The Blockbuster Chronicles - Chapter 1: My First Job

Most teenagers are excited to get their driver’s license. I wasn’t. As far as I could tell, a license was simply the first step in an elaborate trap. A license meant driving, driving meant gas and insurance, and gas and insurance meant getting a job. I was perfectly content staying home, watching old horror movies, and spending my free time online. Then Microsoft introduced the Xbox. The presentation featured The Rock standing beside Bill Gates, looking as if he might give him the People’s Elbow if the console failed to meet expectations. Suddenly, employment didn’t seem quite so objectionable. I called EB Games to ask about preorders and learned they were offering a package for $499.99 that included the console, an extra controller, and three games. Five hundred dollars might as well have been five thousand to a teenager without a job, but I wanted that Xbox. In February 2001, motivated entirely by consumer electronics, I entered the workforce. Thankfully, finding a job didn’t…