Lesson Learned: ALWAYS Preorder

When “Skyrim” originally came out, I was working in a video game shop.

Customer: “Can I get a copy of Skyrim, please?”

Me: “I’m sorry, but we’re sold out.”

This was true except for a few preorder copies out back.

Customer: “What?! You must have more!”

I went and checked and came back.

Me: “No, I’m sorry. We’re out.”

He sulked off to look at other games in the shop.

Another guy came in who had preordered and asked for his copy. I took his details, and he’d already fully paid, so I went out to get his copy. I came out to hand it to him, and the first guy ran up yelling.

Customer: “You said there were none out back!”

Me: “That’s true; the only few left are preorders that have been fully paid for.”

I went to hand it to the customer who had bought it, and the first customer snatched it out of my hand and tried to bolt for the door.

Thankfully, a regular of mine — a big, muscly chap — had just walked in, heard me shout, got the idea of what was happening, and blocked the guy’s way. The customer looked up at him, and I ran up and tried to take the game back, but the guy held firm even though he wasn’t moving.

My regular leaned in and all but whispered:

Regular: “Don’t make me use my dragon shout on you.”

The customer dropped the game and bolted. I returned it to its owner and gave my regular a couple of extra special edition preorder freebies we had out back as a thanks.