posted
I don't want to post this really long post detailing my birthday, because that's boring to you all. But I have to share somewhere. Basically, I had a really good day. Not stressful. I was able to really enjoy making other people happy and without stressing myself out. I relaxed, didn't pressure myself to have a good time and didn't let anyone else pressure me to either. It was enjoyable in a very subtle and relaxed way. I woke up, sat around, talked to my whole family (getting all six of them in one place is hard nowadays), let my girlfriend into her house (she locked herself out), went bowling with some friends, ate some pizza, then went to the traditional Saturday night Movie Night with my friends. I was sort of expected some cake or something, and I was right. They made me a cake of donuts. It was glorious. I ate 8. But there were no presents, and I was more than OK with that. See, me and my friends, we are real poor college students. We're not the ones who say their poor then drive around in new mustangs and go to their luxurious apartments after eating out for 3 meals a day. We're the ones who sometimes literally do not have enough money to eat. Few to none of us have cars. No one wears designer clothes. And we're happy like that. But so I was thinking "Yeah, maybe a cake and a card." Then after the cake, my friends made me sit down in the middle of all of them and one of them, probably my closest friend here, gave this long speech about how grateful he is to have known me and is really proud of my growth, blah blah blah. Then they bring out this framed piece of paper which says "We're committed to you" on it, with a bunch of peoples names signed on it. It may sound cheesy, but it was really special. These are the type of friends you'd like to think you can count on your whole life, and to have that sort of mentality reciprocated was really neat. So I was thinking "These guys are so cool." Then they bring out a present. Just one. And what is it ...?
A freaking Xbox360 Elite edition! They all chipped in to get me one. It was so awesome. I mean, yes, I really wanted one and am going to really enjoy it, but I guess I'm enough of a sap to say that the real present was the profound bond that I felt between me and these 15 or 20 people at that moment. Maybe some of you will get my drift more than others when I say this, but looking around at my friends faces, it felt like they honestly were celebrating the fact that I was there, alive, and that they knew me. I don't really know how to express it, but to put it in what I guess is the simplest and most accurate, though also most vague way possible, today I got the present of feeling loved. And man, did it ever feel good.
So that was longer than I intended. I guess I just want to say, more or less, that this was the best birthday I could've asked for. I'm happy.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I am glad you have such good friends....and not because they bought you a 360 (although that doesn't hurt )
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I was pretty bummed leading up to my birthday because I wasn't going to get to spend it with my family (again). But I did get to talk to them for a couple hours on the phone (I have a big family), and I guess in a pinch good friends are a good substitute for family .
It's great too because one of the guys who spearheaded the movement to get me a 360 works at Gamestop. So a guy came in wanting to sell back his 360 Elite, my friend payed him 10 bucks more than store would (I guess). Which came out to $190. A $400 dollar box for $190. And they actually ended up raising more money than needed, so I'm also getting a $70 giftcard to get a couple of games.
Now I just need to get my internet stable so I can get on Live.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
My birthday was recent too my friends and I rented a couple movies and went to Miss C's house (a huge 3 floor building) and spent 3 days there. Happy birthday
Posts: 1574 | Registered: May 2008
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One brand new game. Two games if they are used copies of Halo 3 and Oblivion or Bioshock. And if there's a game I want to try out but not buy, I can always get my Gamestop friend to check it out for me (Gamestop employees basically get to rent games for free). Or for that matter I can take advantage of Gamestop's nice return policy and buy it used, then return it for a full refund before 7 days.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Yeah, my roommate is an ass. manager at Gamestop so I get a crack at all types of games. He checked the new Civilization out the other day. It was okay, not great though.
Posts: 247 | Registered: Jun 2008
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posted
My birthday's today, but I got my present yesterday. And it blew my mind. My girlfriend who's at home in PA for the summer drove 5 hours one way to come see me on her one day off. And she surprised me to boot. She called me at like 4:30 pm when I was just getting off work to get me to leave work (I was hanging out a little later than normal to use the internet) and she was trying so hard not to let on that she was on campus. She wanted me to walk out so she could ambush me, but I was so distracted that she finally basically said: "Come outside." I was like 'Huh? Why does it matter if I'm inside or outside if we're just talking on the...' "Wait, are you here?" And there she was.
Apparently she'd driven up that morning, and gotten here at about 1 pm, spent the afternoon baking me a cake (I learned this later in the evening) and then waited for me to get off work. It was incredible. She stayed all evening and night and drove back this morning (barely making work on time). She's really amazing, completely blew my mind. I'm not expecting anything to happen today, but that's okay, cause as far as I'm concerned my birthday celebration happened yesterday and it was one of the best I've ever had.
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Dr Strangelove: It's great too because one of the guys who spearheaded the movement to get me a 360 works at Gamestop. So a guy came in wanting to sell back his 360 Elite, my friend payed him 10 bucks more than store would (I guess). Which came out to $190.
I hope your friend doesn't get fired for being unethical...
And why wouldn't you just rent a game at blockbuster instead of cheating a business?
Posts: 571 | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
I don't see what's unethical about that. He was a consumer willing to pay the man more money than he would've recieved from Gamestop, win-win in that regard. He didn't steal from the store, just got the man a better deal.
And Gamestop employees are allowed to check out games from the store so how is that cheating Gamestop. Just because you play a game your friend happens to have legally rented? If you watch a movie from Blockuster your friend rented are you cheating Blockbuster?
Posts: 247 | Registered: Jun 2008
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Trent, as an employee on the clock, he's presumably paid to help make the store money, rather than preventing it. (acing out the store on a used equipment buy)
and the 2nd point was referring to buying a game intending to use the full refund policy.
While lobo was rather direct in pointing out the issues, i fully agree with him.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I do apologize. I missed the line concerning the 7 days return. That certainly is cheating the business.
And while I do concede that as an employee his role is to the company I view this action on the same level as suggesting to a customer a place where they can get a better deal. It's just a decent thing to do, albiet not exactly altruistic in this regard. It also gives their store a good name as far as customer relation and local Gamestops thrive on their regulars.
Posts: 247 | Registered: Jun 2008
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posted
My buddy wasn't on the clock. And he checked it with his manager. So while I definitely see your point, my friend is very conscious of being, or appearing to be, unethical, so he went out of his way to ensure that he wouldn't be.
And as for the refund policy, I've talked about it to the manager there and he's more than fine with it. He said "If you like it, I'm sure you'll buy it, and heck, half the time you'll probably forget and let seven days go by anyways". I know the manager isn't the official Gamestop policy maker, but I, like my friend, am very conscious about appearing to be unethical and wouldn't do it if it was at all underhanded or sneaky or anything.
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