Bad comic customers

[Brandon Hanvey]

So I was in my comic shop yesterday shooting the breeze with Gary, the owner. I stayed there for a few hours just talking shop and geeking out. Every once in a while he would get a customer asking about Capitan America #25. Unfortunately he was sold out. Though he can get them a second print in a few weeks. But other than that, he can't get them a first print.

During the day, Gary gets a call. At first I think its just another person asking for a Captain 25. He says the same thing about being sold out and only being able to get a 2nd print. I then I see him have a slightly stunned/pissed off face. Turns out the guy on the phone called him a "fucking asshole" and hung up.

Gary then tells me the guy on the phone was a former saver who left his account open for over 6 months and didn't come in and buy anything. The guy never gave no word of why or responded to the Gary's contacts about why he had not come in to purchase any of the comics he agreed to buy. Gary then closed his account and dissolved the comics back into his shelf stock. Recently the guy came into the shop while Gary was out and only one of the shop assistants was there. The guy tried to reopen his account and the only thing he wanted was Capitan America #25. When Gary heard this from his assistant he automatically canceled the account.

Gary is a really nice guy. And he loves his customers. It takes a lot to get on his bad side. During the phone call, Gary even offered to get him a 2nd printing when it came out. But the guy just wanted the 1st printing. I know the old saying "The costumer is always right", but I think he did the right thing. You can't let customers rule over you and jerk you around like that. Some people don't respect that comic shop are businesses and the people running are trying to make a living off the things they sell.

Just to illustrate the opposite. A couple hours after the phone call, another customer comes into the shop who had not been in for a year. He asks if his saver is still around. Gary looks all over the shop and even calls his assistant on the phone, but it looks like it had been dissolved. Gary then goes through his back stock and tries to find as much of the guys saved titles as he can.

It turns out that for the past year the guy had been having money problems so he couldn't come in. But the difference was that he let Gary know a while back that he wouldn't be able to buy as much.

[(A)//(E)]

I had to do that awhile back. Lost my job and had to move out of town pretty quick, never did get back to CC about my pulls. Shitty thing, but it happens sometimes.
I can't do that crap up here though, Andrew (the store owner) lives but a few houses down from me and he owns many swords.

[Ivan Isaacs]

Ah, yes... asshole customers. We have a few of them ourselves. So the inner me was smiling.
I love those "Let's see what this sucker can get me on eBay" customers.

[Brandon Hanvey]

I had to do that awhile back. Lost my job and had to move out of town pretty quick, never did get back to CC about my pulls. Shitty thing, but it happens sometimes.
I can't do that crap up here though, Andrew (the store owner) lives but a few houses down from me and he owns many swords.


Yeah I can understand about losing your job and having to cut back. I think most shop owners are understanding when it comes to that. They just want to know that you can't come in for a while and buy your books. It is not just the money issue, but the having to figure out whether or not to save books weekly for you and how many copies they need to order each month.

[MichaelMogg]

Customers suck. Ok, not all of them, but having worked a couple years in a hobby shop, I know how annoying some can be. You develop this kind of Spidey-like sense as soon as someone walks in and you can just sense that s/he is going to be more trouble than s/he is worth.

In short, I feel his pain.

I love how they also often conclude with something asinine like, "I'm taking my business elsewhere," or "I'm never shopping here again." So it's business as usual. :rolleyes:

[MaxofSteel]

The things that come out of these "customers" mouths sometimes. Sheesh.

Ridiculous.

[niall mc cann]

The things that come out of these "customers" mouths sometimes. Sheesh.

Ridiculous.

On a slightly related note, i've gone back to college and took a part-time gig at my local cinema to keep the rain off.

Just two weeks ago i threw out a customer for the first time. He threw some popcorn at people sitting two rows in front.

He was only a kid, but it cetainly made me feel like a big man.:D

Anyway, the moral... don't lose sleep over assholes.:D

[mgs]

I have not done/nor had to do a pull list in quite some time, but wouldn't a policy of getting something like a customer's credit card and/or policy when they sign up for one, protect a store from this sort of thing?

