Tales from the Comic shop

[Moondog]

One weekday in the mid-80s I was working my Mt. Prospect shop alone when two big guys come in. They look around and ask me if I had any Conan comic books. I said sure, and show them 1-up. The one guy says, "I'll take them all." This was about $800.

 

I'm thinking to myself that I know one of these guys... Then the guy who's buying the Conans says, "you know who this is? It's Matt Millen of the Oakland Raiders." And it hit me that that was how I knew him.

 

It turns out that the one guy was the strength coach of the Cincinnati Bengals who was in town conducting some conditioning clinics and Millen, his buddy, was helping him out.

 

The guy then says, "Matt loves Conan - in fact when the Raiders did a video, he put on a wig and said he was Conan!" Millen hears this, walks over to my counter (a converted paint store counter - very sturdy) and jumps 3 feet high onto the counter and let's out an enormous Tarzan-like yell!

 

I about &^%$ myself, but even though it was rather strange, it was a $800 sale and Millen was a pretty cool guy.

 

 

 

[mikephoen]

Here's another story...

 

So a few years ago this guy was constantly parking in one of my parking spots. I have 7 spots in my lot, which is pretty decent for an inner city store, but it is never enough on busy days. My store is also close to a large technical school, so I have to frequently chase away students who don't want to pay for parking at the school. There is also a high rise condo complex on the block, so visitors there often steal my parking.

 

Anyway, the guy this story is about was extra annoying, because he would park on the wrong angle in my angle parking, thereby blocking two stalls. You know, the way guys park their fancy cars so no one can scratch their paint. Only this guy drove a minivan.

 

I'm pretty sure this guy knew that my parking signs were inadequate to actually get him towed. One day I left a pretty snotty note on his car, and later that day he came into the store. He threw the crumpled up note at me. I told him to get out and to stay out of my parking lot. On the way out he said something along the lines of 'maybe he would be waiting for me in the parking lot' or something to that affect.

 

I was pretty mad now, so I decided to actually get the parking signs with the exact wording city bylaws here require so I could tow his car. They look like this:

 

 

Cost me a boatload to get them, because I needed one in front of each stall, and I had to get those bendy post things to mount them on. They turned out awesome though, so that was cool. They also cut the illegal parkers down by probably 75% or more.

 

Even minivan dude was respecting them, now he was just stealing parking from neighboring businesses. One day one of my neighbors tried to have him towed, and just as the tow truck was backing into the lot he ran into the parking lot, jumped into the van and backed it out around the tow truck. The tow guy was shocked, he had never seen that before.

 

Fast forward a few months and it is New Year's Day. One of the few days of the year we closed back then (Now the only day we close is xmas day). I decided to use it to install new cameras in the store. I got there early because it was going to take all day. Low and behold, minivan guy is in my lot!

 

So I call parking authority and have him towed. Sweet justice!

 

Five or six hours later I'm still hard at work installing cameras. I hear a loud banging on the back door. At first I wasn't sure what it was, but then I realized it must be the guy I had towed. I ignore him, and I'm on a different floor anyway, so I assume he'll just give up and go on his way. No point in confronting him anyway, as he proved last time he is a bit of a nutbar. He alternates banging on the front door and the back door for a few minutes, then leaves.

 

A couple hours later I go out to my vehicle and my front tire is slashed! Good thing one of the new cameras I just installed is pointed at the parking lot. I check the tape and you can clearly see the guy slash my tire. I call the cops. They come by and check the tape too. We find that he actually slashed my tire before coming to the door. Good thing I didn't open the door, he might have slashed me too!

 

We also see that he calls a cab and gets in it. From the cameras we get the cab number and the police call the cab company. They tell us that he also stiffed the cabbie when he got where he was going! The police get the address and head out. The dummy actually got dropped off at his own house! The police arrest him there.

 

I thought I might have to go to court, but they don't need me as he pleads guilty. He gets some probation, has to pay for my tire, has to send me a letter of apology and has to make a $200 donation in my name to the food bank.

 

It's a pretty funny story now, a little scary thinking the guy came to my door with a knife though.

 

Oh yeah, turns out the minivan was registered to his parents. I bet explaining all of that to his parents was fun.

[Moondog]

Here's another story...

