Stereotyping Record Store Clerks

Well, someone has gone and written another silly screed against record store clerks. You can read it here.

I'm so tired of this stereotype of record store clerks. In my nearly thirty years of buying records, I can't recall a single time I've had a store employee say anything detrimental about what I was buying. No funny vibes. No intimidating glares. In fact, it's never been anything but the opposite.

The clerks I've dealt with have been incredibly helpful. I even remember one time as a kid when I asked a clerk for help because I couldn't find any Van Morrison albums under "V". Now, that's a perfect opportunity for a clerk to take a pound of flesh out of me for making him walk me to the "M" section. However, the guy just pointed out that Van is his first name and his albums are filed under "M". Not a dismissive tone in his voice.

The fact is that over the years, I've discovered a ton of great albums due to one clerk or another. Belle & Sebastian's If You're Feeling Sinister was from a clerk at Tunes in Hoboken. Lambchop's How I Quit Smoking was from a clerk at Vintage Vinyl in Jersey. And The Handsome Family's Twilight was courtesy of The Cush keyboardist Michael Clifford when he was working at Buch Spieler.

I don't know why this stereotype of record store clerks has developed but I think it has to do with people lacking confidence in their purchases and externalizing that cognitive dissonance by taking a paranoid stance against the otherwise innocuous looks from the person taking their cash.

Now, those asshats at Shaw's commenting on my choice of paper over plastic...I hate those fuckers.

photo courtesy of Control Top