The only thing worse than nerds is sarcastic nerds.
Employee Jeff: “Hey, that ‘Spoon!’ t-shirt…is it a Tick t-shirt?”
Me: “No, it’s a shirt for fans of silverware.”
Jeff: “Did you say ‘Civil Ware?'”
Me: “‘Which Side of the Dinner Plate Are You On?'”
Employee Aaron: “‘I’m with Spork!'”
Me: “‘Oh, no, someone’s killed Lazy Susan!'”
…
Okay, a Lazy Susan isn’t silverware, you got me.
Finally got our restock of Captain America #25 in time for new comics day, delayed as it was by an error either at UPS or our distributor…I never did get the straight story on that. At any rate, the comics were here in time for that window for sales to folks who don’t normally buy comics to be pretty much closed. We still did brisk business in them, however, but mostly to the regular funnybook fans who missed out a couple weeks ago.
Oddly, we also received an extra ten copies of this issue with our regular weekly new comics order, with no mention of them on our invoice.
I did have one fellow look at the copies on the shelf and ask me “are these really cover price? And they’re first printings? Really?”
We also received our restock of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #1…because of the much-publicized second printing, I put a little sign by our restock stating that these were, indeed, first printings, because I didn’t feel like answering that question all day. And, granted, we’ve only had them back in stock since Wednesday, but nobody seemed to care. Uh, oh. Maybe we did order just enough copies the first time around.
Okay, I’m panicking too early…I’ve had enough requests for the new Buffy comic since our sell-out last week that I’m reasonably certain we’ll move most of these extra copies. Plus, with several more issues to go, having a wee bit of stock for the back issue bins isn’t a bad idea.
I was chatting with former employee Nathan, who stopped by the shop yesterday, and as he was regaling us with his brushes with celebrities in his new stomping grounds of San Francisco, I was reminded of two incidents of celebrities in our store that I’ll relate to you, primarily because they both make me look dumb:
1. A bearded man in a heavy jacket and a baseball cap was lurking about the front of the store, poking through some of our newspaper strip reprint books and looking a tad suspicious. I kept half an eye on him, making sure he wasn’t “accidentally” putting some of our books into his jacket. Eventually, he gathered up some books and took them to the counter, where pal Dorian took care of the transaction.
After the man had left, Dorian asked me, “Hey, did you know who that was?” I didn’t, and Dorian told me that the man was John Ritter, who, at the time, was performing a play at a small theatre down the street from us.
Yes, I thought John Ritter, God rest his soul, was a potential shoplifter. Yes, I felt like a jerk.
2. Shorter story: John (Dukes of Hazzard, Smallville, Speed Zone) Schneider came into our store, I looked him straight in the face, and I didn’t recognize him. Again, celebrity spotter Dorian knew who it was right off, but not me, the guy who actually watched Smallville every week.
Sad, really.
So long, Calvert
