Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

More Stories from the Wage Mines

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • More Stories from the Wage Mines

    Relatively tame weekend, but a few annoyances.

    So, wait... how many?

    So at my workplace, we sell tickets. If you buy 5 or more at a time, you save 50 cents per ticket. The downside is if you buy less than you wanted and need, like, 1 or 2 more, those are full price.

    So this woman buys 5 tickets, but really needed 7. I get a Manager (who is also my sister) and ask her about it. She says just to take the 5 back, ring up another 7, and charge the difference.

    That's pretty much the end of this story. Easily solved, and I was able to sell the 5 tickets to the next person who came up wanting 10, so no messy paperwork to deal with.


    Was $10 really worth it?

    I haven't gotten the whole story yet, but when I went in yesterday, I was warned first by the cashier I was relieving and then by my sis that said cashier had been scammed out of 10 dollars by some guy who was still there. I asked for a description and got a VERY vague one. They both left before I could get the details. Boo... Fortunately, I got out unscammed.


    I know the sodas are overpriced, but c'mon...

    Someone DID try to scam me out of sodas, though. It's nearing closing time, but we still have some people in the place. A woman comes up and asks if she can get a new cup of soda, since her daughter spilled it once they walked out the door. Now, I'm not really sure what the protocol is on this, but since the managers were MIA, and would probably do this anyway, I asked her to bring me the cup, and I'd refill it. Now, I asked for the cup because I'm also aware that some people will say anything to save the 2.50 it costs for a cup of soda (yeah, overpriced). She shows up with her friend, who snagged a couple of the small cups that go with the pitchers, and aren't sold individually. From what I could see, neither of them had kids. I filled the cups with water and they went on their way.


    Not really SCs, but it happens ALL THE TIME!

    People constantly come up to me at the register and tell me about a game that's broken/takes their tickets. I have no idea why this is. The prize counter is maybe 10 feet to my left, and it just seems obvious that's where you'd go for the game problems. They deal with the tickets, and often have nothing better to do. They don't even have cash over there. I have to guard the monies~!

    So I just directed them to the prize counter. No big deal, but it happens SO OFTEN! T-T

    And speaking of switcheroos, why do people ask for change at the prize counter? It's pretty obvious we have no register around. The cases that make up the counter are clear glass and filled with toys and candy. You can easily see behind the counter where a wall is covered in MORE games, and a back counter with games, the machine to weigh tickets, and open cubbies for restocking. Nothing even looks REMOTELY like a cash register.

    Now, the only thing I can think of is that they expect one of us to go over to the cashiers, interrupt whatever they are doing, and basically jump to the front of the line so you can get your singles. Sorry, nothin' doin'. You can wait in line just like everyone else.

    The only time we do that is when someone wants to pay the difference for some prize in cash. And even then we have to wait until a cashier isn't busy. Easiest when someone on PC is covering breaks for the cashiers, since that one won't have a line at all.


    You see that thing that says TOKENS on it?

    We have token machines for a reason. That reason is so you don't have to wait in line to get coins for your games, and so I don't have to leave my register to fetch your tokens from all the way across the kitchen. At least 15 times a day in an 8 hour shift, I'll have someone come up to me and ask for tokens. I don't mean asking to break up a larger bill (which I have no problem with and do frequently), but asking me to sell them the tokens. They get directed to one of the 5 large, very obvious machines lounging about. You'd think they'd never been to an arcade before...


    One for the road

    People who take the Out of Order sign off a game. WRYYYY?! Removing the sign won't make it magically work. I don't know how many times I've gone to fix a game only to see that it's the same one I JUST put an Out of Order sign on! Which means I have to go back to the counter, get a NEW sign, and put it back on hoping no one takes this one off. Seriously, we go through SO many tokens at the PC because of this. (We keep, like, $5 worth of tokens in a cup behind the counter in case someone needs a token refund.)


    Hookay! That's it. I'm off until tomorrow, and Tuesdays are too slow for problems. Then I don't have to DEAL with anyone until Friday. GOOD DAY TO YOU!
    "For the love of all that is holy and 4 things that aren’t but feel pretty good anyway" ~ Gravekeeper

  • #2
    Quoth HorrorFrogPrincess View Post
    One for the road

    People who take the Out of Order sign off a game. WRYYYY?! Removing the sign won't make it magically work.
    People do this at my work when we put up Out Of Order signs on the bathrooms. For whatever reason the toilet in the women's washroom is constantly clogging up (probably cuz the owners are too cheap to have a plumber come in) so there's an Out Of Order sign on it at least once a week.
    Whenever that sign is up someone will almost always come up to the counter and say, "The toilet in the women's washroom doesn't flush."
    I'm so intolerant of stupidity that I flatly reply, "I know, that's why the Out Of Order sign is there."

