I met up with Matt today – just to hang out and stuff, since we haven’t done that in a while.

I decided that we needed to rent a couple of DVD’s and so off we went to our nearest Blockbuster’s; the one on Union Street, in Plymouth.
We picked out the DVD’s we wanted to watch and went over to the counter, where there were three members of staff; one female and two males.

I walked over to the counter and put down the chosen DVD’s and said I needed to sign up. The older male sales assistant told me I needed a credit or debit card and slapped a form down in front of me, on the high counter.
Now, I’m short – 4ft 10in – and so I had to reach up to the high counter in order to fill out this form. Matt laughed about it, I laughed about it. The female sales assistant asked me if I wanted a milk crate to stand on. !!

As I’m filling out the form, the younger male sales assistant gets off the phone and mocks the person he was just speaking to – “Hi, is this Blockbuster’s on Union Street? – Yes, you called our number, who do you think you were talking to?”. The female sales assistant says “Next time, you should say ‘Domino’s’!”. All three sales assistants laugh – apparently, confusing customers is really funny?

After I’ve completed the form, “my” sales assistant takes the form off me and does whatever it is that needs to be done next, while I talked to Matt. Next thing I know, a chip & pin machine is shoved at me and I’m told to enter my PIN.
I enter my PIN, then notice that the machine is asking me to insert my card. I clear my PIN number and insert my card but nothing happens. I give the machine back, saying that it’s not registering my card. The female sales assistant walks past, saying to “my” sales assistant, “See what I said earlier about customers being retarded?”. “My” sales assistant laughs.
I’m getting over the shock of the last comment (and the reaction from “my” sales assistant) when “my” sales assistant says to me “You do know what the ‘Play’ button on your DVD player looks like?”. Seriously.

Not only did I have to put up with all of this abuse, I wasn’t given any information; I don’t know how long I can keep the DVD’s for, how much they charge for “late returns”, etc.

Needless to say, I am fuming. I’ll be writing two letters; one will go directly to the manager of the store and one will be going to the Head Office. The Head Office letter will also contain my membership card, as I honestly don’t think I’ll be needing it.