"Blockbuster requests that you rewind your DVD."

June 24, 2002 3:23 PM

"Blockbuster requests that you rewind your DVD." Why? What are you going to do? Fine me? [from Dumb Warnings, via Sore Eyes]
posted by feelinglistless (29 comments total)

Oh...my...god...
cannot...think...of...something...
witty...to...say
in...the...face...of...stupidity
posted by plemeljr at 3:31 PM on June 24, 2002

Rewound?
posted by muckster at 3:32 PM on June 24, 2002

:: winces every time he reads the word "rewinded" on the linked site ::
posted by rushmc at 3:45 PM on June 24, 2002

apocryphal.
posted by warhol at 3:48 PM on June 24, 2002

while stupid, i can understand how such a mistake could be made.

my theory is that some blockbuster mucky-muck watched a DVD on his PC or DVD player, and s/he happened to eject it and pop it back in, whereupon it started playing from where s/he left off (some do that).

obviously this is a software issue, and will not translate to the next renter's experience.
posted by o2b at 3:48 PM on June 24, 2002

rushmc: I feel your pain.

When's the last time you winded your watch? YOU DIDN'T, YOU WOUND YOUR WATCH!

*adjusts tie*
posted by Dark Messiah at 3:49 PM on June 24, 2002

I don't know Blockbuster's security policy, but it might be the sticker happens to be the security tag, and needs to be placed somewhere on the disc/box.
posted by John Shaft at 3:50 PM on June 24, 2002

Sorry...no way am I believing this one. I'm guessing the stickers are used as some sort of security sensor. But those BB responses are a load of bunk.
posted by mathis23 at 3:52 PM on June 24, 2002

I suspect that someone, perhaps buries deep inside of Blockbuster, is having a great laugh at the inabilities of others to get the joke.
posted by dws at 3:53 PM on June 24, 2002

I think the real stinger is that our friend asked as many people in the company as he could and none of them would hold their hands up and admit the error ... personally, I would have asked the clerk in the shop to show me how he would rewind the DVD ... this are the most successful video rental company people ... is it any wonder you can never find anything decent to watch ... oh, but they will have a 150 copies of 'Freddie Got Fingered' ...
posted by feelinglistless at 3:58 PM on June 24, 2002

i gotta call bullshit on this as well. i could see it happening, sure (there are many different possibilities as to how "rewind" verbiage might endup on a dvd package), but those blockbuster responses couldn't possibly be real.
posted by Hankins at 4:09 PM on June 24, 2002

No, it's true! I wrote to BlockBuster, myself. I asked them why DVDs have that sticker in an email and I have the reply right here! Copy and pasted:

---
FROM: BlockBuster
TO: whatnotever
SUBJECT: Re: Rewind DVD sticker
Were sorry 4 u, but u r dum, please rewind be kind kthxbye.
Love,
BlockBuster
---

Then I wrote back, all like, "So how do you rewind it? IT'S ROUND!!!"

And then I got a reply, but it was from different people!

---
FROM: BlockBuster Lawyers
TO: whatnotever
SUBJECT: CEESE AND DESIST
dear sir,
ur threataning emails must ceese immeditly becuz they r illglal. if u dont stop harassing us we will b forcd to seek legall actiun aganst u.
-BlockBuster Lawyers
---

So don't be so quick to dismiss this, guys!
posted by whatnotever at 4:10 PM on June 24, 2002

I rewinded all of my DVDs before I send them back to Blockbuster.

... Whoops never mind since I haven't ever rented a DVD from Blockbuster and I refuse too. Ballbuster is expensive and filled with a buch of minimum wage help that wouldn't know a good video if it bit them on the ass. I can now add stupid to the list of why I won't patronize them.
posted by MaddCutty at 4:22 PM on June 24, 2002

That's what we all get from living in the asylum. This truly started with those toothpick instructions...
posted by jkaczor at 4:23 PM on June 24, 2002

LOL, thank you whatnotever, I can now get off the computer for the evening, 'cause it's all downhill from here.
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 4:36 PM on June 24, 2002

jkaczor,

yeah, but at least the walls are a tasteful designer shade of pink, and the three-legged tables are nice, too.
posted by signal at 4:42 PM on June 24, 2002

ha, yea i used to work at blockbuster, the please rewind sticker conceals the magnetic security strip on vhs. there are special dvd ones that do not say rewind (and fit dvds of course) but you know, sometimes you run out of those, and use whatever you have... employees wouldn't really think of it because we just see those as security tags, "please rewind" is just a happy message. if you look at them they say something like, "if you damage this label you must purchase the video..." that perhaps should have clued the guy in... oh and the customer service dept. isn't run by 13 year olds either ;)
posted by rhyax at 4:55 PM on June 24, 2002

*quietly moving to the next rental chain with a stack of "be kind, rewind" stickers... *
posted by smcbride at 4:55 PM on June 24, 2002

I used to work at blockbuster... those stickers are, indeed, security tags -- rip one apart sometime and you'll see the telltale strip inside.
posted by ph00dz at 5:19 PM on June 24, 2002

I, too, think the responses from blockbuster look fake, but I have seen the 'please rewind me' stickers on dvds rented from Tower....
posted by andrewraff at 5:39 PM on June 24, 2002

whatnotever: kthxbye

:) Good stuff.
posted by Hankins at 6:47 PM on June 24, 2002

The first run of instruction stickers (that may of may not have also been for security) for the video store accross the road from my home included the phrase "Do not use panic button". Subsequent versions replaced this with "Do not use pause button". I preferred the first version.
posted by krisjohn at 8:01 PM on June 24, 2002

I don't believe it.
I can't *let* myself believe it.
posted by tiamat at 8:04 PM on June 24, 2002

Actually, after you rewind the DVD, make sure you put it in the case with the wound side up. That way there's less tension on the disc, which would risk snapping it in half when the DVD player starts. If you want to be really anal and have your DVDs last a long time, rewind them to a different point each time and store them flat.
posted by dhartung at 11:31 PM on June 24, 2002

And don't forget that DVDs sound better if you run a green marker around their edges first. =)
posted by GeekAnimator at 6:27 AM on June 25, 2002

And, for best picture clarity, keep your DVDs in the freezer to reduce quantum noise effects.
posted by straight at 7:48 AM on June 25, 2002

The first few DVD's we rented. . my wife asked if I'd rewound them, as I was taking them out of the player. . .

I'm not making this up.
posted by Danf at 9:43 AM on June 25, 2002

Having gotten over my bamboozlement at the linked warning, I took a random stab into the website found that my gob could be yet futher smacked by the instructions for a Flying Goku. I mean, "May pre house the seamy side volitation!!!"?
posted by MUD at 11:29 AM on June 25, 2002

Given that these stickers are security strips, couldn't they think of anything better than "be kind, rewind?" Like, say, hmmm....THE BLOCKBUSTER LOGO??
posted by Modem Ovary at 1:58 PM on June 25, 2002