Boosted52405

On 6/5/2022 at 2:17 PM, darkchylde28 said:

I think you're mixing two slightly different concepts there.  I disagree that the lack of motivation in actually, truly helping a customer has anything at all to do with what generation someone was born into.  I do agree that it has a lot to do with how shitty and cut throat businesses are these days. 

Yep my point generation-wise was that businesses are run quite a bit different than they were in prior generations.  Technology has a huge part to do with it, along with the exhaustive competition.  There definitely is more of a quantity versus quality trend that de-prioritizes customer experience.

But...regarding younger generations, I do truly feel that technology has burdened them from a social and personal development perspective.  I've seen kids that are so addicted to technology that they struggle incredibly in speaking to people face-to-face (and have severe focus issues).

Here is an article from several years ago suggesting the same...

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/15/social-media-making-millennials-less-social-study.html

This article also touches on a trend of isolation and loneliness with younger generations compared to prior, essentially due to technology (but notes other factors too):

https://www.addictioncenter.com/news/2019/08/gen-z-loneliest-generation/

If we consider things of this nature generationally, and the resulting impact to personal development and areas such as mental health, I feel it notably carries over to the workforce.  Combine this with cut throat business practices and the customer experience is definitely impacted.

More importantly, I worry about the impacts of technology on younger generations long-term...  

I've found the older I get the realization that a massive percentage (90%+) of the workforce out there, care very very little about their performance on the job, or providing patience/care/comfort to customers.  It seems to be rare to connect with a worker or representative that actually will take the time to take care of you.

I think this is a generational thing sadly, with every business and practice out there being so cut throat just to survive.  Customers are just beans being counted sort of thing.  Workers tend to be more checklist and task driven with the relentless pursuit of pushing volume and meeting quotas.  Automations and software are pushed to handle more than ever, taking out the human employee involvement. 

It's f**king sad that the majority of store checkouts are now "self-checkouts", as an example.  Another is with calling almost any company or store and being straight victimized by automated receptionists (some are brutally inefficient).

My Mom complains constantly about her experiences and I remind her that it's a different generation these days, businesses are simply not run like the were in the "good ol' days" where every business wasn't exhaustively competitive and actually cared about customer relations.

I would encourage everyone to severely lower their expectations with customer support these days.

Just my 2 cents on the matter.

Never tried a Roku stick device, but I have like 4 Fire sticks in the house.  They all rock IMO, been overly pleased.  But they do stay on in sleep mode or something...

Have several Roku devices however (not sticks) and overall been very happy too.  But I've had to restart those way more times than a Fire stick.  Just sayin'

Bump to share feedback of a solid deal with this fella.  Games arrived promptly.

On 10/5/2021 at 8:47 AM, BreaKBeatZ said:

Using a car as an example again, many people bought used 2001 Honda S2000s in 2010 for around $12,000 because they wanted to drive the cars. Now that car has become collectible and sells for around $27,000, and sellers have to pay capital gains taxes on the $15,000 profit. That is the situation many of us are in with video games. 

On 4/18/2022 at 12:50 PM, MrWunderful said:

No dinner, no kisses. Just face down in the back seat of a dirty 92’ civic hatchback and kicked to the Curb. 

I'm diggin the Honda references fellas 

What's up VGSers, I stepped away from the buy/sell aspect of the hobby around 3Q 2021 to sell and buy a house.  I am now cracking open my fallout shelter vault to see the daylight on VGS and am shocked by this tax change. 

Thanks to @Bostonitalian88 for the heads up as I was planning sell some stuff soon.  Might as well climb back down the vault ladder and lock the door, this is absolutely crazy.

Games found

huh

On 8/26/2021 at 2:08 AM, SilverspoonGaming said:

I wish I could but they try so hard on Parks and just dont tickle my funny bone.

As a newfound P&R fan, I'll just note that clip wasn't that funny to me either lol.  However, the show does grow on you pretty strong if not compared to the office (even S1 wasn't that bad imo).  There are some really great moments on P&R (and some that are a bit forced).  I think the little things with P&R are done brilliantly, similar to another show I really enjoyed - Superstore.

Comparing Office to P&R, I'm finding so far they are pretty head to head and stupidly similar in layout/execution.

