Indie Record Stores

During one particular phase of adolescence I determined that most of the music I had been listening to was crappy and needed to be replaced. I headed to Strawberry Fields with a stack of old CDs. Needless to say, the clerk (who appeared to have Parkinson's but actually just drank too much coffee) agreed with my opinion that all of my albums absolutely sucked. He dressed down my taste in music and held a firm line at $1 per disc (store credit only). I never sold a used CD again.

10 years later, I leafed through records at a store in Madison on a Friday night (my previous visit had resulted in the store clerk providing an analysis of how I would react to a live Hendrix album based on my musical tastes). A man in his late thirties walked in with a stack of CDs that represented a collection of "at least 1000 more." After about 30 seconds of review, the clerk quipped that he "cannot sell these albums, they are not even worth $0.01". Ouch.

It was clear that the man's ego was crushed... he felt the need to validate his musical worth by quizzing the clerk about an obscure Joey Ramone side project that didn't actually exist, according to the clerk's computer. Finally, the man asked if they had been able to locate a particular rare CD. Without even looking up from what he was doing, the clerk responded "I think we're still working on that for ya."

A waiter may pay more attention to the affluent-looking couple than the table of teenagers. A bike shop employee will take more time to discuss riding preferences if they know you have the potential to drop serious cash on a serious bike. These are examples of a financial incentive (tip/commission) leading to better customer service. Does the clerk at an indie record store have a social or emotional incentive to appear cool, thus leading to poor treatment of the musically inferior (and better treatment of those with "acceptable" taste)?