Don’t sweat it. He probably thought you worked for Sofmap.
The DS Lite is definitely the most in-demand bit of gaming gear right now. Knowing how to queue up will greatly increase your chances of getting one. As I mentioned in my last post, I went to Akiba on Saturday morning to get one for a friend back in the US. When I got there at 6 a.m. some of the lines were already insanely long. Yodobashi’s was probably the longest with over 1,000. (A Yodobashi in Osaka had nearly 2,000 people lined up.) Aso Bit City had over a hundred people in line as well.
Sofmap had 8.
I got in line at Sofmap, set up my chair and waited patiently. The shop guys showed up at 9 and handed out tickets for the units they had. Anybody able to get a ticket was told to come back at 10 to purchase their system. Most people wandered off, but some queued up again right away. I got my friend’s system and headed home. Mission accomplished.
But not entirely without incident.
Sofmap’s system of passing out the tickets ahead of time made sense, as those who’d been waiting a while were free to go get something to eat or drink (or take care of other pressing matters). Once you had your ticket you were going to get your system, so why stand around for an hour if you didn’t have to?
It turns out queueing up again right away was the smart move.
Sofmap was so onto it with the ticket thing that I’d figured the actual transaction part of the deal would be run just as smoothly.
HA!
The store is perfectly laid out for handling something like this. They just had to get everybody to come in one entrance on the first floor, go to the checkouts, get rung up and they’d be lined up to exit on a different path. No congestion or anything. Just a nice, orderly – and very Japanese – system.
If only.
No, what some fucktard dreamed up was having everybody go up to the third goddamned floor! You know, because that’s where they keep the Nintendo stuff. Never mind that the only stairway up to that floor is a very narrow spiraling deal – bad enough to use on a regular day. And doubly fun with a long line trying to use it for both up and down at the same time.
But wait, it gets better.
I was maybe 20th in line to pay for my system and it still took me over 30 minutes to get checked out. Why? Let’s count the reasons.
Number 1 – They put their two slowest guys on the TWO registers they had in use.
Number 2 – They were trying to get everybody to buy extra crap to go with their new system.
Number 3 – They were getting everybody who didn’t have a point card signed up for one.
WHILE THEY WERE STANDING AT THE CHECKOUT!!!
Yes, that’s right. A massively long line and they’re having nearly every customer pause and take an extra few minutes to fill out the fucking point card application form. This shows just how stupid Japanese consumers can be. Sofmap’s point card sucks. You get a whopping 1% in credit on your purchases. For the DS Lite, that’d be ¥168.
Is their time really worth that little to them?
Taking the time for 10% I could probably see. But to spend even more time in a shop that’s managed to screw up what they’d had running so smoothly by promising to come back and shop again is something I can’t get my head around.
Incompetence should not be rewarded.
I guess this might explain why people were willing to queue up in the ultra-long line at Yodobashi. I know they had more systems (Yodobashi Akiba had 600 on Saturday), but at least they know how to handle a big launch. Even so, I don’t think customer loyalty would get me to take that #501 spot at Yodobashi over being #9 at Sofmap. I know the Sofmap experience was more aggravating, but at least it was over quicker than waiting for the 500 people in front to check out would have been at Yodobashi.But you really know what I learned from this whole ordeal?
I want a DS Lite of my own.
Now, where am I gonna find a white one….
^.^
(PS: Post title stolen from this video.)