[Athena Bast]

OMG.. when I worked in a comic store my boss cancelled my comic account while I was working there after he cut my hours.

[Your Imaginary Pal]

Hey some people are spoiled, and in retail it's our job to spoil 'em.

I was working with Tower Records for a few years and there have been times I've seen people throw fits. Grown men having temper tantrums in the middle of a busy sales floor because we sold out of some really obscure Sci-fi movie on it's release day. He was stomping his feet and whining like a four year old.
It was worse when the store was actually going out of business. People were rude just because.
Angry Customer
"Oh you didn't get new product, that's why you're going out of business."
Me
"well it's more of an effect than a cause, but we don't have it sorry."
Angry Customer
"I'm never shopping here again."
Me
"No one else will be either, have a nice day."

yeah, life was awesome for those 2 months of my life.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

If I'm late a month on my pulls I call the shop and explain . By now they usually know if I'm havin money issues and all. I feel I owe it to the shop where I get my pulls to make it in there and get the titles I had them pull for me.

[clayholio]

I wouldn't feel too bad over that customer. It's not as if there's never been a book that's sold out of a printing before, and his response is way out of line (and misdirected as well). The backstory just adds to the "good riddance" feel to the whole thing.

[mgs]

OMG.. when I worked in a comic store my boss cancelled my comic account while I was working there after he cut my hours.

that's crappy on top of being a dick.

[Brandon Hanvey]

I have not done/nor had to do a pull list in quite some time, but wouldn't a policy of getting something like a customer's credit card and/or policy when they sign up for one, protect a store from this sort of thing?

Gary has a sign up sheet seen here (http://www.comicoutpost.net/subscriber.html) that requests savers to come in once a month to put up their books. Or if they can not do that, at least contact the store and they will try to hold the books as long as reasonable.

He does not take their credit info. I'm not sure if many customers would be willing to do so or not. He does sometimes take deposits on specialty items that cost over a certain amount.

[Chris N]

Gary is a great guy and he's done wonderful things with the shop. He was absolutely right to talk to the customer as he did.

The saver thing is about mutual respect. It's in Gary's right to eventually stop pulling things for customers who don't give the indication they'll ever pick things up.

And this customer doesn't sound like he cared to pick his stuff up anyway.

[Brandon Hanvey]

Gary is a great guy and he's done wonderful things with the shop. He was absolutely right to talk to the customer as he did.


I've been going to the shop since it was owned by the last owner, Russ. I even worked there for a year by opening and manning the shop on Sundays.

I have to say that Gary has made the shop so much better after he took it over. Plus he sometimes even gives me rides home since we live really close to each other.

[Chris N]

I've been going to the shop since it was owned by the last owner, Russ. I even worked there for a year by opening and manning the shop on Sundays.

I have to say that Gary has made the shop so much better after he took it over. Plus he sometimes even gives me rides home since we live really close to each other.

Hey, I worked in Russ' store for a little bit! I manned the shop Sundays!

I quit because I didn't like the store very much. Wonder if you were before my time or after. I think I only worked there 6 months or so. Maybe in 2001? Could be off there.

It's so much better under Gary.

Fun fact: about 30,000 of Gary's back issues were bought from me, comics I'd bought when the Comic and Card Outpost went out of business

[Brandon Hanvey]

I worked there from mid 1999 to mid 2000.

[Chris N]

I worked there from mid 1999 to mid 2000.

I was probably working in comic and card outpost on taraval then. When it closed, I started going to amazing fantasy. But then Russ needed a Sunday guy. So I worked for him. It didn't work that well, so I quit and started going to Isotope. Then I moved to Santa Barbara.

[borateen]

When I decided to stop collecting, I did it gradually. As a storyline to a comic I was getting came to a close, I canceled that title from my holds. This helped me ween myself from the hobby while still giving my great LCS some business. Eventually, I started getting TPBs and found that the shop had a great selection of used books. One day while I was checking out, probably about a year after I took the last book off my list, one of the head comic guys saw me and told me I still had some books in my hold (which I thought had been closed). It turns out it was the last 3 Spider-Man/Black Cat books by Kevin Smith. In the year that I was closing out my account, these books never came out, so I never canceled the title. So I went ahead and bought the books. Granted, it was only three books, but I wasn't going to screw them over like that.

