Maybe they were young and needed the money

One of what they refer to as a "fringe benefit" of working in an adult oriented video store is that you get to experience little dramas and stresses that very rarely if ever would be witnessed anywhere else in mundane life. Some matters cannot help but get distilled and concentrated into incredible potency here.

Ever ponder the panoply of human response to the knowledge or discovery that a current or former lover has starred in a pornographic movie? It's a truly remarkable experience to behold. I have seen excitement and dread, pride and shame, joy and rage. Soap operas wish they conveyed such a range of emotion.

I recall one guy who came in because he simply couldn't resist owning a copy of a new release featuring his girlfriend. The guy was stoked. He couldn't wait to brag to me about how hot his girlfriend was and how much of a stud it made him feel knowing there were thousands of people lusting after her, and she was with him. I honestly wish them luck in future happiness.

I also remember one night a group of women came in. The ring-leader asked if we carried a particular movie by name and when told that we did, went straight to it. As they came back toward me, I could hear her telling her friends what it was like doing the shoot and pointing out the still frames of her on the cover. They set it up as a preview and scrutinized her performance like a sports team reviewing a recording of last week's game. I'm certain that anyone within hearing range of that group received quite an education as they savagely critiqued technique and tossed around variations, alternatives, and how to achieve specific outcomes the most efficiently.

However, there was also the night a man stormed in looking for specific title. We had it. He stalked over to where it waiting on the shelf, snatching it up and glaring at the cover. His next question was to ask how many copies of the movie were in existence. Since the production company who puts out that title is not unknown in the industry, I'd be surprised if they released less than a few thousand into circulation, if not million. Unsurprisingly, he absorbed that information with less than cheerful aplomb. I then became aware this lad had less than a handful of hours previous had discovered his girlfriend was in the movie in his hand. Pardon, I should say his yet to be informed ex-girlfriend. In the course of his fulminous tirade, it was discerned that he'd latched onto an extreme course of action to deal with this "disappointment" in his life. First, he was determined to acquire every last copy of the movie in order to suppress it ever existed. Next, he was going to find the crew and male talent involved and deliver a brutal beating or perhaps execution, he was a bit hazy on the desired outcome of this one. His concluding objective was to descend upon his unsuspecting ex with all the righteous outrage a man such as him could muster, throwing the movie in her face (perhaps literally), and putting her out of his house summarily. I shouldn't doubt that he probably embarked on a character assassination as pervasively as he was able amongst friends and associates.

Though in my experience it is the women getting it on in front of the camera, there have got to be plenty of men doing the same. I can imagine just how much more torrid the melt-down would be in the store with someone discovering their sweetie or buddy has done gay-for-pay.

Heavens forefend I should ever have to deal with a worst-case-scenario discovery moment in here. Passing entertainment is one thing, ducking bullets or broken furniture is another.