On 8/25/2021 at 10:46 PM, Aguy said:

Mark. The only context I had to your post was the thread title and I knew exactly who you were talking about. 

Edit: Mark Brendanawicz as played by Paul Schneider. Good actor, bad role.

Oh gosh how did I forget about that guy!  He was a fairly involved character in season 1 now that I recall, that flew right over my head when S2 rolled around

So I feel the need to bring this back up.  I reported previously how I could not watch P&R directly after finishing the Office series.  With a year or two in between now, I'm finally giving P&R a fair go and have to say I am loving it.  On season 4 now.

At first it threw me off with Rashida Jones being in both shows, but her character is much more in depth/involved on P&R - she comes off similar to Jim from the office, for some reason to me I cannot explain.

Nick Offerman is the f***ing man, well at least Ron Swanson is lol.  It's genius how uninvolved he is in the main story of each episode, yet he kills it every time he appears.

Leslie is 1000x more relatable, yet close to as funny, as Michael Scott.  I still loved him in the office tho.

Tom is quite the enjoyable character as well, but for some reason I cannot get enough of April's f***-it attitude.

Mid-S4 it's still weird seeing Chris Pratt as...well Andy.

In re-reading the comments here, now I'm left wondering who the "boring Jim clone playing the straight man" is from season 1 @Reed Rothchild

Very solid show.

Last day for sales for a good while!

bump - sales closing end of day Friday for forseeable future

On 8/9/2021 at 6:27 PM, captmorgandrinker said:

Actually, through the magic of seeing post edits, it appears the one Boosted had was created by someone else?  I thought there was just the one.

@captmorgandrinker@Tanooki

just seeing this...i have no idea the background/drama/different versions for the Fix-it-Felix.  This one was definitely bought on NA many many years ago, I'm thinking user dragoon perhaps?  Trying to recall, it was almost certainly one of those groupish buys with lists of buyers back on NA.  Not official, nor am i aware of an official version...

Any helpful info on my copy versus others would be great so I can speak on it for a potential future sale.

Bump

Congrats to the winners!!! @MiamiSlice@captmorgandrinker@spacepup@Jeevan@TDIRunner

Winning Bids:

1  - $10 MiamiSlice

2 - $41 captmorgandrinker

3 - $18 spacepup

4 - $10 MiamiSlice

5 - $1 Jeevan

6 - $10 MiamiSlice

7 - $5 TDIRunner

8 - $30 MiamiSlice

9 - $8 spacepup

10 - $10 Jeevan

Thank you all for the bids so far, these auctions end tonight at 8pm CST / 9pm EST!!!

Hey guys - years ago I sold and bought on eBay like no one's business, have 1000+ feedback score I believe, but haven't touched ebay in years.  I'd like to sell some NIB Amiibos and maybe some other things and just wondering if you guys could toss me some quick 2021 tips, if that makes sense.  Any new scammer tricks to worry about when listing?

For my Amiibos, they do have a tiny bit of shelf wear so will be sure to disclose that.  Not shipping overseas either, or partaking in their global program if that's still a thing.

Are ebay collections still high, like 12% of each sale?  Is it correct they no longer work thru Paypal?

Lol, I'm guessing I haven't sold on there since ~2015ish so any thoughts would be awesome.  Thanks!

7 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

Right, so vaccines have become political, and not just in the get vaccinated or not sense.

Let's have a goo, shall we?

The WHO currently approves these vaccines:

As of 3 June 2021, WHO has evaluated that the following vaccines against COVID-19 have met the necessary criteria for safety and efficacy:

AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine

Johnson and Johnson

Moderna

Pfizer/BionTech

Sinopharm

Sinovac

As seen from their website:

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/covid-19-vaccines/advice

Broadway initially only allowed patrons with Moderna/Pfizer/J&J(?) to attend, before eventually opening up to AZ folks too. It's all being drawn up on political lines, banning literally half the world from attending such events, despite also being vaccinated (by approved WHO vaccines).

People are dropping like flies, everywhere, but with such policies as the one I outlined earlier, many folks don't want to get the China-made jabs, or AZ. Why? Because they realise that there's little "vaccine power" in such jabs, they will still be barred from normal activities abroad in places like the USA, which has been highlighted right out of the gate, from the Broadway incident. Due to this, people would rather take their chances and wait for a "powerful" vaccine than receive a "weak" one, despite the risk of death or sickness to themselves or others around them. 