[mgs]

Fun fact: about 30,000 of Gary's back issues were bought from me, comics I'd bought when the Comic and Card Outpost went out of business

wait! so you have a comic collection of OVER 30THOUSAND comics?!?!?? O.O

[Chris N]

wait! so you have a comic collection of OVER 30THOUSAND comics?!?!?? O.O

I'd had a little over 20,000 of my own, then I bought some 40-50,000 from a comic store, and sold 30,000 of which to Gary, and left 10,000 with a friend I may one day open a store with

[mgs]

I'd had a little over 20,000 of my own, then I bought some 40-50,000 from a comic store, and sold 30,000 of which to Gary, and left 10,000 with a friend I may one day open a store with

yikes! where do you keep em all? unless that's a, 'we'll, I can tell ya, but then....' type of question. ;)

[Chris N]

yikes! where do you keep em all? unless that's a, 'we'll, can tell ya, but then....' type of question. ;)

When I get all the laundry out of my room, I'll take a picture for the "post your collection" thread.

But 100 boxes fit nicely in my room.

When there were more, I kept them at my parents' house, whence came the pressure to get rid of many

[mgs]

ahhh......*understanding (sage, as smoogis would say) nod*

[Citizen V]

Ive always been on good terms with my dealer,i happened to get a first printing of CA #25.

[Joey Friday]

I've worked in a dozen customer service jobs over the last four years. Reading rants from angry employees about stupid customers is always funny for the following reasons:
1. The employee might have skewered the story to make him/her look good.
2. The employee misinterpretated the customers actions and became overly-sensitive.
3. The employee might have provided shitty service to begin with and thus deserved the treatment they received.
4. The employee could have made the story up completely.
5. The entire thing wasn't a big deal and the employee thinks it is so he/she logs onto the net and makes a long rant about a small thing.

On the other hand it may be the customer's fault.

[K'Nort]

I've worked in a dozen customer service jobs over the last four years. Reading rants from angry employees about stupid customers is always funny for the following reasons:
1. The employee might have skewered the story to make him/her look good.
2. The employee misinterpretated the customers actions and became overly-sensitive.
3. The employee might have provided shitty service to begin with and thus deserved the treatment they received.
4. The employee could have made the story up completely.
5. The entire thing wasn't a big deal and the employee thinks it is so he/she logs onto the net and makes a long rant about a small thing.

On the other hand it may be the customer's fault.

Where did you see a rant from an angry employee in this thread?

[Jack Zodiac]

When I ran a shop back home, a friend of mine (and I use "friend" here because I actually hung out with the guy quite a bit outside of his visits to our store) had a basket and quite a big pull list. He got more books than me, and I got an assload of books. He quit his job and sort of loafed for a while, but wanted to keep his basket and pull list the same and said he'd, eventually, pick them all up. And he eventually got a new job, worked for a while, quit, loafed, got another joke, worked for a bit, quit, and so on.

This went on for almost two years, but myself and my friend, the owner of the store, were really good friends with this guy and thought that, within those two years, he'd eventually start picking up his books, which had now spread out into a basket and a longbox of back issues. We were pulling, on average, over a dozen books a week for him, for nearly one hundred and four weeks. Eventually, we couldn't do it anymore- it was puttin' a strain on our weekly ordering, and wasn't making us any profit. We trickled it all back into our backissue bins and the shelves on the walls.

He flipped out, not just because we did it, but because we were his friends and we did it. Despite two years of telling him not to be a lazy schmuck, to cut some of the extraneous titles, start picking them up in trades, and a grocery list of other helpful suggestions, he didn't do a thing about his enormous pull list and growing burden, so we nixed his membership and he flipped out on us.

