THe RaNDoM THReaD

[moon_lit_tears]

So randomness.

 

I odn'tk now how anyone else feels, but when I walk into a store (not like a general store to grab a drink or a snack) but a store that say a comic store. I want to feel like I'm welcomed. I don't want to walk in and feel like I'm being given the evil look because I've interrupted time with your friends with my lowly business.

 

So with that being said.

 

When I moved to Mass I wanted to get a specific board game. My better half told me about a comic shop downtown that was being run by a guy he didn't like.. I talked him into going anyway. Walking in I felt very unwelcomed. Dirty looks, no speaking, just looks. I purchased my game and left chalking this up to having a bad day.

 

A few weeks later I decided to go back for something else. Now this store closes at 10PM it's only 6pm. I walk in and the store isn't a huge one, but it's got some space. There is a table of 8 people sitting in the middle of the floor playing a table top RPG. Okay no big deal, cept the store isn't big enough for this HUGE table in the middle of the floor and a person to walk by and not get a chance to look at what's on the shelves. So while the person running the sotre was sitting playing this game NEVER once did he nor his girlfriend who is running it with him get up to acknowledge they had customers. Finally after about 5 minutes of being ignored I spoke up. I said excuse me I'm looking for a game that's not on the shelf. Is there a way it might be in the stock room? Response from the girlfriend. "We don't have it' I left the store and two days later went to a different store about an hour away and got my game.

 

Moving forward a year. and in that time I"d not been back to this store.

 

I get told the owner of the store is back from teaching in Japan. I've heard mixed reviews about this guy. My better half seems to like the guy so I give it a chance. I walk into the store. Immediately I'm greeted. I'm asked ifthere is anything he can do to help me, and when I ask about a product he tells me he has it in stock and asks me if there is anything I needto know about it. (I got the D and D 5e starter kit) and we talk for a few minutes about the game and such. While I'm looking around another person comes in and he helps them just as nicely. When I go up to the counter we talk some more. He asks me if I found everything I was looking for. I say sadly no. I saw a game that I'm interested in but it's not on the shelves. He tells me if I'd like he can look it up and see if he can get it for me. I'm like sure. He tells me he can order it at no extra charge. Nice right?

 

So

The next evening I hear from a friend that the two that owned the store before (the ones I didn't like) are opening their own shop. They are looking for people to help paint. I tell her kindly. I'm not interested. I've had dealings with them and I'm not happy with it so I wont be going to their store. Her response is that I shouldn't go to shop of the guy I like because "enter inappropriate rumor" I end the conversation because i"m telling her I dislike these two people she speaks so highly of and instead of telling me the reasons I should go to their shop, she's giving me reasons not to go to the other one.

 

So last night. Same friend messages me. Hey the store my friends run (the people I don't like) are holding cards against humanity night"

Me" I'm sorry I'm not sure I'm really up for that.

Her" Well it was fun, I'm letting them keep my cards there and all

Me" Cool glad you had fun.

Her' You know they hold the lease on the property of the other store and are looking to get that guy out of there.

Me" Okay.....

Her" Yeah so I'd like to warn you incase you go back in and all

Me' Look, I've been in his store twice I've felt welcomed. I'll go back before I go to your friends store.

Her" Oh well "enter rumor"

At which point I closed my Facebook because I don't want to talk about this anymore.

 

 

 

 

At what point is enough enough?

 

Like I told my better half. I don't care if someone is having a bad day. It happens. But when I walk into a store I don't care if the smile is fake and they hate me. IF you don't make me feeling welcome I'm not likely to buy anything from there. If I walk in and you're happy to see me and help me and make me feel welcome, I'm going to spend money. If you are having finance issues with your best friend or what not, I don't care. It's none of my business.

 

 

It just frustrates me because my friend and the girl who co runs the shop with the guy that I don't like are best friends.

 

So either the people who run the shop are talking crap about hte other guy to people, or the girl I know is making stuff up, either way she's not doing the friends any favors by spreading rumors to me.

 

Last night I was so mad I though about going to the shop of the guy I like today and telling him everything I was told. Some of the things I heard are pretty bad, I mean REALLY personal and horrible things.

 

 

 

/EndOfRant.

[Blackman]

Quite frankly you get that in nerdshops (gaming, comix,...). People are just socially incompetent sometimes. I like to feel welcomed as well, but I take exceptions like that. Let's just keep that expectation to social events and not outings to gaming stores. When I go alone to shops I've never been, you really have to enforce yourself onto them, start cracking jokes etcetera to integrate yourself in the group and - believe it or not - by the end of the day you're having a lot of fun with most of them, playing games. Think about it: they share your interest, so it's probable you could be friends. Your friend likes them, so yeah... But people tend to get lost in negative emotions of themselves and negative expectations from outsiders (due to that social incompetence), and this sort of thing happens.

