Know what I hate? Customers who think they're hot shit. Yesterday a woman came in and expressed surprise to find one of our stores, since apparently she's from South Carolina and wasn't aware that the chain extended outside of the state. She then remarked that her husband used to work in one of the bookstores there, adding, "But he's got a real job now." And then she proudly announced that now he works for THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. After she went on about that for a bit, I asked if she needed any help finding anything, to which she replied, "Please! My husband works for THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS! I think I know my way around a bookstore!" I hate these people.

And then we had a lady who came in bragging about how she'd been working with bookstores for thirty years and supposedly helped to FOUND Crown Books. Well, whoop-dee-doo! Well, why can't you order books through your uppity book-people connections and have them sent directly to your house? And where is Crown Books now, bitch? I hate these people.

And then I had a really pleasant guy who bought three porn magazines. Now, I really appreciate that he wasn't a creepy, shifty-eyed old asshole like most of the guys who come in to buy porn -- I definitely prefer pleasant customers to jerks -- but this guy was too pleasant. He was utterly without shame (which isn't to say that he should have been ashamed, but buying porn seems to me like something that should always feel a little awkward) and struck me as having the same self-respecting air about him as man who gets off from a hard day of work and comes in to pick up a few children's books for his five-year-old daughter.

I hope those porn magazines weren't for his five-year-old daughter.

I noticed another interesting twist regarding the way that customers speak to me versus the way thay interact with other employees, but I'll save it for a future post. Remind me.

And now, some pictures!

Mickey and I have been talking about mold lately. I recently wrote a short story about mold, then the other day she posted her own true tale of an encounter with moldlings and floaters, and now, since that put me in mind of an Azumanga Daioh segment affectionately referred to as "The Moldy Bread Incident", I had to go and take a couple of screencaps. Above, we see that the mold had a will of its own!

Eventually, it was everywhere, and the girls were forced to barricade themselves in the science prep room. How did the story end? Guess you'll have to check out Azumanga Daioh Vol. 1, Episode 3 to find out! 😀

And from Shore Leave, here's this photo from the dealer's room, which immediately made me think of Mickey. Given the plastic window, I couldn't use the flash, so as a result this picture isn't quite as great as it might've otherwise been, but you get the idea -- there were Avengers dolls at the con! I totally would've gotten them for Mickey, but they were like $60, I think. Might've been more. I can't afford that. 🙁

And speaking of conventions, I'm thinking I may make it into Baltimore this Saturday after all. I'm not sure if I'll actually pay to get into Otakon -- $40 for one day strikes me as a bit steep, especially since I don't make a ton of money in retail, and I'm thinking I may not be able to enjoy that day to the fullest anyway since I want to be back here before dark. I'd like to stay later -- heck, if I could stay until the wee hours of the morning, I'd totally do the con -- but with me taking the bus and such (and being unsure of the route and transfers, never having ridden to Baltimore via public transit before), pushing it to the last minute could leave me stranded in Baltimore for the night. So I'd rather play it safe on that one. But hopefully I would be able to catch up with #db and maybe send someone in to pick up something cool for me in the dealer's room. Hey Kyu (et al.), if you're reading, keep an eye out for nifty cheap (like $10 or less, maaaaybe $15 if it's really cool) action figures and/or VCDs/DVDs, okay? And if you see anything that totally says "Wes" all over it, snag that sumbitch. 😉

And hopefully I'll have a new SC food piece ready for either Saturday or Sunday. That's the plan, anyway. Stay tuned, leave comments. Ja for now!