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Another one from the day I was a magazine merchandiser. So one day early in my career I'm in my store, naively putting out my magazines and my boss shows up. He starts going through my pile and snatches all of the Rolling Stone's (A music magazine) and Maxim's (A mens magazine, not X-rated) from it. I ask him what he's doing and he tells me we got a complaint that these magazines were too risque and we had to pull them. He then tells me the story of a group of elderly ladies that are retired and now spend all of their time going from store to store perusing magazines and deciding which ones are too unethical and rude to display. They then call the magazine, magazine distributer, store manager, and corporate for the particular store and demand they are removed.
In the time I was there they demanded the following magazines be removed from the shelves (I put them out anyways):
Cosmopolitan
Maxim
US Weekly
Sports Illustrated
Car & Driver
Import Tuner
Rolling Stone
People
Blender
You get the picture, almost every magazine besides their precious TV Guides, Cat Fancy, Enquirer, and Red Hat Society (Really, its a magazine). I said screw it, there are people who want these magazines, I'm not catering to one genre of people (I convinced the store manager that they would lose profits) One day I had an interaction with one of them.
SC:Old Lady
Me:
SC: Waving an Import Tuner Magazine in my face Look at the girl on this cover, she's too sexy, do you want my grandkids to see this? Why do you put this stuff out?!
Me: I'm sorry Ma'am some people buy these items. I will place it on the top shelf in back so your grandkids can't reach them.
SC: You shouldn't sell this filth to begin with! Starts ripping magazines she doesn't like off the shelf and throws the pieces at me
Me: Runs to a register 2 feet away and requests security
Security shows up, asks if I want to call the police. I tell them as long as shes not allowed back I'll be OK. Old lady gets walked out screaming her head off and subsequently banned from the store. At least her grandkids won't see Import Tuner w/Grandma anytime soon.
So the next time you're in a store and can't find your favorite magazine, or your Cosmo is hidden in back, you will know who to thank!
In the time I was there they demanded the following magazines be removed from the shelves (I put them out anyways):
Cosmopolitan
Maxim
US Weekly
Sports Illustrated
Car & Driver
Import Tuner
Rolling Stone
People
Blender
You get the picture, almost every magazine besides their precious TV Guides, Cat Fancy, Enquirer, and Red Hat Society (Really, its a magazine). I said screw it, there are people who want these magazines, I'm not catering to one genre of people (I convinced the store manager that they would lose profits) One day I had an interaction with one of them.
SC:Old Lady
Me:
SC: Waving an Import Tuner Magazine in my face Look at the girl on this cover, she's too sexy, do you want my grandkids to see this? Why do you put this stuff out?!
Me: I'm sorry Ma'am some people buy these items. I will place it on the top shelf in back so your grandkids can't reach them.
SC: You shouldn't sell this filth to begin with! Starts ripping magazines she doesn't like off the shelf and throws the pieces at me
Me: Runs to a register 2 feet away and requests security
Security shows up, asks if I want to call the police. I tell them as long as shes not allowed back I'll be OK. Old lady gets walked out screaming her head off and subsequently banned from the store. At least her grandkids won't see Import Tuner w/Grandma anytime soon.
So the next time you're in a store and can't find your favorite magazine, or your Cosmo is hidden in back, you will know who to thank!
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