so, i went for a dig today...
kitchenknight
4,922 Posts
and it was probably the number one depressing experience i've had in a record store.granted, it takes that title because i usually have expectations going in to this spot. yet still.quick dinner break dig while working a hockey game gig, so i'm kind of in a hurry. 5:30 on a Friday. i get there, and the counter dude is pretty drunk. and hanging out with some waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasted old dude. whole place reaks of booze and cigarettes. working dude says he'll be right with us...and runs out back...opens the door and you get to hear his piss hitting the ground. nice.goes back to the counter, cracks a tallboy. wasted old dude then asks, 'was that your last one? if not, i'll buy one from you.' i'm in a hurry, trying to look through some boxes of 45s. everything in there is moving at the speed of budweiser tallboy. drunk clerk is bullshiting with the wasted old dude, whose just shaking and slurring all over the place, trying to put pieces on hold for the next time he has money. i end up buying $7 of 45s, and split. on the way out, the clerk calls after me, 'thanks for taking an interest in vinyl and records and this old stuff'. fuck dude, don't be patronizing. if you helped me flip through the boxes behind the counter by passing them my way, i'd drop $50 like i always do in here (though, SoI did say this town has been pretty dry- i'm a fairly infrequent realworld digger these days). either fucking way, don't blame folks for not being interested in hanging out in this fucking hovel and passing their money over to a bunch of drunks who can't close the 'bathroom,' door when they piss.now, i know i'm probably saying this because i didn't come away with heat, which would have made everything ok. but, when stores are going out of business left and right, don't blame the average joe for not spending his money and time in a place that unreasonable.speaking of...am i being unreasonable? am i judging too harshly? i don't think the answer is yes, but is this what comes with the territory of record collecting?
Comments
yes.
im not going to go into my own stories cause im tired but your story is quite tame compared to the drug induced paranoia throwing product fits ive seen.
get used to it...
1- a few years back when i worked in a record store, and the manager opened his trunk to reveal a host of S&M gear and photos of his swinging friends all up in it, i was far more desensitized to this. but, that was 6 years ago.
and
2- this is one thing in a house; i wouldn't have blinked. but a store? that is part of my judgement here. i can't judge what you do in the privacy of your home. but, the publicness of your store? different story, IMO.
Dave Beech. I learned the Re*d is away pretty much every
Friday now - I was in there Thursday, and put stuff on
hold, like, "I'll be back Saturday, when you're here, Re*d."
Rule #1 of IYE: Don't go through 45's when it's just Dave.
Rule #2 of IYE: Only talk to Dave when you are as messed up as him.
Really, you're better off just glancing at the wall and new arrival
pile and splitting when it's just Dave, unless you want to have ADD
conversations where he uses you as a sounding board for all his
crazed impulses. I almost went after him one day because he talked
shit about S***y when she walked out after hanging out there with
me for a while, all drunk/crazy to nobody and everybody: "I don't know
who that chick thinks she is - I don't like her!" I broke out immediately
cause I could see it leading to violence if I followed up.
the last few times I'd had time on my dinner break to run over there, R was working, so I figured I'd go, but, , didn't know the schedule. since BU made it go three games, i guess I know where i'll spend dinner tomorrow.
look, i'm just saying- i don't expect a dude in the john to hand my a mint when i go into a record store. but, late afternoon on a friday, i don't need to hear you pissing and negotiating to sell a a tallboy. not to be all holier than thou...
ive seen store owners getting high on more than just weed
theres always the sleeping store owner/personnel. "umm... you have a customer R**. hes been trying to wake you for a minute."
ive been locked in a store cause the owner wanted to go take a two hour lunch (uh you just opened 30min ago?) and i wanted to dig. (this has happened to me multiple times at stores across the country)
theres always the store owners who leave raw sewage laying on the ground in the basement
etc etc etc
thats awful!
shit. get used to that man.
there are all kinds of tricks you got to pull yourself when dealing with crusty ma & pa junk stores that have records cause garbage pickers drop them off there.
dress like shit, act like you dont have money, dont shave. i even offer to give them junk shit i dont want in case they may have customers that want the stuff, i dislike blues records and i found a ma & pa junk store that wanted them, i was gold with that old lady after that!
if you come across some junky type motherfuckers working in junk shops always have some joints on you or weed in cigarette cellophanes and give them to the guy as a gesture...after a couple trips in you will be gold once again at another shop...play your angles to the fullest with that shit. i dont even like beer but if i knew some dude would be happy as fuck over it i would roll into that shop with some cheap ass six pack of american crap brew every time i rolled thru there.
my only competition at shops ever in my city has been older grey haired record dudes...yeah i have 2 guys that place the same ad as each other in the paper every week but those guys have got too lazy to actually go out and grab shit at stores for like 3-5 years now.
try to meet the guys who drive the trucks for goodwills and all those type of charity spots, deal with them on the side, alot of those drivers wont even take records cause they are too lazy to carry that much weight...make them change their mind on that...give them your number and offer up some cash.
i also got kids who work at used record stores that are not into the kind of tunes discussed on this board, but those kids want music programs for their computers....so yeah, they grab me 2-3 big ass boxes of records over a month and i come to their houses and drop them off a cd-r with umpteen programs and plug-ins and leave with 3 big boxes of the type of records i told them to always grab for me.
angles man....angles...work em!
reasons for this do include, though...1) it is my favorite spot, and this just made it seem pathetic. so, expectations were high.
2) i was in a hurry, on a break from work, which may have lead to my shorter temper with this shit.
6 years ago when i hadn't discovered the internet, was working in a store, and drivin' around for records, i may not have blinked. but, now? fuck this, i'm going online.
Wow, I didn't know that you had met Gar*th -
that is the most uncanny description of him ever!
male tweaker hooker- that's me; the hockey game replay operator is just my cover.
:shhhhhhhhhh:
sometimes a playa gotta stroke his own
BAN
ok, i like white owl beer from tokyo...
i still dont like the blues....but i live em
peace,xavier
Dude... come back when you have walked into a record store and the clerk is sitting behind the counter straight smoking a bong like it's nothing!