    Comment


    • #3
      Quoth HorrorFrogPrincess View Post
      People who take the Out of Order sign off a game. WRYYYY?! Removing the sign won't make it magically work.
      Ah, young grasshopper... see if you can snatch token from hand...

      You think just taking the OoO signs off games is bad? We used electrical tape. Now, most of you are too young to remember Hard Drivin', so take a quick peek at the promotional flier. That cowl above around the game? It blocks out all peripheral vision. Now, we had this game with a blown monitor board. No picture at all. I watched a kid get in the pitch-black game, take the black electrical tape off the coin slots, stick his tokens in, then ask me for a refund.

      Comment


      • #4
        That sort of thing happens with our basketball game. Which is usually not even on at the time.

        And it's typically ADULTS that play that one!
        "For the love of all that is holy and 4 things that aren’t but feel pretty good anyway" ~ Gravekeeper

        Comment


        • #5
          Quoth Gurndigarn View Post
          Now, most of you are too young to remember Hard Drivin'
          Ooh, that was one of my favorites. When it found it in the local arcade, I was getting close to driving age, so it was fun and educational at the same time. I have to admit, playing that game did help when I started driving. Good thing it was dozens of virtual cars smashed to bits instead of dad's.

          I'll never understand why people do that. Do they think you're just trying to cheat them out of it or something? I remember back in college in the computer lab we'd have to put those signs up whenever someone totally hosed a computer. It'd have to stay that way until someone had time to run the 'reset disk', which would reformat the system and load an image off the network. So many times people would pull the sign off, then come up to me to complain that their computer isn't working. "But there's no other computers left in the lab to use!" No duh, because it's nearly end of term and everyone's getting their assignments done last minute, just like you!
          A fact of life: After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says W T F.....

          Comment


          • #6
            My favorite arcade story was when somehow an SC managed to steal a block of tickets. This genius decides to try and turn them in for ticket credit. Too bad they never went through knurling rollers (a way to mark genuine dispensed tickets), and still had the tag you used to join them to another block attached. We had a system where you could "bank" your tickets and save up for something big, like a boombox or whatever, without having to bring in a gigantic bag of tickets. Guess who had his expensively acquired "bank" wiped out that day...

            SirWired

            [insert blatant thread hijack here]The lesson I learned best was to despise any games made in the UK, as they were all designed poorly and used very expensive parts.

            One (a stupid drawing game) had what I determined to be a loose chip. Well this game didn't use the same rear panel lock design as most the rest of our games, and I couldn't find the key. So instead, I took out the board diagram, stuck my arm through the coin door, and started navigating with my fingers... well, I took a wrong turn somewhere and instead managed to short out one of the high-voltage display parts with my fingers. Every other game with a CRT had the things shielded, but not this POS. I managed to lift the entire machine off the ground with my arm from the shock. Ouch.

            One insulated screwdriver later to some parts I decided were important, and the poor "defective" machine was retired.

            Comment


            • #7
              I'm not sure if it's entirely fair to nail people for asking for tokens/change at the prize counter. At the arcade that I used to work for, we had a cash drawer intergrated into the counter. It wasn't visible unless you were on the employee side, so it's not as though there were any of the typical signs that you could get change there, aside from the fact that there were usually a few employees hanging around it. And it was pretty typical for people to get quarters (we were primarily a quarter shop, we did have tokens but they were primilarly internal) directly from us at the counter.

              And oh god, don't get me started on people removing OO stickers. It always floored me that people would be stupid enough to go up to a machine with a blank screen and dump money in. What, precisely were you expecting to happen? I remember one week we had just gotten in a new game, which was not working yet. Of course it had out of order stickers, and it was also obviously unplugged, missing ticket mechs, etc. The damn thing made about ten bucks from people trying it without paying attention. Luckily for us, those people were shamed enough to not ask for refunds.

              Actually, that reminds me of another story. For a while, we had some XBox-based stand-up fighters. They were basically an XBox inside an arcade cab, with a A/V switcher wired to the timers typically used for car washes (i.e. 0.50 for 3 minutes). When somebody put in money, it would swap the monitor from a DVD player (which was playing the Attract Mode stuff) to the XBox. There was a small LCD display below the monitor saying the price (which I actually think was indeed 0.50 for 3m). The key thing to realize is that these games were time based.
              Anyway, a guy came up to me one time and the following occured:
              Him: Yeah, I was playing that Mortal Kombat game and it just shut off in the middle of a fight.
              Me: OK, let me come take a look.
              *we both walk over*
              Me: (notices that it's in attract mode and seems fine): OK, what exactly happened?
              Him: I was right in the middle of a fight and it just switched to the movie!
              Me: OK, I see what happned. These machines are time based - they aren't an actual arcade machine, it's just an XBox inside there. Instead of playing til you win or lose, it's a fixed amount of time, so when the time is up it will just switch back.
              Him: Oh...so it will just turn off?
              Me: Pretty much...the little display there will tell you how much time you have left, in case you want to buy more time, but it's a fixed amount of time per credit.
              Him: But it shut off in the middle of a fight!
              Me (huh? didn't I just explain that?): Right, the timer has no way of knowing what you're doing. All it does is switch the screen from the XBox to the DVD player when your time is up, no matter what you're doing. It seems to be working fine, but I'll be around if you need any more help.

