I am sure people have dealt with clueless sales people especially when it comes to selling new formats like Bluray and HD-DVD. My jaw dropped when I had the following conversation with a Blockbuster employee in Independence, Missouri.

First a background: I have both Netflix and Blockbuster online plans (both one at a time). I like to exchange blockbuster disks locally for Bluray disks in store). One Blockbuster employee sincerely asked me the difference between HD-DVD and Bluray and I explained it to him. He seemed to want to learn. However, the other day I had a weird conversation with another employee in the same store. Here is goes.

I picked up Apocalypto in Bluray for exchange of an online movie. The employee asked me if I have a bluray player and I said yes. Then he asked me how everything is going with the membership. I told him that I like the fact they have instore bluray movies because their online bluray sucks. Every movie I want has a long wait. On the other hand, Netflix is better. They have more availability. He responded by saying that Netflix is migrating to HD only plan and that is why they have more available. I could not believe what he just said. I told him that HD-DVD and Bluray disks don't play on normal DVD players and they are not about 1% of the market. Netflix is not going to abandon DVDs!! He did not understand what I said, he kept repeating himself. Wow. Some guys are just CLUELESS!!!

When I recently asked the girl behind the register at Hollywood Video about Blu Ray, she had no earthly idea what I was talking about. But I guess ignorance is better than mis-information. :rolleyes:

He responded by saying that Netflix is migrating to HD only plan and that is why they have more available. I could not believe what he just said. I told him that HD-DVD and Bluray disks don't play on normal DVD players and they are not about 1% of the market. Netflix is not going to abandon DVDs!! He did not understand what I said, he kept repeating himself. Wow. Some guys are just CLUELESS!!!

Sounds like he was saying that they were coming with an HD-DVD/BD only rental plan along with the plans they have hence they have more titles available.

From your rant it sounds like YOU don't have the comprehension skills.

Most people don't have any idea what Blu-ray and HD-DVD are. It's a very tiny market right now.

Maybe the Blockbuster clerk you were talking about meant that Netflix was going to offer only HD-DVD and give up Blu-ray, instead of actually saying that Netflix was dropping regular DVD's altogether in favor of HD-DVD. That would make more sense, since a lot of people wondered if Netflix was going to go HD-DVD exclusive after the Blockbuster Blu-ray announcement. It would still be grossly misinformed speculation on his part, though, so I suppose it doesn't matter what he actually meant.

When I recently asked the girl behind the register at Hollywood Video about Blu Ray, she had no earthly idea what I was talking about. But I guess ignorance is better than mis-information. :rolleyes:

Agreed, if they admit knowing nothing it's better than making stuff up :D

When I recently asked the girl behind the register at Hollywood Video about Blu Ray, she had no earthly idea what I was talking about. But I guess ignorance is better than mis-information. :rolleyes:


I asked a girl at blockbuster once if they carried Blu-ray... she looked at me puzzled for a second then asked.... "Blu-ray...? Is that like a tanning bed or something?"