking for Magic: The Gathering cards. The guy strolls over to me, where the Magic merch was. He pointed to the starter bundles (around $40 a pop - certainly not budget-friendly for someone with $10 left to spend for the day).

"Are you new to the game?" he asked.

Dammit!

I just wanted to buy a pack of Magic cards, so that I could say Hey! I have Magic cards! I can't wait to build a legit deck, and then learn how to play the game! But no. This guy smelled blood... I was new to the game.

I had my alibi: I'm a YouTuber. I'm trying to experiment on my channel. I wanna do unboxings and all that... I didn't tell him of my LarryBoy Fanatic persona on YouTube. Perhaps that would've made him annoyed. So, I saved him the meaningless talk.

The point was, I just wanted to buy Magic cards just for the fun of it. That game had piqued my interest for a long time now. But I digress.

Well, I guess he bought my story, because he was casually moving a green Minecraft plushie around on another shelf. That had to be a good sign, right?

By the time I got to the register with a pack of Magic cards - a set booster, the large TV at the counter was showing off an advertisement of Rainbow Six: Extraction - the game was set to come out in 2022. My eyes lit up. Maybe... if I mentioned my anticipation for the game, Gamestop Guy might lighten up.

"I can't wait for Rainbow Six: Extraction," I said.

No dice.

He told me that he's played Rainbow Six Siege, but he wasn't sure about Extraction.

Call me crazy, but I was kinda floored, because I myself have played Rainbow Six Siege since late June 2021. The game is pretty good. And now that there's talk of Extraction, I was pretty excited. But to see someone not having much interest... well, that sucked.

A consolation prize for this mood? I was able to buy the cards regardless - $5.99 retail value (well, $4.86 after verifying my Gamestop account).

Okay, one last shot of kindness: "Thanks for the advice," I told him. "Thanks for the tip."

Either he smiled or smirked at me. I couldn't tell.

I even walked out of there smiling. No complaints.

Maybe he's just having a bad day, I told myself several times on the drive home. Just maybe...

Will I come back to that Gamestop? Of course.

Will I get more Magic cards? Yes. I'm committed to learning and playing the game now. Quitting would've made this shopping trip be completely in vain.

Will I continue to be nice? Definitely.

Now, not to make fun of this guy, but... When I had checked my receipt and caught a glimpse of the guy's name (where the cashier's name usually goes on a receipt - top lefthand corner with today's date and store number)... Well, let's just say that he has the same name as that moody green monster from Sesame Street.