Vividly remember selling and playing the original XCom. Such an addictive game. Very popular where I lived, with, the more .. sophisticated players. Considered one of the best games of its time and I played most of them back then due to we were allowed to take everything in the store home 'for testing'.
Employees would then bring the games back to work (or maybe a huge program like Microsoft's Professional Developer for BASIC ... *whistle* <3) , have them inspected for that 'still new' appearance, and, were given the duty of re-shrinkwrapping and re-shelving them as new.
I could go through a new game, even a game like XCom or Wizardry or Ultima or Pirates! <3 in a week or less. I usually 'checked out' a new game every 1-3 days on average (titles came out fast then so I had plenty) - depending on how long it took to complete and whether it was even worth (imo ofc...) completing.
Christmas was hands-down my favorite time of the year because I really liked helping people pick out a game that I felt pretty sure they would have fun with. I was the *only* person at our store that liked working during Christmas, of course.. I was real lucky in that job due to, mostly, I was allowed to BS with people about games...all day. And read gaming magazines. Hands down my most favorite job of all time. Far from the ...fanciest.. (the pay sucked too) but it is definitely my favorite.
Good Times : ) Fun game. I bet the newer flavors are fun too.
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P.S.
Yes, I realize the above is super duper wrong and should never have happened. LUCKY ME! I could never have afforded to play all of those games, otherwise. And I could never have sold so many of them, otherwise, either. I was the guy to go to when you wanted a new game for yourself or someone else and every game wasn't fun for everyone (except usually me) so I could usually find a person (read: male - there were never any females in our store except one ex-marine who I built gaming machines for : D *wave*) for *every* game and visa versa. If it was buggy and/or frustrating I'd tell people that, too.
The business in mention, above, which was a normally really honest business in the Midwest.., has been out of business, since decades. Since not long after I left them. I'm not sure if we were ever the largest game reseller in the country but I know we were in the top 3.
My punishment for this wrongdoing was... Neverwinter online.. I literally spent every spare penny I had after bills on this game. They charged by the minute and I had bills from them that were .. very high for the amount of money I made.
I really believe that what goes around comes around and me and that company did do wrong. We lost everything in the process : ) So I guess it all worked out.