May 10 2009
Record Store Memories Part #2 - Behind The Counter #1
As I mentioned in ‘Record Store Memories #1″, I worked in a CD shop for nearly four years. Anyone reading this post that has ever worked in retail has probably had some similar experiences.
The shop I worked in specialised in jazz, but had a large selection of blues, soul, world music and also SACD and DVD-audio, for audiophiles. A specialist, niche store attracts extreme ends of the social spectrum, because it’s not ‘mainstream’, and I met a wide variety of characters during my time. When I started, the shop had already been around for about 15 years, had an established reputation and plenty of regular customers. Regulars are important to any shop, and you can really do well if you take the time to get to know them and their tastes; it’s an old style ‘corner shop’ type approach that seems to be dying out now - “Hey Frank! How are you doing? Have you heard the new ’blah’ CD? You’ll love it, just like the ‘blah blah’ record you really liked!”. For the most part, the regulars I dealt with were friendly, knowledgable, witty and willing to trust and accept recommendations and advice given by the shop staff..
It wasn’t all gravy, however. I remember the first time time I ever fielded a phone call from an irate customer - “whaddya mean it’s not in yet!!?? I ordered that damn record four weeks ago! What kind of system are you running there??!! Are you incompetent? I mean, what the hell’s going on there anyway??!!!” etc etc. My first instinct was to say to the guy “Hey buddy it’s only a f***ing CD, get over it”, but I was cluey enough to know that those sorts of comments aren’t good in retail. Somehow I got off the line, but I was pretty shaken for the rest of the day (especially since the problem wasn’t my fault). The other guys in the shop told me not to take it personally, those calls happen, but still, when you’re on the receiving end of that kind of an angry blast it’s hard not to absorb it. Over time I developed a way of handling these calls, and had enough stalling and calming techniques (and sometimes it WAS my fault) to placate even the least satisfied customer.
Hagglers were always fun. Guys that would come in, time after time, ask for a discount, never get one, but keep on trying! I loved that - never give up pal, it might happen one of these days! There were a few of these guys who stand out, two were regulars and one came in about 3 times a year. I’m sorry to say that with most hagglers I’m pretty sarcastic, and enjoy pushing them. The first guy was a young student musician, who would come in and listen to loads of CDs, and always say something like “This is $25 but the guy on the weekend said I could have it for $20″. To which the reply is, “Well I’m not the weekend guy - $25″. I could swear that this kid shoplifted anytime he got the chance too, but I could never catch him at it.
The second regular guy came in once a week and only ever looked at the cheap/sale section. NEVER ONCE looked at anything full price. He would also listen to loads of stuff, and then haggle over a ten or fifteen dollar disc (for American readers, I’m talking Aussie dollars - $15 Aussie = about $11 USD). A typical conversation with this guy would go something like:
customer: “If I buy these two at $15 each will you do them for $20?”
me: “No.”
customer (with sly grin): “Oh come on, the boss isn’t here, he won’t know.”
me: “No.”
customer: “CDs only cost about a dollar to make, and these are $15 each, your making plenty on it.”
me: “Those CDs are marked down from $35 each, we’re not making anything”
customer: “What’s your best price?”
me: “Exactly what it says.”
customer: “So are you going to give me a discount or not?”
me: “Well if you put it that way… No.”
customer: “Fine, I’ll just take one then.”
Every week! Same conversation! You gotta hand it to the guy for trying, but he obviously didn’t learn. I love that line too, ‘What’s your best price?’. That’s a favourite with hagglers. The third and less regular guy loved that line too, and he was another that never bought anything at full price. He’d bring 3 $10 CDs over to the counter:
customer: “What’s your best price on these?”
me: “What’s the price say?”
customer: “$10″
me: “okay, and there are 3? So $30 is the price.”
customer: “But what’s your best price?”
me: “$30″
customer: “Can you knock anything off for cash?”
me: “No.” (And I’m thinking, “I’m not used car dealer, for god’s sake”)
customer: “Last time I came in all the sale CDs were $5 each”
me: “That was just for a week. Now they’re $10 again. You should’ve bought up then when they were cheap.”
I remember once during the course of one of these conversations this guy started getting quite angry and red in the face. He even gave a low under-the-breath groan because I wasn’t budging on the prices. He also once said “I own more CDs than you have in your entire shop”. I’m not surprised, if he bought them all for next to nothing!
Of course, now I think of it, not one of those three compare with the most arrogant customer ever, who came to the shop on a couple of occasions. One time this guy brought two little Dachshund puppies on a leash, tied them up in front of the shop (the shop was inside a building by the way, so they weren’t out on the street). One of the puppies urinated all the over tiled area outside the shop, and when the security guard came to give this guy a hard time about it, he completely ignored him, untied his dogs like nothing had happened and walked away, leaving a behind a rather large puddle of puppy pee. Brilliant. I remember too the first time he ever came in, he looked around a bit and said “Your shop is like a toilet compared to ‘xxxxxx’ in Paris”. He looked around a bit more, then brought a CD to the counter and said “You’re world music section is DISMAL”. Then (and this is the clincher) he asked for a discount! After those comments! Wow.
The simple fact is, if you DON’T ask, and you’re a friendly regular, or just a nice, one-off customer, you’ll probably get a discount without even trying. I used to love knocking the prices down a bit when I could, customers appreciate it and it kept them coming back. SOME people you don’t want to come back though!
I’m just getting started with these memories - the more I write, the more I remember! More soon.
Nick
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