 

So a few years ago this guy was constantly parking in one of my parking spots. I have 7 spots in my lot, which is pretty decent for an inner city store, but it is never enough on busy days. My store is also close to a large technical school, so I have to frequently chase away students who don't want to pay for parking at the school. There is also a high rise condo complex on the block, so visitors there often steal my parking.

 

Anyway, the guy this story is about was extra annoying, because he would park on the wrong angle in my angle parking, thereby blocking two stalls. You know, the way guys park their fancy cars so no one can scratch their paint. Only this guy drove a minivan.

 

I'm pretty sure this guy knew that my parking signs were inadequate to actually get him towed. One day I left a pretty snotty note on his car, and later that day he came into the store. He threw the crumpled up note at me. I told him to get out and to stay out of my parking lot. On the way out he said something along the lines of 'maybe he would be waiting for me in the parking lot' or something to that affect.

 

I was pretty mad now, so I decided to actually get the parking signs with the exact wording city bylaws here require so I could tow his car. They look like this:

 

 

Cost me a boatload to get them, because I needed one in front of each stall, and I had to get those bendy post things to mount them on. They turned out awesome though, so that was cool. They also cut the illegal parkers down by probably 75% or more.

 

Even minivan dude was respecting them, now he was just stealing parking from neighboring businesses. One day one of my neighbors tried to have him towed, and just as the tow truck was backing into the lot he ran into the parking lot, jumped into the van and backed it out around the tow truck. The tow guy was shocked, he had never seen that before.

 

Fast forward a few months and it is New Year's Day. One of the few days of the year we closed back then (Now the only day we close is xmas day). I decided to use it to install new cameras in the store. I got there early because it was going to take all day. Low and behold, minivan guy is in my lot!

 

So I call parking authority and have him towed. Sweet justice!

 

Five or six hours later I'm still hard at work installing cameras. I hear a loud banging on the back door. At first I wasn't sure what it was, but then I realized it must be the guy I had towed. I ignore him, and I'm on a different floor anyway, so I assume he'll just give up and go on his way. No point in confronting him anyway, as he proved last time he is a bit of a nutbar. He alternates banging on the front door and the back door for a few minutes, then leaves.

 

A couple hours later I go out to my vehicle and my front tire is slashed! Good thing one of the new cameras I just installed is pointed at the parking lot. I check the tape and you can clearly see the guy slash my tire. I call the cops. They come by and check the tape too. We find that he actually slashed my tire before coming to the door. Good thing I didn't open the door, he might have slashed me too!

 

We also see that he calls a cab and gets in it. From the cameras we get the cab number and the police call the cab company. They tell us that he also stiffed the cabbie when he got where he was going! The police get the address and head out. The dummy actually got dropped off at his own house! The police arrest him there.

 

I thought I might have to go to court, but they don't need me as he pleads guilty. He gets some probation, has to pay for my tire, has to send me a letter of apology and has to make a $200 donation in my name to the food bank.

 

It's a pretty funny story now, a little scary thinking the guy came to my door with a knife though.

 

Oh yeah, turns out the minivan was registered to his parents. I bet explaining all of that to his parents was fun.

 

Had almost the same story except I didn't have the guy towed, I let the air out of one of his tires. I figured that would put an end to it.

 

Well... no. A customer flies into the store and says he just chased a guy down the block who slashed all four of my tires! The cops got him but no one could prove it was this guy (even the customer wasn't sure it was him). I'll never forget the flatbed tow truck carrying my 1982 Mustang away... Cost me $600 for new tires...

[Sarfa]

One of my fondest memories from my childhood was back in 1983. I lived in Abilene TX at the time and was in 3rd grade. Abilene was a decent size town, but hadn't seen the population boom that it would in the 1990's. And you have to remember that things were not as "crazy" back then as they are these days. About 3 blocks from my house was a very little privately owned bookstore. It only had 3 isles and most of that was well read paperbacks and such. The owner was a nice man and anytime I came around he always had new comicbooks for me to read. I remember that he has these two white spindle racks stuffed with comics in the front windows. I would go there on Saturday mornings after the cartoons had gone off and lay in the floor of his shop reading whatever Richie Rich or Scooby Doo comics he had. And usually he would let me take home a couple each time without asking anything for them.

