MY 360 EXPERIENCE

lollerhueg post on my Xbox360 experience below:

So it was the night before the Xbox360 comes out. I\'m reading many, many reports of gamers eagerly spending the night outside their favorite electronic store, awaiting the brand new Xbox360. I sigh. \"Why can\'t I get one of those?\" I wanted a Christmas gift. An Xbox360 is supposed to be my Christmas gift. \"OMG, shortages! Pre-orders can\'t be filled, etc. etc.!!!111\" was all I could think of. Dammit, I wanted an XBox360!!

A thought occurred to me. I remember the employee at the PX (Post eXchange, basically a Wal-Mart for military servicemen) saying \"I don\'t know if we\'ll get the 360 on Tuesday, but if we do you can\'t preorder them. It\'s first come, first serve.\"

So there was a chance they could have them on Tuesday, eh? I decided to give them a call.

One old, faulty phonebook and an updated website with the real number later, I was calling the PX. I didn\'t expect them to have any, but what the hell, right?

\"Hello?\"
\"Hi, can I speak to Electronics?\"
\"Ok, one moment\"
(12 moments later)
\"Electronics?\"
\"Hi, uh, I just wanted to know if you, uh, know if you\'re getting 360s for tomorrow or not?\"
\"Oh yeah, we got some in today.\"
(leaning forward in my seat, heartbeat throbbing)
\"O RLY?\"
\"Yeah.\"
\"How many are you guys getting, do you know?\"
\"Oh, we have between 20 and 30 systems.\"
\"Um, what time do you guys open again?\"
\"We open at 9am, but if you want one for sure, you\'re going to have to be here earlier in the morning. You gotta be here around 8am if you really want it.\"
\"Yeah, ok.\"
\"There\'s one guy who said he\'s gonna be here at 6am to wait for it.\"
\"Yeah, some people are doing some crazy stuff for this console...\"
\"Yeah.\"
\"So um, yeah, thanks! I\'ll be there!\"
\"Alright, no problem. See ya later.\"

THEY HAD 360S. AND ON OPENING DAY, TOO!

Of course, I had to work something out with my parents. We agreed that I\'d wake up and walk down to the PX and wait in line. Mom could give me a check for 400 dollars (because there\'s no tax at the PX ;)) and I would cash it, then use that to pay for the 360. \"Yes, I\'m getting a 360!!!\" I thought.

I went back to my bedroom and started surfing the web again, occasionally having an uncontrolled burst of excitement that caused me to raise my hands in the air and make school-girly sounds. (Yes, I am ashamed to admit this)

Then a thought hit me.
I don\'t have my ID Card. For the first time in my life I accidentally left my wallet at school.

Without my ID Card I couldn\'t cash a check.

I stood up to walk out of my room and immediately slumped to the floor. I just laid there on my stomach looking dead ahead. Why me? Why now? Why today? Karma? No, I\'m nice to people! I\'m not a jerk on Xbox Live! Of all days to ever forget my wallet anywhere, it had to be today! WHY!?!?!?!?!?

I told my parents about my predicament after about 3 long minutes of just laying there. My mom is a genius. She came up with the plan of me waiting in line, then having my Dad meet me there at 9am with a Credit Card to come pay for it. Of course! Why hadn\'t I thought of that?! Oh right, I was in shock, that\'s why.

So, I simply had to go to sleep and be there before 6am. My Dad told me that he had to leave early for PT (Physical Training, basically a PE class in the early morning for all Army servicemen) at 5:45am, and if I was ready to leave by then, he could drop me off at the PX. I told him I would try my best to be ready, and if I wasn\'t ready, then he could just go without me.

I set my alarm for 5:30am.

I woke up at 5:20. I got dressed (pre-planned what I was going to wear to be warm, plus I would save time in the morning) brushed my teeth, washed my face, did my hair, checked THX (The Hushed Casket. Yes, I do check the forums in the early morning. It\'s like crack.) for a couple seconds, then grabbed my pre-packed backpack and was ready to go. That was the fastest I was ready to leave the house since... ever!

My Dad pulled into the parking lot in the dark at 5:45. There was nobody by the door to the PX. I was first! w00t! There were two trucks in the parking lot, but I couldn\'t tell if there were people in them or not. I hopped out of our Jeep as I thanked my Dad profusely, zipping up my coat as I walked to the front door. I picked a nice spot to hunch down beside the door, and started waiting. I\'m #1.

It was quiet.

A garbage trucked rolled by.

There were quite a few cars driving on the road outside of the parking lot. Armymen get their day started early...

I thought I could see somebody move in one of the trucks...

A car drove into the parking lot, and rolled up by the curb where I was sitting. A lady rolled down her window and said \"You waiting for that video game console?\"

\"Yup!\" I said.
\"Hahah, of course! Ima be joining you in a minute! :)\"

She then drove away to get into a parking spot. Another lady hopped out of the truck that was already parked there. She was pulling on her coat as she walked toward me. She smiled and said, \"I know what you\'re here for! :D\"
\"Of course!\" I replied.

We had a little bit of small talk before the first lady appeared, and as soon as she did, the other truck door opened and a man started walking towards us.

\"Oh, you\'re trying to get in line before me, huh?\" the first lady had said.
\"Sure am!\" The man replied.
The lady still got in line before him...

We all talked a little while about how long we were waiting. The truck lady (#2) said she was waiting in her truck since 4:15am!! She wasn\'t going to come out here until she saw the first lady (#3) pull up and talk to me.

