Goodbye old friend, you’ll not be missed.

It turns out that this year a certain entertainment retailer is planning to close several of its stores. For some reason, I can't quite find it within myself to be sad for that, and the reason for that is that generally, my local store is pants. And the online version is mega pants. Perhaps if it was less pants, I might have been able to summon up a little more care.

The last time I was in the store, I bought a music DVD. When I got it home, it turned out that Rach had already got it for me from Amazon. The special edition, no less. It's unopened, with receipt, so I assume they'll be no problem getting a refund on it. I used to work for said retailer, and I know that big releases like this one would be on 'sale or return', meaning they can return any they don't sell to the supplier for a full refund.

But no; the Saturday kid, who looks like she must be about 12, tells me uninterestedly that it's not their policy to offer refunds unless the item is damaged or faulty. I can exchange it or get vouchers, but that's it. But, it's perfectly re-sellable, I have the receipt, there's nothing wrong with it. In the words of The Dude, no-one's trying to scam anyone here, man. "Sorry, it's not our policy" repeats the dead-eyed bitch behind the counter over and over, like a robot with a damaged subroutine. It seems odd that disrespect and terrible customer service should be a policy, but maybe that's one reason they are closing stores this year. I turn down the vouchers and exchange it for a couple of things I don't really want, because I don't want to go back and buy anything else from the pricks ever again. Congratulations Amazon, you will now be selling me all of my DVDs, Blu-Rays and CDs from now on.

I don't know if my local store is on the death list, but apart from the sad fact that some people I still count as friends will lose their jobs (the annoying brat who 'served' me is strangely not included on that list), I wouldn't be sorry to see it go.