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Hardcore magic nerds using every possible angle to grind out edges against middle-schoolers still learning the basic rules of the game is a shameful tradition of the hobby and probably something that should be called out more because it definitely drives away new blood. I can't decide which is more degrading for them - when they are doing it in situations where it would be virtually impossible for them to lose even without trying to 'gotcha' their opponent out of their combat step, or when the kid with the crappy draft deck somehow wins anyways. One nice thing about my LGS is that they've been pretty chill about round times when you're having to walk a kid through a game. I used to play a deck that took a little while to win and used a somewhat complicated combo, and when I got paired against new players I would take the time to explain to them what was going on and walk them through how my cards worked so that they could understand what was happening. I might not have been able to do that if I'd been under strict time pressure.
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Jul 9, 2017 02:46
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Arcsquad12 posted:Lol at responding to PCOS Bill ^ And to the person who replied to me earlier, yeah, I completely lucked out and happened to just fall in with a group of people who owned a ton of source books and stuff already. After looking up Pathfinder prices I can see how it competes with Magic in a sense. I still wanna build a legacy/vintage deck even though I know I can never play it against anyone. Most of my reasonable multiplayer deck ideas are relatively inexpensive, and I've been trying to convince my friends to turn the giant box of commons we have into Pauper decks. Still wanna spend too much money on a sliver deck, but that's on me. Content: The very first game store I ever regularly visited was pretty much your standard fare. What wasn't standard was this guy who seemed to be there always. I was 14 or so and he didn't appear that much older than me, but he was the color of glass and as close to "I don't think you should be alive" as I had ever seen a person. He apparently had some sort of congenital heart thing that made him like this. He told literally everyone who walked in the door about it. The first time I ever interacted with him he dropped his entire medical history on me and I was just trying to buy some Odyssey block cards. Despite his weird opening to most people and the fact that despite his illness he seemed to smoke an entire pack of cigarettes each time I spent a few hours there, he could build a mean deck and was a great partner in two-headed giant games. Kind of weird when halfway through a match he'd start showing off his scars, but the dude knew his stuff. He was way better than the guy who wouldn't stop talking about how he could lactate. Voyager I posted:Hardcore magic nerds using every possible angle to grind out edges against middle-schoolers still learning the basic rules of the game is a shameful tradition of the hobby and probably something that should be called out more because it definitely drives away new blood. This, forever, and the fact that it seemed to get worse when the LGS has tournaments (where parents happen to be present a lot of the time) is really uncomfortable. If I ever go back to one I absolutely intend to call them out because of how weird it felt when I was a kid. Magic is fun, I don't want to let these people ruin it since the new block seems to be really cool. Red Baron has a new favorite as of 05:24 on Jul 9, 2017 |
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Jul 9, 2017 05:22
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Not a story, but a question: Is there any way to tell these people they're being creepy or stinky that they'll actually listen to? I'm female and work in a nerdy hobby, and I run across these folks all the time. I've got a few that consider me a friend, and I guess I mainly pity them. Some people don't realize that coming to their house to service a pinball machine doesn't mean I like them, or am even being more than casually polite to them. I feel like they'd do a lot better in life if they realized how creepy they are, but there's no polite way to say it. So service people like me just smile and then run as soon as possible, and they continue on being oblivious how off-putting their behavior is. And then they go on forums like redpill and talk about how all women are bitches, and become even more horrible. How do you break the cycle? I feel like if I just outright told them, they'd be incredibly hurt, and then go post about how they thought I was different, but I'm really just a whore like all other females. It's such a catch 22.
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Jul 9, 2017 06:12
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Domus posted:Not a story, but a question: Is there any way to tell these people they're being creepy or stinky that they'll actually listen to? No. Trying is a noble venture, but there's not a silver bullet for people being terrible to each other. No one should judge you for tapping out and relegating people like that to their own fates. So far the only way people like that can get better is to do the work themselves. Try as much as you can take, but don't feel bad if you can't solve the problem of weird people. Lead by example, I guess, but the internet has me jaded.
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Jul 9, 2017 06:33
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A lot of what makes or breaks a nerd store is who owns it. The local shop is owned by these two chill as gently caress japanese guys hence all the imports in the shop, and the rest of their employees are squeaky voiced teens and one guy who runs their convention shacks who is a bit odd but he's the encyclopedic weeaboo who is very helpful and not the crazy obsessive one who follows you around the store. Not a fatass in sight. I think most of their customer base is actually kids and not adults, because every time I've been in the store it has had loads of middle school kids around talking pokemon. The moment the antisocial grogs move in to shop there or ownership changes to pants lacking homeless men, everything goes to hell.
