Before we go into the column, I want to give everyone a quick lesson. Company holiday parties + free booze + dance floor and loud music = Dani coming home late and forgetting to update the column. Lets just say, I got home last night and the only thing on my mind was, where is the bed, I am tired. This is me apologizing for the lack of updating. And now, onto to the column.
This week at Fangirl Ramblings we are going to discuss a topic close to my heart. One that brings a joy to my heart, a tear to my eye, and occasionally an ache to my head. It’s the day of the week that we all look forward to. The day that puts a twinkle in our eye, a skip to our step, and a hole in our wallet. I’m talking about, Wednesday, new comic book day.
As comic book fans in the states, we all know the love that is Wednesday. It’s the day where if we walk into our comic book store, all our new comics are sitting on the shelf, waiting for our greedy little hands to purchase them. What you might not know though, is the process that is behind that scared day of all days. If you haven’t worked in the retail world of a comic book store, you probably have no idea how hectic and crazy that day can be. This week, I’m going to take you into a day in the life of a comic book employee on new comic book day.
Now, this is only what I do on new comic book day. Other people who work at other comic book stores, their day could be completely different. All stores have different ways of handling reservists and comics and different UPS schedules. This is what my day is like, or was like….but we’ll get to that later.
My day starts off at about 8:30 in the morning on a Wednesday, sometimes later depending on how late I stayed up the night before. I usually hit the snooze button a couple, maybe few, OK, like 5 times before cursing it out and turning it off. Then, usually, I’ll sit in bed, curse the morning, curse the comics, curse cartoon network for having some crappy cartoon on at that time. As I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, I’m not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. It’s usually cautioned to not speak to me before I’ve had my coffee, preferably a medium hazlenut light and sweet from Dunkin Donuts. Just in case anyone was wondering.
On new comic book day I have to go to UPS in the morning and pick up the books. See, if we had UPS ship them directly to the store we’d be stuck on their truck driving schedule, and we wouldn’t know when we’d be getting the shipment. To make life easier, and to ere on the side of caution, we pick the books up from the UPS depot. We aren’t the only store in the area who do it either. There are three other stores who pick up their books from the same place we do.
The books are usually ready at about 9:15, or thats when we are allowed to go pick them up. We pick them up directly inside the warehouse and at 9:15 is when the fleet of UPS trucks leave the depot for a long day of delivering packages. It’s quite a sight to watch over 200 trucks pull out of a depot, traveling down the road. It’s like their own daily private parade. I’ve heard stories in the past of stores picking up their packages much earlier in the morning. Lucky them is all I can say.
The main goal is to get the packages to the store and all the new comics on the shelf before the store opens. Where I work, we open at noon, and we are a half hour drive from the UPS warehouse. I usually arrive at the store a little after 10 in the morning and that’s when my day of hell, I mean, the day of comicy goodness begins. All the boxes have to be open, comics have to be sorted onto the shelves, and all the other special order items, such as statues, toys and other misc. items need to be put in their place, all before the store opens in about an hour in a half.
This is where it can start to get complicated. Depending on the size of your store and your customer base, can determine how many people you need to work on this day. Where I work, it’s become a two person job. It’s hard to do everything by yourself. You see, we have, like many other stores, a reservist base. Which means, you give us a list, and we pull your comics for you. Now, imagine getting at the store at 10:30, emptying all the boxes, getting all the comics on the shelf, and then pulling the comics for over 100 reservists, before noon. It’s not going to happen with only one person.
The way we handle all this, is we split the tasks up. We both put the comics on the shelf, then, we split our jpbs. One person pulls all the reservists, while the other does all the odds and ends. Such as pulling all the special order items. If you are a smaller store, you can’t always afford to order all the independent comics that you would like. Occasionally, you’ll only get in enough for reservists and those fall under the special order items. You also have trades, statues and toys that fall under those categories. Someone has to sort them all out and figure out who gets it all.
When the store opens at noon, that’s when the lunch rush hits. We try to have most of the reservists pulled at this point, but sometimes it doesn’t always happen. I’m fortunate in that, my store has some of the greatest reservists ever. Everyone is so understanding and nice. It’s one of the virtues that some of you comic book people need to learn, patience. Remember, a comic book store clerk is only human, sometimes we screw up.
