I arrived at my local comic book store around 6:45 tonight. I walked in, when to where they keep the Batfamily comics, and then wandered up to see if they had Vol. 2 of Justice League Dark. They didn't, but I grabbed the first volume of Sandman and got in line.
The older gentleman ahead of me (I'd say he was early to mid-forties) finished paying the owner, turned around, and stopped dead in his tracks.
"You're a girl!" he exclaimed, incredulous. I was confuse, at first, since there were only four of us in this shop and there's really no mistaking me for not a girl if you catch a glance of me. I have a long braid. I was wearing a peacoat and skinny jeans. My headband was pink.
So, while wondering how he hadn't seen me in the seven or so minutes I was walking around the entire tiny (I mean, it's 20ftx20ft) comic store, the first thing that came to my mind was "Yeah, I am."
"You're in a comic book store!" he exclaimed. I saw the color begin to drain out of the store owner's face over this guy's shoulder. It was like he was mortified for me, but also a little nervous about how this was going to turn out. I should explain--I'm about 5'10, with a sturdy, athletic build. I also suffer from resting bitch face, and the combination of these two factors means that strangers pretty much never just come up and talk to me. I'm intimidating, and people avoid interacting with me.
But the fact that strangers rarely randomly come up to talk to me means that I am not adept at interaction with them, so my brain was still struggling to catch up with this sudden social interaction when I replied "Yeah, I know."
Still being loud enough to fill the entire (admittedly small) store, the man said "Girls never go to comic book stores!"
I shrugged, and replied "I wasn't aware of that. There's always a girl in a comic book store whenever I go."
I don't know if this guy was trying to be cute, or just teasing me, but he was quiet for a second before he said, "Fair enough. Good one," and left.
The owner was still chuckling to himself when I left.
P.S. here's my haul:
Wow. I can't believe stuff like this still happens. Kind of reminds me when I was told I was "too good looking to work in video games." I know it was meant as a compliment, but it really wasn't.
ReplyDeleteThis may be a radical idea, but sometimes I think that more people need to think about what they're going to say before they say it. :)
DeleteI just realized how Whedonesque your response was. So proud.
ReplyDelete