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Jul 9, 2017 07:30
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Arcsquad12 posted:A lot of what makes or breaks a nerd store is who owns it. The local shop is owned by these two chill as gently caress japanese guys hence all the imports in the shop, and the rest of their employees are squeaky voiced teens and one guy who runs their convention shacks who is a bit odd but he's the encyclopedic weeaboo who is very helpful and not the crazy obsessive one who follows you around the store. Not a fatass in sight. I think most of their customer base is actually kids and not adults, because every time I've been in the store it has had loads of middle school kids around talking pokemon. It's kind of incredible that stores can run with absolutely no customer service. I'm not the most social guy in the world but christ, I can manage being friendly to customers and leaving them alone after a simple "need any help?"
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Jul 9, 2017 13:27
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Domus posted:Not a story, but a question: Is there any way to tell these people they're being creepy or stinky that they'll actually listen to? Be a close friend or loved one, be stubborn, and be lucky enough to tell them at a point when they're capable of following through on improvement. They don't have any reason at all to listen to a random stranger, because they ultimately don't have a reason to care what the stranger says. Like most of these dudes are pretty deep in a mire of depression, so without close support, they're gonna stick to where they are because, deep down, they don't actually believe they can manage anything better under their own power. It sucks, but unless you're already close, there's just nothing you can do to combat that. Otherwise, the only thing anyone can do is set hard boundaries to force them to either shape up or stay the gently caress away.
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Jul 9, 2017 16:04
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My city has this really nice Game shop that sells everything. They even have a dedicated area for games and organized play times. I'm sure there are some weirdos with bad social skills who have hygiene problems and can't stop looking at women's breasts... I don't know because I can't get over my anxiety and just go out and play. So who is the monster really? Here is a GIS of "Magic cards and boobs" I would like to think of myself as a "good person" but I would probably be fighting for my eyes not to settle on them as we played. Shirt idea! Take a photo of your hands holding your cards and print them on the shirt over where your boobs area
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Jul 9, 2017 16:11
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HAmbONE posted:Here is a GIS of "Magic cards and boobs" I would like to think of myself as a "good person" but I would probably be fighting for my eyes not to settle on them as we played. You're not a bad person for looking at a pair of tits on display.
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Jul 9, 2017 16:33
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Red Baron posted:No. Trying is a noble venture, but there's not a silver bullet for people being terrible to each other. You do need to call people out on their lovely behaviour because that's the only way to make them aware their behaviour is lovely. That won't necessarily get them to stop their behaviour, but baby steps. But I wouldn't do it in an unsafe manner, such as one on one in their home. In a store though? Different ball game. I had to have those conversations as an employer a couple times - "yo, you stink, please pay more attention to your personal hygiene or we'll have to send you home". The local comic shop has a sign up saying lovely behaviour won't be tolerated and as far as I know they live up to that. I haven't spent real time in hobby stores other than going in and buying stuff and leaving in probably two decades, but I haven't seen anything untoward in my visits to the shop. Also holy poo poo this thread.
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Jul 9, 2017 16:49
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HAmbONE posted:My city has this really nice Game shop that sells everything. They even have a dedicated area for games and organized play times. I'm sure there are some weirdos with bad social skills who have hygiene problems and can't stop looking at women's breasts... what the gently caress am i reading
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Jul 9, 2017 17:51
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Jordan7hm posted:You do need to call people out on their lovely behaviour because that's the only way to make them aware their behaviour is lovely. That won't necessarily get them to stop their behaviour, but baby steps. You're right, I got a little too apathetic in my response. It is absolutely important to call out these things, and definitely in a public space even if you have the conversation quietly because you're worried about embarrassing them. (Assuming you have empathy and the situation warrants maybe not throwing them under the social bus as hard as you can.) Specifically I'm thinking of the people who smell, since it's possible they might be unaware. I had a huge crush on a girl from afar and when I finally got the courage up to actually speak with her in person I discovered she had a very strong odor. She apparently couldn't tell; her entire house had the same smell and she was just blind to it. (I later met her brother and he had the same pervasive scent.) Of course, it's also possible they do know/don't care and are just gross. Let them know either way, and if they fall into the latter category go whole hog on throwing shade.
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Jul 9, 2017 19:08
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HAmbONE posted:My city has this really nice Game shop that sells everything. They even have a dedicated area for games and organized play times. I'm sure there are some weirdos with bad social skills who have hygiene problems and can't stop looking at women's breasts... Source quotes etc. If this is real; noticing an attractive woman is normal and healthy. Staring, deliberately or otherwise, is creepy and weird even if she isn't dressed modestly. If you are older than 15, seeing a girl in a revealing top should not be a mindblowing experience, and being able to maintain your composure around attractive people is a social norm.
