Toys R Us R Assholes

Toys R Us is running a promotion this week. If you buy Super Mario Galaxy from their brick and mortar store, you get a $25 gift card. Great deal, right? No one ever thinks of buying games from Toys R Us (or at least, I don't), so that's a great way not only to get people in, but to ensure that they come back at least once. The ad circular stated SMG would be available "In Stores Tuesday by 5 pm" even though every other store in town stated they would have SMG by 2 pm on Tuesday. Whatever, what's 3 hours, right?

Since I had today off, I decided to give them a call right after they opened. They may have gotten it in early, and as such, I could play all day. No such luck, the guy told me it would probably be in early afternoon. No worries.

I called back at 12:30, still no dice. This time, a lady told me they would get it "between 1:30 and 5, but probably closer to 5 because it's being delivered by FedEx." When FedEx delivers to me, it's almost always first thing in the morning. But whatever, she must know what she's talking about.

At 3:30, I try again. Still not there. By this time, I could walk into Circuit City or Best Buy or Wal-Mart or any other fucking store on the planet and pick up SMG no problem, and be playing in 20 minutes. I wouldn't have a $25 gift card, though.

By 4:45, I'm going crazy and call back again. This time, a guy answers the phone, "Thank you for calling Toys R Us, we haven't gotten Super Mario Galaxy in yet, this is Bill, how may I help you?" I decide to go down to Circuit City, since they're running a special on games under 20 bucks and I still need to get something for my niece for Christmas.

After finding a couple of games I think she'd like and eyeing the stack of Super Mario Galaxy boxes in the glass case, I call Toys R Us one last time. It's now 5:30. The operator answers and I ask for video games. He says, "Is this about Super Mario Galaxy?" I respond in the affirmative. He says, "We didn't get it in."

So not only was their ad a blatant lie, but they wasted my whole fucking day off when I could have been playing Super Mario Galaxy. Here's the silver lining, or karma, if you will. While the cashier was ringing up my games, he answered a call. His side of the conversation went like this: "Thanks for calling Circuit City, this is the software department. Yep, we've got plenty of them. It's $50." I don't doubt that he was talking to a disgruntled Toys R Us customer asking about Super Mario Galaxy.

Oh, and first impressions of SMG: Novel. Interesting. Tricky camera. Can't wait to play more.