I went to Best Buy Thursday night with one very clear goal: To talk to and photograph the brave souls who had been waiting for 36 hours. I had no illusions about getting a PlayStation 3 for myself. Weeks earlier I had camped out all night to pre-order one at GameStop and that was good enough for me. Just to be safe, I let people know that when I approached, lest they identify me as a threat to their place in line and attack. I knew that would not be pretty.
The Best Buy in Springfield, Oregon, had a good system. Wednesday morning at 8:30 a married couple asked if they could form a line and the manager on duty said “Sure.” With “The Man’s” blessing and permission they pitched a tent and braced themselves for a grueling wait. Others actually had arrived before them but were told they would have to wait in their cars. However, this particular store had 20 60 GB units and 6 more 20 GB ones so because the group at this point numbered less than 20 the question of order became moot. All the same, the people at the head of the line may have wished a little to be a couple places back so they wouldn’t have to face the indignity of the local news station’s moronic queries.
More people joined the line as Wednesday wore on and by the evening all the spots were filled and there were even stragglers. Those that hung around hoping for a lucky break proved very lucky, though. Although no one was robbed at gun point, some craziness still broke out.
Wednesday night people said one man–who had been a nuisance to others anyway–allegedly freaked out, having a seizure and then going unconscious. Some people said they heard him taking drugs. A fire truck and ambulance showed up but while emergency workers attended to the man, he woke up, sprang up, and rushed to his car. He took off, and the rest of the line thought/hoped they’d seen the last of him. He came back the next day though, but left sporadically, annoying those who were steadfastly hanging around.
Apparently–and this takes the cake for stupidity in multiple ways–he convinced a young man in line to return a game for him, the only thing was the game case just had a blank CD-R inside! The Best Buy customer service people of course looked inside and discovered the fraud. They called the police to report the matter. However, the kid claimed that he didn’t know about the deception and that he himself was tricked by the crazy-drug-guy. So the police came in force and eventually the crazy-person and his young stupid/naïve victim lost their places in line. They were totally in–guaranteed one of the most sought-after devices in America and they blew it to cheat Best Buy out of $50. They truly did not deserve their places.
No other shenanigans happened though and although the people were growing a bit fatigued as Friday morning rolled around, they all received their glittering prizes and were pleased as, well, PS3 owners. At least half the line intended to sell theirs in one way or another.
In fact, almost al of them had originally been willing to sell them to one man who was going to pay them $3,000 each. This strange man, known only by his first name, had actually canvassed all the major retailers in Springfield and Eugene, telling everyone to come to the Best Buy the next morning and he would give them each $3,000, cash, for their 60 GB models. This sounded too good to be true. The accepted theory was that he was a spoiled/persuasive business major at the University of Oregon who was somehow going to get the console to Europe where he would be able to sell them all for even more. The kid appeared legit. He brought bank statements showing tens of thousands of dollars. Some said he was bringing an armed guard, while others claimed he rented a
One sage and careful adult–older than most of the people in line–had his wife buy him one of those pens that tests for counterfeit bills. She brought him a $10 three-pack and in keeping with the entrepreneurial spirit of the thing, he sold two of the pens to other people for five bucks a piece.
Remember the too good to be true part? He talked to a couple of people on the phone and changed his tone (people who had originally agreed to just wait in line for him for money but then decided after he didn’t give them the money to buy the consoles that they would just buy them for themselves).
Apparently “something” fell through and he would be offering $1000 to people. Right. After this mini-announcement everyone turned back to their original keep-it-and-play/sell-it-on-eBay plans. I think anyone would have sold it right there though for $3,000 provided they were sure it was real. In the end, he didn’t ever show up. All-in-all it was a successful night in an average, regular town. Sure, we’ve got too much methamphetamine use, but that really just makes it more impressive that there was just one armed robbery…