 

What I would do: go back to the 'bad store' along with your friend and give it another try. Third time's the charm, right? Try and show interest in whatever they're playing, and be prepared to spend a couple of hours there playing a game with your friend. If they still make you feel unwelcome after that, there's something wrong with them and their perception of life. Social isolation, or god-knows-what.

 

But seriously, just buy your stuff online. I prefer going to a physical store as well, but it seems sometimes the owner just wants to play games himself rather than help customers. What's to stop you from saying "screw you" and ordering it cheaper and delivered to your home? Some people take me for an idiot to still support stores like that. Luckily, the shop in Brussels I frequent now it pretty kewl and even has Triple Karmeliet for 2.6€. Guys are helpful too.

[The Swanton825]

I have to disagree Blackman. If you go into a store and they show no interest in helping you, then they're not doing their job. I'm pretty damned socially inept, but I also understand when I have to just suck it up and deal with people. If you open a store, it's not to create your own little circle of friends (that's just a happy side effect), it's to sell things to people. If you can't be bothered to help a customer when asked, then you shouldn't run a business.

 

Example: Back when I lived in Wyoming, my family and I had to go over to Rapid City, SD to get a decent comic selection. The whole time we were in there, the owner and his friends were playing a game, but he would still pause to get up and ask us if we needed any help finding anything, or if we were looking for anything in particular. And when we got what we wanted, he took the time to discuss some of the books we bought while we paid. That's how you run a store.

 

This is why I love living in the South, politeness is almost second nature to people here (at least where I'm at) and business run by idiots or jerks (barring the wrestling promotions) don't last long around here.

[Jaysin]

If you ask "Do you have *whatever* in the back?", you deserve every rudeness shown to you. The back isn't some magical place that things just magically appear. I'm joking obviously, but if you ever worked retail you'd know that 90% of the time, no, it isn't in the back. That question is so annoying. It's almost as bad as the annoying jokes you hear from customers five thousand times and they think they're sooo clever.

 

*object doesn't scan at register*

Customer: It must be free right? *chuckles*

 

Cashier: Would you like a bag?

Customer: No, I left her at home.

 

The only time I have ever laughed at either one was when the customer replied to the second one with "No, I left her in Florida ten years ago for a reason"

[Blackman]

That's how you run a store.

 

Of course I agree. I'm sure all people will. They are not doing their job. They don't have to. But you'll need to remind them of it. You could just let them rot and go out of business (what will indeed happen if this sort of behavious is consistent). Except these gaming stores are largely owned by people who actually like gaming. A lot. Sometimes too much for their own good. But I'm sure they know how to run a store. It's more of a psychological problem. Sure you don't disagree with that assessment?

[The Swanton825]

If you ask "Do you have *whatever* in the back?", you deserve every rudeness shown to you.

 

Retail sucks, I'm not disputing that. But like everything else in this shitstorm we call life, you have to grin and bear it. Because the back room not having anything else isn't exactly a well known thing outside of people who work in it. I didn't know about that until I was 17 and that was because of Not Always Right. I've noticed that people tend to forget that while this is the twentieth person that day to ask about it and they just want to drive someone's head through a wall, it's likely the first time they've asked.

 

Basically, as good as it feels at that moment (and God does it feel good), it doesn't help anyone to be a dick about someone being ignorant. All it winds up doing is spreading your misery to other people.

 

Of course I agree. I'm sure all people will. They are not doing their job. They don't have to. But you'll need to remind them of it. You could just let them rot and go out of business (what will indeed happen if this sort of behavious is consistent). Except these gaming stores are largely owned by people who actually like gaming. A lot. Sometimes too much for their own good. But I'm sure they know how to run a store. It's more of a psychological problem. Sure you don't disagree with that assessment?

 

I don't disagree at all. The problem I have with what you say is that I'm quite similar to these people in interests and have several social issues (e.g. I struggle to look people in the eye, I have minor panic attacks when I'm not prepared for a conversation and I hate being touched.), and I still make an effort to be polite even on my worst days. So I don't see such issues, if they're even there, as an excuse for ignoring a customer and being curt when they finally speak up.

[moon_lit_tears]

If you ask "Do you have *whatever* in the back?", you deserve every rudeness shown to you. The back isn't some magical place that things just magically appear. I'm joking obviously, but if you ever worked retail you'd know that 90% of the time, no, it isn't in the back. That question is so annoying. It's almost as bad as the annoying jokes you hear from customers five thousand times and they think they're sooo clever.

