Crime and D&D
So I went down to the FLGS for the midnight release. I waited until 11:30 to go down and that was still probably too early. It was a handful of desultory regulars. Not much of a "party" but so it goes. When I first walked in one of the customers was having an in depth discussion with the owner about the history behind Vampire the Masquerade. (A live action role-playing game where you take on the role of a Vampire. I don't go anywhere near it.) They were discussing how many antediluvians there were (13 if you're curious) and whether they were Cain's grandsons or great-grandsons. Fascinating stuff, to be sure.
Still it was good I went down otherwise I would have missed the excitement. There were a couple of young kids there (say between 19-21, and yes it makes me feel old that that's where the "young kid" mark is for me now). Well of course being shiftless gaming geeks they didn't have a car so they had to take TRAX home, but the last TRAX train came at 11:41 which meant that they'd either have to walk home, convince the shopkeeper to let them take the books 20 minutes early or go without. Well they actually jokingly said that they were going to grab a copy and make a run for it. I guess I should correct that, I thought they were joking, but they weren't. So when the time came where they had to leave they grabbed a boxed set and took off.
I should mention that they had pre-paid for this boxed set, so it wasn't theft in the classic sense. But you wouldn't know that to look at the owner. He went ape-shit. (excuse my french) He sent one of the other regulars who was a security guard (a 300 lb security guard, but I try not to judge...) after them. The dude actually squealed his tires... Well he caught up with them at the TRAX stop, and managed to get the books back. When he returned, he relayed that the kids wanted their money back. The whole time this was going on the Owner was ranting about how much trouble he could get into if the books left his store before Midnight, and how it was stealing and he could call the police.
Now I think the kids could have been smoother about it, and the store owner claimed that, maybe, if they had talked to him... (A claim I doubt.) He might have figured something out. But by the end, to be honest I was kind of on the kid's side. If the owner thinks the Wizards would really care that the books left his store at 11:40 rather than 12:00 or that anyone would care, I think he's delusional. There is a certain sub-species of nerd that gets really worked up about strict obedience to the law. I'm not quite sure of the process for how it happens, or why it should afflict geeks disproportionately, but I've met a lot of them who are just absolutely inflexible on the tiniest rules.
Anyway I don't know, I mean obviously it was a bone-headed move to just grab the books and run. But I think the cops would have been very amused or very annoyed had they actually been called in on it.
Still reading, I'll give you my capsule review later
Still it was good I went down otherwise I would have missed the excitement. There were a couple of young kids there (say between 19-21, and yes it makes me feel old that that's where the "young kid" mark is for me now). Well of course being shiftless gaming geeks they didn't have a car so they had to take TRAX home, but the last TRAX train came at 11:41 which meant that they'd either have to walk home, convince the shopkeeper to let them take the books 20 minutes early or go without. Well they actually jokingly said that they were going to grab a copy and make a run for it. I guess I should correct that, I thought they were joking, but they weren't. So when the time came where they had to leave they grabbed a boxed set and took off.
I should mention that they had pre-paid for this boxed set, so it wasn't theft in the classic sense. But you wouldn't know that to look at the owner. He went ape-shit. (excuse my french) He sent one of the other regulars who was a security guard (a 300 lb security guard, but I try not to judge...) after them. The dude actually squealed his tires... Well he caught up with them at the TRAX stop, and managed to get the books back. When he returned, he relayed that the kids wanted their money back. The whole time this was going on the Owner was ranting about how much trouble he could get into if the books left his store before Midnight, and how it was stealing and he could call the police.
Now I think the kids could have been smoother about it, and the store owner claimed that, maybe, if they had talked to him... (A claim I doubt.) He might have figured something out. But by the end, to be honest I was kind of on the kid's side. If the owner thinks the Wizards would really care that the books left his store at 11:40 rather than 12:00 or that anyone would care, I think he's delusional. There is a certain sub-species of nerd that gets really worked up about strict obedience to the law. I'm not quite sure of the process for how it happens, or why it should afflict geeks disproportionately, but I've met a lot of them who are just absolutely inflexible on the tiniest rules.
Anyway I don't know, I mean obviously it was a bone-headed move to just grab the books and run. But I think the cops would have been very amused or very annoyed had they actually been called in on it.
Still reading, I'll give you my capsule review later
posted by DireKobold at 3:37 PM
1 Comments:
An interesting predicament where everyone everyone is in the wrong to some degree.
Post a Comment
<< Home