Ask Your Local Girl! « snap judgments

22May/0614

Ask Your Local Girl!

I am the only chick at my store. We used to have two, but the first went on to bigger and better things and we enjoy her return visits. But when we were together, we noticed something.

Guys don't want our opinion.

We all have specialties here at the store. One guy is the Bat-Fan, another guy has a brain like the Flash Museum, I like to think that if you want to know about Marvel, you can come to me. When Straczynski started in on Spider-Man, I wasn't buying it. The Spider Totems and magical destiny and new guy just didn't do it for me (and still don't actually, but that's for another rant). The store manager, on the other hand, thought it was the Second Coming and recommended it to everyone he made eye contact with. Not wanting to share an unpopular opinion, I was respectfully quiet when he'd start in on his 'This new Spider-Man rules!' opinion. One time, I finally admitted not to caring for it in front of a customer but left the discussion to let the manager sell the book. I wasn't going to talk bad about product, but I couldn't join the bandwagon. The manager, jokingly (later on I got a little more respect, but hey, I was new), shouted back to me in front of the customer, "Well... that's because you're a GIRL!"

I shouted back, "Yeah! It doesn't have enough BOWS or PONIES in it!" At the time, I thought it was funny. I was new.

Another average example:

Guy (played by about 3 out of 5 customers we'll say)
Girl Employee (played by me)
Co-Worker (played by dude I work with)

Guy: Do you have any X-Men comics?
Girl Employee: Quite a few! Was there anything you were looking for in particular, back issues, trades, the newest issues...?
Guy: No, I used to read comics when I was a kid you know and wanted to get a X-Men comic.
Girl Employee: Oh! Not a problem. Let me show you what we have-
(Girl Employee turns to point out the TP section as an example.)
Guy: (not following, turns to Co-Worker) What's a good X-Men story?
Co-Worker: I'm currently busy-
Girl Employee: (by the books he wants) Sir?
Guy: Like, what's good?
Co-Worker: Uhm, she can help you?
Girl Employee: (ready with encyclopediatic-like knowledge) Sir, if you're just getting back into the books, I'd suggest-
Guy: (to Co-Worker) I like Wolverine, what's he been doing?

Believe it or not, this or a variation will happen at least once every couple weeks. Someone will ask me where something is in the store, but go to one of the guys for a 'real opinion'. Because, you know, I'm just going to give them Sandman. Or cooties.

The first girl had this problem in spades because she was the Games Manager and handled all of the role-playing and collectable card games. Yeah, looking a Magic player in the eye when he's wrong about what set a card is in it like looking into the abyss. And I can understand why. I'm not saying it's not intimidating having a member of the opposite gender there when everyone and their mom will agree that comics and games aren't a 'girl' thing. Industry professionals, comic shop owners, fanboys and your average guy on the street pretty much can agree on a biased gender statement. After all, girls aren't firemen, are they? That's why it's fireman.

Mind you, there are those who do this to themselves. Some fangirls really do just limit themselves to what they're supposed to like and rather enjoy their little pink ghettos of manga, or the Neil Gaiman and Jhonen Vasquez (seriously, this guy gets chicks. I don't get it.) style and sections. I'll admit to having Strangers in Paradise as an automatic 'girl' recomendation in a 'ask questions later' situation.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Take a chance. Ask what someone likes. Don't let them be intimidated by social rule. Comics are for everyone, boys and girls, young and old.

And don't look at the floor when you're talking to the girl employee. She's just going to make it worse for you.

( seriously, I'll be off my soapbox soon. reviews are on their way...)

Enjoy this article?

Consider subscribing to our rss feed!

Filed under: commentaries, shop Leave a comment

Comments (14) Trackbacks (1) ( subscribe to comments on this post )

Alan
May 22nd, 2006 - 14:57

Okay, you have GOT to write more. This is funny and poignant, as are all you ‘topic’ entries – as opposed to your review entries (which are also damn good, but not as broad).

