I have yet to kill a mockingbird
So, for the second time in the past two months, I got a call today from Blockbuster telling me that they are going to charge my account for the full price of a movie that I have rented that is too many days past the due date.

Problem is, BOTH times I have received this call I did NOT rent the movie they say I rented.

The first time it was Bourne Supremacy, or the other Bourne. I don't know. Some dumb movie I have never seen.

Today it was To Kill a Mockingbird. I watched this in highschool because I had to. They made us. Why would I watch it again now when I have to pay for it?

The first time I happened to be driving near my local Blockbuster when I got the automated call, so I stopped in to talk to someone about it. I called my parents to make sure they hadn't used my card on accident. They don't even have my card. I just wanted to cover all of my bases before I tried to explain to Young Blockbuster Employee (YBE) that I did not rent that movie, so I can't very well turn it back in.

He said he believed me and he took the charge off of my account. Problem solved.

Today after I got the automated call, I called the store and explained that I was about to be charged AGAIN for another movie I did not rent.

YBE put me on hold several times. He told me that yes, they show that To Kill a Mockingbird was rented on my account.

I asked him how that could be when I am the only person on my card, and I did not rent the movie. I told him all of the movies I have rented lately, and none of these movies include To Kill a Mockingbird.

I told him that I can't turn in a movie that I haven't rented, and I assured him that I HAD NOT RENTED IT, and I do not want to be charged for a movie that I did not rent.

He put me on hold.

When he came back he said that I would have to speak to a manager since YBE did not have the power to check in a movie that had not been turned in.

Really, I'm not asking him to do that. I am not asking him to check in an imaginary movie, or produce a movie out of thin air that would happen to be the movie in question. I'm just asking him to correct my account and not hold me responsible for turning in a movie I DO NOT HAVE.

Whoever has it can then turn in the movie, or pay the ridiculous amount of money for a really old movie if they want to keep it.

He then said the manager was out today and he would be at conferences tomorrow and that he doesn't work on weekends (talk about IMAGINARY, I think his MANAGER is imaginary!). So he said I would have to call back on Monday.

Meanwhile I'm paying like, $15 for To Kill a Mockingbird until all of this gets cleared up. And I don't even have the movie to show for it. To play by Blockbuster's rules, I should get to go to their store, find To Kill a Mockingbird on their shelf, and take it home with me without actually renting it.

I got the manager's name and I will call him on Monday. But really, Blockbuster. You need to come up with a better scheme to get rid of the movies you don't want anymore.

Try this: Bring in more copies of the good movies that people rent more often and that are never there when I go look for a good movie even though you "guarantee in stock" a lot of titles. Then when you get home, throw To Kill a Mockingbird away.

Don't make innocent people pay for it. Unless you want me to switch to Netflix.

C.T.