The Astonishing Elf Girl's Tips for Keeping Your Comic Store Clerk Happy. ~ And Other Long Titles
Many comic fans interact well with others, at least, well enough. For those that don't, I, the Astonishing Elf Girl, am here to give to tips on etiquette in the comic book store; or "The Museum of Social Awkwardness". Remember, a happy clerk is a...happy clerk.
Tip #8 ~ Make Sure the Minority Group You're Insulting Isn't in the Store. In Fact, Best Not to Insult Said Minority Group at All.
As obvious as it may seem, insulting a particular group of people in public -especially if that group is a minority group- isn't exactly the smartest idea. Especially if the people you're insulting may be the employees of your local comic shop; or perhaps, relatives of theirs. I've had a few people (fortunately very few) people insulting various ethnic minorities, ranting about some perceived conspiracy to make them mow their lawns in mini-skirts or some such nonsense. Generally when they go on like that, I'll just say "have a nice day" and walk away; occasionally, I'll ask them to stop. It's actually semi-amusing to see people reverse what they were saying when I say "My aunt and cousin are Mexican" and suddenly they're no longer as staunch on their immigration policies.
I live in a liberal oasis in the Midwest; we have a lesbian congresswoman, our college will have a lesbian Dean, our LGBT protection rights include things ENDA didn't. It's totally common to see gay couples walking down a street, in a store together, y'know; doing normal, everyday things. So knowing this, you'd think even people who were against us having any kind of rights whatsoever would have at least some common sense and not spew homophobic rhetoric around in town.
More after the jump!!
Then again, I doubt there's any place that's totally free of bigotry; but it can still be pretty surprising when you're so used to it not being an issue. Since the town I live in is surrounded by a lot of other considerably less LGBT friendly towns, and many people from those towns come to my shop, it really shouldn't be much of a surprise.
Anyway, there are four specific accounts I can think of offhand, and obviously, very few people who read this are going to be in danger of saying anything homophobic to a couple of gay comic store employees.
The first isn't really homophobic, it's more heteronormative; and mainly just funny as hell. A woman and her husband came into the store to promote a local drawing "class" of sorts where various models come in and anyone can sit down and draw them. In the process of making the event enticing, she turned to my gay co-worker and said "There are mostly lovely ladies modeling"; turning from him to me she said "But there are occasionally men who are willing to do that too." I almost started cracking up; had it just been me, I would have said "Actually, I'm more interested in the lovely ladies..." My co-worker is oddly, less open about being gay than most people in town, so I didn't say anything; I just grinned and tried not to crack up.
The second is just as amusing; again to me. When the Prism 2008 Guide to Comics came out a few weeks ago, we had it up with the other trades that came out the same week. This guy was browsing the store and picked it up, flipped it open, then quickly put it back down as if it was a contagion. He didn't say anything, and soon left the store empty handed.
The third is when the Young Avengers Presents Wiccan came out, a customer had bought a copy of it, then come back the next day to complain. He didn't really complain much, just expressed (to my semi-closeted gay coworker no less) that he didn't know Wiccan and Hulkling were gay. My co-worker told him that it was pretty evident since the beginning. The man said that if he had know that, he wouldn't have bought it.
The final is by far the worst; this one by a guy who comes in weekly, buys porn (including lesbian porn) and various sexy statues; all the while being a 50-some guy who lives with his parents. How he manages to hide all of those erotic statues, I don't know. Anyway, he came in a few weeks ago during the beginning of the California fires and started ranting about them. Neither my gay co-worker nor I were there at the time, as that would have been certainly quite...interesting.
The man, let's call him Mr. Sheep, began to rant that the fires in California were punishment from god for the state allowing same-sex marriage a few weeks prior; the same drivel spouted out after 9-11 and Katrina. One co-worker got so upset, he went in back and the other ignored his rantings. I would have preferred one of them saying something, but I also understand how hard it can be when it comes to customers and that whole "The customer is always right" mentality that's drilled into everybody's head. Generally the response is to just ignore them.
So much for "let he who is without sin throw the first stone." I think they actually got their inspiration from Life of Brian instead.
This week went on longer than I thought, so next week will be the classic "Do we look like a library?" and others.
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...
Elf Girl
Posted to Hot Stuff on 16 July 2008
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: Elf Girl, tips
My friends and I refer to guys like that in your last example as "Space Pinchies", as we imagine that's the primary demographic for the Space Pinchy manga.
I had to look it up to find out what it was (so not a manga person); but yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if that was something he'd like. :P
If he goes on about the fires again, remind him that the only places that burned were rural areas, and most of the states gays are concentrated in the cities.
IE, San Francisco was sunny and fire-free that week.
So who was god punishing?
"If he goes on about the fires again, remind him that the only places that burned were rural areas, and most of the states gays are concentrated in the cities."
That's a bit too logical, Sarge. ;) My parents had the same reaction to 9-11, and no amount of debating/arguing changed their minds.
As for this guy, I have no idea what I would have said if I was there, but I'm sure it would at least have been snarky...
I used to work in a comic book store, and never really had too many problems with smucky behavior. That is until I moved south for college. The clerk at that store not only was frustratingly annoying (always insisting you read what he wants or yammer about his comic related injustice of the day) but after a point homophobic. Growing tired of him making digs about Judd Winick and fearing for his favorite characters being "gayified", I glared at him and asked, "You have a problem with gay, buddy?" To which he quickly realized his audience and backtracked awkwardly trying to make himself sound like less of a drum beating bigot. It didn't work. He spent the next several times I went in the store trying to prove he wasn't a homophobe, but it just made me angrier so I started going on days I knew he wouldn't be working.
There are a thousand little stories like this, but I really dig the post. Keep up the good work, Elf Girl!
Best,
Gavin
Thanks! :)
"There are a thousand little stories like this"
Yeah, unfortunately. Geek stuff seems especially prone to it; I ran into it quite a bit (as well as blatant misogyny) when playing various XBox Live games. One reason why I tend to avoid it whenever possible. :P
It takes me off guard when it happens at the shop; I'd say at least 30% of the shop's customer base is LGBT. You kind of get used to the "safe zone" feeling and stuff like this snaps you out of it.
Avoiding customers is easy, avoiding a clerk can be much harder. I'm sorry you had to deal with one like that. =/