Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comic store in your future, xena

Comic Store In Your Future, And Fifteen Years Cats, Xena And Flooding

Comic Store In Your Future, and Fifteen Years of Cats, Xena and Flooding... what will the next fifteen bring?

Fifteen years ago, Rodman Comics opened, and everything was so nice and new. I was so naive. With my positive attitude and hard work, I thought we would have a steady income and sell comics by the boatload. I was wrong; we opened right after the Great Recession, and it would be a while before people were back to their pre-recession spending habits. I thought I would have a great crew, and people would be happy that a new comic and gaming place opened in Ankeny. It was not that simple. What else did I not see coming?

Roughly fifteen years ago, one of my former employees was supposed to simply take out the garbage. The next day, the cafe owner in the strip mall comes by, and he is not happy. The employee had walked past two dumpsters and put our garbage in their grease trap. I am sure there was nothing like opening that up and seeing boxes labeled "to Rodman Comics" floating in the grease trap. Needless to say, he did not like us. Years later, there would be a new owner; I told him the grease trap story, and we laughed and we get along.

Closing at night, I heard a hissing sound. I looked at a pipe in the backroom, wondering if that is where the hissing sound is coming from. I did a stupid thing, I touched it, and the pipe detached, causing water to spray out. The shut-off value had not been turned off in years, because I was not able to turn it off. The water on the floor was about to go against the wall to the neighboring business, and that could lead to a lot of problems. I made a few phone calls for help and figured no one was going to get here quickly enough, so I decided to do my very best Hulk impression and give it all I got. It is not moving, and I am shaking from trying so hard. Suddenly, it turned. My aunt and uncle would call, and we would end up drying the back room up.

I came in, and my comic store employee at the time told me that someone had come in needing money, so he gave the person some out of the cash register. I just thought, well, it is always easier to spend someone else's money. Over the next few weeks, people kept coming in with some story needing money. Car problems, needing gas money, and visiting someone at the hospital. I figured out that whoever that first person was, they must have told others and figured we were an easy mark.

I had a "Who's on First" moment after the comic book Variants came out. A lady came in asking for it, and I kept thinking she meant an actual variant comic cover. She was less than pleased, which was understandable.

I was working at the comic store, and I could hear something moving overhead. I thought about looking up at the ceiling and trying to see what it was. I figured knowing my luck, it was a squirrel that had rabies, and I would get bitten, so I left it be. The next day, the person who owned the eyeglass store in the strip mall came in and told me that a cat from the cat sitting business somehow got into the ceiling and came out in his store's bathroom and decided to sleep in his sink overnight.

One time when a secret shopper was here, she decided to take a picture of me while I was behind the Magic: The Gathering calendar. Diamond Comics sent me the picture as part of the report; my lower half of my body was in the picture, while the top part of my body was behind the calendar. It was a very unique picture. That calendar looked like it had legs.

I had one woman stop in, and she let me and the other person who was here at the time know that her name was Xena. Never seen her before in my life. She says she has an Xena sword to sell, and I tell her we do not deal in swords. She really doesn't want to leave and says she will have to walk home to another town where she lives because her phone died. She asks me to give her directions. I looked it up and told her it was an eighteen-minute drive by car, but walking would most likely take hours. She asks for a phone charger. I don't have one, though she could go next door or to the other businesses in the strip mall and ask. She holds up a plastic sack and asks if I would like ice cream and liquor, acting like the other person in the store doesn't exist. She then says that she has a sharp metal object that she can use to hurt people and asks to come behind the counter. I flat out say no. She asks again, and I repeat no. Asks yet again for a phone charge. She finally leaves, and I have no idea if she walked here or why she came in. Days later, I tell this story to some of my customers, and one of them tells me this month is the thirty anniversary of the Xena TV show…

After being in business for over fifteen years, there are tons of stories, and there are many more to come.

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