 

I remember coming home one day with a few comics and my mom asking where I got them from. I explained how the owner gave them to me. I don't know if it was because of issues my parents were having at the time but my mom just knew that I had stolen them and was going to teach me a lesson. So she drug me to the car and made me show her were the shop was. We parked and she went in with me in tow and handed the comics to the owner. She apologized for me stealing the comics since she knew I didn't have any money.

 

The owner told her that he had indeed given me the comics and that he did so because he saw how much I enjoyed reading them in his shop when I would come by. And that he figured that if the comics meant that kids were actually reading books of some kind, that he was doing some good since they didn't cost him much. My mom offered to pay for the books but the owner told my mom that it wasn't nessesary and that if she didn't mind me having them, he would continue to give me comics to read and enjoy. To which I continued going to his shop for the next few months until my parents split up and we moved away.

 

Fast forward 9 years to 1992. I graduated high school and moved back to Abilene. To my surprise the owner had moved into a much bigger shop dealing in a larger variety of books but also having a rather large comic book section in the back. I went in to check out the shop and found the owner in the comicbook section. I reminded him of what he had done when I was a kid and he remembered me. He asked if I still read comics and of course I did. He set me up a subscription for the comics I asked for. The following week I came in to pick up my comics. The guy that was working that day pulled out a stack of books and not only were there the comics I had subscribed to but there were also 3 older issues of Richie Rich in the pile with a note says "FREE" on them.

 

 

Unfortunately that shop is no longer there. But that's how I started reading comics.

[songsaboutclouds]

Love the thread!

 

So my story isn't as great and happened fairly recently.

 

My LCS guy hired me one summer to help inventory and re-arrange his books. It was a blast and I ended up working mostly for comics which was sweat. My LCS has been dealing books since the early 70s and he's owned a store since the late 70s. Needless to say he's been in the business for a long time. It was great hearing his stories.

 

I was going through helping him count mass books he was selling to clear space. He had two entire books of Batman Legends of the Dark Knight from the 90s. He said he even remembered the guy coming in and buying the box and issues off the rack. He said 10 years later he bought them back from the guy for a nickel an issue. He talked about how in the early 90s he'd sell close to a thousand copies of a singly issue. Now he'd be luck to sell 80.

 

My LCS guy kind of seemed pessimistic about the Market and disalusioned by comics in general. He got into reading books during the early run of FF. That same summer someone came in and bought his copies of FF that he'd bought of a rack in a grocery store. He used to tell me how he and his best friend (a guy who also worked in the store) would ride the bus into Baltimore city and ride their bikes our 140 hitting every story with comics buying them. It was fun hearing all these stories. The guy who bought his copies of FF that he'd had since a kid had never read a comic and just simply woke up one day and decided he'd buy FF books as he liked the movies (odd- I know).

 

Well, one day this lady comes in with a list of books she wants to sell him. I'm just sitting there counting out comics that I'd bought at cover price two years earlier that he is now selling by the box for 10 cents an issue (Ultimatum #1 *shakes fist*). While looking at the list he pauses, he then tells the lady that she shouldn't move these books as they could be worth thousands of dollars. Needless to say I jumped up and started eyeing this list. He offered to come look at them or told her to be sure that if she did move them she should be very careful.

 

After she left he explained to me her list was mostly 70s books, but she oddly had some early 60s books like AF 15 and other keys. He said it seemed odd, and they could have just simply been reprints. He gave her his card nonetheless. He NEVER heard from her again.

 

What was even more disheartening about this experience was that he says this, or something similar, happen almost every week or more. Often he never hears back from these people claiming to have Golden and Silver books.

 

It makes you wonder how many copies of AF 15 are sitting out there...or early TEC...

 

in 7 years of trading at our current store, I can guarantee we are now over 200 old people who have come into the store, looked at our '60s wall book and said

"I've got those, I've got all those, would you like to buy them?"

 

Not one has returned .

[Duffman_Comics]

One of my fondest memories from my childhood was back in 1983. I lived in Abilene TX at the time and was in 3rd grade. Abilene was a decent size town at the time but hadn't seen the population boom that it would in the 1990's. and you have to remember that things were not as "crazy" back then as then are these days. About 3 blocks from my house was a very little privately owned bookstore. It is 3 isles and most of that was well read paperbacks and such. The owner was a nice man and anytime I came around he always had new Comicbooks for me to read. I remember that he has these two while spindle racks stuffed with Comicbooks in the front windows. I would go there on Saturday mornings after the cartoons had gone off and lay in the floor of his shop reading whatever Richie Rich or Scooby Doo comics he had. And usually he would let me take home a couple each time without asking anything for them.

