Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics

How To Deal With Online Criticism – A Lesson From Cliff Biggers

Cartoonist Chris Schweizer wrote about going to his local comic store, with his young daughter Penny.

I was behind on my purchases, so I had (for me) a pretty big stack of floppies – The Creep #0 and #1, the most recent five issues of Lobster Johnson, and Rocketeer #2.  I told Penny that she could pick out a toy and a book.  She chose a plush of Smiley Bone (she already has a Fone Bone, and really liked Smiley's vest) and the first volume of the new Fantagraphics Carl Barks collection, which I'd been meaning to pick up myself.  One of the store's staff helped me find a couple of the floppies, and was as helpful and friendly as he always is.

We weren't yet finished shopping, but Penny asked if we could look at her Donald Duck book.  We squatted down in the kids' section and she rested on my knee, and I started reading her the first few pages of the "Bombie the Zombie" story.  She was captivated.  She loves being read to, and this was another part of the comic shop experience with her that I always love. That the store itself and reading are so intertwined.  That she'll remember the first time she was introduced to a character or a story, and associate it with a shop.  What could foster a love of comic shops more than that?

We were interrupted by an employee whom I'd not ever met before.  "Excuse me," she said.  "Are you planning on buying that?  Because we don't want people reading the stories if they're not going to buy them."

I was taken aback.  "Yes, I'm planning on buying it," I said.  She turned and walked off.

I took a moment to reflect on what had just happened.  I was clearly upset by the experience, and it must have shown on my face or in my body language, because my daughter hugged me and said "it's okay, Daddy, don't be sad."

We walked around the store and put back our (thus far) seventy-something dollars worth of merchandise, and before leaving I told the employee that I would henceforth be taking my business elsewhere, as I strongly disagreed with the policy, as I considered it antithetic to the whole experience of going to a comic shop.

In the comments, retailer Cliff Biggers of Dr No's replied;

I'm pretty sure that this was my store, Dr. No's in Marietta, GA. Since Chris said "she" and he said that he was visiting on a Saturday, that would have definitely been a new employee–we have two women who work for us, but the more experienced female staffer works on Sunday. No, that isn't our store policy: we DO instruct staffers to encourage customers to sit at the table near the front or in the other side of the store when looking through a book, since the store can get crowded in the front area (as you know, we continue to add to our young readers section in the front area of the store, and we sometimes have numerous children and parents looking at the same time). The new staffer has been with us about four weeks now, and is still learning the ropes. The reason you've never had this experience before in our store is that it's NOT our policy.

You and I have spoken on many occasions; you've been kind enough to sign copies of your books for customers (we always keep the Crogan books in stock); and as you know, we were more than willing to host a student gathering at the store and would be glad to do so again whenever you'd like to schedule it.

Hope you'll try us again and cut a little slack for an overly cautious college student staffer who went beyond store policy. I'd like to think that the many positive experiences outweigh this one.

A corrective email, restating our policy and clarifying things, has now been relayed to all staff members.

We will be addressing this in person with staff meetings as well.

Some of our most memorable customers are parents with young children, and we love the opportunity to help make them lifelong comics readers. We have many families who shop at Dr. No's for the entire family, and we certainly appreciate it.

After a couple of days of reflection (and other peoples' comments) I felt really bad about not having come by to talk to you. As I mentioned elsewhere, the store is such a very, very good one, and until then I've never had anything but the very best experiences there. I'm very sorry to have vented in a public arena. I did so because it's something that (while I was surprised to find in yours) I see all the time in other stores, and wanted to draw attention to it as something that I think is dangerous for direct market shops to continue doing.

You've worked hard to court my business and that of your other customers. You and your staff have always been incredible in every possible way – I constantly talk up the store to locals, and bring visiting friends by. That I would be willing to refuse such a place my business (and lose the enjoyment of going there myself) because of a disagreement of policy without investigating whether or not it IS policy showcases a real deficiency of my character that I will really try to overcome in the future. Though this is the first time I've ever posted about it, this is not the first time I've stopped frequenting a business because of one negative experience. I will not do so again. I apologize for not giving your establishment the benefit of the doubt and talking to you sooner.

Thanks for being so candid, Cliff, and for not saying that I'm a childish tool, though I certainly won't blame you for thinking it. I can promise that this has taught me something about jumping off the handle.

The next time I'm at a shop, it'll be yours.

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