Don't mess with Blockbuster Video!

I rarely rent videos. I love to watch movies, but I think it is such a rip-off to rent videos that as much as possible I avoid actually going into a video store. Until Sunday. For some reason I forgot how much I disliked Blockbuster and thought I could quickly stop in to rent A Prairie Home Companion. Why oh why didn't I just stop at Target and buy it? We know we'll want to own it anyway.

So, Blockbuster Video is closest to our house and I've rented from them before. However, since I hadn't rented from them within the last 90 days and didn't have my Blockbuster card, they couldn't look me up from my drivers license and I was told I'd have to fill out all the paperwork for a new membership. Whatever. I needed my drivers license and a major credit card for the new membership, and had to fill in the numbers of each on the membership form.

While I'm doing this it occurs to the guy who's helping me that he may have messed up typing in my last name. The space or possible lack of a space between "Van" and "Riessen" frequently throws systems off. Usually I think to ask the person to type it in the other way, or look under "Riessen" and this clears up the problem. I didn't think to do this on Sunday, but the employee did and sure enough Edwin's name came up as having an account. Problem solved, right? No.

Because only Edwin's name came up on the account, I still didn't have the authority to rent a video. The employee called Edwin at home and asked if it was okay that he rent to me. Edwin said yes, but to actually add me to his account he'd have to come in personally with his ID, has Blockbuster card, and fill out a form. That phone call wasn't enough.

I suppose there are a lot of exes who pull nasty tricks on each other, taking out a dozen videos and not returning them, etc. I suppose places like Blockbuster get screwed by people all the time, making the major credit card info necessary to cover themselves. I told the employee I understood that he had nothing to do with setting up the policies of Blockbuster, but good grief I could get my prescription drugs through the mail but I could not rent a video? Crazy.

So, one step closer to NetFlix!!

Funny, there had been a Mr. Movies even closer to us than Blockbuster so I went there for a while after we'd moved to our Drew house. The store manager was a nice guy and they had a great candy selection. :) I expected I'd strap Anna in the stroller and Mr. Movies would be a frequent destination for us while on my maternity leave. But then it closed. The first time I was there and tried to check out a movie, I was told I had to pay a late fee! Turns out, while Edwin and his ex were still married, she'd rented a movie there and didn't return it on time. The Horse Whisperer. Typical. So, there remained a late fee on the account since 1999! I'm sure the look on my face at the time I was told this (in 2005!) was classic. I explained the situation to the manager, who completely waived the fee. I'm not sure how much it was, but good grief. It was then I considered him A Nice Guy.

So, I'm thinking Blockbuster could show the Department of Homeland Security a thing or two. After all, if they have this many hoops for checking out a video, think of what else they could do when the stakes are higher!! LOL!