 

I remember coming home one day with a few comics and my mom asking where I got them from. I explained how the owner gave them to me. I don't know if it was because of issues my parents were having at the time but my mom just knew that I had stolen them and was going to teach me a lesson. So she drug me to the car and made me show her were the shop was. We parked and went in and she went in with me in tow and handed the comics to the owner and apologized for me stealing the comics since she knew I didn't have any money.

 

The owner told her that he had indeed given me the comics and that he did so because he saw how much I enjoyed reading them in his shop when I would come by. And that he figured that if the comics ment that kids were actually reading books of some kind that he was doing some good since they didn't cost him much. My mom offered to pay for the books but the owner told my mom that it wasn't nessesary and that if she didn't mind me having them, he would continue to give me comics to read and enjoy. To which I continued going to his shop for the next few months until my parents split up and we moved away.

 

Fast forward 9 years to 1992. I graduated high school and moved back to Abilene. To my surprise the owner had moved into a much bigger shop dealing in a larger variety of books but also having a rather large comic book section in the back. I went I. To check out the shop and found the owner in the comicbook section. I reminded him of what he had done when I was a kid and he remembered me. He asked if I still read comics and of course I did. He set me up a subscription for the comics I asked for. The following week I came into pick them up from the guy that was working that day and not only were there the comics I had subscribed to but there were also 3 older issues of Richie Rich in the pile with a note says "FREE" on them.

 

 

Unfortunately that shop is no longer there. But that's how I started reading comics.

 

Great story and a salutary illustration of when reading and collecting funny books was FUN.

[Ivan_Only-migration]

Here's another story...

 

So a few years ago this guy was constantly parking in one of my parking spots. I have 7 spots in my lot, which is pretty decent for an inner city store, but it is never enough on busy days. My store is also close to a large technical school, so I have to frequently chase away students who don't want to pay for parking at the school. There is also a high rise condo complex on the block, so visitors there often steal my parking.

 

Anyway, the guy this story is about was extra annoying, because he would park on the wrong angle in my angle parking, thereby blocking two stalls. You know, the way guys park their fancy cars so no one can scratch their paint. Only this guy drove a minivan.

 

I'm pretty sure this guy knew that my parking signs were inadequate to actually get him towed. One day I left a pretty snotty note on his car, and later that day he came into the store. He threw the crumpled up note at me. I told him to get out and to stay out of my parking lot. On the way out he said something along the lines of 'maybe he would be waiting for me in the parking lot' or something to that affect.

 

I was pretty mad now, so I decided to actually get the parking signs with the exact wording city bylaws here require so I could tow his car. They look like this:

 

 

Cost me a boatload to get them, because I needed one in front of each stall, and I had to get those bendy post things to mount them on. They turned out awesome though, so that was cool. They also cut the illegal parkers down by probably 75% or more.

 

Even minivan dude was respecting them, now he was just stealing parking from neighboring businesses. One day one of my neighbors tried to have him towed, and just as the tow truck was backing into the lot he ran into the parking lot, jumped into the van and backed it out around the tow truck. The tow guy was shocked, he had never seen that before.

 

Fast forward a few months and it is New Year's Day. One of the few days of the year we closed back then (Now the only day we close is xmas day). I decided to use it to install new cameras in the store. I got there early because it was going to take all day. Low and behold, minivan guy is in my lot!

 

So I call parking authority and have him towed. Sweet justice!

 

Five or six hours later I'm still hard at work installing cameras. I hear a loud banging on the back door. At first I wasn't sure what it was, but then I realized it must be the guy I had towed. I ignore him, and I'm on a different floor anyway, so I assume he'll just give up and go on his way. No point in confronting him anyway, as he proved last time he is a bit of a nutbar. He alternates banging on the front door and the back door for a few minutes, then leaves.

 

A couple hours later I go out to my vehicle and my front tire is slashed! Good thing one of the new cameras I just installed is pointed at the parking lot. I check the tape and you can clearly see the guy slash my tire. I call the cops. They come by and check the tape too. We find that he actually slashed my tire before coming to the door. Good thing I didn't open the door, he might have slashed me too!