I, more than a lot of people, understand a habitual reading of comics. I've been doing it the majority of my life; but at a certain point, you just have to stop, or cut back somewhere, or something. Retailers can't afford to not make money off of books just laying around behind the counter, especially when they know they'd actually be able to sell the books if they were on the wall, and especially in a business that's as unusual and unpredictable as comic book sales. What your friend Gary did was perfectly normal, and honestly, if a serious collector wants to find the back issues he's missed, it shouldn't be all that hard. I guess acting like a dickbag's easier, though.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

When I ran a shop back home, a friend of mine (and I use "friend" here because I actually hung out with the guy quite a bit outside of his visits to our store) had a basket and quite a big pull list. He got more books than me, and I got an assload of books. He quit his job and sort of loafed for a while, but wanted to keep his basket and pull list the same and said he'd, eventually, pick them all up. And he eventually got a new job, worked for a while, quit, loafed, got another joke, worked for a bit, quit, and so on.

This went on for almost two years, but myself and my friend, the owner of the store, were really good friends with this guy and thought that, within those two years, he'd eventually start picking up his books, which had now spread out into a basket and a longbox of back issues. We were pulling, on average, over a dozen books a week for him, for nearly one hundred and four weeks. Eventually, we couldn't do it anymore- it was puttin' a strain on our weekly ordering, and wasn't making us any profit. We trickled it all back into our backissue bins and the shelves on the walls.

He flipped out, not just because we did it, but because we were his friends and we did it. Despite two years of telling him not to be a lazy schmuck, to cut some of the extraneous titles, start picking them up in trades, and a grocery list of other helpful suggestions, he didn't do a thing about his enormous pull list and growing burden, so we nixed his membership and he flipped out on us.

I, more than a lot of people, understand a habitual reading of comics. I've been doing it the majority of my life; but at a certain point, you just have to stop, or cut back somewhere, or something. Retailers can't afford to not make money off of books just laying around behind the counter, especially when they know they'd actually be able to sell the books if they were on the wall, and especially in a business that's as unusual and unpredictable as comic book sales. What your friend Gary did was perfectly normal, and honestly, if a serious collector wants to find the back issues he's missed, it shouldn't be all that hard. I guess acting like a dickbag's easier, though.


Everyone goes thru money problems. I have at times. I've paired my pull-list down almost every winter. You run into these problems and have gotta cut back at times. Its a fact of life. Forcin people to pull books you can't afford and won't pick up for months ...years is just wrong.

[Jack Zodiac]

That's not even the problem, the problem is that he knew it was becoming a pain in the ass and wasn't taking any steps to fix it.

I, myself, still get some books from the store I used to manage back home. My friend, the owner, used to pull almost every Marvel book and certain DC titles for me, and sometimes I wouldn't make it back home to pick them up more than twice a year. Hell, the time before last, I couldn't pick 'em up because I was saving up to fix my car finally, so I had to wait until the last time, just a few weeks ago in fact, to pick up over a year's worth of comics. The difference is that I kept in touch with him a lot and reminded him that I would definitely be able to pick up my books eventually.

As a retailer, I wouldn't mind holding books for somebody for a while if I knew they'd pick 'em up eventually, but in some cases, when you try to actively contact the person and they don't respond to you, or you do happen to get in touch with them and they don't make any mention of actively trying to clear their basket, you just have to cut 'em.

[Sir Tim Drake]

And he eventually got a new job, worked for a while, quit, loafed, got another joke, worked for a bit, quit, and so on.

Nice Freudian slip there ;) But it seems like his jobs actually were jokes, if he kept getting jobs and then quitting.

[Lukabratzi V2.0]

What is a customer account? is it like a pull list/order?

My lcs owner and clerks are awesome people, usually i spend about 20 minutes just shooting the breeze with them after i buy my comics, and if i'm bored on a saturday morning i just go and browse. Plus i can't help but buy something everytime i go in, so they love me there and always recommend great stuff for me. helps me feed my addiction i suppose.

if i got fired/quit my current job, i would definitely look for a job in my lcs

[Brandon Hanvey]

What is a customer account? is it like a pull list/order?


Yeah it is what Gary calls a weekly shop pull list.

