Hardcore Pawn

There's a shown on TV called Hardcore Pawn (I'm not sure what network or channel it might be in your area).  By way of background, here's the show's description as it is on TruTV:

At the largest pawnshop in Detroit, every day brings new rewards and new drama. Follow the Gold family as they wheel and deal with colorful customers, manage temperamental employees, and squabble with each otherall in the name of making a buck in one of the most troubled cities in America. This isn't your typical trading post; this is Hardcore Pawn.

Since I have started watching this program, I have developed a fairly song opinion about it. You probably have already realized that or else it wouldn't be here on my Rants blog. The show is supposedly a reality show. I'm not naïve enough to think that it is entirely unscripted, but there is probably some basis in reality and a certain percentage of that show is real or re-enactments of real life events. Regardless of whether it is fictional or real, it doesn’t alter my opinion as to the message that is being sent to weak minded kids that are employed by their parents in whatever business that they own.

On this program, the daughter Ashley and the son Seth have no respect for their father whatsoever. Whatever the father says or does, those two don’t seem to agree with him.

Seth the son thinks that he knows more about the business than his dad does. That's a bad message to send to any child that might happen to watch this program. Disrespecting elders, and even worse your parents, is a bad message to be sending to society. It's the type of thing that contributes to moral decay.

Ashley the daughter, is another story. It’s easy to see that she is not the type of person that should be in a position to be dealing with the public. She doesn’t seem to have any idea of what public relations are all about.

Ashley cannot control her emotions and shows this when she is dealing with a difficult customer. Also at times, she and her brother do not hesitate to start arguing in front of a customer. Again this is a bad message to be sending to children and to society as a whole. Civility is important and something society has been losing year after year. This show does not help in that regard.

The episode I watched last night showed a customer coming in and going to the window to get served. It happened to be Ashley’s window and this customer happened to have a baseball that had been signed by some baseball players on some team. I'd tell you which players but since I don't follow baseball, I don't recall who it might have been.

Ashley took the ball and of course the dealing started about the price. Seth, being close to that window, went over and told Ashley that she didn’t know anything about baseball and it seemed that he wanted to make the deal himself. After listening to those two arguing, the customer decided to take his ball and left the store saying that he thought he was dealing with professionals but that he was mistaken and that he was leaving and never coming back.

To my way of thinking if the producer of this series thought he was making role models with Seth and Ashley for kids that are working in a family business, I would say that he sure missed it. I couldn’t think of a better way of losing all customers than people acting this way in a business setting.

That is my rant for today.