 

We also see that he calls a cab and gets in it. From the cameras we get the cab number and the police call the cab company. They tell us that he also stiffed the cabbie when he got where he was going! The police get the address and head out. The dummy actually got dropped off at his own house! The police arrest him there.

 

I thought I might have to go to court, but they don't need me as he pleads guilty. He gets some probation, has to pay for my tire, has to send me a letter of apology and has to make a $200 donation in my name to the food bank.

 

It's a pretty funny story now, a little scary thinking the guy came to my door with a knife though.

 

Oh yeah, turns out the minivan was registered to his parents. I bet explaining all of that to his parents was fun.

 

EPIC!

[thehumantorch]

Here's another story...

 

So a few years ago this guy was constantly parking in one of my parking spots. I have 7 spots in my lot, which is pretty decent for an inner city store, but it is never enough on busy days. My store is also close to a large technical school, so I have to frequently chase away students who don't want to pay for parking at the school. There is also a high rise condo complex on the block, so visitors there often steal my parking.

 

Anyway, the guy this story is about was extra annoying, because he would park on the wrong angle in my angle parking, thereby blocking two stalls. You know, the way guys park their fancy cars so no one can scratch their paint. Only this guy drove a minivan.

 

I'm pretty sure this guy knew that my parking signs were inadequate to actually get him towed. One day I left a pretty snotty note on his car, and later that day he came into the store. He threw the crumpled up note at me. I told him to get out and to stay out of my parking lot. On the way out he said something along the lines of 'maybe he would be waiting for me in the parking lot' or something to that affect.

 

I was pretty mad now, so I decided to actually get the parking signs with the exact wording city bylaws here require so I could tow his car. They look like this:

 

 

Cost me a boatload to get them, because I needed one in front of each stall, and I had to get those bendy post things to mount them on. They turned out awesome though, so that was cool. They also cut the illegal parkers down by probably 75% or more.

 

Even minivan dude was respecting them, now he was just stealing parking from neighboring businesses. One day one of my neighbors tried to have him towed, and just as the tow truck was backing into the lot he ran into the parking lot, jumped into the van and backed it out around the tow truck. The tow guy was shocked, he had never seen that before.

 

Fast forward a few months and it is New Year's Day. One of the few days of the year we closed back then (Now the only day we close is xmas day). I decided to use it to install new cameras in the store. I got there early because it was going to take all day. Low and behold, minivan guy is in my lot!

 

So I call parking authority and have him towed. Sweet justice!

 

Five or six hours later I'm still hard at work installing cameras. I hear a loud banging on the back door. At first I wasn't sure what it was, but then I realized it must be the guy I had towed. I ignore him, and I'm on a different floor anyway, so I assume he'll just give up and go on his way. No point in confronting him anyway, as he proved last time he is a bit of a nutbar. He alternates banging on the front door and the back door for a few minutes, then leaves.

 

A couple hours later I go out to my vehicle and my front tire is slashed! Good thing one of the new cameras I just installed is pointed at the parking lot. I check the tape and you can clearly see the guy slash my tire. I call the cops. They come by and check the tape too. We find that he actually slashed my tire before coming to the door. Good thing I didn't open the door, he might have slashed me too!

 

We also see that he calls a cab and gets in it. From the cameras we get the cab number and the police call the cab company. They tell us that he also stiffed the cabbie when he got where he was going! The police get the address and head out. The dummy actually got dropped off at his own house! The police arrest him there.

 

I thought I might have to go to court, but they don't need me as he pleads guilty. He gets some probation, has to pay for my tire, has to send me a letter of apology and has to make a $200 donation in my name to the food bank.

 

It's a pretty funny story now, a little scary thinking the guy came to my door with a knife though.

 

Oh yeah, turns out the minivan was registered to his parents. I bet explaining all of that to his parents was fun.

 

What a superdoosh

[thehumantorch]

One of my fondest memories from my childhood was back in 1983. I lived in Abilene TX at the time and was in 3rd grade. Abilene was a decent size town at the time but hadn't seen the population boom that it would in the 1990's. and you have to remember that things were not as "crazy" back then as then are these days. About 3 blocks from my house was a very little privately owned bookstore. It is 3 isles and most of that was well read paperbacks and such. The owner was a nice man and anytime I came around he always had new Comicbooks for me to read. I remember that he has these two while spindle racks stuffed with Comicbooks in the front windows. I would go there on Saturday mornings after the cartoons had gone off and lay in the floor of his shop reading whatever Richie Rich or Scooby Doo comics he had. And usually he would let me take home a couple each time without asking anything for them.