I think Gary would have been okay with the guy opening another account if Gary would have been there to re-open it and if the guy would have opened a real account. And not just one that was he trying to get Capt #25.

Oh and I am not an employee of Gary's shop. We do share small press tables at cons where we sell our self-published books.

[K'Nort]

My previous shop had you sign an agreement when you set up your pull list, and it included very explicit steps for attempting to contact you if you went too long without picking up your orders. I'm pretty sure the final step of "your box is closed, everything goes back on the shelf, and we stop pulling things" was after two months. And that included I think four phone calls. Thoroughly reasonable.

I think my current shop (I moved to another state; nothing was remotely wrong with the prior one) doesn't have a time limit like that but they do have your credit card number of file so they'll just pay themselves after a certain point. That's in writing too.

[Dan Apodaca]

But it seems like his jobs actually were jokes, if he kept getting jobs and then quitting.

Nah, just not careers.

[Nate C.]

My previous shop had you sign an agreement when you set up your pull list, and it included very explicit steps for attempting to contact you if you went too long without picking up your orders. I'm pretty sure the final step of "your box is closed, everything goes back on the shelf, and we stop pulling things" was after two months. And that included I think four phone calls. Thoroughly reasonable.

I think my current shop (I moved to another state; nothing was remotely wrong with the prior one) doesn't have a time limit like that but they do have your credit card number of file so they'll just pay themselves after a certain point. That's in writing too.

that's the way to go, right there- clearly spelled out, like a contract.

[Jack Zodiac]

That's a bit much, I think. I'm all for rules, especially when it comes to memberships and pull lists, but keeping records of their credit card numbers and nixing pulls after a mere two months... seems kind of cold.

What I liked most about my old store was that I knew almost all of my customers. We had somewhere around a hundred and fifty members, some with gigantic pull lists, and I knew just about everything all of them read or were interested in. We had their numbers if we had to contact them, and if they hadn't been in for a couple months, we'd call 'em, but we'd never gank a member unless we just couldn't get a hold of 'em and their shit was really starting to pile up, and that only happened a handful of times.

Contracts, disclosing credit card info, that's all a little detached from what I think a comic book store's atmosphere should be.

[Chris N]

Jack, I'm totally with you. How my store was. Customers my boss knew for years, he'd keep their pull forever. Some people just had boxes and boxes pile up, because they'd check in every so often and buy a few things from it.

Some customers liked to not buy things as they came out, but wait for arcs to finish, just leaving them in their pull, and he was cool about things. He cancelled many pulls, but it wasn't a factor of build-up or a strict system, just of customers not checking in for way too long.

But seriously Jack. I vaguely understood you the first time. I was pretty clear on your point by the 5th. Was repeating it the 6th time necessary?

[K'Nort]

That's a bit much, I think. I'm all for rules, especially when it comes to memberships and pull lists, but keeping records of their credit card numbers and nixing pulls after a mere two months... seems kind of cold.

The two months is if there was no way of reaching the customer at all. If they just asked for more time, no problem. It was if they disappeared completely (and it's a town where people move in and out all the time) that was an issue. Stay in touch, and the stuff can pile up all you want.

With the credit cards, they'd be burned too many times. They'd actually eliminated pull lists completely. Adding that requirement was the only way they were willing to reinstate them. It's not actually a comic shop either. It's a card shop that also stocks a very small selection of comics only because a couple employees talked the owner into it (and have to regularly re-convince him) and because there's literally no other source in town. He'd be just as happy to not do it at all.

[Brandon Hanvey]

But seriously Jack. I vaguely understood you the first time. I was pretty clear on your point by the 5th. Was repeating it the 6th time necessary?
I believe that was caused by server lag.

[Brandon Hanvey]

Jack, I'm totally with you. How my store was. Customers my boss knew for years, he'd keep their pull forever. Some people just had boxes and boxes pile up, because they'd check in every so often and buy a few things from it.

