So, um, based on my first and last visit to this store, the owner is a bit of a weirdo psycho control freak.
He seemed nervous and jittery, maybe over-caffeinated, or maybe under the influence of something stronger....? I don't know, and I really don't care.
What I do care about, though, is the fact that the guy made me feel unwelcome and uncomfortable virtually the whole time I was in the store.
Rather than let me browse through the records in peace, he kept getting up in my face about one thing after the other, as if I was some mangy bum who'd walked into the place to stink up his store, rather than a customer who just wanted to pick out some records and give him some money.
First he started asking me if he could start writing down a list of which records I was going to buy, before I'd even finished deciding which records I wanted. Then he started freaking out when I tried to put some records I'd been looking at back in the bin where I'd found them, saying that he had everything in perfect alphabetical order and that he'd prefer to file them himself. Okay, fine, but he could have been more polite and less creepy and intrusive about it. But, still, I tried not to let the guy's weirdness and OCD-ness get to me. After all, I did find some good records, at very reasonable prices, and I still wanted to buy them.
But then the owner's bad attitude finally just got to be too much for me to take. I had just about finished deciding which records I wanted to buy, so I began to pull the records out of their sleeves to inspect their condition, like I (and every other record collector I know) always do before buying a record. The store owner immediately freaked out and walked up to me, and, in a tense, paranoid tone, told me not to pull the records out of their sleeves, assuring me that all his records were in good condition and I should just take his word for it.
So, let me get this straight....you won't let your customers inspect the records' condition before buying them? Never have I ever been in a record store where customers aren't allowed to check a record for scratches, dirt and warping before buying it....that's like being expected to buy clothes without getting to try them on, or being expected to buy a car without giving it a test drive.
So I left the store without buying anything, went down the street and bought some records from Criminal Records instead, where nobody harassed me and nobody acted like a rude, hopped-up control-freak.
You know what, man? You're unreasonable, rude, tactless, and unwelcoming. If you've somehow managed to stay in business for 17+ years despite such rude, inconsiderate and ludicrous practices, then, hey, more power to you. And if there are customers out there who like being treated like crap, then, hey, more power to them. But I personally am never coming here again.
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