Attitute of comic shop staff

[Ian Wheeler]

Ok, here's a discussion point - how do you find the attitude of staff in the comic shops you visit?

I visit a comic store in a major city (I won't name it as I want this to be a broad discussion rather than a slagging-off of a particular shop.) You would expect the staff of comic shops to be fellow enthusiasts who love talking to the customers. However, I find the staff (who are seldom older than about 19) to be pretty disinterested - not actually rude but not making much of an effort either. They also seem to think that unpacking stock and clogging up the shop with so many boxes you can't move to be acceptable retail practice.

So - how do you fnd comic shop staff members?

[McScotty]

My local comic shops are in Glasgow, there are three main comic stores in the City (used to be double that) and a few smaller shops that have comics. Of the main comic stores I find 2 are really good; in one (a local Glasgow shop) the staff can at times spend a lot of time chatting to their "customer pals" about PC games and TV shows (rather than comics - but thats no biggie) but it can be annoying when they hold a conversation at the top of their voices with one at the counter the other at the far end of the room ( on Friday I was treated to a conversation about some PS3 game and how he managed to get a high score but pressing some combination of buttons and maiming 20 folk at a time lol) a bit annoying and equally more so when their music system is blasting out some black metal rubbish - now in saying that this isn't a common occurance, and the staff are all really nice (and sometimes they play good music) but they don't seem that into comics but rather have more interest/ knowledge on the models (ie toys) that 60% of the store now sells and is their main source of income ,so fair enough, but TV and computer games seem the staffs main interest and all they talk about when I'm in. Forbidden Planet in Glasgow is brillaint (IMHO) although the staff don't in general seem to know a lot about comics - tho' be honest I rarely ask a question (as realy not interested in talking about comics in a shop) but I do hear others asking for information (ie anything by Ditko, Bode, Adams) which is usually greeted by "who are they" but again its' a busy city centre shop and the main guys in the shop are great and know their stuff. The final shop is a nightmare (locals will know the one I mean) the shop is cluttered, smelly and you can't even get to the comics for boxes on the floor - if you want to get access to the back issue section you have to move lots of other boxes (fresh unpacked stock usually) up to 6 heavy boxes and various loose mags scattered around . New comics are stuffed in racks, some ripped others lying on the floor in no order (so you have ARCHIE in with Avatar and small press etc), back issues are stored in some wierd alphabetical format I have yet to crack and once you do eventually get into the back issue files the books are so tightly packed your fingers bleed. The guy that owns the shop knows his stuff but is pre occupied listening to his radio (usually Radio Scotland and Radio 4) when I'm in, so I don't ask him anything, in fact I stopped going to his shop over a year ago.