People are walking by my office wondering why I’m laughing.

Thanks!
Brett
May 22nd, 2006 - 17:31

My very first day at a locksmith store I worked at and I knew absolutely nothing. I hadn’t even been shown how to cut a key yet, more of less know anything at all about locks. I was in the back and the woman working the front came in and told me to come out front and tell a customer he needed mid-grade Schlage Deadbolts. I didn’t even really know what one was, but dutifully I did as I was told and the customer bought the locks and left. The woman working the counter said ‘I was telling him forever what he needed and he just wouldn’t listen to me…..’ It was sad and hilarious to us both at the same time that he would ignore the expert, but listen to the guy who knew nothing. Some people are just thick.
Marionette
May 23rd, 2006 - 03:19

My local comic store has a girl who works there. I don’t talk to her much about mainstream comics these days. I tried to at first, but one time, after commenting on the new comics that were just in and three times getting a response along the line of “I don’t read that” (2 out of 3 I didn’t read either), I gave up.

I suppose I could have asked what comics she did know well enough to be able to form a casual opinion of them, but to be honest I had stopped caring by then.

I know it’s depressing, but sometimes girls can be crap and the one crap one will get noticed and remembered long after the competent ones are forgotten. Because they weren’t so annoying.
Mickle
May 23rd, 2006 - 07:30

Believe it or not, this or a variation will happen at least once every couple weeks.

Oh, I believe it.

Every once in a while I will venture out of my kid’s cave in the bookstore I work at, and every so often some guy will be asking about a technical book. Quite often they make it quite obvious that they assume I don’t know shit.

I once had an older gentleman correct my physics terminology. I brightly explained that I majored in physics and that I had simply assumed he was using the term in the standard way, rather than in the technical way, especially since we don’t carry books that are that specialized.
C. Elam
May 23rd, 2006 - 19:20

One of the most effective clerks ever at our local comic book store was a girl. She knows her X-Men and her Elfquest and even sold me a copy of HEAVY METAL once. I can’t say her gender affected my opinion of her knowledge – if anything, I sort of assumed she was better informed (and she was). We’re still friends to this day, even though she left that job long ago.

Oh, and my sister is a kickass fireman.
Eyeball Kid
May 26th, 2006 - 17:58

I used to go to UCSB, so of course at the time I shopped at Metro. I think, from this story, that I just figured out who you are. I was the guy who used your store to start my Hellblazer collection, and was competing with you for the back issues. At least, you’d always make a comment to that effect when I brought a hefty pile of them up to the checkout. Ah, memories.

As for the subject at hand, my current local comic shop here on the East coast is wonderfully progressive. In addition to the wife of the owner, who co-runs the place, there are two more female employees who work there and from what I’ve seen most of the regulars treat them with respect. The female employees are every bit as knowledgeable and up-to-date as their male counterparts, and I have no reservations turning to them for advice. I also consider the store to be much more welcoming than the average comic shop. It’s very clean and well-lit. There is a big all-ages section prominently displayed right at the front of the store. Also, they gave me a big box of chocolates for the holidays.
admin
May 28th, 2006 - 20:45

Man, we never gave chocolate…
I’m not sure if you’re going to check back to this but I am entirely chargrinned that I thought back to ‘that ol’ John Constantine customer’ when I was resorting the TPs a couple days ago.
Tiny comic book loving world, this is. =D
Eyeball Kid
May 29th, 2006 - 11:34

Checked back.

Glad to hear I am still remembered. I still think of Metro fondly from time to time, after all I got four good years out of that store. And I started there just at the time I was getting back into comic collecting after about a decade-long dry spell, so Metro will always have a special significance to me. But I’ve been lucky enough to find a really good store no matter where I’ve lived.

Hope I didn’t set back your Constantine collecting too much. Tiny world indeed.
Matthew Craig
June 4th, 2006 - 10:47

The Spider Totems and magical destiny and new guy just didn’t do it for me (and still don’t actually, but that’s for another rant)

You are my total hero.

