After work Friday, I went to our old video store (the one near our last place of residence) because they carried a film I wanted to show this week in class. They have a deal where you can rent 4 films for a week so I perused the store to find three more that would be good to show/watch. I spent about 45 minutes in there before I went to the counter to rent them. The guy informed me that I had to pay my late fees before I could rent.
"Late fees? No, there must be some mistake."
"In May of 2006, you rented War of the Worlds and brought it back 6 days late. You owe $46."
"That's impossible, I've never seen that film. Plus I've rented since then."
"They just didn't make you pay the late fees when you rented. You only rented one time since then - last November."
"I didn't rent that film."
"You're right, Serge rented it, but it's on your account so you're responsible."
"I am not paying $46! I could buy the film twice for that price!"
"Well, $30 has to be paid today."
"You're going to lose a client like this."
"You probably didn't rent here for so long since you
knew you had these late fees."
That was it, fuck these people. I stormed out of there in a major huff. (Up here, you don't have to supply a credit card in order to rent films so they can't really "get you".) I went to the car and called Serge. "Did you rent War of the Worlds and turn in the video late?" He said, "Yeah, we saw that, it was terrible remember?" (of course I don't remember) "But does it ring a bell that you brought the video back late, because they say it was 6 days late." All Serge could say was, "It's possible." (Who can remember - it's been a year and a half.)
I got in the car and went to the video store across the street from our new home and asked about the late fees I have to pay. The last set of films I rented there I forgot about and turned in late. (I always remember if I turn something in late because I get really pissed at myself for forgetting.) The girl looked at me and said, "Three films were three days late, so it's $6. But you can just use your points to pay the fees." "I have points?" I asked. It seems that I have points accumulating each time I rent films. So she erased my late fees but also informed me they didn't carry the film I wanted. (Swimming with Sharks)
I came home and looked up the film on Amazon. It's available for $11.49. I ordered it and was told there was no charge because I had gift certificates already applied to my account. (This was a surprise to me. I must have forgotten about it.) So I will have the film Wednesday. And of course I will never spend another dime at the old video store chain. They have gone onto my boycott list, along with Blockbuster (I've had video trouble before) and Harvey's.