And yes, she had a smart phone

A woman came in today with a busted up Nintendo DSi, one that clearly belonged to a child.

"My son's birthday is coming up, and we were hoping to trade in his old DSi so we could get some money off of a 3DS," she said.

I'm going to note now that I somehow made it through all of this without ever touching the DSi, which is a small triumph. Nice try, kid germs!

"We can't take it here because it's missing the serial number," I said. She gasps melodramatically. I ignore it. "That's because of [town where we are located] pawn shop laws. They can take non-serialized handhelds in [next town over], though, and we have a store there."

"WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO THE SERIAL NUMBER," she said. "WAS IT HERE? DID IT RUB OFF? CAN I SEE A DSi OF YOURS?" I obligingly pull a DSi out of a cabinet and indicate where the serial number is supposed to be.

"They didn't say anything about that over at [third store location in a totally different area]," she said. "Can they take it without the serial number?"

"If they have a [town where we are located] address, probably not. But [next town over] can definitely take them in trade."

"Where is that?"

"Northeast of here," I said. "The store is right on Route X."

My store is located on route XX.

"Oh, so it's just up the road?" she asks excitedly.

"No, we're on route XX.  Route X is the street that goes through downtown [next town over.]"

"I guess I'll just drive back to the store I went to yesterday," she said. The store that is also located in [town where we are located], most likely can't take non-serialized handhelds, and is in the completely opposite direction of [next town over.]

"Ok," I said. "Good luck."