A red car pulled into the parking lot and parked. A man walked out and stood in line. #4

I turned to him and said \"Don\'t you work here?\"
\"Yes.\"
\"Oh, I knew I recognized you. I asked you on Sunday if you guys were going to get any 360s and you said you didn\'t know. You also said we couln\'t preorder, that\'s why we\'re standing out here right now :)\"
\"Oh, hey.\"

A thought hit me. He was quiet, so he wasn\'t going to volunteer any info, so I thought I\'d ask, \"Do you know how many systems you have?\"
\"24\"
\"24? How many of each kind?\"
\"We only got the Premium.\"
\"YES! Nobody wants an Xbox3Shitty anyway :)\"

(everyone laughs at how utterly clever I am)

So meanwhile, #3 called a friend of hers. \"They have Xbox\'s here! Yes, really! There\'s only five of us here! Ok, see you soon!\"

Within 10 minutes, another guy was pulling up. This guy was hardcore; he had been to so many places trying to get a 360. He recounted his experience with Target:
\"They constantly said they only had 10 consoles, and they were only the Core\'s. Customers said they saw a Premium, so I think the employees are letting themselves get an exclusive grab at it. I was #12, so I thought I could get one... People thought I was crazy for leaving, but now I\'m guaranteed a Premium! Awesome!\"

At around 6:15, an employee was nice enough to open up the front part of the PX for us. Not the main store, just the part with the foodcourt.

It was warm inside...

So from 6:20 to around 7:30, we all sat in the niiice warmth of the PX, smelling the smell of warm coffee and Cinnabons, pleasantly chatting about the 360, gaining a few more Queuer\'s, and talking about how AWESOME it is that the PX is selling Premiums, and how gooooooood we have it. My Dad stopped by after his PT and gave me some coffee (probably decaffinated, because I\'m tired as I type this), and #2 was nice enough to buy me a Cinnabon! It was a good Cinnibon that I enjoyed in the nice warmth of the PX. We had about 7 people around 7am, so I decided to start a ticket service. The people at the PX wouldn\'t do it, so we had to. I pulled out a piece of paper from my backpack and wrote 1-24 on it, and teared off the pieces. I handed them out to people in the order they came, and from then on, everyone who wanted a 360 was required to \"take a number.\"

Around 7:30 we got around 12 people. Still mostly older people. #3\'s son came (because she was holding his place in line for him). He was PREPARED for the 360. He bought an HDTV and surround sound just for it (he was 19 and had a job, btw).

Around 8am we had about 16 people. I just didn\'t keep track with anyone past the original 7 or 8. We were \"the core.\" They were all great people who were really nice.

From 8-8:15 the rest of the \"tickets\" were gone. A soccer Mom was the last person to grab a ticket. She came from absolutely nowhere and said \"Is this where you get the tickets?\" I replied, \"Umm, yeah. You\'re the last one!\"

I was done with my coffee. I was ready to get a 360.

At around 8:15 the manager of the PX came to the gate (that fenced off the lobby from the rest of the PX) and said, \"Ok everybody, we only have a certain amount of 360s! I want everyone to line up in front of the gate in a single-file line in the order you came in!\" I grinned. It took everyone only half a minute to get in line. That\'s fast. There were no arguments, there was no elbowing. I\'m such a genius! ;)

\"Ok, now I\'m going to hand out a blue ticket. When the store opens, head to the electronics section. Only after you give us a ticket can we present you with a 360!\"

So the \"core\" group chatted near the front of the line. I called my Dad and told him to get here ASAP. There was a little blood-pressure checker right there, so I went ahead and checked my pulse. 88bpm. It went up and down throughout the morning for sure.

My Dad arrived about 10 minutes before they would open up. My stomach was fluttering. I was about to get an Xbox360!!! My Dad wasn\'t actually standing by me, he said he would actually walk with me once the gate opens. I\'m sure he was trying to avoid all the people in our group who were going to fight for me and get me some playtime! He finally meandered over to me a couple minutes before the gate was to be opened. Before he could say anything to me, #2 said \"Daaaad, can he play just a little bit?\" The others joined in, \"Come on, just for a little while.\" \"He\'s been waiting all morning!\" \"He\'s such a great guy!\" \"He had good grades in school!\" (Yes, I had plenty of time to explain to everyone that I was only getting this Xbox360 to make sure I would have one under the tree; I\'m not allowed to touch it til then). My Dad wouldn\'t budge. \"Nope!\" he said. \"He\'s not gonna open it til Christmas!\"

The manager came to the front gate 10 minutes later. She picked up the phone and her voice came on over the intercom, \"Welcome to the Post Exchange everyone, we are now opening!\"

The gate opened, veeeery very slowly. For a few minutes (well, it was really seconds, but it felt like minutes) I considered just ducking under it and heading to the Electronics section. Instead I waited. Forever.

Maybe longer.

The gate was above my head, and I started walking alongside my Dad. We have a faster pace than most people, so we simply stayed ahead of everyone. As we approached Electronics, a lady directed me to start a line at a certain spot. Everyone else kinda looped around behind me.

A 360 was brought out to me. My Dad walked up to the cash registers and started the payment process. I walked forward with my Xbox, raised it above my head while facing the crowd, and said, \"Yess!!\"

Everyone applauded, and I even heard a couple whistles! I was soooo happy.

The 360 was bagged, and I walked out the store.

First person there, first person to walk away.

Premium secured :razz:

If you actually read this to the end, thanks! Hope you enjoyed its lollerhuegness. I\'ll update it with pics. Not of me actually being there, but with me and the 360. Maybe. If my parents let me take pictures with the box...