//\Oo/\\
Shawn Fumo
June 5th, 2006 - 11:42

This is a good post, but I don’t think this particular statement is really fair: “Some fangirls really do just limit themselves to what they’re supposed to like and rather enjoy their little pink ghettos of manga …”

There’s a pretty big range of titles in manga, even in the “aimed at girls” titles. Something like Cardcaptor Sakura is about as cutesy as possible, but then you have things like Angel Sanctuary with all the incest and violence. Plus all of the titles that have crossover into both sexes like Fullmetal Alchemist or Planetes.

I know it was just a throwaway comment, but it seems silly to categorize manga as a “ghetto” when the content and readership is so varied (taken in a broader sense, there’s plenty of superheros in manga too).

Anyway, hopefully things will change over time. One of the local shops here has a female clerk and frequently more ladies buying comics than guys. I’m sure she still has to deal with idiots at times, but hopefully that sort of environment helps a bit.
admin
June 5th, 2006 - 16:40

Shawn Fumo: Then let me try and correct myself here: I have a lot of love for manga, especially the shojo dramas, don’t get me wrong. And when last I checked the local Borders bookstores in town (we got 2!), a lot of the books (okay, at least the spines) tend to be that color of pink that catches the eye like the Barbie aisle at a toy store. What I meant by the comment is that I know specific examples of girls who come into the store who want Girl Books(tm). They don’t want to look at Boy Books, they don’t want to be varied and look into things like Angel Sanctuary and Fullmetal Alchemist. They want Girl Books(tm). They want a special place in the store for them and I’m not even saying there’s anything wrong with that. There is so much variety to pictures-with-words-telling-stories (call it ‘comics’ or ‘manga’ or ‘graphic novels’, whathaveyou) and it’s great… it’s just that some people don’t want that though. Some people are just happy to be specific. Sometimes it’s not even a choice. Parents will actively shoo their daughters away from Spider-Man with a derisive, ‘That’s a boy book’ and buy them Lizzie McGuire cine-manga. It’s not fair, it’s not the rule, but there it is. Some people don’t vote either. Whatcha gonna do?

And for my cutesy dollar, I’d go with Angelic Layer.
Shawn Fumo
June 5th, 2006 - 17:53

Thanks for the clarification and I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions! I should know better than to post before taking time to check your other postings to get a better feel.

I definitely sympathise with being frustrated with people that don’t want to leave their comfort zone. The opposite seems to also be true. Like people who will read a superhero horror book or superhero police procedural, but then refuses to try a normal horror or police book. Or guys who go running at the first sign of romance. It is a sad state of affairs when people assume that Love Hina is aimed at girls!

The thing with the parents is even worse! I really really hate stuff like that. Things are bad enough with media and peer pressure, we don’t need parents enforcing stereotypes as well.

I’m always so thankful for how open-minded my Mom was in raising me. I mean when I was young she said stuff like “You know, if it turns out that you happen to be gay, I would be ok with that”. It turns out that I wasn’t, but it sure is nice not to have to worry about that before you get to the age where you’d really know.

Anyway, I feel bad for people who limit themselves from trying the full range of guilty pleasures from Berserk to Swan (who can’t get excited about ballet after reading Swan?).
Adarael
June 5th, 2006 - 22:58

Ahh, to think that there are people out there who seem to believe that guys are the only ones that are safe to talk to.
Oh, no, wait, that’s right. People are retarded by nature.

Just remember, however off-the-cuff ‘Bows and Ponies’ was, it’s now part of my vocabulary, and you can’t have it back.
maria
June 10th, 2006 - 15:53

I work in a comic shop and am the only female employee. I like to have fun answering the phone: uh, hi….do you anything about comics? Yes, I do…well, ummm….maybe I’ll try back. I feel your pain.