Should I work in a record shop?

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I'm looking for The Next Career Move but would like some cash coming in in the meantime. It struck me last night that this might be fun. So this is the thread where you crush my hopes and tell me record shop horror stories.

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

You may end up wearing a Cosby sweater to work.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I wasn't GOOD ENOUGH for a record shop!!

― adam... (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

If you do take a job in a record shop, you should be the anti-clerk .. greet people with a hug when they walk in, tell them their record picks are absolutely great and supercool, ...

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

A friend of mine works in a record shop, and she kinda hates it because it's so male dominated. Do you like record geeks?

― Ian John50n (orion), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I've said it before and I'll say it again... there's no faster way to dampen your enthusiasm for music.

― Kenan (kenan), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I wasn't GOOD ENOUGH for a record shop!!

-- adam... (adamr...), November 16th, 2004 6:30 PM.

Me neither, adam. What a bunch of twats record shop folk are.

― Wooden (Wooden), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Chain or mom&pop store?

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Jess's stories have put me off my record shop fantasies.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd NEVER work at one. One reason why it's nice to work at a library -- you can never tempted by what's on sale, because nothing is for sale at all.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

HMV. All the mom & pop stores in London seem to be run by glowering music Nazis.

xxpost

― Wooden (Wooden), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Dont you need some sort of gimmick to work in a record store?

― still bevens (bscrubbins), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Shit, Huk, I just realised that you weren't talking to me. That was very self absorbed of me, sorry.

― Wooden (Wooden), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Try to be a used buyer: much more scoffing and rolling of the eyes is expected, but you get picks on all the first stuff.

I used to work in a record store with Mike Patton when he was a zit-faced metal dude. He played "South of Heaven" all the time.

(Is this the right place for this discussion?)

― andy, Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I wouldn't.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

keep in mind dudes that I worked in commercial radio, if that didn't kill my love for music, I don't know what would.

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

working in a record store for starters!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

believe it or not, teeny, record stores might be MORE sexist than radio

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

i used to. it sux because:

a) all your money goes back into the records
b) you start to hate people more than usual (any retail job will do this to you)
c) you start to hate music (especially the shit that your coworkers play over and over again)
d) there's lots of monotonous mindless work that goes into it (alphebetizing, organizing, cleaning, sorting)
e) and most importantly you'll love it and get sucked into it and not pursue your other more career oriented goals

― JaXoN (JasonD), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it would be a bad idea, because:

1) Working in a shop sucks - generally
2) The pay probably wouldn't be that great
3) You'd be the record shop girl

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

jel's #3 OTM. do you really need five creepy indie mixtapes a week?

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I wasn't good enough for the COMIC/VIDEO store adam, I think that's even sadder, in a way.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

You'll get really pissed off at all the Frat boys asking where the new D@ve M@tthews Band CD is.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

it's amazing! the best thing I ever did with my life. I don't know where to start, ok I get up in the morning wanting to fall asleep again as per usual and feeling like shit, so the journey to work etc is not any better than any other job, but then you get there and it's like "what will I play today......". also vinyl deliveries come in and you spend the day finding out what they are, as part of your job, cos you have to know.

getting to know lots of the customers is cool too, as is selling something you're really into or having someone be really grateful for you recommending it.

having said all that, the shop I work in is quite big, not our actual shop but the premises itself, we're in an Urban Outfitters. I guess this means we get casual music people buying alot and it feels like you're always playing the music for somebody.

Either way GO FOR IT.

I've never got any mixtapes though. off anyone.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:51 (twenty-one years ago)

The theft potentials are awesome though.. and the more and more you hate the owners and your job, the easier it gets.

― andy, Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

there are actually just some golden moments at work, for me. when people ask about things and then buy all 4 cds you gave them which are like those things, there's a buzz you get that is really great. possibly it's the buzz of doing a job you care about which is not shit, for the first time, ever.

I am embarassed at how much I like working in a record shop now, but anyhow.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)

i like it, its fun.

― big chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Ronan just described exactly what I *thought* working at a record store was going to be like.

― Kenan (kenan), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

getting to know lots of the customers is cool too

!!!

Ok, clearly you were made for this job.

― Kenan (kenan), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 18:59 (twenty-one years ago)

keep in mind dudes that I worked in commercial radio, if that didn't kill my love for music, I don't know what would.

Yeah, teeny, I've been meaning to ask you about what you thought of the new Mark Knopfler record....

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 19:02 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd love to be a used buyer on the weekends. maybe I should look into that.

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

no no customers are usually assholes, in jobs, I agree.

but I mean when it's dudes buying records which I also like myself, and I mean vinyl and stuff, or people who dj around at nights I go to sometimes anyway, it's quite good.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

"Sweet Child O'Mine" cassingle: $1.99

Bewildered, pained expression of aging spinster returning "Appetite for Destruction" after you've convinced her it all sounds like the cassingle: PRICELESS

― andy, Tuesday, 16 November 2004 19:06 (twenty-one years ago)

It was good times but I think that's because I was so young. The store I worked at was like Empire Records without the crappy soundtrack and bad dialogue.

Pro:
Working with music
Interesting coworkers

Con:
Working on the bottom rung of music
After a while it turns into the usual monotony of retail (stocking shelves, working the register, etc. etc)

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)

ronan otm - i feel like i might be sort of the anti-record store clerk that dave225 described upthread...

working at a store has been the best job ever. its sort of like ILM, in this way that you can just start discussions with coworkers or customers about a lot of music, and more often than not, they are somewhat well-informed.

― peter smith (plsmith), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I worked in a record store for 2 years. I think that may be the best job I ever had. But my record store was really cool and I actually liked stocking and filing.

― S!monB!rch (Carey), Tuesday, 16 November 2004 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

best thing abt working in a rec shop - once the shop shuts i don't give a fuck

― 43345, Wednesday, 17 November 2004 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

don't work in a chain store, in a shitty town. i got quite depressed looking at what my customers were buying.

― jellybean (jellybean), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

eight years pass...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/On-The-Beat-Records-A-Classic-Vinyl-Collectors-Record-Store-in-Central-London-/221305313500?pt=UK_B_I_Business_for_Sale_CV&hash=item3386d318dc

.. work in a Record Shop in Notting Hill! By owning it!

(um, wouldn't 300K be worth it just for the building? Or is that 'not part of the deal' and you still have to pay rent and that?)

― Mark G, Wednesday, 6 November 2013 12:16 (twelve years ago)

It's not in Notting Hill

― Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 12:51 (twelve years ago)

Oh yeah.. Hanway Street. By Mad.

― Mark G, Wednesday, 6 November 2013 12:53 (twelve years ago)

Collect 5,000 Nectar points

Will post to United Kingdom

― + +, Wednesday, 6 November 2013 12:54 (twelve years ago)

this place has had the air of near-death about it for a long time

shame though

― + +, Wednesday, 6 November 2013 12:54 (twelve years ago)

Do they still have the 'bungee string' over the top of the singles in the racks?

― Mark G, Wednesday, 6 November 2013 12:55 (twelve years ago)

Those old copies of Q magazine in bags on the wall are horrible. Why would someone make their shop look like that?

― gotta lol geir (NickB), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 13:13 (twelve years ago)

Does anyone remember Mutley?

― Mark G, Thursday, 7 November 2013 09:38 (twelve years ago)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/Muttley-picture.gif?

― contenderizer, Thursday, 7 November 2013 12:47 (twelve years ago)

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