 

I remember coming home one day with a few comics and my mom asking where I got them from. I explained how the owner gave them to me. I don't know if it was because of issues my parents were having at the time but my mom just knew that I had stolen them and was going to teach me a lesson. So she drug me to the car and made me show her were the shop was. We parked and went in and she went in with me in tow and handed the comics to the owner and apologized for me stealing the comics since she knew I didn't have any money.

 

The owner told her that he had indeed given me the comics and that he did so because he saw how much I enjoyed reading them in his shop when I would come by. And that he figured that if the comics ment that kids were actually reading books of some kind that he was doing some good since they didn't cost him much. My mom offered to pay for the books but the owner told my mom that it wasn't nessesary and that if she didn't mind me having them, he would continue to give me comics to read and enjoy. To which I continued going to his shop for the next few months until my parents split up and we moved away.

 

Fast forward 9 years to 1992. I graduated high school and moved back to Abilene. To my surprise the owner had moved into a much bigger shop dealing in a larger variety of books but also having a rather large comic book section in the back. I went I. To check out the shop and found the owner in the comicbook section. I reminded him of what he had done when I was a kid and he remembered me. He asked if I still read comics and of course I did. He set me up a subscription for the comics I asked for. The following week I came into pick them up from the guy that was working that day and not only were there the comics I had subscribed to but there were also 3 older issues of Richie Rich in the pile with a note says "FREE" on them.

 

 

Unfortunately that shop is no longer there. But that's how I started reading comics.

 

Great story

[october]

Best comics general thread I have read in the last year.

[october]

I had a local comic shop in my hometown in Illinois run by a guy named Ray. He had boxes and boxes of drek, but nothing particularly valuable. One day I walk in and notice that he has a Venom 1 gold on the wall. Nothing super special, but I had a friend who was after one. I ask him to take it off the wall, and because he is one of those old-school ham-handers, he bends the freaking thing in half getting it out of the bag. Awesome.

 

Now this is a book that came out in 1993, and I asked about it maybe in 2007 or so. So this is a book that has been sitting on his wall, in the sunshine, unwanted, for the better part of a decade and a half. I get my friend on the phone, tell him the price ($25) and he counters with a best offer of $20. Ray won't budge. Not a dollar. Ok, no deal. The book goes back up on the wall.

 

Fast forward a couple of weeks later. I go to the shop to poke around, and it's completely empty. Nothing inside. I come to find out that he gave up the business or lost his lease or got married and the wife made him close up, not sure which. In any case, he ended up GIVING his entire inventory away to a local dealer for nothing. Just for the price of hauling it all away.

 

Never met someone who would rather take nothing than $5 less, but you never know. He was a character, no doubt. He employed a heavily tattooed midget who drove an enormous SUV as a cashier for awhile. Also awesome.

[Artboy99]

I got my start in comics when I was 5/6 years old. My Dad would take me with him into town when he went on his special trips for rye breads and lunch meats. Back in those days you couldn't buy that stuff in your grocery store you had to go to a specialty shop.

Dad took me, and when we got to where we were going he gave me the change from his pocket and told me to go to the book store and buy some comics.

I went into the store and the guy was a used book dealer who had stacks and stacks of comics on shelves. I went through the pile and the first book I bought was an FF 112 Hulk vs. Thing.

That purchase got me interested in collecting comics. When I was 8 I got a paper route for a nearby trailer park. It was hard work for me at that age, but I did it so i had my own money to buy whatever I wanted. I wanted comic books.

A mile or so down the road was a convenience store, and I would go there on Wednesdays as that was new comic day. i would go through the spinner rack pulling copies of whatever I wanted. In those days it was Spider-man, Avengers, FF, Thor, Hulk, Defenders, ...all marvel Comics.

The lady who ran the store got to know me, and after some time she began "saving" me copies of books by setting them aside.

I look back at that, and think fondly of my first ever comic file! She also used to give me the unsold books free, she had to rip the top of the covers off to send those back in but I got the rest of the book, it made for great readers.