Which brings me to a topic that I’ve been thinking about. How one becomes an awesome reservist. Depending on where you shop you might be a walk in customer or you might be a person who reserves your titles. If you are a reservist, and you are getting your books from a nice, friendly, respectable comic book store, you should talk to them about your reserves. I find its a great way to start a relationship is by having an open communication. Find out what is easiest for your comic book store dealer. New comic book day is crazy, immense and tiring. Anything to make our lives easier is helpful.
Find out how your comic book store handles their reserves. Do they pull each person seperately every week for their books. Or do they have a big database, and pull reserves by each title. It’s helpful to you and them. Where I work, we have people who send us their list of books weekly to pull, and others who leave it in our capable hand. If it’s easier for you to write out your books every week, and your comic book store doesn’t mind, do it. That way you’ll be guarenteed to have all the books that you want.
Also, remember, we are human. Mistakes do happen. It’s very easy for us to accidently miss a book here and there. If it’s happening all the time, there might be something up with that. But if it’s every once in awhile, it’s something that’s going to happen. It can happen very easily with books that are ordered from the back of Previews, or sometimes even Image books. If a series you are reading doesn’t come out on a monthly basis, sometimes that book can be forgotten. A retailer has a lot going on, sometimes a little helping hand would be appreciated. If you happen to look through the previews every month, give a check for all those books that you buy that don’t always have a monthly shipment, and give your retailer a heads up.
Now, I’m not making it out that you have to do all the work for your retailer. I would suggest talking to your retailer and asking them if that’s OK. A comic book retailer has a lot on their plate if anything. Comics are a tough business and there are a lot of items that need to be ordered from Previews every month. I always find it’s a great reminder when people give us the heads up. Comics are a two way street. If you treat your retailer right, he’ll treat you right. That’s the way it should be anyway.
If you happen to be shopping at a store where the staff isn’t friendly and the owner resembles the comic book guy, I suggest finding a new place to shop. If there isn’t another place close by, you might want to consider mail order. My theory is, there is no reason why a retailer can’t be nice to their customers. If you are in the comic book store business at this point in the industry, chances are you are in it for the passion, not the money. If you are in it for the money, wow, good luck. And if you are making money. Could you let me know?
Working at a comic book store can be a dream, but it also can be a nightmare when working in the wrong conditions. Trust me, I know, I’ve done it all. I’ve been working in the comic book world since I was 17, I’m now 25. In that time I’ve worked for three different stores, two owners resembling the comic book guy, and the last a saint among comic book owners. My boss, Chris of Wildpig Comics II, is one of the nicest guys in the comic book business. Not only is our store clean, friendly and spacious, we treat our customers with the respect they deserve. The store is colorful and fun, filled with art on the walls, and a constant atmosphere of movies and music going on in the background.
That is why on I’m sad to say, I will no longer be working their. Back in May I graduated from college with a BFA in graphic design. I’ve been working at the store until I found myself a job, and I finally did. Starting on Monday, I will be an ad builder for a newspaper. I’m part excited and part sad. Excited for the fact that I’m finally able to use my degree that I worked very hard to earn. but incredibly sad to leave the place where I worked for almost 6 years. Hell, I’ve been working new comic book day almost every Wednesday since I was 17. There was a semester in there where I didn’t work Wednesday because of class, but I was their afterwards, helping out in whatever needed to be done.
It’s the closing of a part of my life, and it’ll be hard to let go. I’ve met so many great people over the years, and I’ll miss them more then they realize. It’s amazing to watch life fly by you behind a counter. You make friends with the people you see every week and they become a part of your life. Small talk becomes actual conversations, and you get to know little details about their lives. How work is going, how school is going, and how the kids are doing. I’ve watched some of my favorite teens grow up to be little hot young studs who are away in college. I’ve watched kids grow up in front of me, from the womb to walking. I get to play the cool “aunt” for ten minutes at a pop to all sorts of kids.
On Wednesday it was a sad day as I said goodbye to all my favorite people. But I’ll be there on the occasional Sunday to help out, so it’s not like I’m completely out of the comic book store loop. And as I told my two replacements as I was training them, you may be working here, but I’m still the boss.
All joking aside, I will miss working there immensely. And it was sweet to know that the feelings were returned. There were quite a few hug good-byes and good lucks thrown in my direction, making me want to go home Wednesday night and cry a little tear for my old job.
Do me a favor. Next week when you go pick up your books. Give your retailer a little thanks for doing this. I’m sure they’ll appreciate it. Comics are a small world, everyone deserves a little love sometimes.
