"But you can't possibly own it!"

[tm comics]

The amount of times I've had customers stare at me blankly and deny that I own the shop is ridiculous. The worst one was about three weeks ago. A guy came into my shop, must have been about mid twenties, I do my usual of a friendly hello and a smile, he completely blanks me. (grrr) so, I carry on with what I was doing and let him browse. Now my shop is tiny, it takes about ten to fifteen minutes at the most to browse... half an hour later, I ask him if he's looking for anything in particular. He ignores me. Fair enough. I leave him to it.
Ten minutes later he strides up to my desk and says.

SC: "I want to order *insert graphic novel here*"

ME: "Sure, if i can take your e-mail address and a depo..."

SC: "I dont want to talk to you, I want to talk to the owner. Shop assistants never get things done."

I smile sweetly at him and inform him that I am the owner. He stares blankly at me then blurts out.

SC: "But you can't possibly own it! You're a girl!"

I manage not to hit him in the face and inform him that gender has nothing to do with owning a business.
He snorts something about the comic book business being a man's world and leaves!

Anybody else had this problem?

[Crosshair]

I have women customers who are surprised that I, a guy, can cut fabric. They don't call me "Oz" for nothing.

[ahanix1989]

Oh trust me, you'll find plenty of people here have had encounters with those who still have a view of the world that involves "Cooking, fabrics, decorations is strictly for women". Those, my dear, are referred to as "SC's". Along with many other groups of people for various reasons, including

1. Theft
2. Arguing
3. Lacking what SHOULD be common sense
4. Condescending tone
5. Incomprehensible mumbling
6. Body odor
7. Coupons that are expired
8. Inability to properly swipe credit card
9. Confusion about menu items (THERE IS NO COMBO 9, IT ONLY GOES UP TO SIX DAMMIT)
10. Talking on their cell phone
11. We're closed.
12. Sabotaging your bathrooms

[kerrisan]

I know it's not completely relevant, but . . .

Once when I worked at Kroger, we were taking donations for Breast Cancer Research. When I asked a young guy (probably 25 or so) if he would like to donate, he chuckled and replied "Hah, no, that's ok." I have a feeling he said "no" because he thought it didn't apply to him. Men can get breast cancer too!

[tm comics]

Hey, funny you should mention "we're closed" had a girl askingme why i was closing the doors yesterday. when i told her i was closing, she threw a hissy fit and said that i should stay open longer because she finished work at 5:30.
I close at 6! this gives her half an hour to get to me! and eing that she works three stores down from me, i think it isnt that hard! ah well!

[Myra]

Girls can't open comic shops? Comics are a "man's world?" He'd better be glad he's never said something like that in MY presence. Or the presence of basically every female in the drama department at the college I attended. There would be no safe place for him to hide.

I spent roughly half of my allowance, then later on, my paycheck at comic shops as a kid. Recently, I nearly had a nervous breakdown when I discovered my uncle, who was storing some of my things, had moved the case holding my precious comics to his GARAGE. (No climate control = DEATH to mint condition books.) I only felt better when I was told my things were moved to my Grandma's, where I went and inspected them. (They were fine. Phew!)

Glad he left. You don't need such a pig SC patronizing your store anyway.

[SuperB]

My husband and I both get that. We co-own the place with both his parents and my parents. We are always there, my parents worked it with us for a while and then moved and his parents moved from silent partner to take their place. (it really can't support all three families at once most of the time) Everyone always assumes "the older couple" are the owners and we're the "kids who work there" which pisses me off when my husband and I are equal owners, equal contributers and do a lot more of the work than the parents for the most part.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

"SC: "But you can't possibly own it! You're a girl!"

I manage not to hit him in the face and inform him that gender has nothing to do with owning a business.
He snorts something about the comic book business being a man's world and leaves!"

And yet, these guys never, ever seem to figure out why they never, ever get laid.

Just as well, I guess.

[KamenRiderOsaka]

lawls, try being a girl who works in a video game store. Guys are amazed (and often intimidated) that I knew more about video games than they did. A lot of them will act like complete smart asses to you until you put them in their place, and then they respect you. Its weird.

[Gost2036]

I love when I can find a girl to talk video games to. They tend to like more than just FPS games or Grand Theft Auto. Whats really funny is when you are talking to a girl gamer and her non gamer boyfriend doesn't like that we got into a 20 min discussion about which MMO's are better and some fo the new Pc games that were coming out. It amuses me that so many people don't seem to think that women would like comic books or play video games.

[Sailornight6]

i am a girl gamer... and work up and own quite a few comic books. actually i am more of a star trek geek that anything else. gee i wonder what what he would say about me

[Shironu-Akaineko]

Girl gamer, Own the Hulk comic with Wolverine's first appearance, super-proud of my Todd MacFarlane Spiderman poster (It literally catches and kills flies!), can repair hardware after fiddling with it 5 minutes for the firt time in my life...

And what do I get? The "aww ain't that cute she's playing grownup!" look from older people.

The only one who never gave me that look was my grandpa, he trained me for geekdom and computers. The comics I did on my own, but he introduced me to circuitboards and hacking C64 games. I miss him.

But onto the topic of "a girl can't be in charge" piece of sh*t.

We had a total [rearend] hole of an assistant manager in the bakery (whom I lovingly called assman) that quit a year ago. Well, people still come up to me and asks for the manager.
So far, normal.

But they get insulted when I come back with "Lisa". She's been Bakery Manager for 15 years. They call me stupid and asks for "the guy!" "I said the Manager!"
"That is the manager."

"NO! THE MANAGER IS THE GUY WITH THE CURLY MUSTACHE!"

Cue over-repeated spiel about how he was never manager and he left a year ago.
Cue the same damn answer we get for EVERYTHING.

"But I just talked to him last week!"

Last week is a magical time. Everything the customers might want always happened last week.

[tm comics]

I am a girl who plays video games, collects comic books LARPs and roleplays. Guys either worship me as their Goddess or think I'm weird! *shrugs*

[Broomjockey]

Please edit quotes

Guys either worship me as their Goddess or think I'm weird! *shrugs*

*quietly joins the goddess camp*

[tm comics]

*adds broomjocky to the minions list*