At a comic convention last year, there was also a knitting convention in the same building. Walking past the knitting convention, you smelled a myriad of perfumes and colognes. The mix wasn't the most appealing of odors, but at least it didn't leave you gagging.

The comic convention, however, had one smell. Body odor. If you were blindfolded, you would swear you had been lead to a football team's locker room that had been sprayed with canned BO. So what is it? Why are the geeks more prone to smelling foul than the average human? Or rather, why do geeks care less?

I wish I knew; I'd make millions in a niche market. Anyway...

At a convention, you can't tell who smells unless you're right next to someone. In a store with a moderate amount of people in it, the clerk (and everyone else) can narrow it down pretty quickly. If your clerk doesn't talk to you much and her face looks blue -perhaps from holding her breath for too long- you might want to duck into the nearest bathroom and clean up a little.

On the other side of the coin, there is such a thing as "too much smelly stuff!". Whatever your fragrance of choice, use always in moderation. If you use so much you can almost taste it from the smell, you're using far too much.

We clerks work in the store for many hours, so we have to live with it when someone stinks or is overloading everyone else with Eau de Smellyguy. Even with a properly ventilated store, it can take quite a while for the smell to dissipate. So be kind to your comic store clerk, and everyone else in the store and make sure you smell good. Or at least, aren't smelling bad.

You may ask "What if our comic shop clerk smells bad?" Then you're probably screwed. Or invest in a rebreather or gas mask at your local army surplus. Or just find another store. Or avoid it when that clerk works. Or...

See? That's not too hard; one more simple tip to keeping your clerk happy.

Next week, we talk about something that should be blatantly obvious: Treating your local comic store clerk like a human being. Oh, yeah, and presuming that everyone in the shop is there because they know comics, not because they needed a girl to round things out.

Got a question for me? Email me here! I'll start answering questions in future columns; you know, as soon as I actually have any to answer...