My Blockbuster Video Stories

Who here remembers Blockbuster Video? I know many of you will have heard of him. For those who have never been inside a

blockbuster

. They come in, they have all their favorite movies, all their favorite

video

games. They had eaten candy and popcorn. Anyone who remembers going as a child will tell you that it was a good experience and it just made them feel good. When you hear your mom say, "Let's go to Blockbuster!" Your reactions are always like "Blarrrrrr!!!" Every time they had a new release, it covered the entire wall and I was ALWAYS sold out.

Imagine going to Netflix and typing in a show or movie you want to watch and Netflix says, “Nah FAM.” And some of you young people don't know anything about that life. But you know, what else was amazing about the whole Blockbuster experience...when they got their own Blockbuster card? Like that's a BIG deal! You're not supposed to even get one until you're 13. But my mom forged a document and made me a fake passport or something and I GOT one before I turned 13. Like THAT was a time in life. Friends would call me after receiving my card and say, "Adande, let's go play outside." No family, I'm a man.

About to go out to look for work. I have to start doing my taxes... Big. Man. Things. I'm here making money moves. Okay, come say hello to me. And to make matters even worse... My parents started giving me allowance around this time. There is 20 dollars every two weeks. I felt like a millionaire. As if they couldn't tell me ANYTHING! I'd walk to Blockbuster like... You like my hair Oh wow, thanks! I just bought it. Harry Potter. Hunger Games, I want it! I have it!! So once I had my

blockbuster

card and my allowance, I would just get on my bike and drive around Blockbuster because I don't need my mom to drive me around anymore because I'm a MAN now.

And then one day, out of nowhere, they added an anime section. It was just like a little corner. I had like 15 movies, but I was shocked! So the first anime I rented was Ninja Scroll. Okay, take it to the checkout. The lady watches the movie and looks at me and says "Where's your mom?" Uhhh, home. Because I am a man. "Wait a second." She looks at the computer. She picks up the phone and calls her, "Hello, ma'am. Um, it's Stacy at Blockbuster on Metro West. Her son is trying to rent a PG-13 movie." And he doesn't look like he's 13 to me. " So now I'm like, SHIT.

My mom is going to think I'm here trying to abuse my power and rent adult movies. Then I hear the girl say "Mm-hmm. Mm." "Okaaaay." "That'll be $5.99." Hey, my mom is a G!! So it's next weekend. Guess where I am, Friday night. Back in that Anime section So I walked up to the same lady from last week and handed her the Fist of the North Star movie. "I just have to call her mom to get permission to rent this to her." “Your son is here trying to rent a movie.” "It's a Japanese animated film." "Oh, it's fine". "O-Okay, I just have to-Let me read you the rankings real quick, okay." "Um, Nudity." "Adult situations." "Blood and violence." "Did I mention it contains nudity?" "Uh...do you want me to rent this movie to your son?

Who's here?" "Mm-hm." "You're sure?" "No, yeah, okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Blink once for yes. Blink twice for no." "Okay, no, no problem, ma'am. Uh-huh, yeah... uh, sure. Okay. "And I'm here like, Mom's the MVP! My mom and I don't even talk about this. She just knew what to do! This time I went into Blockbuster. I go to the

video

game section. The new. Starfox 64 has just been released. They were all sold out except one! Again, for anyone who has gone to Blockbuster and experienced this scenario, you know how happy you are when you get the last copy.

Grab it! . Give it to the guy and he says, "I've been trying to get my hands on this." Do you know how hard it is to get this game in your hands?" "I can't even get it in my hands and I work here." "When was this copy back here? I've been waiting for it." So I give him the money. I rent it. I take it home. The graphics were like Blurrrsssshhh Amazing! So I took it to Blockbuster to drop off the game. And about a week later, I'm in house, I hear the phone ring. My mom goes and answers it.

Then she comes into the room like: "Blockbuster says you still have his game and you should bring it back.. he returned the game like last week." "He said he returned the game last week." "They say you didn't do it." "Well...I did." "My son says he returned the game. That means he returned the game." So we fast forward like a month... I think that's how it was? I'm at home, I hear the phone ring. My mom answers and runs to the room. "Blockbuster says you still have his game." . And I owe them ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS!! "Part of me is happy.

Part of me is scared. For anyone who has one or more Barbadian parents, you know that they swing first and ask questions later. So the fact that my mom asks questions first, I'm very happy for that "Mom. I returned the game on time. I swear." "He returned a game on time! I wouldn't lie about it!" Click. Blockbuster kept calling. I picked up the phone. They said, "We know you have the game." We're going to send the collection agency after you." And every time they called me, I sat here like, am I crazy? Did I imagine removing it?

And I really didn't? How was I getting stressed out. And when I get stressed, I get acne. Once I have acne, the possibility of becoming a child model is over. I'm not booking any gigs if my face is covered in pimples, okay? Then I start thinking... Wait, maybe when I returned it, that employee slipped it and took it home and never brought it back. About two or three months later, Blockbuster calls "Ma'am." We just wanted to call you to tell you we found the game." "Where did you find it?" "It doesn't matter where we found it, but we found it." I think that was their way.

Oops... we made a mistake. So they deleted all our late fees, but believe it, every time I rented from Blockbuster from that day on, I didn't leave it in Dropbox, I would come in with the game and say, "Hey guys, I'm here." "La! La! Here! Here!" A little while after this, Netflix started to become popular. And as soon as I heard the premise of Netflix, where do you get the movies instead of having to go to the theater? I knew that was the beginning of the end for Blockbuster. And I don't know if any of you know this, but Netflix offered to partner with Blockbuster and Blockbuster said, "No." Then Netflix offered to be bought by Blockbuster and Blockbuster said, "No." And look what happened.

But in reality we can all learn something from Blockbuster because the world around us is changing so quickly. Blockbuster was stubborn. The same goes for taxi drivers. These taxi drivers are very stubborn. They have a really bad attitude. about to become obsolete. Uber is developing driverless drones in which we can ride while we talk Google. Traditional print media doesn't have to attack YouTube. Blockbuster is a great example to teach everyone not to be stubborn and stagnant. your ways Even you sitting there watching this video. Because the people around you are going to change, your relationships are going to change.

And if you are not willing to evolve with some of the challenges that are presented to you. You are going to be stubborn and closed-minded. You could end up like Blockbuster Moment of Silence, it helps a bit for my dead friends.