This really pissed me off yesterday at the newsagent, but I can’t quite muster up enough vitriol to send it to the Pit…$1.50’s worth is more MPSIMS innit?
Newsagents in Aus sell (amongst other miscellany) newspapers and magazines. The magazines are generally on racks where one can browse and have a quick read (or perve depending on the X rating of the mag) whilst the newspapers are in piles on one horizontal shelf…customers swoop in, grab their preferred tabloid or broadsheet, chuck their money on the counter and nick off to catch their train or tram or whatever. It’s a simple and mostly problem-free system.
I anticipated the same routine yesterday…except when I bent down to pick up my paper, some fucker was squatting down on his haunches with the local broadsheet spread-out over the remaining papers, happily reading all the daily news. :dubious:
I coughed a little, then coughed louder and THEN he realised that I wanted access to the the paper pile. He shuffled his pages aside, I got mine, but THEN he went back to his intent reading as if nothing at all were amiss. WTF??
Dude, I know you want to find out all the shit about what is happening in Gaza, but seriously, there are better options than ‘stealing’ the news from the newsagent. I know that you can well afford the $1.50 purchase price, but even if you’re really broke for some unknown reason, you work with me and you KNOW that the company buys a copy of the paper and that I ALWAYS have one available (after I’ve read it and done the word puzzles).
Pissing people off at the newsagent is NOT a good way to start the working year mate. You’re in my sights now. I’m not impressed.
Why is it okay to read through the magazines and not the papes? :dubious:
This reminds me of a similar behavior I find irksome. Japanese convenience stores always have a wall of magazines and comic books. In front of that wall of magazines and comic books is always another wall of (usually) men reading through the latest issues. Not perusing to see if it is worth buying, but reading the whole damn magazine/book. Seven Eleven is not a chain of libraries!
My ex-boyfriend would do this, too. Usually with me at his side yelling at him to either put the damn comic book down or buy it so we could leave already.
Oh, I most certainly agree that it should be verboten to read the mags as well, but it seems to be the culture here (as apparently in Japan) that blokes can stand and while away their time reading without purchasing. You might have noticed that it is a particular problem with the male of the species…I’ve rarely seen a woman do the same.
I’ve just never ever seen someone (of either gender) do that with the daily paper.
Some of the comic shops I’ve seen have “no reading the manga” signs up, and some go so far as to wrap them. All of a certain manga/magazine (like the porn that comes with dvds, fer instance) are wrapped, but these shops sometimes wrap all of their stock.
One of the convenience stores here has a handmade bill (ie, not part of corporate signage) posted to the effect of “Do not read the comic books.” But it doesn’t seem to deter the readers. Nor do the clerks seem particularly motivated to stop them.
However, try to bring garbage from home to the convenience store’s bin and that will certainly get them up in arms… about the 500th time they see you do it.
I’ve known gamestore owners who get rightfully pissed about folks reading materials in the store. At one store, guys playing a game used books off the shelves for rules clarification. This isn’t too bad if it’s just once or twice. But they made a habit of it and one even said how it was great to play at the store because he didn’t have to purchase any of the books or other materials that way. On top of everything else, the books would get worn out and used up, discouraging legitimate customers from buying them. One owner bought a shrink wrapper and wrapped up all the books of a certain game system. The indignation of that particular crowd was ugly, but they didn’t have a leg to stand on when he told them, “Hey, if you wanna read the rules, just buy a copy. You can even take it home with you.” I told him he ought to rent copies for a $1 a day. But he didn’t want that much hassle.
There used to be a punk store on South Street with a sign on the magazine rack: “BUY EM This ain’t no library!”
At the other extreme is a magazine store in West Philadelphia with small signs (more like labels) that say “Absolutely no note taking of any kind is permitted in this store.” Read all you can stand (you’ll have to stand, there’s no room to sit down), but don’t take notes.
The only store where I’ve seen people sit and read the daily newspaper is the local Barnes and Noble, which seems resigned to the practice (as well they might be; if they didn’t want readers why would they have so many seats?) Even there, though, it’s most common with the more expensive New York and Washington papers, not the local ones.
Where was this newsagent located? I’ve noticed that newsstands in Amtrak train stations are very tolerant of readers; newsstands in commuter rail or subway stations, or malls, tolerate it little or not at all. I don’t spend enough time in airports to know how tolerant they are, but I suspect they’re more at the Amtrak end. (For comparison to Australia, Amtrak runs the long-haul, city-to-city, cross-country trains, not the sort that run to and from a city and its suburbs.)
