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Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:34 pm
by Potter
Perfectly said mando, And I wasnt really saying that YOU were lying, I just heard that someone told the story in a lot mroe exagerated way to peter, And I dont even think it was you. So sorry for any missunderstandings.

Re: Good Discussion..

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:35 pm
by Green Tea
Mando wrote:
This is what created the situation on this Thursday, as Casey wanted to use tokens, or be able to stay in the facility without having paid the cover. Unfortunately as stated above it is very difficult to monitor that kind of situation, and although one person is not going to kill us, what you allow one to do you have to allow all to do. Again it is a cover charge that has to be enforced accross the board. When I tried to explain this to him I was told that "we did not know how to do business and that this was bull shit" at which point I asked him to leave. I have no problem apologizing again, like I said this is a situation that can be frustrating to a customer who does not know how our Thursdays work, but lashing out was not the way to handle it. I am personally still open to potential ideas about ITG events, if anyone has any ideas or would like to come in and talk to us about them or this matter further please do so.

Have a good day, time to get some sleep! Lock outs until 5am tend to make you tired.

Mando
Completely understandable... I was not aware of the whole situation. I work at a restaurant and I know how ignorant people can get sometimes... (then again you have a much younger customer base which I'm 100% sure is worse for you :D.)

Keeping track of people for event such as the free play you described would be quite a difficult task. And I think it's awesome that you offer such a deal. I cannot agree more that allowing one person to use tokens could quite possibly create a mass chaos of tokens and wristbands.. and maybe some limbs. I'm sure you wouldn't want to go through the cost of a gaming card which is seen at many gameworks facilities... To outfit a single machine with that device I'm sure is not a cheap task. That would truly be the only solution to this problem, being to get cards which track number of tokens and special free play cards which are for thursdays.

These extreme measures are not expected to be taken either.... aparently the system you are on works... If someone has a problem with it, I believe they should come back another day. Or take advantage of the deal. Keeping an open mind about packages for ITG and events is very good and I just hope you don't lose that openness to the prospect. Seeing that I will most likely never be in the area, it doesn't directly affect me.... but still I think it'd be a good business move (in general) and would get even more little teenagers addicted to this game. I'm sure the lines for ITG are rather long on those thursdays :D so offering some sort of deal whenever could really encourage them to spend more money.

well I'm off to my second shift :/

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:47 pm
by Yume_Taira
Unfortunately, that wasn't the only incident. Luckily, the other had nothing to do with an IndyDDR member.

This is yet another reason not to take out frustration on the machines. Some guy (just a few minutes before I arrived) got angry at the ITG machine and kicked it, breaking the neon in the left lower area. Apparently, the police ended up picking him up from the place.

Also, I had mentioned the FPT thing on this very forum (Page 2) where the rounds get cut in half so more people can play. Free Play Thursday has been in place for quite a long time, and the rules have been simple: come in, pay the charge, and have free games all day. And the thing is, Thursday is the ONLY day it happens, meaning that someone with tokens can simply return another day and use them.

There's no reason for either party to be sore with one another. The customer simply needed to wait for another time to use them if s/he was unwilling to get the wristband, and the business must realize that (believe it or not) some people still don't know about this deal.

I guess my point is that we have to respect one another. Customers respect the business and their rules, and businesses respect the customers' wishes. That's the only way anything will happen.

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 11:26 pm
by CaseyDidder
I emailed Peter, we'll see what he says about the situation. It was rather rude of you to put a very undertold story for your favor on a board, when I didn't tell my side. People know how I am here, and know this isn't normal for me, which in turn means I'm actually serious about this.

The way you and your other employee acted was unacceptable. If it was seen by Peter, or any other boss of a buisness for that matter you probably wouldn't have a job at this moment.

Theres a situation going on at my work now where a unrespected employee is trying to get others fired so he can move up the ladder, and its been found out.

Lets see if Peter cares enough to respond. I'm starting to agree with Ho on this one though.

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 10:24 pm
by yamcha61
Yume_Taira wrote:Unfortunately, that wasn't the only incident. Luckily, the other had nothing to do with an IndyDDR member.

This is yet another reason not to take out frustration on the machines. Some guy (just a few minutes before I arrived) got angry at the ITG machine and kicked it, breaking the neon in the left lower area. Apparently, the police ended up picking him up from the place.
That was me. I had already had a bad day, then i decided to goto laserflash to...unwind, but the dumbass staff (not all) were being total DICKS. I told them that. So when I started to play I accidentally fell. At which time(stupid yes) I got up and kicked the machine. FYI to everyone- I didn't try to run or escape blame. I am paying for the light. But all and all the staff(not all) at laserflash are DICKS!

Also I agree with Casey here. The exact same thing happened to me on Thursday. I even offered to pay 2 dollars to play 2 songs just to try the machine, at which time I was "being unreasonable" and was asked to leave. Why couldn't he had just said no. Instead they throw me out. WTF!?

I have been going to laserflash for about 3 years now. And I have NEVER been respected in there, only ridiculed. This is why I'm going only to B and A from now on. Simply and only because of the staff.

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 11:53 pm
by CaseyDidder
lmao 2$ for 2 songs is unreasonable?

What kind of logic is that :shock:

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:14 am
by MonMotha
The policy on Thursdays is that everybody has to pay $20 no matter what. The manager on duty may not have been able to make the call to accept the $2 for 2 songs offer, though saying that the person making such an offer was acting "unreasonable", if that actually happened, is a bit...well, unreasonable. It's a fair offer, but of course the establishment has the option to decline.