 

*object doesn't scan at register*

Customer: It must be free right? *chuckles*

 

Cashier: Would you like a bag?

Customer: No, I left her at home.

 

The only time I have ever laughed at either one was when the customer replied to the second one with "No, I left her in Florida ten years ago for a reason"

 

To be fair this place was known to move stuff to the storage rooms to set up their magic and table top rpg games, it's why I asked...

 

Also, yes if you go into a store and you don't feel welcomed you shouldn't spend your money. I'm sorry, but if you open a store and you expect to be rude to your clients then you deserve to go out of business. Retail does suck, but you go in knowing what you are dealing with. It's not a magical thing that just popped up over night.

 

A comic/game shop has a way of becoming a hangout spot and I"m okay with that, but if you don't have the room for customers to walk around then you shouldn't take that space up even more with a huge table for your friends to sit at, because you are in business to take money from people for an item, if I can't get service from your store I"ll gladly take my business elsewhere and give them my money.

[EddieFnG]

If you ask "Do you have *whatever* in the back?", you deserve every rudeness shown to you. The back isn't some magical place that things just magically appear. I'm joking obviously, but if you ever worked retail you'd know that 90% of the time, no, it isn't in the back. That question is so annoying.

 

Funnily enough, my local game shop, I've bought a couple of dozen games there over the years, and I'd say a good.. 30/40% of the games were ones that were in the back, because they simply didn't have room out in the front of the shop.

 

Because there's a lot of second hand games and not a lot of room, I just go inside, and ask before I start going through 100s of games to look for the 1 copy they have in the back.

[moon_lit_tears]

Funnily enough, my local game shop, I've bought a couple of dozen games there over the years, and I'd say a good.. 30/40% of the games were ones that were in the back, because they simply didn't have room out in the front of the shop.

 

Because there's a lot of second hand games and not a lot of room, I just go inside, and ask before I start going through 100s of games to look for the 1 copy they have in the back.

 

I agree. Asking if something may be inthe back isn't a horrible thing, I mean seriously, if you like the store and want to buy from them what is the harm of asking a simple question?

 

I'm not entirely sure how that's being rude.

[Jaysin]

I'm never rude to customers, even when they treat me like crap. I was just ranting about things that irritate me about customers. The other day at work, I had four women talking over each other asking me if I had such and such shoe in the back. We literally had zero women's shoes in the stock room. I said that and they still wanted me to go look for each individual shoe they wanted even though the RF scanner I had could show them that what we had on the floor is all we had. I told them repeatedly that we had no women's shoes in the back, yet time and time again they came up and asked if we had a different shoe in the back and raised a fuss until I went and looked for it. Now, if it had been a kids' or men's shoe, there would be a small chance we'd have more in the back, but no, they kept bringing up more women's shoes. This is almost a daily occurrence. 90% of my work experience is in retail, so I'm fairly jaded.

[The Swanton825]

I'm never rude to customers, even when they treat me like crap. I was just ranting about things that irritate me about customers. The other day at work, I had four women talking over each other asking me if I had such and such shoe in the back. We literally had zero women's shoes in the stock room. I said that and they still wanted me to go look for each individual shoe they wanted even though the RF scanner I had could show them that what we had on the floor is all we had. I told them repeatedly that we had no women's shoes in the back, yet time and time again they came up and asked if we had a different shoe in the back and raised a fuss until I went and looked for it. Now, if it had been a kids' or men's shoe, there would be a small chance we'd have more in the back, but no, they kept bringing up more women's shoes. This is almost a daily occurrence. 90% of my work experience is in retail, so I'm fairly jaded.

 

Well in that case, one trick I know of is to go to the back and just wait 3-5 minutes, then come back out and tell them it's not there. Works like a charm and you get a paid break.

[Jaysin]

Well in that case, one trick I know of is to go to the back and just wait 3-5 minutes, then come back out and tell them it's not there. Works like a charm and you get a paid break.

 

Sadly that doesn't work at my store. I've considered it, but someone got fired for doing almost the same thing. There are cameras every where except the fitting rooms and bathrooms. The cameras are high def as well.

[The Swanton825]

Sadly that doesn't work at my store. I've considered it, but someone got fired for doing almost the same thing. There are cameras every where except the fitting rooms and bathrooms. The cameras are high def as well.

 

My sympathies then. Never worked retail myself (or really anywhere for that matter), but it seems stupid to punish employees for taking the most diplomatic route. I guess that others would eventually exploit that being allowed, but is it so hard for management to look out for lazy workers?

