Sometimes You Just Wonder...

So, this weekend, I was on a trek to the grocery store, and I spotted a store that I had never seen before. It had always been there, I just never noticed it tucked away in a little strip mall, about 10 minutes from my apartment my mother's basement.

From the decorations, it is one of those shops that never updates anything, and just relies on being there for customers. I decided to go in, despite the Beckett propaganda all over the front entrance. It was a small store, but they seemed to have a few people inside, which was intriguing, but not encouraging. The experience I had was one of the worst experiences I have had in a store since I started writing. It wasnt poor customer service, and it wasnt mean people, it was just pure, unadulterated loathing and ridiculous comments.

I wanted some SPA packs just to try my luck, but this store didnt even have anything past Bowman Chrome on the release calendar except for a monsterous display of, you guessed it, Triple Threads. I immediately cringed.

As I walked through the store, the guy had singles upon singles, upon thousands of singles, mostly baseball, ALL priced AT book value. In the cases there were big signs that informed that most of the cards were 25%-40% percent off for their Valentines day sale. Ha. However, when the cards are already inflated 100% past ACTUAL value, 25-40% is a drop in the bucket. Again, I cringe.

The store owner, a seemingly nice guy, comes over to me while I was looking at the Football case. He starts to talk about how this guy comes in with hundreds of "SIIIICK" cards, and he buys them all for a lot of money because, "people eat that shit up." *cringe* The cards in the case were all the 2 dollar jersey cards and scrub autos from all the sets of the year, with the best of them being a McFadden Press Poop auto in a 3 inch thick plastic screwdown. On top of all this, there was a huge sticker on it that said "McFadden MOJO - $150!" I almost barfed up my corned beef sandwich I had eaten for lunch. He proceeds to show me all of his "siiiick" cards, which include a Dwayne Jarrett exquisite jersey card, a Joe Thomas Absolute RPM jersey card, and a Felix Jones jersey out of Classics retail - all priced above 50 dollars.

He even mentions how much he paid for around 350-500 cards, none of which would break the ten dollar barrier on eBay: $2,500 dollars. I actually laughed. He gave me a weird look, and I said, "Wow, you took him to the cleaners" in a sincere fashion. The owner goes, "I know! The guy was an idiot!" Wow, good for him. Good for him.

I walk over to his front counter with the wax, filled with Becketts, and another customer was already there. He was about to buy a box of the *new* 2008 Topps Football, and he saw the guy's new holy grail behind the counter. A Steve Slaton SPA patch auto, without a price sticker on it. He asks if its for sale, the owner says no. "Slaton has an UP ARROW in the new Beckett, so I want to wait and see where it ends up." The guy says that Slaton is awesome, and he buys his box and leaves. I saw the price of the box - 85 dollars. Holy fuck.

I ask if he has any more SPA, for shits, and he says he sold his box already. He opened one himself and pulled the Slaton. He then says a line that I had to leave before I busted out laughing for good. "You should get this Triple Threads stuff, there is some of the Sickest Mojo I have ever seen in my entire life! Best set ever produced. I bought two cases because I know people will buy it all up."

I left without hesitation. It was like being in a church if I were a vampire.

It is at this point in reading my post that you wonder how a store with all this shit going on stays open. I know that I couldnt fathom how shops are closing everywhere, but this guy is still having the time of his fucking life. See, the Beckett disease is still supporting hobby idiots, and people are still using it for their daily collecting life. Its sad. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the affected.

Dont be that guy.



What a waste.