Anyone who reads my blog, or Canadian business news, or shops there already knows that Blockbuster Canada is closing.  I’ve done a couple of posts already about losing my job, and the misrepresentation in the press etc.  This isn’t going to be one of those posts.  This one is going to be a bit more personal.

First off, I found out tonight that instead of closing Friday, our location is slated to close Wednesday night.  It burns me for my last couple of shifts, but really, there wasn’t enough business tonight to pay my wages, never mind rent, hydro et al.  So that’s okay.  That’s not what I’m writing about either.

Nope, it’s more personal than that.  What you may wonder could be more personal at work than losing your last two days wages?  I’ll gladly pretend you asked.  The truth is, it’s only indirectly personal for me.  It’s more personal for one of my customers.

This guy has been a lifelong customer.  He’s been renting movies at Blockbuster for as long as he can remember.  He hadn’t heard we are going out of businss..  Tonight, he came in to rent one of his favorite movies that he has seen a dozen times.  He looked at the bare shelves where it used to be, and started to cry.

This guy is five years old.  Walking over with his parents to get movies has been a big part of his life.  He doesn’t really understand the idea of rentals, so his parents always told him someone else had “borrowed” it if one was out.  To him, these were his movies.  Suddenly, his movies are all gone.  No wonder he was crying.

Blockbuster closing is going to put a big hole in his life.  Just like the one it will leave in so many peoples lives.  Like the one it will leave in my life.  But I’m not going to start to cry about it.  At least not until I finish this post.

Cheers, Winston