$20 for unlimited play all day is a great deal if you want to play any laser tag. However, if all you want to do is play arcades, especially ITG, it's actually a REALLY BAD deal unless you actually plan on staying there all day. It would take almost 4.5 hours of straight play (assuming 2min/song + 30sec to select one) on a normal day to use up $20, assuming you don't fail anything.

Hence, I avoid "Free Play Thursdays", but that's my choice as a customer. I went there Thursday a while back, by accident, and was informed that I'd have to pay $20 to play. I simply stated that it wasn't worth it and turned around. The staff seemed awfully indignant that I'd turn down such an offer, but for me, it just wasn't a good deal.

It's a two way street. You can offer deals, but if people don't want to take you up on them, don't complain. It's your right to ask people to leave, of course, but don't go saying that a fair offer is "unreasonable", just decline it and be done.

Almost every time I've been to Laser Flash, I've been insulted in one way or another by the staff (mostly the same person, who I will not name). It's really not a good way to treat your customers. I showed up a few times when the ITG2 machine showed up (I had hoped to get a couple games in on my old learning machine too, before it disappeared, but oh well), but even the lure of a new machine isn't enough to get me to go back with any frequency. Sorry guys.

Final Official Word from Laser Flash

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 2:35 pm
by Peter
Thanks to everyone who took the time to post. I’m not real comfortable with posting on public forums so this will probably be my last. If you reply I likely will not see it. You are welcome to e-mail me at the address below or to call or to stop by and talk to me in person.

I personally know entertainment center operators around the country who will not put a DDR or ITG in their facility because they do not want to deal with the customers they attract. I hope it is obvious that I do not feel that way since I am the one who insisted that Shaffer Distributing go out and buy a brand new ITG as soon as I learned that Roxor Games was planning to release their own hardware. Shaffer readily agreed and have bought me an average of one new game every month for the past year and half. It would have been cheaper for Shaffer to leave a tired, worn out, DDR 3rd Mix that was already paid for and continue to collect their share of the revenue. But I wanted a new, nice looking, and properly functioning game. I believed Roxor in their claim that they had done the research and made improvements that DDR fans actually liked.

Shaffer needs to be able to pay for all these new games and they deserve a small profit on top of paying for the games. Shaffer set ITG at 4 tokens figuring new hardware is justification enough for a price increase. I compromised with them and lowered the price to 3 tokens. I have not told them that I increased the number of songs to 4. Not sure that was a good idea knowing how tiring and long the songs can be. You will have to let me know if it’s a good deal.

We all face frustrations every day. I know I am more likely to take offense at what someone says or the way they say it when I’m frustrated. I felt I had made an honest effort to provide a good quality and fair entertainment value. I was annoyed because I felt I was being blasted for my efforts. On top of that the ITG machine was damaged before it was a month old. I apologize for lashing out at this forum as a whole. I will consider ideas from any individual who cares to contact me.

I plan to sign off for good from here and to talk to my staff about treating customers with more respect. If we all guard against taking offense, or starting a conversation in anger, or calling names, I’m sure we can do even more for ITG fans at Laser Flash.

By the way, on Thursdays we have occasionally made exceptions for an individual that wants to play a single arcade game. When we are packed, as we usually are in the summer on a Thursday, it becomes more difficult to make those exceptions because I don’t want customers to feel like we are watching over their shoulder to make sure they only play the game they agreed to. More often than not, when I have made an exception in the past, that person ends up playing all the games even though they promised not to. I’m not talking just about ITG, this happens with customers of all ages and all interests. So now I’m reluctant to make those deals.

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 4:11 pm
by yamcha61
I would like to appologize to a member of the laserflash staff. I was in there last night, and he was at first disrespectful(in my eyes). Then after him and I had a conversation, he did a complete 360. He was respectful and even made sure his staff took care of my cousin. I just simply want to extend my gratitude to him. His name is Dan.

Apparently I had spoken too soon about the staff at laserflash. And for that I appologize. But that was only one staff member. Now if they all were to follow his lead the place could be a very fun place for everyone.

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 10:14 pm
by Yume_Taira
yamcha61 wrote: Then after him and I had a conversation, he did a complete 360.
Note: He would end up where he started with a 360. I think you meant 180.

On topic...4 songs for $.75 is a good deal, even if they are long and tiring. The machine is excellent, as is the game itself, in my opinion, despite some of its annoying hard songs (Fleadh Uncut Hard, this is for you.) The staff is usually rather nice to me, so I don't know why there's animosity towards the others.

Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 11:33 pm
by Green Tea
well a complete 360 could mean, in this sense, turned around.... if he did a 180, he'd be talking to his back and that'd be no good now would it?

:D

Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 4:02 pm
by WhiteDragon
I decided to go down to Laser Flash to kill some time today, since X-site is closed on Mondays. Well, I played one song, went to select my second song, and the machine rebooted. So, I got my money back, and went back over to the machine to watch it reboot. It loaded up linux and everything just fine, but when it got to the point where it was supposed to load ITG, instead it just gave a blank screen with a "Signal not detected: check signal connection" error message in the middle. It stayed like that for a bit, made some random jittery noises, and rebooted again. So, a long story short, the Laser Flash ITG2 machine is currently out of order until Shaffer gets around to fixing it.

Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 4:10 pm
by danc1005
(Huge Bump)

-Dan

P.S. Please no "If you think that's a huge bump, see..." posts, I was just pointing out the fact that this thread was in almost a year of dormancy.

Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 4:19 pm
by Ho
WhiteDragon wrote:I decided to go down to Laser Flash to kill some time today, since X-site is closed on Mondays.
You might like to know that X-Site is going to be open on Mondays this summer...though I believe they have shortened hours that day.

Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 4:27 pm
by WhiteDragon
Thanks, that is good to know. Unfortunately, said summer hours have not yet gone into effect, meaning no arcade for me today :cry: