October 26, 2000

One year ago: I talk about Gretchen's upcoming wedding, and in the sidebar, Howard Stern gets separated from his wife. That was a year ago?

So, we tried to get a PlayStation 2 this morning. It's 7:40 AM and we're already home. Did we get one? Here's the story.

I promised to buy Jim a PS2 for a combination birthday/Christmas present. As most of you probably already know, Sony announced that they would only be shipping 500,000 units instead of the expected 1 million, claiming a shortage of parts. There's been some questioning of that -- perhaps Sony was doing it to drive up demand? Who knows. Some stores (like Electronics Boutique) had been taking pre-sales since early this year. Then, they found out that they wouldn't be able to fulfill said orders, at least not before the end of the year. So, clearly, it was going to be difficult to get one.

Jim has been claiming that he didn't want a PS2, that he would just wait until January, blah blah blah. I knew he really wanted one, but he didn't think it was possible to get one since he didn't pre-order. They went on sale this morning, and there were a few stores that were supposed to get some in, and hadn't taken any pre-orders, so it would be first come, first serve. Last night, I convinced Jim that we should get up early and see what was going on. We knew that Wal-Mart was getting 25 or so in, so if we got there and there were more than 27 people waiting outside, we'd just go home and go back to bed. Jim set his alarm for 4:30 AM and went to sleep.

At 4:30 AM, we got up, threw on some clothes, and headed out. We got to Wal-Mart and there were easily 40 or so people waiting in line, some with sleeping bags, so they had clearly been waiting all night. I later heard that some people got there at 7:30 PM the night before. That is dedication. Anyway, I suggested we drive by K-Mart and see what was happening there. Once we arrived, there were only three guys standing by the doors. We pulled up and they said they had heard there were 8 units available, and the store opened at 8 AM. So, we parked and went to wait in line. Another girl arrived about the same time as us, so she was #4 and we were collectively #5. We could have bought an extra one and sold it or something, but that hardly seemed fair. I left Jim in line and went across the street to get coffee for us. After I got back, a few more people straggled in and got in line behind us. Everyone was very civil -- as new people arrived, we explained what we had heard (there were only 8, and possibly less) but some people chose to wait it out anyway. So, for a long time, there were only 12 people in line. Jim and I sat down on the ground and started playing Gin to pass the time. It was probably about 5:30 AM at this point, and as far as we knew, the store was opening at 8 AM.

The trouble began when an entire family arrived. It was a mom and two teenaged kids, a girl and a boy. Let's call the girl Tubby. Tubby was fucking obnoxious. When she got there, we all gave her the standard spiel about how there were only 8 units, and she was number 13. She said something about how it was first come, first serve, and she would run in and grab one. I tried to explain that we had a line going, hoping she would take the hint, but no such luck. Some more people started arriving after this group, and they just kept crowding around the door, ignoring our nice little line. Boy, did we wish that we had self-assigned numbers before those people had arrived. People were talking about knocking people down, and jumping over aisles. Things were looking grim. At this point, there were probably about 25 people waiting. The store employees started arriving, and they clearly had no idea what was happening, and had no plan in place. Tubby kept talking about how she was going to put her unit on layaway. There's no layaway! You buy the unit today and take it home! There's no layaway! I got so annoyed that I put my headphones on, because I didn't want to listen to her. Her brother was talking about just pushing people out of the way and grabbing as many units as he could. Those of us who had been waiting patiently in line started to grumble a little amongst ourselves. We realized that the store wasn't planning on handing out numbers, and those of us who had been waiting for hours might not get one, no matter how early we got there. As more people arrived, the rumors started flying. We heard that Toys R Us was getting more units than they had pre-sold, so they would have a few available. At first, we heard that Best Buy would have 100, and then 150. They weren't even letting people in the parking lot until 7:30. I'm not sure how that would work, since it's in a mall. Sears was supposed to have 3. There was a K-Mart in another town that might have more units. There was much speculation. The girl ahead of us in line, who was buying it as a surprise for her boyfriend (and thus easily surpassing me as best girlfriend ever) went to her car and put on her running shoes, because she was worried that she would have to, well, run.

I told Jim that he should just run for the Electronics Department, and I would block. We started joking that I should try to delay the others by falling down and maybe people would trip over me. Or, I could yell, "They're over there!" and lead a group in the wrong direction. I was definitely planning on taking out Tubby, because she was annoying, and because until she arrived, things had been fine. Our little group of newfound friends were talking amongst ourselves about how we wished they would give out numbers, or let us in one at a time, or something. Finally, I made the executive decision to go out to the parking lot and surreptitiously call the store on my cell phone. I didn't want Tubby and her ilk to hear me and start yelling at me. I dialed the number and got the person in charge on the phone. I don't even think she was a manager. I think she was like a keyholder, or lead clerk. Anyway, I told her that I was calling from outside, and asked if they were planning on handing out numbers. She said, "No." I said nicely that there were people outside who had been waiting longer than others, and they would be unhappy if they didn't get one. Also, I mentioned that people were talking about knocking each other over, and leaping over aisles, and I knew they didn't want that. She said, "Hold on!" and put me on hold. I waited, and looked up to the doors, and there seemed to be some sort of clamoring going on. I waited a while on hold, and then the signal gave out. I'm not sure if she disconnected me, or if my crappy cheap cell phone gave out. Anyway, I walked back up and Jim said the lady had come out and given out no information at all, except that the store would be opening at 7 AM instead of 8 AM, and that "management" would be there before the store opened. So, I didn't know if my call had made a difference or not. And still we waited.

Soon after, the manager/keyholder/whatever came out and said that they would only have six units, so the latecomers should leave. I muscled up to the door, and asked if they could sell them to us in the order that we arrived. She said they would be, and started asking what the order was. Those of us who were in fucking line started telling her, and she handed us some hastily written numbers. Tubby yelled out, "How do you know I wasn't first?" In my one brave act of the day, I turned to her and said, "You weren't first." Then I looked away in case she tried to kill me. THEN, just as we were getting our big number 5, some dude tried to claim that he was there first. He had been there like last! Dude! He had been hanging out with the first three guys, and maybe he thought they would lie for him, but they totally denied him. What a dick. Fucking people. But, we got our number, so we were happy, and everyone else left. I did feel bad for guy #7, because he had been really nice, and he had been there almost as long as us. But at least he didn't have to go through the rush and then not get one.

So, we waited the final twenty minutes or so with numbers in hand. A few more people pulled up, but we sent them away. The lucky six (well, seven because Jim and I only took one number) shared stories about what games we were going to get, what we had heard were the best games, backwards compatibility, all that stuff. Finally, at 7 AM, the doors opened. They had brought all of the units up front to the customer service desk. As we were paying, some more people walked in the doors. Too late, fellas! Jim paid for our PS2 and we both did a little cheer. Then, we headed back to the Electronics Department to buy some games and a memory card. We also ended up buying the DVD of Beyond the Mat, the wrestling documentary. Hey, they didn't have much selection, and I might be able to deduct it since I write about wrestling for MBTV. We just wanted to have a DVD to try out. We paid for those and went home. Actually, first we drove by Sears, and there were a few people waiting outside the door. I don't think they open until at least 9:30. In fact, as I'm writing this, they still haven't opened!

Jim took the PS2 into work with him so that he could try it out on the big LCD projection screen on his lunch hour. And he said he didn't want one. Whatever. It was quite the adventure, and I'm glad we got one. The guy at K-Mart told us that he didn't expect to get any more until 2001. Even if they did, we would have had to compete with everyone else, and try to find out when the shipments were coming in, and it all seems exhausting. Woo hoo! We got one! Hooray!