I did this for years, using the paper route funds to buy comics until I was 15, at that point I gave the route to my 11 year old brother and took a job at the gas place near us.

Many years later I decided to answer an advertisement in the local paper regarding estate sale as there were comics listed in the available items. When I got there i was surprised to learn it was the very same lady who helped me out as a little boy who had passed. I asked some questions and learned she ran her little store up untila few years previous, she had retired but much of the store's inventory went into a storage facility. I am kicking myself now, but the spinner rack was there and I could have bought it.

 

[mikephoen]

Here is quick one that just happened a couple of weeks ago...

 

 

Phone rings, I answer.

 

Me: Phoenix Comics

 

Female Customer: Is this Phoenix Comics? (For some reason most of the crazy calls you get start with this question)

 

Me: Yes it is, how can I help you?

 

Female Customer: Do you sell Transformer comics?

 

Me: Yes we have lots of different Transformer comics, was there something in particular you were looking for?

 

Female Customer: Do you have X rated Transformer comics? Ones where the Transformers have sex with humans?

 

Me: No, sorry, I don't think they publish anything like that.

 

Female Customer: My friend showed them to me on the internet. I'm trying to get some.

 

Me: They are most likely something that is only on the internet, I'm pretty sure no-one has ever published them.

 

Female Customer: Oh.... Do you have the ones where the Transformers have sex with each other then? I am also looking for those.

 

Me: No, sorry, I don't think those have been published either...

 

Female Customer: So you don't know where I can get those?

 

Me: No, sorry.

 

Female Customer: Oh... (hangs up)

 

 

We've had hundreds of weird calls over the years. An ex-employee used to have a blog with them, but unfortunately the blog site disappeared many years ago. Next time I see him I'll ask him about them. He'll probably remember more of the crazy ones than I do. I'll post some more of the good ones if this thread is still going.

[HotJuicyBurgers]

Here is quick one that just happened a couple of weeks ago...

 

 

Phone rings, I answer.

 

Me: Phoenix Comics

 

Female Customer: Is this Phoenix Comics? (For some reason most of the crazy calls you get start with this question)

 

Me: Yes it is, how can I help you?

 

Female Customer: Do you sell Transformer comics?

 

Me: Yes we have lots of different Transformer comics, was there something in particular you were looking for?

 

Female Customer: Do you have X rated Transformer comics? Ones where the Transformers have sex with humans?

 

Me: No, sorry, I don't think they publish anything like that.

 

Female Customer: My friend showed them to me on the internet. I'm trying to get some.

 

Me: They are most likely something that is only on the internet, I'm pretty sure no-one has ever published them.

 

Female Customer: Oh.... Do you have the ones where the Transformers have sex with each other then? I am also looking for those.

 

Me: No, sorry, I don't think those have been published either...

 

Female Customer: So you don't know where I can get those?

 

Me: No, sorry.

 

Female Customer: Oh... (hangs up)

 

 

We've had hundreds of weird calls over the years. An ex-employee used to have a blog with them, but unfortunately the blog site disappeared many years ago. Next time I see him I'll ask him about them. He'll probably remember more of the crazy ones than I do. I'll post some more of the good ones if this thread is still going.

 

Hot transformer on transformer action.

 

Never in my wildest dreams would something like that ever pop up

 

How did this thread not exist before?

[KONG]

Here is quick one that just happened a couple of weeks ago...

 

 

Phone rings, I answer.

 

Me: Phoenix Comics

 

Female Customer: Is this Phoenix Comics? (For some reason most of the crazy calls you get start with this question)

 

Me: Yes it is, how can I help you?

 

Female Customer: Do you sell Transformer comics?

 

Me: Yes we have lots of different Transformer comics, was there something in particular you were looking for?

 

Female Customer: Do you have X rated Transformer comics? Ones where the Transformers have sex with humans?

 

Me: No, sorry, I don't think they publish anything like that.

 

Female Customer: My friend showed them to me on the internet. I'm trying to get some.

 

Me: They are most likely something that is only on the internet, I'm pretty sure no-one has ever published them.

 

Female Customer: Oh.... Do you have the ones where the Transformers have sex with each other then? I am also looking for those.

 

Me: No, sorry, I don't think those have been published either...

 

Female Customer: So you don't know where I can get those?

 

Me: No, sorry.

