DeathJester's Dojo
The Road to Success: How Do You Deal With Dirty Business People?
Bryan Camareno a.k.a. DeathJester
May 26, 2005 

As this year’s season of YuGiOh comes to a close, more and more duelists are reaching their goals to become the best players in their area. In this game, as in life, with success comes the multitude of individuals who would like to see you fail. This form of degenerate people are trapped within their own self-hatred and failures; jealousy is not only skin deep you know. What’s worse is that some of these jealous individuals seem to have some measure of power over people. Whether they are rival players, card-dealers, or even business owners; these people relish the thought of seeing you fail.

This occurs especially with organized YuGiOh teams; when teams perform what I call a “store take-over”. In case you don’t know what a “store take-over” is; it’s when a team of players participates in a store’s tournaments and continually wins those tournaments every week. As a result, the players that were there before them refuse to play anymore for fear of losing; thus effectively eliminating any of the competition which results in profit for the team by continually earning all of the prizes. Take about 5-8 elite players and a store with 40 or so average players and you have a “store take-over”.

The store owner will react in a variety of ways. First, he/she may react negatively and just “ban” your team from the store for eliminating their best competition and business. Second, he/she can recognize the team as a superior force in the store and attempt to make a deal with them in order to soften the blow to the business. Deals could result in sponsorship from store, having team members take the fall against the store’s “best players” in exchange for waived tournament fees, job opportunities, or having the team start tournaments for the store to attract more players. This second option is beneficial for both parties. Third, if he/she is a real rat, the owner can promise sponsorship with a few favors and “hook-ups” here and there. These “hook-ups” could be anywhere from giving away expensive cards, discounts on merchandise, or even some money; not much, but just enough to satisfy the team. The third reaction will seem like the second option for unsuspecting teams but with a little twist.

The downfall to the third reaction is that no matter what you do for that person and no matter how many “hook-ups” you get, that owner will never give you what you REALLY need when you need it. Some common broken promises can include: Sponsorship for trips across the country, money for purchases, and money for team expenses. This weasel of a person will try to redeem themselves by giving you what you what when you decide to act against them. I’m sure those of who understand know exactly what I’m talking about. This not only occurs in my area, but it occurs all around the country. When you look at it closely, these people are business owners and they have bills to pay, or possibly families to feed. These people will do whatever they need to do to make money even if it results in taking advantage of younger kids, teenage players, and older players. It’s the way of the business world: Someone has to go down and someone has to come up.

One question that plagues my mind as of late: where is the justice? What happens to those people who get taken advantage of and how can they retaliate? When it comes to dirty business people, they “secure” themselves in a variety of ways so that when someone does decide to rise up and protest, that business person can shut the protester’s mouth with tales of “hook-ups” and times when the protester helped the business owner. Sadly enough, this happens way too much for it to be legal. I’m not saying that every card shop owner is a dirty business person; all I’m saying is that most of us can spot one from a mile away. Yet, most people can’t resist the allure of getting a small discount or help with this game we all know and love. As expensive as some cards are, most of us can use a little help.

So…how do you stop this from happening to another unsuspecting customer or player? One good solution would be to never visit that store again. If you know you have been taken advantage of, do yourself a favor and don’t go to that particular store ever again. Tell your friends, family, and fellow players to stray away from that place in order to keep their pride and dignity. Word of mouth is how most card shops make their business. It’s a small business phenomenon that most types of businesses rely on. This is a sure-fire way to take a dirty business down.

When you decide to form a YuGiOh team in attempts to show the world what you’re made of, just keep in mind the kinds of people out there who would rather see you fail. The most effective way to show the “haters” who is boss is to show them how successful you are despite their efforts to bring you down. While the snake-like business owners wallow in their sentiments of jealousy and hatred, you can breathe deep and empower yourself knowing that you are becoming successful without them. This is the BEST revenge an honest person can hope for.

If you have any comments, questions, or if you’ve experienced something like what I’ve mentioned, feel free to email me at deathjester86@gmail.com and we’ll talk about it.

Until next time everyone, remember to practice, stay focused, and most importantly…have fun!