The Hazards of Running a Gamestor

Just the other day I was at my local gamestore with plenty of time on my hands.Too often I am up there for a game and don't really get the time to look at everything. So I was quietly going through all the merchandise and was up to the new Osprey Rules. (whoever thought Osprey would get into the rules business?) It was then that some of the 'regulars' were starting to show up. Ah yes, the 'regulars', I remember them well from my days of running a counter back East. Back when the local gamestore owner was away helping out his daughter, the club and I took turns running the store for a month.

The 'regulars' or 'irregulars' as I like to call them are those guys that seem to be a part of every hobby. Usually you only have to spend a few hours with them at a time, but those poor store owners have to deal with them on a constant basis. Here are the ones that stand out for me.

'Lexicon Leo'- the man is a walking dictionary on his niche hobby. It can be a specific period of history, a work of fantasy or more often the fluff of his favorite game. He always seems to have some strange job that allows him to spend endless hours on forums and books devoted to his game. Leo is the guy that can tell you what the badge or color scheme is for any unit in the game. Just ask and then prepare for the flood to come because the answer is never short.

'Roy the Rulesman'- got a guy that buys every edition, supplement or codex that comes out and immediately analyzes them overnight. Well that's Roy,  also often doubles as your cheesiest player when it comes to any game. We often find him in some heated arguement with the DM or his immediate opponent.

'Bullhorn Bob'- good ole Bob, close your eyes and you will hear him, no matter where he is in the store. Bob tends to be loud and lacks a filter; he often forgets that there are other patrons.

'Glory Days Gary'- ah Gary, dear Gary, if only he could leave the glory days behind, but no, everyone must hear about that one day where he rolled 6 dice and they all came up '6's, which of course allowed him to sink the Bismark, or the day he rolled the flank of the Russian army and Borodino. I always wonder how many times our counter clerk has heard that story.

"Niche Nick"- always plays some oddball period or OOP game, no problem for us but always seems to be asking the owner to order a single pack from some obscure company. Nick, "well why can't you get it ?" Owner, "because they need a minimum of a $200 order, and I do not think that I can sell $195 of cannibal fairies. Why don't you just order direct?" "But there's a $10 postage charge and I only need 1 pack" comes the whine.

"Hold it till the Apocalypse Arch"-take a look at the hold bin, half of it will be devoted to Arch. Promises to buy it soon but always ends up buying something else on payday. Really cannot blame Arch for this, he's a little to suceptable to Jack and all his schemes.

"Zip the Lip Lem"- you watch your opponent carefully to see if he remembers to moves his unit up to the objective, just when it looks like he's forgotten, Lem walks up and "hey don't forget to take that objective this turn or Archie will win by default'. Aaargh! Yes, Lem is always giving advice to those playing games that he's not involved in. I have even seen him do it while a tournament was in play, and that was not a pretty sight. Don't mess with those WRG players, but Lem simply cannot help himself.

I could go on of course but I think you guys get the idea. Your local storeowner goes through a lot just to provide us with a place to buy and play with those toys that are dear to us. So keep supporting them with your cash and occassionally draw a  Leo or Gary away from the counter.