Star Tech Journal

LOCATION FUN
Bill Johnston
Johnston's General Store
Buffalo, New York
SCENERIO
So the guy is young and has a sub joint in a
poor part of town, and we stick a Kyros in a
Galaxian in there... a title which usually
opens at $140 gross/wk but pulls a respect-
able $50 in this spot. The guy's food is good,
but ... Our collection mid-August was ok,
and with those bucks he's a quarterly stop or
at least every other month.
ACT ONE
So we check back at the early October run
and find a "For Rent" sign in the window with
no signs of life ... Phone call to the guy's home
gives an out-of-service recording. Phone call
to the landlord's house gives out-of-service
recording! So I leave a note in the landlord's
mailbox to call me, and I go to leave a note at
this guy's house to call me, but the place is
vacant. ..
ACTTWO
Phoning my last number on the contract, I
touch base with his mother-in-law who says
he's been closed for amonth ... I check infor-
mation for new numbers and get a correct
number for the landlord who's on an an-
swering machine, so I leave a couple of
messages but no results. Repeated calls to
the mother-in-law bring no response from
him -he has no phone -no we won't give
you his number -he's in the hospital with
his wife and the new baby -etc.
FINALE
This drags on all week until today, when
finally the landlord who doesn't really live
there but uses the house for a mail drop,
shows up to check his messages and calls
us ... So we scoot over in less than an hour to
meet him (overcoming a flat tire on the van
and falling back on our trusty Suburban to
get us across town for a game pickup). Slide
the two-wheeler under the front of the game,
tip it, pull it away from the wall. .. and you
guessed the rest-the back door falls off and
it's missing metered plays of $35 in coin ...
CONCLUSION
~
Beat again by a ripoff. No phone should have
been the red flag tipoff to amateur business
hour for Kev's Subs, but how often have I
ignored the obvious warning signs to give a
joint a shot at making money and come away
burned. When I tell this tale to my local
vendor buddies, out come the tales of games
held in captivity even today by landlords who
are mad at tenants they've locked out for
non-payment of rent. What a waste.
LESSON
At least my location contract has blanks for
the building owner's name-address-phone
so I have somewhere to go. but the next
contract? I'm looking at the drivers license.
and I'm calling the building owner. and I'm
verifying emergency phone numbers and
addresses. I might even go over to the guy's
house, and his business better have a
phone. Every business barrel has that rotten
apple somewhere.
~