The Great DVD Rip Off

I have always liked living on the edge of the law. I used to do things that could have landed me in jail if I would have gotten caught. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) somewhere along the way I settled down and became a mostly law-abiding citizen. But sometimes I still do naughty things... even though I haven't done anything underhanded for a long time. However, that changed yesterday when I ripped off a local music/video store that is going out of business. And I must say, I was pretty pleased with myself.

So, what underhanded deed did I do? Since this particular store, which shall remain nameless, is going out of business, they have all their stuff discounted from 10 - 50%. I found a DVD that I wanted really badly (The Three Amigos!), but it only had a 10% sticker on it. It had no barcode, just an old-fashioned price tag that indicated 22 Euros. This irritated me, because it is an old movie and there was no reason in the world that it should be that much. In addition, A. and I have a rule when it comes to DVDs: We do not spend more than 15 Euros on them. That meant that even with the 10% discount, the movie was still out of my price range.

At first I thought about switching stickers. (They had colored stickers, yellow for 10%... red for 50%) but I couldn't get a red sticker off anything else without mangling it and making it obvious that someone had messed with it. So, I thought about it and decided that since it didn't have a barcode maybe if I just ripped off the price tag I might get a better deal. So that is what I did. I ripped the price tag off and then went to the counter. I told the girl that the DVD had a dot (it did!), but no price tag. Could she tell me the price? After looking at the DVD, (she didn't even attempt to scan it or call the manager or anything) she announced that it must be a 12,99 movie. So, with the discount it would be 11,69, how did that suit me? I said it suited me just fine and bought the DVD.

Yep, I sure am pleased that I got my DVD cheaper and was sneaky and underhanded in the process. But on the same token since the store is going out of business, I'm sure they didn't really care at what price they sold the DVD, just as long as they got rid of it.