Video EZY

Anyone else spent most of their Saturday evenings at Video Ezy when they were a kid? 

Saturday nights at home were always the best. 

We'd order pizza, then on the way to pick it up, we'd swing by Video Ezy. We'd usually get a weekly and then one or two new releases. Incredible. 

I can't wait to tell my kids about what Video Ezy was. Better yet, my grandkids! I can't wait to yell at them: "You don't know how good you have it!" as they scroll through what I assume will be Netflix with an inbuilt AI that acts exactly like a virtual Video Ezy. 

I loved TV so much, so these times were always so exciting. 

I knew about all the latest movies. I'd researched them on IMDB before we went to the store, so I already knew exactly which one I would get. 

I loved the whole process, from the excitement of going in, to the process of finding and choosing the right movie, to the arguments about what we would get, to finally sitting down and watching it. 

The process of finding the right movie was so fun. 

You'd walk through the new releases scanning for the ones you were allowed to watch. Flipping the DVD's over so you could read the synopsis on the back. 

Whenever I felt brave enough, I'd flip the cover over on the MA15+ or the R18 movies and freak myself out. I remember I had nightmares just from what I saw on the back cover of the Saw Movie covers. 

I remember when Video Ezy made the switch from videos to DVDs. It was mayhem at our house. We didn't have a DVD player for a while. So for a few months, we were stuck watching the same movies, missing out on the new releases that were only on DVD. 

In hindsight, we were there a lot growing up, like a lot. 

I'm surprised the people that worked at Video Ezy didn't judge us harder. At some point they must have thought, "These parents let their kids watch way too much TV". 

Today's equivalent is like if modern parents had to visit a store every time they gave their kid an iPad. 

There was such a ceremony on our Saturday nights, and Video Ezy played a massive part in that. Sunday morning when the movie had to be returned was always the saddest part of the whole experience. It felt like when your friend went home the next day after a sleepover.

Sure, it's much easier now not having to leave your house to decide what to watch, but having a whole Video Ezy inside your home at all times - that's actually insanity. 

It's incredible that anyone who loves TV or movies gets anything done. 

One of the things I definitely don't miss is getting in trouble for late fees. Oh man, did we cop it from our parents when we forgot to drop the movies back.

I remember that if we didn't have it with us in the car on the way to church the next morning, there was a high likelihood we were reading next weekend. 

When I turned 16, I really wanted to get a part-time job. 

Many of the kids at school had them and I thought it would be cool to earn some extra money. 

Working at Video Ezy was my absolute dream job. I thought working there would be the best thing ever. 

I remember asking my parents if I could get a part-time job. They both laughed (a bit of a recurring theme going on here) and then said, "Your only job is to study."

They would later complain about how I never understood the value of money. I guess they couldn't do the math on that one. 

Secretly I thought my parents were a bit snooty when it came to the idea of getting a job in high school. For them, kids that had to work during school meant that your parents were either stingy with their money or it meant that you came from a "poor family". 

Part of me thinks my parents didn't want me to work at Video Ezy because they didn't want people to think they couldn't provide for their kids. They didn't want people thinking we were "poor". 

I really wish they'd let me apply for a job when I was younger. I often felt like it prevented me from gaining experience and made it harder to get casual jobs after I finished school. (I'll explain that fiasco in a few weeks time).

Working at Video Ezy would have been the absolute dream job.

I knew so much about movies, and I watched so many of them that I would have had a recommendation for anyone. 

I loved watching so many different types of movies that I could speak at length about a wide variety of different actors and directors. Plus, it would have only helped me learn more. 

The irony is that my parents wanted to teach me that hard work is important. But they set the terms for what “hard work” was. Anything outside of that, didn’t qualify.

If I worked at Video Ezy, I know I would have worked so hard. Not because I would have had to work really hard, but because I would have really loved it - and might have been really good at it. 

Video Ezy could have been Video Hard Work. (I'm sorry, it's not my fault). 

Instead, hard work for ages looked like trying to fit myself into their expectations of what hard work was "supposed" to look like - "studying". 

Hard work is so important, and I hope my future kids learn how important it is one day. I just hope I have the patience and the trust to not force them into limiting what that hard work might look like for them.