The Blockbuster Chronicles - Chapter 5: The Customers

Becoming a manager changed the way I experienced customers. I was no longer only the employee who pointed toward the Drama section or checked a tape back in. When a situation became confusing, ridiculous, or angry, I was increasingly the person expected to solve it. None of them, however, matched the dedication of one customer who loved Gary Oldman. She was a young Asian woman who spoke very little English. She had recently moved to the United States with a sailor and seemed lonely and bored at home. One of the few things she could communicate clearly was her love for Gary Oldman after seeing him in The Scarlet Letter. After working through the language barrier, I realized she wanted to rent every Gary Oldman movie she could find but did not know all the titles in which he appeared. I led her to our enormous movie directory, a reference book about the size of four phone books stacked together. It was essentially IMDb printed on paper, back when looking up an actor's filmography…