Motorola Droid X :: Battery Draining Down To Around 30% After 8 Hours Off Charger

My girlfriend and I both bought this phone from Verizon last Friday. We both let the battery run down completely before charging it up (which I was told by the Verizon rep was the "way to go"), and we have both been experiencing GOD AWFUL battery life. Strange battery behavior has included (but has not been limited to):

- Battery going from 100% to 5% after 5.5 hours straight of browsing, playing games, etc., followed by the Battery going from 100% to 5% after 5.5 hours of idle (with light texting and a few quick phone calls mixed in). Seemingly no consistency.

- Battery draining down to around 30% after about 8 hours off-charger with light to moderate use (a few web pages, a few apps downloaded, and about half a dozen texts). If this wasn't annoying enough, shortly after reaching 30%, the phone suddenly took a nosedive into the red, and warned me that I had 5% battery remaining.................