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Jul 9, 2017 19:18
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EmmyOk posted:what the gently caress am i reading someone with too much anxiety to go to a hobby shop making fun of people for being nerds
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Jul 9, 2017 19:29
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Voyager I posted:Source quotes etc. This. Women are not responsible for your inability to control yourself in social settings. Don't be a creep.
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Jul 9, 2017 21:47
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I was very lucky in that my LGS has had rad owners for the last 20+ years. Good selection of stuff, and a very welcoming atmosphere for newbies and hardcore people alike. Over the years I played lots of various card games and Warhammer and stuff there on Saturdays. There were the usual super nerds and weirdos but I don't remember there ever being the BO funk at least. In 2002-3ish I was going to lots of Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments there, and there was a good ratio of like people just there to play and build their decks and a few Serious Gamers who bought their entire decks/ strategy online (seems to be par the course now but as a 14 yo I thought that was kind of lovely). One such kid I was facing off against was bragging how his deck cost 1000$ and he had Exodia (if you hold the 5 pieces in your hand you insta-win for non you-gi-oh folks ). He was a few years older than me and one of the very few super fat and gross dudes. Anyways after all his bragging and trash talk I proceeded to beat him 3 rounds in a row with my trap card/ mostly common / half assed strategy deck. He started crying and sat outside still crying for half an hour until mommy came to pick him up. I didn't win the tournament but felt I had the moral victory that day. I mostly stopped playing cards there though once it became apparent I would have to spend a poo poo load of cash to stay competitive. So instead I started a 40k Ork army 
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Jul 9, 2017 21:53
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PCOS Bill posted:You're not a bad person for looking at a pair of tits on display. I say this to people as well but about my balls
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Jul 9, 2017 21:55
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oldpainless posted:I say this to people as well but about my balls more like oldcrotchless. I'm starting to think you're setting these up deliberately.
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Jul 9, 2017 23:44
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Maybe she wore that top because she could trust it to distract the creepy nerd on the other side of the table
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Jul 10, 2017 01:03
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Len posted:Maybe she wore that top because she could trust it to distract the creepy nerd on the other side of the table Internet Feminists would tell you that you're a misogynist for even thinking a woman might even consider doing such a thing. But that's probably exactly why, yeah.
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Jul 10, 2017 01:04
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Len posted:Maybe she wore that top because she could trust it to distract the creepy nerd on the other side of the table I mean, look at the responses from some of folks in this thread. It'd work on them, no matter how enlightened or woke or meta aware they're claiming to be.
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Jul 10, 2017 01:44
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I worked in a comic store that's sold various games and nerdy poo poo. I could probably write a loving book on creepy/weird nerdy events I the store. I've had to ask mtiple people to leave due to drunkenness (less frequent) and nodding out (more frequent). A large, unkepmt man who was wearing a count in June came in. I helped him find what he was looking for (a few normal comics) and told him when he was ready to check out, he could head up front. On his way, he pulled a half unwrapped tuna fish sandwich from his pocket, and took a bite, then replaced it. While my coworker was ringing him up, he did it again. This was a standard Cat Piss Man, so it was loving strange. He paid, and left, leaving the store smell a bit worse for a little while, and creating a meme in store, where you would reach into your pocket and offer someone a sandwich. I've had to stop customers from following teenage girls they don't know around the store. All pretty standard poo poo. I will think of more and add them as they come. I was the creepy guy twice. I apologise if any of you were my victims. 1) A young woman came in looking for horror comics. I asked what she liked, and started showing her various books that met her tastes. Typical stuff- Freddy, Evil Dead, Friday the 13th, Hellraiser, etc. "These are all too tame. I want hosed up, like the worse the better. I want like Hostel level poo poo, but worse." I show her David Lapham'a werewolf/torture porn book, Ferals. "This is cool, but do you have more hosed up?" I showed her Crossed. If you don't know what it is, check it out. It is a really hosed up Post Apocalypse story that makes books like TWD look like Disney. She starts pulling down trades, and flipping through, making a small stack that she wants. "gently caress yes. This is the kinda poo poo I lik-" Her face went white and she stopped talking. I look at the page she is on, and see why. In the back of each collection is a cover gallery. The page she is looking at is an infected nurse with a shotgun killing newborns in a hospital nursery while shadows on the wall show people banging on the glass to stop her. "I can't get this." She slowly closed the book, set it down, grabbed a few Hellraiser and Feral books, paid and left. 2) I was playing MTG to fill a spot in FNM and there is