Archetypal haughty record store owner

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by Joshua Hudson, Apr 11, 2019.

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  1. Joshua Hudson

    Joshua Hudson Forum Resident Thread Starter

    or sales assistant.

    Did they exist for you?

    Did they ever actually stop you from buying anything,
    ridicule your purchase, or make you stop going there?

    I'm refer to the past tense, as I assume everyone wants your cash now.

    I suspect they did back then, too.

    Maybe Tom Port on a bad day; obviously selling reissues under sufferance.
     
  2. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    Never encountered any. I was a good customer and I always made it my business to get along with record store people.
     
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  3. ernie11

    ernie11 Senior Member

    Location:
    Philadelphia
    Nope. Never.
     
  4. Crimson jon

    Crimson jon Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston
    I do experience this when I go buy a sports video game at game stop or dare to ask for help finding a used sports video game. A good amount of high browery from "real" video gamers to us casual sports gamers.
     
  5. Saint Johnny

    Saint Johnny Forum Resident

    Location:
    Asbury Park
    Yes. A couple I would even define loosely as 'friends'.
     
  6. AlmostHeavenWV

    AlmostHeavenWV The poster formerly known as AlmostHeavenWV

    Location:
    Lancaster UK
    Only once. I'd been getting into stuff like Soft Machine and Erik Satie at the record shop I bought most of my LPs from, and took Terry Riley's 'In C' up to the counter to purchase. That got a disbelieving laugh from the owner, and "Are you sure?", but I went ahead and bought it. I don't listen too often, but still have the LP 40 years on.
     
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  7. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    I never encountered these people, though I've heard tell of them.

    There used to be a chain of music shops called Penny Lane across north-west England and these were the only shops that seemed to be staffed by music enthusiasts. I was only 14 when I started going in there and I was aware of being a lot less sophisticated than the staff and the majority of the customers. It was in this shop that I first heard Blonde on Blonde (I walked in one day halfway through Visions of Johanna). My taste in music has been excellent since I was about 13 and my first purchases in Penny Lane were classic Bowie albums, so I didn't get 'the treatment' from the staff, even though I was obviously just a kid. Then again, I'm not sure they sold that much 'chart stuff''. Sorry if this is ot.
     
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  8. myles

    myles Argyle, before you ask ....

    Location:
    Plymouth, UK
    I thought these people were a staple of the record shop? I have a shop, pretty local to me but the owner is stand-offish to say the least, grumpy on a good day and plain ignorant on a bad day. I don't care particularly - it doesn't make the records I buy off him and worse or better.

    Edited to add: I think the Jack Black character in High Fidelity has probably tainted my view of record shop staff forever!
     
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  9. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    How old were you at the time?

    It might have sounded patronising but the owner may have had previous experience of 'younger persons' buying grown-up music and then complaining to their parents when they didn't like it. Parents then descend on record shop, berating owner for selling child something they 'must have known' he wouldn't like.
     
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  10. DrewMeyer

    DrewMeyer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona
    This just confirms my theory that Video Games are the music of the 21st century
     
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  11. Fullbug

    Fullbug Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Yes, Rainy Day Records in Portland, Oregon. The guy thought he was the living embodiment of High Fidelity. A combination of arrogance and cringeworthiness.
     
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  12. bherbert

    bherbert Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Africa
    No. It’s usually the customer being a knobhead.
     
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  13. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    I once heard a story (maybe apocryphal) about a staff member refusing to sell a teenager a Beatles album in the early 80s. This was at the high tide of the 'scorched earth' policy in the British music press, where everything pre-1976 was deemed 'dated'.
     
  14. lv70smusic

    lv70smusic Senior Member

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    When I first moved to the San Francisco area, I was a bit appalled to discover a condescending attitude in a few shops here. Back in Ann Arbor, even if I was buying records a shop owner or employee didn't personally like (prime example -- I was still buying disco 12" singles after disco supposedly "died") I didn't get any attitude from any of them. But Rasputin's in Berkeley? You'd think the students hired to work there had been anointed official cultural taste makers. And there was a shop in San Francisco whose name I do not recall whose owner saw fit to write insults on some of the artist divider cards he had. I seldom shopped there because I hated his attitude, but I basically went to every store in my area on a regular basis looking for what I wanted so he did occasionally get some of my money despite his poor business sense.
     
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  15. AlmostHeavenWV

    AlmostHeavenWV The poster formerly known as AlmostHeavenWV

    Location:
    Lancaster UK
    It was around the year I was 20 - just bought Soft Machine's 'Six' and that had led me on to Terry Riley - but had only been buying records 2-2½ years, so he'd sold me a lot of the records I had. I didn't take offence at him laughing, he wasn't trying to be superior (in which case, my first post doesn't really match up with the thread title).

    Actually, I do remember butting into a conversation his assistant was having with a friend in the shop, not long after I'd begun going there. They were talking about the best drummers, and I, knowing only one band, said "I know who the best drummer is." "Who?" "Graeme Edge, of the Moody Blues." "Ha ha, the Brummie basher." That taught me not to think I knew better than those older than myself.
     
  16. Deek57

    Deek57 Forum Resident

    Probe Records Liverpool, one particular guy (can't think of his name at the mo) doesn't exactly make you feel welcome, he's well known for it.
     
  17. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe

    If you were 20, I think it's more likely that his comments reflected his own feelings (ie, 'you'd have to pay me to listen to this!')

    When I was about 14, I liked The Beatles and Bowie but at school you were only 'allowed' to like heavy metal. I remember edging into a conversation some people were having about drummers and when I mentioned Ringo, I got a sort of smirking, amusedly tolerant reaction along the lines of 'you really don't know what you're talking about, do you?' Which I didn't, of course, but not in the way they intended.
     
  18. AlmostHeavenWV

    AlmostHeavenWV The poster formerly known as AlmostHeavenWV

    Location:
    Lancaster UK
    I have to admit, an ignorant, innocent, and immature 20.
     
  19. thematinggame

    thematinggame Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    my experience is mainly with London record shop assistants , mid 8o's -2000's , mostly students. arrogant know-it-alls .Not much different here in Germany , although no students - perhaps it is me, just don't like people who run record shops (I`'m tallking 2nd hand shops )
     
  20. Chemically altered

    Chemically altered Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ukraine in Spirit
    Yep. A couple of guys, years ago, at Vintage Vinyl in NJ. They left and the place got better later on.
     
  21. vinylontubes

    vinylontubes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Katy, TX
    I was in a store in Richardson Texas, I'm thinking in the late '90s. The store was empty but it had a huge selection. This was the '90s when used cheap records were plentiful. I found a record that didn't have price. In fact most of the records weren't priced. I inquired about the record. The guy pulled a number of the air that I thought was way too high. I just put the record back and walked right out the door. I just didn't feel like dickering for every record that piqued my interest. I just didn't need that kind of frustration.
     
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  22. xios

    xios Senior Member

    Location:
    Florida
    Not so much owners, but there was a time (mid 70's-80's or so) when the staff at record shops in the DC area seemed to think they were in show business.
     
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  23. Adam Pajda

    Adam Pajda Forum Resident

    Location:
    Poland
    Oh yes, I know that type.
     
  24. If you're talking past tense, that would have to be future plastic surgery disaster Pete Burns, who was as known for giving customers a hard time as for his loony clothes.
     
  25. Joshua Hudson

    Joshua Hudson Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Trust your mechanic....
     
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