The myth of cool is never quite so evident as in record shops.
I think it might have something to do with films like Empire Records, since independent record stores (what few there are left - goodbye, Essential Music, I shall miss you) definitely have the edge in that respect. But it carries over into the mainstream record shops - somehow, managing to get a job in a place of retail turns you into someone that is cool. I genuinely don't know how this works.
In comic book shops, of course, it's rather the other way around - if you work in, say, Forbidden Planet, you're considered rather cool, while indepent stores label you something of a geektastic fanboy.
I was considered somewhat cool for the brief time I was working for Virgin and MVC. Somehow my opinions of people's purchases seemed to matter, and my advice was asked on all sorts of genres that I have next to no experience on despite the fact that I was in the video section. My friend, wanting to apply for an independent shop, was asked to hand in a CV and a list of his top 50 albums. In other words, these people are not cool. We allow the myth of cool to perpetuate itself in these situations by allowing them to pretend that their opinions are more important. This should stop.
In other news, the guy at the record store liked my badge. :D!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}