Game Hop- A Christmas Story

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, Yule, and anything other religious day that happened in December. I sure as heck enjoyed the spirit of the holiday season and did as little as possible. I needed those two days of relaxing with loved ones. I hope you all were able to also enjoy the days off to the fullest as well. But I realized later that I forgot to post last Friday and this Monday, I apologize!! So to make it up to you all, here is a good one to make up for the forgotten Friday’s post (I apologize)! Enjoy!

Game Hop, a Christmas Story

That’s right; I feel lazy today and only removed one letter from the store’s real name. But lazy is the main theme of this holiday story. I’m not quite sure why special situations seem to follow me everywhere but they do…so in spirit of the season of giving, my gift to you guys this year is this special…special…story……Enjoy!

After I left Love Lips at 5:00 pm on December 24rth, I was feeling anything but the holiday spirit because I had a migraine pressing the inside of my eyeballs. But the holiday’s wait for no man or woman with a throbbing forehead, I had gift cards to get! These last few gift cards meant I was finally finished my holiday shopping. So, I stopped in at B&B Works to get my Mom a gift card for nice smelly lotions and bath soap and got pulled into buying stuff for me and my wife. How can you resist buy three get three free? I mean seriously…But what I didn’t expect were the sneaky loop holes in the ‘deal’ that pertained to the nice cologne I got for my wife. So I spent a good 10 minutes arguing over the ‘deal’ with the cashier before I admitted defeat and let them take my money. So I left the store, confused, head pounding even harder, and sad that I still had 2 other stops before I could go home and take Excedrin to get rid of my migraine.

One of those stops was the world-known game store, Game Hop. I wasn’t looking forward to the crappy parking because it was close to a Wally World. I was lucky to find a front row spot however, even though most of the entire shopping center was full of cars. I rubbed my temples praying that Game Hop wasn’t going to be filled with a ton of people as I walked towards the store. As I entered the store I saw a young woman sitting on the counter, a decent line of customers, and one younger man ringing people up. I internally groaned but trying to remain positive as I walked up to the counter where the young woman sat and before I could speak she said, “I know you!” Her voice was very sllllooowwww, like she was from the South or on drugs. I definitely couldn’t place her, though I noted she had striking blue eyes that really stood out because her skin was a deep caramel color. “I know you from Dundalk!” She said again very slowly but somehow chipper.

The fact she knew exactly where she saw me was kind of creepy because I couldn’t remember her at all. She continued to stare at me expectantly so I said helpfully and a little tersely, “Well I never worked at a Game Hop?” I didn’t mean for it to sound like a question but I was curious how she thought she knew me.

“No, I definitely saw you somewhere in Dundalk…” She said mater-of-factly in her slow voice.

The migraine pushed the insides of my eyeballs again and I said shortly, “I never worked at a Game Hop, I work at a Love Lips in Dundalk.” So unless I helped you buy a dildo, I really have no idea where I know you from, lady…

“Do you go to Bank of America…?” Her big blue eyes got wider like she just had an epiphany.

“Yes…” Ok so maybe that made sense but it had to be only once because I usually can pin-point who is going to the bank for Game Hop in Dundalk, they’re all usually heavy set nerdy men.

“So that’s where I know you from!” It was like someone hit the ‘talk faster’ button because she said it in a normal voice this time and still oober chipper, like we were BBF’s.

So I smiled like I understood her enthusiasm and said, “Do you guys sell gift cards?” A dumb question yes, but who knew if they had any left, it was the holiday’s after all!

“Yeah!” She said brightly and looked at me with her pretty but blank eyes for a second before turning to face the young man ringing up people. “Hey Grove, another $20 gift card!” She said in an un-necessarily loud tone to Grove who stood not even three feet from her. She looked at the line and said, “I think the line starts there” she pointed at another lady waiting in line.

“Thanks” I took my spot beside the lady because the line was in a weird L-shape because no one really knew where to stand. I played with my phone and updated my wife on where I was and we were talking about dinner plans. As I was texting I over-heard something that made the manager in me cringe.

Grove said, “Is the pizza back there up for grabs?”

Blue eyes said, in another un-necessary loud tone, “Ewww don’t eat that! That pizza’s been back there for, like, two days…” She laughed a tinkling laugh and the manager in me wanted to send her pretty little ass back to wherever said pizza was a clean it up and probably clean the entire back room because if two day old pizza was just sitting out, God knows what else was back there.

“I guess I’ll have to call my Mom to bring me something” As I looked up from my phone I saw he was just standing there talking while ignoring the lady in front of me. I bristled, this was ridiculous. Eventually the woman snapped and asked for her gift card. He did it with a heavy sigh and she left, gift card in hand. Finally it was my turn…he rang through the gift card, “How much did you say it was for?”

“20” I said and then looked down at my phone, my wife had just texted me. As I texted her back he groaned and mumbled because the gift card wasn’t ringing up so he swiped it 4 times before it went through.

“Do you have a membership card?” He said.

“No…” I said as I texted fast.

“Its 20 dollars” He said in a bored voice.

I put my $20 cash on the middle of the counter and finished my text. The register binged and he just stood there. I was in the middle of a text when he sighed loudly and when I looked up he was just staring at my $20’s that was in reaching distance if he leaned a fraction of an inch towards it. I stared at him and he stared at the money like he was expecting me to call him King and hand the money to him on a silver platter. I pushed the money barely an inch closer to him and then continued to read my wife’s new text. He grumbled and picked it up and handed me my gift card.

“Have a nice night” he said flatly and popped his gum looking at me like he’d rather have his nails done in hot pink.

“Yeah……I’ll try after coming here” I said under my breath. I left the store with a bigger migraine than I came in with. As I got into my car I vowed if I ever continue to say in management I would NEVER hire anyone who has worked at Game Hop EVER. That was the worst customer service I’ve had in a long time and I pity their poor manager and according to my gamer friends, most of them are like that or worse. Epic Fail.