Quote from: taustin;662280Generally speaking, they don't, past when the owner's credit cards are maxed out.

Yep, there's also a lot of slackers who manage to convince their parents to fund the venture.

I think people underestimate how long you can keep a business open if you have enough credit and aren't concerned about accumulating debt (or blowing through a relatives' savings).

Good owners that fail have an exit strategy. They close up stores quickly when they reach a point they've lost enough money.

It's like a gambler at a casino - the smart guy has a preset limit and quits playing when he reaches it. A terrible gambler can continue gaming for the rest of the week.

Another thing to take into account is if that retail stores don't necessarily need to make a lot of money to keep going. The big expense is in getting the initial inventory - rent and utilities are pretty low for a small shop in a less than desirable location.

So I am not really an industry guy, but I had never heard that term 'catpissmen' before today.  I do understand it, and could use that term on a few people and places in my past.  But I am rather glad I haven't.  It's shameful to say something like that about someone behind their back, to me at least.

Though I am the socially awkward guy who tells people when they smell bad, are standing too close, are speaking too loud, etc.  So ymmv.

There was this one guy, though, that did drive me out of the store once.  He was a super-grok who had once yelled at me when I was a customer in his own store years ago.  He didn't remember me, but I still shudder at that experience.  Anyway, he drove me off by being an expert on everything I happened to glance at. It was like Google Glass that you never rewlly asked for - each shelf had a narrative ready, and somehow I kept tripping the trap.

Even then I dropped him a hint that enough was enough and I will come back some other time. I said it more for the store owner than anyone else...

Anyway, if we could communicate with better words, maybe we can have a positive impact.

Quote from: jgants;662289Yep, there's also a lot of slackers who manage to convince their parents to fund the venture.

Yeah, well, it gets them out of the basement and out from underfoot. Makes them somebody else's problem, so to speak.

Quote from: jgants;662289I think people underestimate how long you can keep a business open if you have enough credit and aren't concerned about accumulating debt (or blowing through a relatives' savings).

Indeed.

Quote from: jgants;662289Good owners that fail have an exit strategy. They close up stores quickly when they reach a point they've lost enough money.

Or when it's time to go back to school. (Met most of my current gaming friends though a game shop in Orange that lasted one summer, because it was a summer procject for a guy studying for his MBA. He actually made it proftiable by the end, but it was time to go back to school, so that was it.)

Quote from: jgants;662289It's like a gambler at a casino - the smart guy has a preset limit and quits playing when he reaches it. A terrible gambler can continue gaming for the rest of the week.

A smart gambler views gambling (especially in a casino) as a form of entertainment he pays for. A stupid gambler thinks he can win.

Quote from: jgants;662289Another thing to take into account is if that retail stores don't necessarily need to make a lot of money to keep going. The big expense is in getting the initial inventory - rent and utilities are pretty low for a small shop in a less than desirable location.

Depends on where you are. Dirt is so expensive around here that even a shitty location is still pretty expensive, especially zoned for retail.

Quote from: mcbobbo;662293So I am not really an industry guy, but I had never heard that term 'catpissmen' before today.  I do understand it, and could use that term on a few people and places in my past.  But I am rather glad I haven't.  It's shameful to say something like that about someone behind their back, to me at least.

To quote a friend, "I'd never talk about you behind your back. I want to see you reaction when I say it to your face."

Quote from: mcbobbo;662293There was this one guy, though, that did drive me out of the store once.  He was a super-grok who had once yelled at me when I was a customer in his own store years ago.  He didn't remember me, but I still shudder at that experience.  Anyway, he drove me off by being an expert on everything I happened to glance at. It was like Google Glass that you never rewlly asked for - each shelf had a narrative ready, and somehow I kept tripping the trap.

Even then I dropped him a hint that enough was enough and I will come back some other time. I said it more for the store owner than anyone else...

Anyway, if we could communicate with better words, maybe we can have a positive impact.

Some people are immune to hints. Which is to say, they do it on purpose. If "Go away and leave me alone" doesn't work, the store owner has grounds to toss him, and if he's at all competent, will do so. If that doesn't happen, it tells you a great deal about whether or not you want to continue to shop there. (I've worked in retail a long time, and I'm generally very understanding of the difficulties out in the trenches. But there are certain fundamentals I am absolutely unforgiving about.)

Quote from: mcbobbo;662293There was this one guy, though, that did drive me out of the store once.  He was a super-grok who had once yelled at me when I was a customer in his own store years ago.  He didn't remember me, but I still shudder at that experience.  Anyway, he drove me off by being an expert on everything I happened to glance at. It was like Google Glass that you never rewlly asked for - each shelf had a narrative ready, and somehow I kept tripping the trap.