              Not sucky exactly, but irritating.
              man...nature...technology
              mensch...natur...technik

              Comment


              • #8
                Maybe it's a locale difference, cause I have NEVER been to an arcade in this town (or state. Or California) that has any cash anywhere near the prize counter.

                Considering we're already guarding like a thousand dollars worth of merchandise, I'd say that's a pretty smart move.
                "For the love of all that is holy and 4 things that aren’t but feel pretty good anyway" ~ Gravekeeper

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth HorrorFrogPrincess View Post
                  One for the road

                  People who take the Out of Order sign off a game. WRYYYY?! Removing the sign won't make it magically work. I don't know how many times I've gone to fix a game only to see that it's the same one I JUST put an Out of Order sign on! Which means I have to go back to the counter, get a NEW sign, and put it back on hoping no one takes this one off. Seriously, we go through SO many tokens at the PC because of this. (We keep, like, $5 worth of tokens in a cup behind the counter in case someone needs a token refund.)
                  Ok I have a question. Could some people be scamming you for free tokens? Take the sign off the machine, then claim that they had put tokens in it to get a couple free ones.
                  Losing faith in humanity, one customer at a time

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Yeah, but we don't have a way to prove it. So they win max of 50 cents.
                    "For the love of all that is holy and 4 things that aren’t but feel pretty good anyway" ~ Gravekeeper

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth sirwired View Post
                      [insert blatant thread hijack here]The lesson I learned best was to despise any games made in the UK, as they were all designed poorly and used very expensive parts.
                      I won't make as blanket a statement as you did (Coastal Amusements imports from the orient, and they're the worst out there), but there was one particular game.... it was called Street Viper.

                      As you can imagine, it was a driving game. Very sharp looking. Plush seat, widescreen monitor (in the days before widescreens were common), huge rollbars over the whole game, a nice Bose speaker mounted prominently... and despite all that, my boss screamed in agony when he saw it was coming. Cause the gameplay sucked. It was a laserdisc game. Yeah, a driving game attached to a device that will show the same thing, no matter what you do. You were supposed to steer along with the car on the screen, and if you didn't, all it did was run lights up the side of the screen, warning you that you were driving on the curb. Or, more precisely, the kerb. Yah, if you're going to import, please translate to the local language, at least the stuff the customers see.

                      Anyway, that was the game. Cool movie, nice sound (but see below)... no game at all. Oh, and it had two price settings: four coins, or eight. Back in the day when most games were two.

                      To make things worse, it arrived broken, and I was inexperienced at repairs back then. The CPU having a chip with the word "Bad" written on it wasn't a good start. Itook me at least three months to finally figure out that the laserdisc player had dip switches (set incorrectly, naturally). And it took me another six months to find the amplifier tucked under the CPU so I was finally able to get the volume below 70 decibels.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Most of the arcades around here have rolls of quarters at the prize counters, but the expensive prizes are all locked behind glass in display cases around the room. I think it's only the biggest arcades that have a separate change booth. But then, all but one of the local ones use quarters instead of tokens.
                        It's little things that make the difference between 'enjoyable', 'tolerable', and 'gimme a spoon, I'm digging an escape tunnel'.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Gurndigarn View Post
                          I won't make as blanket a statement as you did (Coastal Amusements imports from the orient, and they're the worst out there), but there was one particular game.... it was called Street Viper.

                          As you can imagine, it was a driving game. Very sharp looking. Plush seat, widescreen monitor (in the days before widescreens were common), huge rollbars over the whole game, a nice Bose speaker mounted prominently... and despite all that, my boss screamed in agony when he saw it was coming. Cause the gameplay sucked. It was a laserdisc game. Yeah, a driving game attached to a device that will show the same thing, no matter what you do. You were supposed to steer along with the car on the screen, and if you didn't, all it did was run lights up the side of the screen, warning you that you were driving on the curb. Or, more precisely, the kerb. Yah, if you're going to import, please translate to the local language, at least the stuff the customers see.
                          If only you could run over pedestrians while driving on the "kerb" and send them flying, but if you did it too often your car would catch fire.

                          Kinda like GTA!
                          Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

                          "I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily

                          Comment

                          Working...
                          X