Megatainment Store

The main setting for Between Failures, the Megatainment store in Marbleton employs all of the core characters, and several of the regular characters (including Mike, Reggie and Wes).

## Appearance / Layout

### Interior

The store is divided into multiple different areas, including the sales floor and back rooms. The key departments appear to be film, games and books, although the store is also known to stock some toys (notably Nerf guns - which don't sell) and confectionary. There is also a soda fountain and some refrigerators under a counter near the front of the store.

Most of the store is decorated in shades of light green. The games area appears to be a contrasting light blue. Books are stocked on tall shelves, whereas games and films are kept on lower shelves or racks.

### Exterior

The store appears to be a primarily brick-built, single-storey structure. It has a pair of large, manually-operated plate glass doors at the main entrance.

## Store Performance

The store is known to be steadily failing, year-on-year. Sales appear just high enough to keep it open, but low enough that the various previous managers all lost their jobs. Weekdays are extremely slow, although there is slightly more trade at weekends. The Games section in particular appears to struggle.

It appears that relatively the few customers who visit. They obviously browse the stock, but sales volumes remain low. Initiatives seem thin on the ground, although Mike has organised at least one book-signing event (not realising the issues between Thomas and Dawn).

## Staff Rules

The Megatainment chain appears to have assorted rules (fairly standard) regarding staff conduct. These are followed, bent or blatantly disregarded at various times, depending on the characters involved. We know of the following rules:

* Staff aren't meant to date each other;
* Staff aren't meant to leave the store while on the clock;
* ...

## Staff Positions

The majority of the staff are referred to as 'associates', while the senior staff hold various titles. At the start of the comic, the characters appear to hold the following roles:

* **Store Manager:** Miguel "Mike" Hernandez
* **Floor Manager:** Thomas Blackwell
* **Customer Service Manager:** Carol Graves
* **Department Lead (Books):** Nina Grace
* **Department Lead (Games):** John Kepler
* **Department Lead (Video):** Jolene "Brooksie" Brooks
* **Part-time Clerks:** Reggie Booth, Ed Lincoln

The part-time staff appear to rotate around the store departments, albeit everyone seems especially keen that Reggie is rotated evenly. Thomas is notionally in charge of the rota, although in practice Carol often gets to work before him and handles this.

## Trivia

* There is a sign on the Front Desk which reads "*If you can't read this clerk is obligated to hate you*". Although the whole sign isn't seen in full after its first appearance, it still appears occasionally in the corner of shot, suggesting Megatainment (or at least, Mike) are prepared to tolerate some tongue-in-cheek sassiness by the staff.
* In the same shot as the sassy sign, we can see an old-school CRT monitor on the front counter. Although such monitors would still have been relatively common in stores when the strip in question was first published, this further suggests that Megatainmnet have not invited in their Kansas branch for some time.
* It appears Megatainmnet do not employ a third-party cleaning contractor, as we periodically see the staff cleaning the store at the end of the day.
* Judging from Reggie's comments (albeit, likely exaggertated), the store may have a somewhat pervasive odur.

## References

1. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/899-got-your-gun
2. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/262-drink-soda
3. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/895-weird-kid
4. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/169-clowns
5. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/157-spider-sense
6. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/123-i-like-to-watch
7. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/7-i-dont-think-so
8. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/9-the-art-of-war
9. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/156-quest
10. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/199-particulars
11. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/198-unpacked
12. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/25-new-unit-of-mesure
13. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/277-our-glorious-city
14. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/161-will-to-live
15. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/157-spider-sense
16. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/181-that-one
17. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/127-it-wouldnt-be
18. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/134-split-hairs
19. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/103-distraction
20. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/278-never-again
21. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/320-rotation
22. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/324-days-of-our-lives
23. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/10-lineage-in-question
24. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/10-lineage-in-question
25. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/262-drink-soda
26. ↑ http://betweenfailures.com/comics1/317-hobodor