Entertainment For Lively Minds
Have you got????
Posted by clivetemple on 23 November 2010 - 11:31am.
Remember when you worked in a record shop and punters would always start by asking 'Have you got...???'.
I was in the Virgin Megastore in Dubai yesterday and felt like testing/baiting one of the be-spotted assistant youths by asking 'Have you got Live Prawns In A Fishbowl by the Underpants Gloves?'.
Because you see that's exactly what they had... a display of live prawns in 'eco' bowls for sale next to a rack of gloves that were made like y-fronts... and at the back of the (mega) shop was any area of about 10% of the shop floor dedicated to music.
Live prawns in a record shop? Who'd have thought it eh?
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Possibly hijacking the thread, but ...
... who here *has* worked in a record shop?
I have, for one, though only for one glorious summer, in Probe Records in Liverpool.
If I think for a little, I'll possibly even come up with an anecdote or two, though I'm sure some of you have better ones.
I worked in HMV in Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow...
... in the classical music and video department.
It was the year that Trainspotting had come out. The whole store was covered in that poster. Like all assistants, I barely looked at the customers, not even the attractive ones. Which meant after I had sold Kelly McDonald something my work colleagues were extremely impressed by my coolness. I wasn't being cool, I just hadn't recognized her.
Andy's Records
I used to have to phone up Boo Hewerdine in the warehouse to see if they had the stuff we'd sold out of that day. Back in the days before computerised stock control the lowliest member of staff (for a long while me) was despatched to the racks with a catalogue and a pen and told not to come back until they'd checked the list to see what we were missing. Hence for a long time I could reel off the Black Sabbath back catalogue, in order and by number, and pretty much had the Phonogram budget list off by heart. These days I could only tell you PRICE69, which was Love Gun by Kiss. Oh, and OG9428, which was usually the answer to the question which began "I heard this song on the radio and it goes..."
When I finally reached the halcyon heights of managing a branch I once let del Amitri have an album each if they signed a couple of copies of Waking Hours for me. Justin Currie took Neil Young's On The Beach and wrote "Anything for a freebie".
Yep. Worked in two record shops, on Saturdays
and as an extra hand at Christmas.
the first in St.Albans, 1977-1981
the second in Harpenden, 1982-1984
Never left the shop with a penny, as I spent all my wages on records.
No matter what I do for the rest of my life, it'll always be the best job I ever had.
Yep, I did.
All in the North West, Our price and then Virgin Megastores....1990 untill the collapse of the industry.
Good fun mostly.
Aah, masterbags.
Joining in
Me too sort of. Worked in Boots Record Dept in Worthing 82-85. Favorite memories, "Have you got any Chopping! (Chopin), "I heard a song on Radio 1 yesterday, have you got it?" and my favorite (though not music related) "have you got any Durex batteries?"!
Loved nearly every minute of it.
Ian
HMV Croydon
1997 - 2002
Just sat in the stock room all day ordering vinyl for myself and then marking it down to clearance stock when it came in.
I joined during the Christmas when the rotation was Urban Hymns and Wham!'s Greatest Hits. Club Tropicana should always be played after The Drugs Don't Work.
I'm jealous
The nearest I got to fun with records was stocking 3 college jukeboxes every month. I was given a budget for 30 singles per month so I filled them with my faves and stuff I blagged from record companies. Therefore much of the budget was left for me to spend on myself.
Once had a jukebox broken into. No cash was taken but they did nick a copy of Anarchy In The UK on EMI. Must have hurt too as there was blood everywhere from where they punched it in.