That is one of the things Gary changed about the shop from when he took it over from Russ. He made the savers more accountable. Russ would let guys save hundreds of titles forever and never call them on it. Russ was losing a lot of money that way. Gary just asks for people to come in once a month to pick up their books or to contact him otherwise.

I remember this one customer that Russ had who would order just about every Anime VHS that came out each month from Previews. The guy would come in maybe once every two months and only pick up one or two tapes at a time. He had a stack of about 100 tapes in storage at the shop.

Gary did lose some savers by making them buy the things they asked to have save for them. But since he took over the shop, he has more than doubled the amount of saver accounts that Russ had.

[Chris N]

I believe that was caused by server lag.

With most people, it is. With Jack, you can never tell.

He's a little funny in the head

[mgs]

I remember this one customer that Russ had who would order just about every Anime VHS that came out each month from Previews. The guy would come in maybe once every two months and only pick up one or two tapes at a time. He had a stack of about 100 tapes in storage at the shop.



O.O yikes! that's just rude! (besides being a lot of tapes) It's like, well, can I also store some of my dirty laundry at your store just because.... I'd give a person one month MAX, to totally clear out what they previously ordered, unless they had a valid excuse which I would personally accept.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

What I liked most about my old store was that I knew almost all of my customers. We had somewhere around a hundred and fifty members, some with gigantic pull lists, and I knew just about everything all of them read or were interested in. We had their numbers if we had to contact them, and if they hadn't been in for a couple months, we'd call 'em, but we'd never gank a member unless we just couldn't get a hold of 'em and their shit was really starting to pile up, and that only happened a handful of times.

Contracts, disclosing credit card info, that's all a little detached from what I think a comic book store's atmosphere should be.

A store I used to go to never used to take credit card numbers. Then the manager left/got sacked because they were losing a lot of money.
The new guy came in and made people with pull boxes give credit card deatils and pay in advance - so they took your money and used it to pay for your comics, which is fair.
I was a teen and didn't have a credit card, but because I was regular customer he was cool with that and let me keep it without paying in advance.

AS for a comic book store atmosphere... if they are losing money they aren't going to be there, so I say it's better to force customers to be responsible and have the store - with maybe a slightly more business like attitude - then it is to have no store at all.

[Deathstroke]

that's crappy on top of being a dick.

Sort a shit sundae then eh?

[Deathstroke]

I feel bad when I'm a day late getting to the shop on a weekly basis. I don't know how people can't give notice when they know they won't be picking up their stuff.

This is why I'd be a bad LCS owner. I'd have bills to pay each week. Your weekly stash is the money I use to pay to keep the store open. Get your pasty white fanboy ass into the store and pick up your shit.

[twilight]

Oh, come the fuck on... this is getting ridiculous.

Anybody else getting insane server problems lately, especially within the past two or three days?

Could there be a monolithic thread causing drag on the server?

[Brandon Hanvey]

Could there be a monolithic thread causing drag on the server?

Jonah is is the process of upgrading the old servers.
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=162707

But the forum are low on to to do list. He really likes the forums and feels they are a big part of CBR, but since they do not really make him any money, others money making things come first.

[Brandon Hanvey]

Contracts, disclosing credit card info, that's all a little detached from what I think a comic book store's atmosphere should be.

People have to remember that while this is a fun form of entertainment and a hobby for most, it is also a business and a livelihood for shop owners.

I'm all for a shop being friendly and a cool place to hang out, but it also has to be able to make enough money for the shop owner and his family to get by.

I thin that is a mistake a lot of new shop owners make. They think of a shop too much as of a fun hobby and a not enough as a business. I think there can be balance between the two without have to rid of the fun.

[twilight]

Jonah is is the process of upgrading the old servers.
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=162707

But the forum are low on to to do list. He really likes the forums and feels they are a big part of CBR, but since they do not really make him any money, others money making things come first.

Oh,okay.
I missed that announcement.

[Sparda]

I let my LCS guy know in advance on how long I'll pick up my comics. Only missed 2 weeks cause I was on vacation. Don't have a huge pull list but if it ever got bad, I would reduce it to my must haves on Ultimate Marvel titles. But thankfully it has'nt happend yet so I'm quite happy.

