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…
