BEST BUY BRAINTREE SIGNING, ANOTHER OPINION
- 11/25/2008 (3:52:00 pm)
- Georgiann Makropoulos
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Hey Georgie...I just wanted to give a different take on the Best Buy signing this past Saturday, seeing how you have nothing but negative ones on the site...And Georgie, if you decide to post this email, please withhold my name and email address. PLEASE. There are a lot of people who were upset, and probably deservedly so, but I'd like to give the counterpoint to a couple of common elements that each writer touched upon. First, each of these fans, whether it was their fault or not (or the fault of public or private transportation), both posters admitted to arriving between 5 and 6pm for a scheduled 6pm start time. That, in itself, should be the telltale sign that these people did not want these autographs bad enough or they are extremely naive/uneducated in going to any wrestler autograph signing. As someone who has waited in hundreds of lines for countless wrestlers, it must be said that if you want someone's autograph, you can NEVER get to the event too early. Even the veteran that I am, I arrived to Best Buy on Saturday at 2:45pm and was STILL only #100 (approx) in that line. The guy who was FIRST in line arrived at 12:30...that's right, just after NOON for a 6pm signing. He was waiting for over 6 hours. He didn't arrive at 6pm looking for a hand-out: he showed that he is willing to do whatever it takes (including sacrificing other things that he might have had to do that day) to be someone who is guaranteed their spot in line. I am going on record, here: I don't work for Best Buy nor do I feel the need to defend them in any way, but anyone blaming the Best Buy staff for this should know these facts as I learned them throughout the day...One, if you read any post that Mickie, Kofi, and Punk were signing, on the web or in print, then you know that this signing was sponsored by Comcast Cable. While Best Buy has a working relationship with Comcast, they don't profit from having the WWE talent in their store. The 200+ people that were inside the line in the store for no less than 3 hours weren't really there to shop the store. The signing was FREE. The Best Buy management had to double their staff to accomodate the number of people in the facility...and made little to no profit while doubling the cost of doing business. Two, the "people inside the store were the only ones the management cared about" is a total crock...they didn't care about us...I only found out that the talent was late because of an accident from YOUR posts...Nobody inside the store kept us informed of when or IF they would even show up. When 6:30 rolled around, the people inside the store were clueless, and also left wondering if they were going to get an autograph AT ALL...and that was after waiting for 4-6 hours! And to defend the Best Buy employee that stated that 'usually only 200 people show up,' he was probably referring to the signings that Best Buy, itself, sponsors...for those types of signings, you must purchase a DVD or some piece of merchandise to even get in line. Obviously, the amount of people will dwindle for signings where money is involved. Those that are free will attract more. If you're ever unsure, call the store!! Get as much info as you can, first. 7:20 rolled around and I was finally at the front of the line...there were no posed photos, just the 3 talents signing one item each, and doing it very quickly as to accomodate as many people as they could in their alloted time. As I mentioned earlier, I was about #100 in line, and I got up to them in about 35-40 minutes...if one were to do the math, it could be shown that each person got about 20-30 seconds of time for 3 talents...so, if you divide 30 seconds by THREE, then Mickie, Punk, and Kofi each spent about 10 seconds with EACH fan...I wouldn't exactly call that "trying to screw everyone who was outside." They did what they could to make people happy...and no matter if they stayed until 10pm, SOMEONE would still be unhappy about it, I'm sure. Bottom line for future autograph seekers: If you want an autograph, PROVE that you REALLY want the autograph: Sacrifice your entire day for the event. If you show up at the time the signing is supposed to start, then you can only blame yourself that you didn't get what you came for...and even if you are the first person in line, just remember that ANYTHING can happen, so plan for the worst. I've been to signings for Ric Flair and even Kane where their flights were delayed or they were just coming from another signing 100 miles away. Even if you've waited for 4 or 5 hours, it can take longer than you expected, so try to assume that you won't even GET the autograph. I'm not trying to give a 'tough love' statement here, but a nickel's worth of free advice...the saying "the early bird gets the worm" didn't come about for no reason. And by the way, Kofi, Punk and Mickie were all very nice, even for the 30 seconds I had with them. |
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