So yeah, it's definitely so much more than just two groups of people, vaccinated and unvaccinated, we're turning it into an international thing, dare I even say a class* issue? 

*In many parts of the world, the rich will travel to the USA for Moderna vax, whereas the rest of the population will receive what the country manages to scrape up, AZ, China Vax, Russian Vax, etc...

 

Except that in your linked example, they changed their stance and allowed WHO approved vaccinations.  Think positive on this front.  This whole process has evolved rapidly since day 1.  I imagine future events/protocols will also follow similarly as this continues to evolve.

And yes, of course, when you're dealing with ANYTHING international it will be deeply strung with politics - no avoiding that.  Even the act of creating the various vaccines has been a political nightmare.  I don't think there will be an international solution in that respect with what you're encountering.

Bump

42 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

It is impossible to address the question you asked me, until it truly does become a matter of vaccinated vs unvaccinated. For example:

https://deadline.com/2021/06/springsteen-on-broadway-astrazeneca-policy-reverse-vaccine-international-fans-1234778394/

Although the policy was eventually reversed, initially a large portion of vaccinated people from Canada a d Europe would have been unable to attend this show. I've also seen reports where some vaccines are accepted by some places, but only from certain batches (another example with AZ, where the batches made in India are thus far not accepted by many places).

Although the percentages of death or permanent damage from one of the vaccines is miniscule, in Taiwan I have numerous friends who don't want to get the AstraZenica vaccine for several reasons:

A. Risk

B. Not accepted various places (see what I mentioned about the initial Broadway stunt, the India batches, etc)

C. It seems that (Asian) people have been having much more severe side effects to the vaccines

D. Covid 19 is not very serious here

This makes it a very hard sell. People would rather not get vaccinated, or wait until the vaccine of their choosing becomes available, all the while putting themselves and everyone else at risk.

So yes, there definitely is a situation going on regarding brands, it's not simply a vaccinated or non vaccinated thing. 

Hell, because I live in Taiwan and got AstraZenica, if more companies/places in the States don't recognise it as an acceptable vaccine (which it is), then I'll either have to get double vaccinated or be unable to attend certain functions, with my family, whenever I visit. How dumb is that?

I think that handling of the event seems mostly reasonable - they are only accepting adults vaccinated with an "FDA or WHO authorized vaccine".

My concern would be this, however:

"The only exception, the policy states, will be for children under the age of 16, or those who need reasonable accommodations due to a disability or sincerely held religious beliefs."

I do think the branding is more of a concern in your location versus the states, at least from what I see day to day it's basically vaccinated or unvaccinated (with the 3 FDA approved ones).  As appropriate tho, they opened up the inclusion of AZ so that will likely be followed for future events modeled similarly.

There will ALWAYS be the people who fight all this though, so not sure anyone knows how to combat.  People will figure out a way to fake their vaccination cards (some already have), and unvaccinated people will still go into public places unmasked even when the establishment or their goverment requires it - because no one enforces anything. 

Some act like their "freedom" = entitlement to put innocent bystanders in an uncomfortable state by not following requested guidelines.  Not much beats wearing a mask with an unmasked person coughing right behind you, when they're supposed to be 6 feet away and wearing a mask.

12 hours ago, Renmauzo said:

It's certainly reasonable to be adamant that people not go in a particular room or rooms while away and I would be inclined to do just that, but I firmly believe that artificial barriers like locks, cameras and the like - within the home - send the wrong message about trust to children whom I would expect to trust me.

To say that this topic has nothing to do with trust or whom a child would surround themselves with is an odd assertion to me. Risk management, yes, but in my eyes, that has just as much to do with the risk of losing the trust between parent and child as it does the risk of losing material goods. I'm paraphrasing here, but hasn't something to the effect of "Treat someone like a criminal, don't be surprised if they become one" been said? All that said, I get that we're more so talking about friends of our kids or friends of friends who we've had no hand in raising, but this ties back to a trust in our kids and who they choose to associate with and the trust we have in their ability to manage people in their lives with the tools we've given them.

