I once flirted my way to a month and a half of free rentals at Blockbuster. A few years ago, they were having a promotional contest where, when you rented a movie, you got a scratch card where you could win free rentals. So I went in to rent something, got a scratch card, and I WON! Never won anything before in my life, so I jumped around all cute and squealed. And of course, the 17 year-old boys behind the counter got a kick out of that. So when I came to redeem my free movie, they gave me another scratch card. Shocking! Another winner! Came in to redeem, another card, another win. And so it went on for a month and a half. I finally asked after the third card what the deal was, and the guy admitted that every card was a winner. I didn’t point out the obvious that they shouldn’t be giving me a new scratch card after I redeemed the last one. I have a sneaking suspicion that they knew.

And then, all my free rental fun came to an end when the manager was working the counter when I checked out, and I asked, “Don’t I get another card?” And he replied, “Only if you pay to rent something,” then turned around and glared at the pack of 17 year-old boys. Poor boys.


And now, I think that the Blockbuster girl is starting to judge me. Since I began working on my wedding invitations, I’ve probably been in there 4 or 5 times to rent movies (I just pop in a video and get to cutting, gluing, and eyeletting—makes the time go by faster.)

Well, I went in last night, and the girl practically mouthed the words, “Nice social life.” It’s almost enough to make me want to join NetFlix just to avoid the shame.