[Jaysin]

The cameras are technically there for theft reasons because the store does sell some really nice stuff, jewellery, perfumes/colognes, and "nicer" clothing. The cameras just add a nice incentive to workers trying to slack off. We get sufficient breaks, so if someone does get lazy they do get punished. Hours are given to those who work the hardest as opposed to seniority, which drives a lot of the longer tenured workers crazy. I prefer this system though because I get more hours because I bust my hump every time I'm there.

[hellboy2]

Sadly that doesn't work at my store. I've considered it, but someone got fired for doing almost the same thing. There are cameras every where except the fitting rooms and bathrooms. The cameras are high def as well.

 

i worked in retail for a few years and always did the pretend to check out the back i even used to pretend to walk up the stairs

 

i was a supervisor but i was also the worst supervisor ever, i pretty much used to go to the pub on saturday night and walk straight across the road to my shop i used to open 8am sunday

 

i hate working weekends, even if its for conventions or something, but after working retail for two or three years, i have loads of respect for workers doing the weekends

 

this is something i would like to hear back on

 

i am helping run a comic convention in leamington spa and am designing a 1 one t-shirt in a competition, the image will be cthulu's face and i want the word Leamnomicon on there but want other words on there too

 

one idea is Worship the Leamnomicon but does not make sense to me

 

i would like read from the leamnomicon but makes no sense as the convention is Leamington Spa and not a book

 

any ideas

[The Swanton825]

How about "Power to the Leamnomicon"?

[hellboy2]

How about "Power to the Leamnomicon"?

 

yeah as soon as i posted i thought Power or all hail the leamnomicon

 

cheers for that, when done i will post both sets of prints and see which one looks better, if i can understand how to post pictures in this forum

[BHK1978]

Well in that case, one trick I know of is to go to the back and just wait 3-5 minutes, then come back out and tell them it's not there. Works like a charm and you get a paid break.

 

That was what I would always do, even when we had the product in the back. If I did not like the way the customer asked me (If they asked me in a rude manner) I would always pull the "looking in the back" thing and never find it.

 

I swear retail work should be one of Dante's level of hell. Customers can treat you like you are subhuman and there is really nothing you can do about it. Well you can "go to the back" and look for what they want...

[moon_lit_tears]

That was what I would always do, even when we had the product in the back. If I did not like the way the customer asked me (If they asked me in a rude manner) I would always pull the "looking in the back" thing and never find it.

 

I swear retail work should be one of Dante's level of hell. Customers can treat you like you are subhuman and there is really nothing you can do about it. Well you can "go to the back" and look for what they want...

 

 

I agree with you.

 

I'm not one to treat people rude when I go into a store, but I've had people treat me rude because they feel like I shouldn't be there, that's when I get bitchy.

 

A few years ago I went into a Claires (it's a young girls store with clothes toys and plushies) I was picking up a Webkinz (it's a virtual game thing) for my niece. While I commented about the rabbit being cute, the sales lady was like, "aren't you a bit old for that"? In which I replied "Should you wear so much make up, I mean if you wanted to be a clown you could have joined the circus, not scaring little kids".

 

She was very upset and asked me to leave which I refused until I purchased my item as it was the first store I found it in after looking in many others and I HATE going into malls.

 

 

I dislike the "people who work in retail should get a break" because not every person who comes in is going to give you a hard time, and when you take our your bad day on the good customers they will be just as rude.

[The Swanton825]

"Should you wear so much make up, I mean if you wanted to be a clown you could have joined the circus, not scaring little kids".

 

I have GOT to remember that line.

[Russelrules44]

In a non-shameful way to boost up my post count, I would simply like to say that I am starting work on an animated series, And this time I'm going to try to get it done. (Curse my short attention span!)

 

That is all.

[moon_lit_tears]

In a non-shameful way to boost up my post count, I would simply like to say that I am starting work on an animated series, And this time I'm going to try to get it done. (Curse my short attention span!)

 

That is all.

 

 

Don't think posts in the Dog pound count towards your post count....

[Russelrules44]

Don't think posts in the Dog pound count towards your post count....

 

Don't worry....I don't!

[The Swanton825]

Today I, a man whiter than Dr. Phil eating vanilla ice cream in a blizzard, made Mongolian beef. And it didn't suck!

[moon_lit_tears]

Today I, a man whiter than Dr. Phil eating vanilla ice cream in a blizzard, made Mongolian beef. And it didn't suck!

 

Dude, There is nothing wrong with Vanilla ice cream!!!!