I can understand if you don't like or know a lot about comics, but I don't think that gives you an excuse to be oblivious to your surroundings. I've had moments working in the comic book store where I've been annoyed, confused, or just plain stumped, but yesterday, I had a moment I will NEVER forget.
Yesterday was a normal workday. I was busy doing my normal Sunday workload, and at the same time, trying to help customers find what they need. A man walks in with his 5 kids, all of them no more than a year a part in age. The kids jet off to look at all the stuff, and I ask the man if he needs any help. He quickly says no, so I stand behind the counter and take a minute to check my fantasy football stats. The man walks up to the counter and says, "hi."
"What can I help you with?" I politely respond.
The man pulls out two ink cartridges for a computer printer and places them on the counter. I mentally prepare myself for a question about printing comics or the ink used in comic book inking.
"You see these? You know these?"
I nod.
"Can you fill these up?"
I'm pretty sure my face went blank at this point.
"Excuse me?" I utter.
"Can you refill my ink cartridges?"
"No. We're a comic book store." I explain.
The man now looks confused with a dash of anger. "Why can't you refill these?"
"We sell comic books. Do you want to buy some comic books?" I respond.
He quickly puts the cartridges back into his pocket. "Where do I go then?"
I direct him to the Staples up the road about three miles, but he's still confused. I explain the directions two more times. "See the road right in front of the store? Take that south three miles, and it will be on your right hand side. You can't miss it. There's a Chili's right in front of it."
He calls his kids, who are running amuck in the store and leaves pretty pissed off.
I don't know what about our store says, "we refill printer ink cartridges." Maybe it's the giant sign above our door that says "COMICS." There is literally nothing that makes me think that. ( G-Man and I do a tour of my store video) If you can figure out how we were confused with Staples or Office Max, please let me know.
Comic Book Knowledge Pt 2
lol, retail. It's interesting really. I work in the service industry and I too am fascinated by how STUPID folks can be. Almost nobody takes pride in how they are perceived anymore, BTW never return to a restaurant where you have previously left a bad tip folks, the repercussions are gross. You let this Ink cartridge guy off easy in my opinion. I would have cussed him out or given him directions to a dangerous neighborhood. EDIT:@Decept-O: 5 kids is no excuse, Don't have more than you can handle and you don't become a bad parent/get driven mad.
I understand you being perplexed by this situation. I think the answer, though, might exist in the fact he was toting 5 kids with him. That in itself may have been a contributing factor to his distraction and confusion.
However, if you're in a store and see nothing but comic books and related items lining the walls, shelves, and boxes, you'd assume you're in the wrong place if you're looking for printer cartridges to be refilled.
You just have to chuckle. I've had quite a few challenging jobs with some interesting situations so I understand.
I used to work for a computer repair store and this girl asked if we sold frozen hot dogs. I assumed she was coming on to me so I popped off my shirt.
Okay the last part didn't happen but jeez.
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