[Pól Rua]

I do complain about customers a bit, but seriously, 90% of our customers are awesome. They come in, they buy their stuff. Most of 'em like to have a bit of a natter or ask me what new stuff's coming out that I'd recommend they check out.
But we have more than a few guys like the fellow Brandon was talking about. Because we have what we call 'box customers' (same deal as customer accounts, pull lists whatever you call 'em). Basically, our deal is that if you order something in regularly, that's a commitment to buy it when it does come in.
If you can't get to your comic shop to pick your stuff up, give them a call. If you have a regular standing order, let them know you're still interested but for whatever reason you can't make it in.
I held eight months worth of comics for a customer because he was overseas. He let me know in advance, cut his list down somewhat, and as soon as he got back, let us know and started picking the stuff up again.
Even if you do have money problems and can't pick up all your stuff in one hit, if you let us know and endeavour to pick stuff up as often as possible so it doesn't pile up, that's usually enough.

And I too can't stand speculators. Every time something like Captain America #25 shows up, we have at least one person who comes in and grabs seven or eight copies off the shelf and then gets pissy at me when I tell him I'll only sell him one.

"But these are for my friends!"
"Well, let them come in and get 'em. You can have one."

Punks.

[Jack Zodiac]

People have to remember that while this is a fun form of entertainment and a hobby for most, it is also a business and a livelihood for shop owners.

I'm all for a shop being friendly and a cool place to hang out, but it also has to be able to make enough money for the shop owner and his family to get by.

I thin that is a mistake a lot of new shop owners make. They think of a shop too much as of a fun hobby and a not enough as a business. I think there can be balance between the two without have to rid of the fun.

Oh, I agree, but I don't think the difference is so close that you have to be gung-ho enough to keep credit card information for all of your members. At the most, an agreement that books will be cycled back onto the wall or into longboxes after a few weeks unless you let the shop owner know ahead of time and honestly plan on making it back in to clean out your box should be enough of a strict business policy.

It may be that, in my twenty years of buying comics, I've never been a repeat customer or member of anything but a moderately sized comic shop, but I've never seen or heard of a policy like that until this thread.

And I too can't stand speculators. Every time something like Captain America #25 shows up, we have at least one person who comes in and grabs seven or eight copies off the shelf and then gets pissy at me when I tell him I'll only sell him one.

My guy pulled 'em all off the wall when he heard CNN was reporting on it. He kept 'em behind the counter and when someone asked about it he said, "I've only got one left," and sold 'em one at a time. Marvel really fucked a lot of retailers in the ass that week.

[Jeff-E]

I've had to step back from my collecting due to money issues for the past few months, but to be honest I didn't feel to bad about leaving the store with my stuff. The store I began shopping at here was horrible, it was in a good location and they were accurate about my pulls but there were two terrible things about shopping there, 1)They would hire women which is fine for most, I mean alot of guys would come in and drool over them which I know would annoy them but it got new customers to come in. The problem for me was that I'm not impressed by the Lisa Loeb indie look, especially on a 19 year old girl. Also they knew NOTHING about comics, and that was really annoying especially when you had a question. 2) They had the worst policies ever. My girlfriend tried to be nice one day and went in and picked up some of my books for me, (without my asking) this somehow lead to a mix up and they put new copies of the books back in my pull box, when I told them I already had the issues and that my girlfriend picked them up for me I was informed that if they were in my box I was responsible for them. They insisted I bought them again! WTF!! I actually left, went home, got the check stub and reciept from Sara (thank god for her compulsion to hang on to things like that for months on end) took them to the store and brought it to show them, that yes the books were indeed purchased from them. They still insisted that I purchase the books. So I told them I couldn't pick up all my books and left the ones I had doubles of. Shortly after I changed jobs and took a pay hit for better hours, I havent been back since.