I went to a ton of parties and had some as well. When hosting, I made my position clear what was out of bounds (literally and figuratively) and the odd time I was challenged with that classic "How are your folks gonna know?", I would just say "But I would."; my mother used to tell me, "I'll always trust what you say and do completely unless you give me a reason not to.".

Teenagers certainly make poor choices as do we from time to time, and we help them learn just as you say, but when given the chance to show it, they often times make the right ones too.

At any rate, this is just the way I see things. That said, I think it'll be really interesting to see how we all make out at raising this next generation!

The idea in concept is not far removed from the concept of locking up your guns.  Risk Management is a great way to look at it versus the psychological aspect presented.  I'd take it a step further and associate it to societal restrictions, such as requiring a seat belt, or being 16 to get a drivers license, 21 to drink, 18 to gamble etc.  I really don't think there is loss of trust with any of the above, including locking up pricey or unsafe possessions like jewelry, guns, money, and so forth.

15 hours ago, Renmauzo said:

For both game rooms, I've conditioned my kids to respect those spaces: being careful with the games, putting things away when not in use (like controllers, etc.), dusting and things like this. It's now to the point where the kids remind their friends to respect the spaces and things in them when they come over, and everything is always good (watching a new generation being introduced to arcade machines is great!).

Trust and honest, open conversation. Trust that your kids will make mistakes, but also that they will invariably do the right thing, choose to surround themselves with good people, and that you raised them to be good people.

In my eyes, the potential loss of a few games is not worth showing a lack of trust in my kids and putting up artificial barriers for them that would put that lack of trust in their judgement (including who they choose to surround themselves with) on display.

On the absolute flip side, kids also look up to their parents tremendously.  Let's say a parent has a full NES set and is quite passionate about their collection and gaming - it's inevitable that the children are going to start to pick up on the the obscureness/rarity/value of the items.  Odds are the parent will attempt to get their kids into the hobby too.  Furthermore, odds are they are going to brag to their friends about it.  Yeah you can see where it could quickly become problematic with friends of kids running thru the house.

Here is a mild example:

Son - "Dude, here it is, quick check it out before my Dad gets home."

Friend - "Oh, this is the Stadium Events game you talked about.  Looks soooo boring from the back of the box, why is it worth so much?!?" 

Son - "Idk, let's open it and see what the game looks like...shit the cardboard ripped a little my Dad will kill me!!!!"  ***quickly puts the game back with hopes Dad never finds out***

14 hours ago, fcgamer said:

If you read my earlier post again, my issue stems from the fact that different countries / areas will accept different vaccines as a requirement, and let's not forget that these will be political in nature too.

Let's think seriously for a second about restaurants. Let's have Monday nights be Pfizer night, Tuesdays be AstraZenica night, Wednesdays are Moderna night, Thursdays sputnik night, etc. Doesn't that sound nice and ignorant? It sure does to me.

Or we can consider the Taiwanense made vaccine, which is coming out soon. People here already don't feel comfortable getting vaccinated fill stop, how long until that vaccine gets recognition from major countries? Yet if it's safe and works, it could save lives - yet if no one can travel with it, who would be willing to get it? See the problem?

Getting vaccinated *shouldn't* be like purchasing a suit, yet that's essentially what it's become, and vaccine passports will just make things even worse.

I simply asked what ideas you had to help the situation, not to debate about a vaccine passport.  Also, not sure why you're dividing them up by brand at this point, I believe the general statuses would be "vaccinated" and "unvaccinated".

11 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

Vaccine passports suck, unless countries agree to put politics aside when designing it (which isn't going to happen, btw).

Take that situation a few months back when Broadway initially wouldn't allow fully vaccinated folks who had the AZ vaccine to attend shows... basically banning everyone from England, Taiwan, many Canadians, etc from attending...and AZ is great compared to the made in China vaccines that folks in South America are getting.

Vaccine passports therefore promote the concept that some vaccines are better than others, that not all vaccines are created equal. This creates a lot of problems, and adds fuel to the fire for the arguments not not wanting to get vaccinated.

Well if there is going to be a significant portion of society not getting vaccinated nor wearing masks, how would you propose to combat it? 

Should all of the vaccinated people just go back to masks and deal with it?  Seems hella counter-productive.