Even then I dropped him a hint that enough was enough and I will come back some other time. I said it more for the store owner than anyone else...

Anyway, if we could communicate with better words, maybe we can have a positive impact.

In some niches unrelated to rpg games, I've come across individuals who are like this.

These are the individuals who can't shut up about how their particular line of business sucks these days (due to crappy economy, raining, changes, etc ...), and constantly talking about how things were better in the "good old days", etc ...  Some of their "war stories" were kinda amusing, albeit even if they were largely unsolicited.

To top it off, they're constantly asking me to do business with them (unsolicited), even when I have zero interest in what they have to offer and have made it clear to them previously.

From what I could tell on the outside, most of these particular individuals were in business niches which have been in freefall decline for a long time.

Quote from: Kaz;662226My preferred term is "mouth-breather" to reflect those assholes too lazy to even blow their nose when there are allergens in the air.

I don't mind dealing with them, I'll just tell them to fuck off if they're being annoying and rude. And I'll be polite if they offer me the same. But what really grinds my gears is when they reflect on our hobby.

I was at a used bookstore, browsing their limited used RPG books and there were two other people there. Some mutant mouth-breather who could barely contain his annoyance that other people were also looking at the RPG books and a kid about 11 or 12. The kid was just being a kid, mumbling to himself, looking at the artwork on the cover of the books and generally just entertaining himself while his parents or whatever were browsing.

The mouthbreather sighed and mumbled and gave the kid the stink-eye until he finally got the hint and wandered off to be somewhere else. Then mouthbreather plants himself in front of the bookshelf indian style, loudly said "Thank gawd that kid left. He was SO annoying." Then started pulling shit off the shelf to hold in his lap. He failed to notice he was now in MY way of browsing the shelf.

I've found that sort of behaviour also very common among fat single middle-aged women.

At bookstores, how common is it for the mouth breathers, catpissmen, etc ... to hang out in sections which are not related to science fiction, fantasy, comics, graphic novels, games, etc ... ?

Quote from: ggroy;662356At bookstores, how common is it for the mouth breathers, catpissmen, etc ... to hang out in sections which are not related to science fiction, fantasy, comics, graphic novels, games, etc ... ?

you can find them in the photography section looking at books on "glamour photography" as well...

Outside of bookstores, gaming stores, comic stores, etc ... the only other places I've come across mouth breathers, catpissmen, etc ... are places like thrift shops, flea markets, discount stores, etc ...

Though these tend to be a non-geek/non-nerd variety of mouth breathers, catpissmen, etc ...  From what I can tell, some seem to be individuals with a compulsive "hoarding" type disorder, where they just buy tons of inexpensive junk for the sake of buying such stuff.

Quote from: Zak S;661891Tell me the name of this store, this is where me and the girls wanna shop from now on.

It better have some sexy life-size Elvira posters up, and bongs for sale as well!

Have any of you seen the AMC series "Comic Book Men"?
It deals with Kevin Smith's "Secret Stash" comic store in NJ.
Bryan Johnson is very funny, but he is the resident catpissman for the Stash.

I have been meaning to catch it but I have to go to my grandparents to watch cable, so it just never works out. Television at my house consists of whatever's in the DVD player.

I caught the first season (6 episodes) on Netflix streaming.

Quote from: Haffrung;662221Maybe these terrible, smelly stores are in economically depressed areas, where rents and labor are extremely cheap and a retail business can survive on a couple grand a month in income?

I don't know; I live in a fairly wealthy bedroom community town right next to an economically depressed working class city; I don't see any correlation between economic status and how awful the stores are around here.

I do see a fair amount of correlation between awful hobby stores and the owner's lack of desire or ability to run the store like a business, as opposed to some other personal or ideological reason.

Quote from: Arkansan;661853I am sure there has been threads about this in the past but I have been stewing on a recent experience for a while now. A new gaming store has opened up in my area and while my first visits were fine several times (3) I have been very off put things that have gone on there. Twice I have walked in on employees loudly cursing and discussing crimes they had committed (though somehow I think they were blowing smoke), and on my last visit I was treated to a customer discussing the size of his penis with an employee.

The last issue was the final straw, I had my wife with me and somehow when I shot him a dirty look he took this as an invitation to move closer and speak louder. Now my wife will game at home with people she knows but on the whole she hates games stores and dislikes most gamers, so shit like this just makes things harder for me. Honestly it never fails every time I go to an FLGS I am treated to, poor hygiene, social ineptitude, poor employees, or gawking stares at my wife.

Is it just me? Is there something in the water here? Or is this a common thing? Honestly I drive almost an hour now to go to the only FLGS that I like, simply because the owner is a cool guy but even then I still see a lot of smelly, greasy, weird fuckers.

Any horror stories, thoughts?

Wow you gotta be around Chicago some place right?