[Patient Boy]

The problem for me was that I'm not impressed by the Lisa Loeb indie look


How can you deny it? (http://i1.tinypic.com/mwqn8g.jpg)

My shop is part of a chain, and last year they instituted a policy where they wouldn't save anything for anybody. Instead they sent out what they were ordering every week by e-mail, and you'd have to reply to the e-mail with a list of what you wanted to reserve and they don't keep anything in your pull box for more than a month. A lot of messing up initially since it would seem that they kept reserving what was on my initial list rather than what I wanted from their e-mail, but since then it's a pretty good way of preventing situations like this.

[Chris N]

2) They had the worst policies ever. My girlfriend tried to be nice one day and went in and picked up some of my books for me, (without my asking) this somehow lead to a mix up and they put new copies of the books back in my pull box, when I told them I already had the issues and that my girlfriend picked them up for me I was informed that if they were in my box I was responsible for them. They insisted I bought them again! WTF!! I actually left, went home, got the check stub and reciept from Sara (thank god for her compulsion to hang on to things like that for months on end) took them to the store and brought it to show them, that yes the books were indeed purchased from them. They still insisted that I purchase the books. So I told them I couldn't pick up all my books and left the ones I had doubles of. Shortly after I changed jobs and took a pay hit for better hours, I havent been back since.


Yeah, that sucks of them. Big time.

1)They would hire women...

Yeah...

I would phrase it more that your problem was, "They would hire people who didn't know comics"

[jessecuster3]

I've had to step back from my collecting due to money issues for the past few months, but to be honest I didn't feel to bad about leaving the store with my stuff. The store I began shopping at here was horrible, it was in a good location and they were accurate about my pulls but there were two terrible things about shopping there, 1)They would hire women which is fine for most, I mean alot of guys would come in and drool over them which I know would annoy them but it got new customers to come in. The problem for me was that I'm not impressed by the Lisa Loeb indie look, especially on a 19 year old girl. Also they knew NOTHING about comics, and that was really annoying especially when you had a question. 2) They had the worst policies ever. My girlfriend tried to be nice one day and went in and picked up some of my books for me, (without my asking) this somehow lead to a mix up and they put new copies of the books back in my pull box, when I told them I already had the issues and that my girlfriend picked them up for me I was informed that if they were in my box I was responsible for them. They insisted I bought them again! WTF!! I actually left, went home, got the check stub and reciept from Sara (thank god for her compulsion to hang on to things like that for months on end) took them to the store and brought it to show them, that yes the books were indeed purchased from them. They still insisted that I purchase the books. So I told them I couldn't pick up all my books and left the ones I had doubles of. Shortly after I changed jobs and took a pay hit for better hours, I havent been back since.


I am pretty sure I know which store you are talkign about, the one on Delmar. They used to be much better, and when they switched locations its like they dumped all of the good employees. They used to have a girl there who was the most knowledgable one and always very helpful.

When I had a pull list there, they were good about calling me and never chased me to pay for stuff when I cancelled it.

[Jeff-E]

I am pretty sure I know which store you are talkign about, the one on Delmar. They used to be much better, and when they switched locations its like they dumped all of the good employees. They used to have a girl there who was the most knowledgable one and always very helpful.

When I had a pull list there, they were good about calling me and never chased me to pay for stuff when I cancelled it.


Dude, thank you! I was actually worried it was just me somehow being a jerk. For someone else to know what store I'm talking about really helps put my mind at ease. If you are familiar with the area where do you buy stuff? I'm probably going to a place in Kirkwood (can we give shop names here?) but it's kind of far out for me.

[jessecuster3]

Dude, thank you! I was actually worried it was just me somehow being a jerk. For someone else to know what store I'm talking about really helps put my mind at ease. If you are familiar with the area where do you buy stuff? I'm probably going to a place in Kirkwood (can we give shop names here?) but it's kind of far out for me.

I used to live there, I do not any longer, I switched off between the one you are talking about and the one in Kirkwood, the selection in Kirkwood is really not that great, and there are probably still some good people on Delmar, try going in at different times. The one really tall girl who was always nice, and knows a lot may still be there in some capacity.

[Typo Lad]

How can you deny it? (http://i1.tinypic.com/mwqn8g.jpg).

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!