 

Female Customer: Oh... (hangs up)

 

 

We've had hundreds of weird calls over the years. An ex-employee used to have a blog with them, but unfortunately the blog site disappeared many years ago. Next time I see him I'll ask him about them. He'll probably remember more of the crazy ones than I do. I'll post some more of the good ones if this thread is still going.

 

I'm pretty sure there was a missed opportunity here.

[Brian48]

Here is quick one that just happened a couple of weeks ago...

 

 

Phone rings, I answer.

 

Me: Phoenix Comics

 

Female Customer: Is this Phoenix Comics? (For some reason most of the crazy calls you get start with this question)

 

Me: Yes it is, how can I help you?

 

Female Customer: Do you sell Transformer comics?

 

Me: Yes we have lots of different Transformer comics, was there something in particular you were looking for?

 

Female Customer: Do you have X rated Transformer comics? Ones where the Transformers have sex with humans?

 

Me: No, sorry, I don't think they publish anything like that.

 

Female Customer: My friend showed them to me on the internet. I'm trying to get some.

 

Me: They are most likely something that is only on the internet, I'm pretty sure no-one has ever published them.

 

Female Customer: Oh.... Do you have the ones where the Transformers have sex with each other then? I am also looking for those.

 

Me: No, sorry, I don't think those have been published either...

 

Female Customer: So you don't know where I can get those?

 

Me: No, sorry.

 

Female Customer: Oh... (hangs up)

 

 

We've had hundreds of weird calls over the years. An ex-employee used to have a blog with them, but unfortunately the blog site disappeared many years ago. Next time I see him I'll ask him about them. He'll probably remember more of the crazy ones than I do. I'll post some more of the good ones if this thread is still going.

 

I'm pretty sure there was a missed opportunity here.

 

At minimum, it would have been nice to have seen what she looked liked anyway. All I ever got was some drunk gay guy on the phone trying to pick me up.

[MrBedrock]

In the early 00s a couple of my employees and I had a band. We usually practiced after hours at one of our locations where the other tenants were also closed so we wouldn't bother anyone. We played obnoxiously loud (kinda like my posts) punk . Well one week we had to move practice to the Westheimer location. Our next door neighbor is a Chinese restaurant and the relationship has been pretty icy. Normally we would have waited until they closed to crank it up...but we didn't. They didn't seem to have any customers and it was close to closing. About two minutes after we started the little old Chinese guy who owns the restaurant was banging on the door. But due to the noise we missed it. So he leaves, comes back, and chunks a head of lettuce which explodes all over the front door. We saw that.

 

From the dumpling place? I suppose it's better than the guys from the tattoo shop wanting to have word with you.

The tattoo guys are all okay. It's the girls from the nail salon that I'm worried about.

[Ares]

Here is quick one that just happened a couple of weeks ago...

 

 

Phone rings, I answer.

 

Me: Phoenix Comics

 

Female Customer: Is this Phoenix Comics? (For some reason most of the crazy calls you get start with this question)

 

Me: Yes it is, how can I help you?

 

Female Customer: Do you sell Transformer comics?

 

Me: Yes we have lots of different Transformer comics, was there something in particular you were looking for?

 

Female Customer: Do you have X rated Transformer comics? Ones where the Transformers have sex with humans?

 

Me: No, sorry, I don't think they publish anything like that.

 

Female Customer: My friend showed them to me on the internet. I'm trying to get some.

 

Me: They are most likely something that is only on the internet, I'm pretty sure no-one has ever published them.

 

Female Customer: Oh.... Do you have the ones where the Transformers have sex with each other then? I am also looking for those.

 

Me: No, sorry, I don't think those have been published either...

 

Female Customer: So you don't know where I can get those?

 

Me: No, sorry.

 

Female Customer: Oh... (hangs up)

 

 

We've had hundreds of weird calls over the years. An ex-employee used to have a blog with them, but unfortunately the blog site disappeared many years ago. Next time I see him I'll ask him about them. He'll probably remember more of the crazy ones than I do. I'll post some more of the good ones if this thread is still going.

 

so what you're saying is you dont have those comics?

Dam

[Mad Titan]

How did this thread not exist before?

 

We were too busy complaining about cgc turnaround times!?

[HotJuicyBurgers]

How did this thread not exist before?

 

We were too busy complaining about cgc turnaround times!?

 

I should have known