Question 35 - Reasoning Through Language Arts Practice Test for the GED Test

(1) When I heard that a local DVD store ran by local people has opened, I was delighted. I love movies and to be able to walk into a store and browse shelf after shelf of cinematographic brilliance is a dream come true! (2) However, upon my first visit, I felt slightly disappointed as the shelfs were half-empty and the prices were outrageous. I had waited months for this store to open, driving by the “Coming Soon” sign for what seemed like ages and the lack of stock and high prices were disappointing. (3) Despite this, I did find something that I wished to purchase and brought it successfully. The employee who helped me wasn’t all that much of a help. He rang the total up incorrectly, then couldn’t figure out how to void it and had to call a manager over to help. But in the end I walked out excitedly with my purchase and a plan to return to the store when maybe they would be better prepared. (4) A couple of weeks later, I returned too use the trade in service. (5) They excepted few of my DVDs, and the member of staff serving me was both rude and obnoxious. She sighed and rolled her eyes when I said I wanted to trade in my DVD for something else, like I was being a bother to her. She was at work! Interacting with and helping customers is what she gets paid for! (6) An untrained member of staff then destroyed one of my DVDs when trying to fix it in their machine. He didn’t even apologize, he just pointed to a sign that said, “Not responsible for damage.” When I asked to speak to a manager, she reluctantly gave me partial credit for my damaged DVD, but it didn’t even come close to covering the replacement cost. (7) A couple off months later, I decided to give the store another try and search for a game I had been wanting. The game section had been empty the last time I was in the store, but there were signs indicating that section would soon be stocked with all the games a person could want and there were images of several games I was looking forward to trying. (8) As the game section had previously been empty; I thought it would be worth checking out. (9) I was shocked to find the store very unorganized; the staff member didn’t know where anything was, and they seemed to be very understaffed, leaving me with a 20-minute weight. I tried to be patient. I tried to be understanding. But this was a big disappointment and after all of my previous bad experiences and all of the second chances I had given them, I had to make a decision. (10) There is no way I would return to the shop again, and despite my desire to support local business I have decided to use online DVD services instead. I have found them much easier to use; the products are organized and easy to search for and find and there are no rude or disinterested employees to have to deal with. I’m disappointed I was unable to support my local business, but as a paying customer, I expected more from them.