Nathans is smoking crack
OK, I got good news and bad news. For those who don’t want to read the details, I will sum it up in one sentence: “Westbury Nathans suck, and Q-zar doesn’t”.
First, the bad news.
I went to speak to Nathan’s game operator/technician about our dilemma. As it turns out, it wasn’t him that decided to bring the machine back to 2 tokens, so I apologize for wrongly accusing him and making him sound like an idiot. The tech guy said that the machine was accidentally set to 1 token so he had to bring it back to 2. In addition, he said that he would be able to fix the sticks and buttons, but as far as lower it to 1 token and switching to another cabinets, I had to go and speak to their main manager Omar (whom I think also has some sort of ownership of the place). The tech guy was very understanding and agreed that the place overcharges for their games, but it wasn’t within his power to lower the credits for his only duty was to repair the machines, so I respected that.
Unfortunately, Omar wasn’t as understanding as the tech guy. I’m not going to quote him on exactly what he said because obviously I can’t remember them word-for-word, but I will duplicate the conversation to the best of my ability.
I approached him very formally and I told him: “Hi, my name is Syn and I am among a group of MvC2 players who plays the game almost everyday religiously at your establishment. I was wondering if you would do us a favor by…”
Omar interrupts: “If your want me to lower the game to 1 token then forget about it. That is one thing I’m definitely not going to do so it is completely out of the picture.”
Me: “OK, then if you’re going to charge 2 tokens for that game then could you bring in a bigger and nicer cabinet because charging us 2 tokens to play on it’s current cabinet is unjustifiable.”
Omar: “Do you know how much it’s going to cost me to get one of those big cabinets!? $6000!! Your friends can’t even put enough money in that machine (pointing at the current MvC2 cabinet) to convince me to get one of those. I won’t even make my money back in 2 years.”
Me: “Alright, then could you at the very least swap the cabinet to a better one (pointing to XmenSF cabinet) that no one even plays on?”
Omar chuckled: “No, I’m not going to do that.”
Realizing that it was futile to reason anymore with him, I said: “I’m sorry to hear that, because now we won’t be coming back anymore.”
Omar:"…"
An establishment is a reflection of it’s owner(s) and in this case it definitely shows. Omar strikes me as a greedy business man who doesn’t know the meaning of “customer satisfaction”, thus their machines are sub-par and overcharged. I’ve been going to that Nathans for over 10 years and throughout the years the machines gets crappier and their prices gets more expensive. As of today I will not spend another dime in that place.
Now the good news.
I remembered that Q-zar, which is not that far from Nathans, has a MvC2 machine so I decided to check it out. The last time I was there the machine had a few problems, such as: the damage is set high, the sticks are stiff, no sound, and the screen is dark. But the good part is that it’s only 1 quarter to continue (they don’t use tokens) and they have all the characters. The cabinet is not the large kind but is better then the one in Nathans. I spoke to the guy who was in charge of the establishment and his name is Justin. Justin was a total opposite of Omar. He listened to me with open ears as I explained about our situation. He even knew that Nathans once used to charge $1 for MvC2 and Jillians currently overcharges for CvS2, so I knew this guy has been doing his homework. He even mentioned that he was going to get in CvS2 and that he himself used to play StreetfighterII. I told him that there are a bunch of us in Long Island that’s trying to find a good spot to play those games, and now we’re looking for a new place to play MvC2. I said that it would be great is he can correct the problems that their MvC2 machine has. After hearing that, he immediately opened the machine and setted the damage and time back to normal. He even gave me 10 free credits :D. He told me that when he gets the chance, he will tell the technician to correct the other problems. I told him that after he gets the other problems corrected, I will bring a lot of people to his place and there will be people playing on that machine everyday. I’m telling you guys, if he gets that machine set up right, and get in a CvS2 machine, it will be THE spot in Long Island. Nuff respect to Justin.
Yeah, I know this post is long. But I’m sick and tired of playing on half-ass machines that are overpriced, and I’m going to fucking do something about it. If we all get together we can make something happen. Let’s go to Q-zar and show them that there are still a large mass of people that plays Capcom fighters.
I’m going to Nathans tonight at 9 to tell the others the news. As of now, I suggest that we either play at Q-zar or at someone else’s home (I can provide sticks). All I know is that Nathans suck.
Everyone have a enjoyable and safe July 4th.
