As a resident of downtown Los Angeles, I’m no stranger to haggling and the cultures that influence it. Older Hispanic gentlemen will come in with their kids, carefully pick something out, try to get the price reduced, and when I won’t budge they’ll graciously purchase it anyway. The younger generation will just walk out. Koreans treat haggling the same way a rapist would operate; if it doesn’t succeed, you have to keep trying harder, repeatedly. The final attempt is always something along the lines of “I pay cash, you take off tax?”

Don’t even try this, please. I already have one letter from the IRS I haven’t had the balls to open yet, and that’s scary enough to encourage me to not break the law.

The oddest attempts at negotiating, however, recent came from a couple of cornfed white boys. They stood there near the PS2 case, waiting for me to walk past. They didn’t want to speak directly to me, they just stood there and stared at the wall until they sensed I was near.

“I GUESS WE’LL JUST HAVE TO KEEP LOOKING AROUND UNTIL WE FIND FATAL FRAME 2 FOR CHEAPER!” he exclaimed in a voice that might not have been, but almost certainly was, intended as some kind of play acting for my benefit. He then turned and stared straight at me, saying nothing further.

“Okay.” I finally said.

A long moment passed, then the man turned to look away from me so it was obvious that he couldn’t possibly be speaking to me. “THIS IS RIDICULOUS.”

Another long pause. More staring. Then they left. I didn’t feel it worth mentioning that I pay a pretty penny to bring in Fatal Frames 2 and 3 brand new.

Radical restructuring at the store! We’re contemplating removing the ceiling tiles and starting in on that steampunk theme Emil and I came up with last year. On the promotions side, those of you in the downtown Los Angeles area can look forward to a 10% discount when you pre-order with us. We’ll probably introduce the same deal to the webstore… when I finish the damn thing in the year 2014. Hey, I’m the only one updating the thing, so you get what you pay for.