Is It Me?

I don't know if this is something to crab about since I never look for excellence in professionalism in the comics shop retail arena. Tell me if I'm overreacting.

I was anxious to get out of the house after being cooped up with a cold for a few days. I tagged along with the girlfriend as she ran to look up a few items at Sam French. I knew there was a comics shop down the block from there, so I walked down and killed some time. I used to frequent the store when we lived in the area, but I think they had a different owner then.

The shop seems cleaner, yet more disorganized than I remembered. I know that makes no sense. The new stuff is very neat and organized while some of the older detritus (lots of 90's leftovers) seems to clog endtables, piled high for deep discount (lots of sundamaged Robocop action figures, for example).

The kids running the shop seem like the young hipsters that would want to work in a comics shop: Kind of detached, almost too cool for the place. The kind that would immediately talk about customers behind their back the second they left the shop (which I was witness to).

The thing that got me was that when I brought my purchases up to the register, I was asked if I wanted bags and boards. I usually decline when asked, though my regular LCS throws them in for free. Please note that I had a few "new" comics and a few older comics, the point being that the older items were already bagged and boarded. "No thanks," I said.

So, imagine my surprise that the clerk proceeded to remove the bags and boards from the back issues I was purchasing.

Is it me, or does that seem incredibly cheap?

The experience kind of soured me on the whole store. Granted the older issues were going for cover price, but if they were, say, $20 a pop, would he still have repossessed the bags and boards? I don't think I'll go back there anytime soon.