That DS Is BS

(My husband and I stop by our local big box store to pick up the new Pokémon game, which is due to be released today. We head to the video game section, and the new game is nowhere to be found. This is a frequent problem at this store: the staff sometimes don’t put out games on release day and we have to ask the staff to retrieve them from the stockroom. We roll our eyes and flag down a sales associate.)

Me: “Hi. We’re looking for the new Pokémon game.”

Sales Associate: *barely glances at the shelf* “We don’t have any.” *starts to walk away*

Me: “They are supposed to be released today. Can you check in the back?”

Sales Associate: “The game isn’t coming out until April.”

Me: “No, the release date is today. That’s why we’re here. Are you going to help us or not?”

(The sales associate rolls his eyes and goes to the back. We wait for a full 15 minutes, grumbling that we could have avoided this irritation if they would just stock the shelves like they are supposed to. The sales associate comes back empty-handed.)

Sales Associate: “We don’t have any in the back, either. Sorry.”

(We start to leave the store, but I tell my husband to hang back for a sec. I walk over to the in-store inventory kiosk and look up the game. According to the kiosk, there are ten copies of each version physically in the store. I go to the front and ask for a manager. We wait for another 15 minutes.)

Manager: “How can I help you?”

Me: “Yes. Your employee said you don’t have any of the new Pokémon game in the store, but your kiosk says you have ten of each version in the store. I’m trying to figure out who’s lying to us.”

Manager: “Wait here. I’ll find out what’s going on.”

(We wait ANOTHER 15 minutes. The manager finally comes back.)

Manager: “Okay, here’s the deal: We do have the games in stock, but we can only sell them as part of a bundle with a new DS system. The games won’t be sold by themselves until April.”

Me: “Really?”

Manager: “Yes, sorry. I’ll show you the DS systems, if you’d like.”

Me: “No. You just lost a sale to [Competitor].”

(My husband and I headed across the parking lot to their competitor, where the clerk had a  mountain of the games behind her. We were in and out of the store in five minutes. When we got home, I filed a complaint with the big box store corporate. One of the execs called me to apologize for the experience and advised that there was no sale that weekend involving a Pokémon/DS bundle. He also offered to send me a $50 gift card to make up for the two employees essentially lying to me. So my husband and I got our Pokémon games for $10? Sweet, I’ll take it.)