a younger, pretty girl playing. She is being flirtatious with everyone, but in a fun friendly way. She flirts with me, I flirt back, it's all fun. Between games we are talking about school. I was in college at the time, and assumed she was. I found out about five minutes in she was still in HS. I felt terrible and gross. She later became a fixture around the store, helping out and playing various games, and I was assigned by my boss to watch out for her because, "out of the ten other dude back there, you were the only one who felt shame". She was cool, and watching her grow up was neat. Another fixture in the store was Joe. Joe was 6'1" and was getting close to 400lbs. He was a nice enough guy about nerdy poo poo -mike he played every game, and was always willing to teach and help out. But if you've ever seen the movie "Otis", you've seen Joe in action. He is just loving creepy with no social skills. He would follow women when he helped out, and leer at them. He never smelled, but just over all gave the impression he has murdered a hooker or three. And forget playing against him. He cheated like a mother fucker. Not rule exploiting, but just straight cheating. And he was the worst loser ever. I really think that he had so little going for him- dead end job, no social life outside the store, no girlfriend, lived in his mom's basement, a lack of social skills- winning at a game was all he had. I kinda took pity and let him get away with a bit. Until Star Wars RPG. He played a protocol droid whose focus was murder. No big deal. But every time we ran into a female NPC, he wanted to take them slave. Legit. "Let's take them as slaves, use them, then sell them". First time it happened, OOC "Nah Joe, that's weird, and we are playing the good guys". It kept happening. We ignored it until the raid on a Hutt compound. We hit the compound, kill the opposition, kill the Hutt, and have secured the radio room. We are stealing everything not nailed down before the reinforcements arrive. Joe notices two scared Twilek dancing slaves huddled in a cell. Joe-"I'm taking the Twilek bitches" Another player- "What the gently caress for?" Joe- "To keep as rape slaves." The table goes silent, and "Are you serious?" looks are passed around. Me- "YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A DICK! YOU'RE A GOD drat ROBOT, JOE!" Joe- "So? They can still feel pleasure." The GM is just staring as the group goes quiet for about five seconds. John, another player who hasn't said ten words though the whole game says quietly, "Roll to execute to Twileks" He pulls his blaster and is getting ready to execute two scared NPCs, when the someone says, "gently caress it, I'm leaving." "Was that IC or OOC?" He starts packing up his poo poo, "both". We never played another RPG with Joe, and no one talks about it. I will post more as I remember.
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Jul 10, 2017 01:47
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This is why we have the honeypot tag, smh, opbulletsponge13 posted:She later became a fixture around the store, helping out and playing various games, and I was assigned by my boss to watch out for her because, "out of the ten other dude back there, you were the only one who felt shame". She was cool, and watching her grow up was neat. sir, u r truely honorble and I respect it.  e: spelling and grammar
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Jul 10, 2017 02:00
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EmmyOk posted:This is why we have the honeypot tag, smh, op I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not. I swear I am not a completely lovely dude, and that is why I was tasked with keeping people like the above mentioned Joe from leering at her.
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Jul 10, 2017 03:58
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PCOS Bill posted:The nicest places are the ones without bus stops. I literally took the T to my local game store on Thursday. It's a nice place, with a good owner who actually cares about the hobby, and focuses on miniature gaming. No comics, maybe 2 boxes of Magic boosters collecting dust, and 6'x4' custom built tables. Story #1: We had one guy come in that wanted to play Star Wars: Armada with us. The owner knew him from when he (the owner) worked at a different game store. The guy was nicknamed "Gravedigger" because he always wore a "Gravedigger" monstertruck hoodie, no matter what day of the year it was. I'm not sure it was ever washed. He really, really wanted to be social, and tried to talk to anyone nearby about the most stupid poo poo imaginable. Theories about what the next wave of ships would be, theories about the new Star Wars movies, theories about whatever the hell people were talking about at the time. What makes it bad though was that whatever topic he decided to insert himself into he was the most painfully wrong about. Like if a 13 year old was making movie decisions based on what they thought would be dark and edgy. The store owner was debating threatening to ban him because other players stopped coming around if they thought he would be there, but he just stopped coming at some point. Maybe he found a different game to occupy his time? Story #2: My (now) wife and my friend's (now) fiance once accompanied us to a Regional Championship out of state, and the 4 of us would go see Washington DC the day after. Both of them are avid board gamers, but don't really get into the miniature games. They decided to kill some time browsing the demo games at the game shop and see if something was available they could play while we finished up the all day tournament. The owner of that store suggested they play this game because it would be a simple game for beginners like them. I think they wound up playing Mansions of Madness instead. When me and my friend went to Origins, we found a 8' banner for Takenoko and sent them a picture of us posing with it. "It'll be a good game for the two of you to play while we play Armada!" Another trip we actually found a copy of Takenoko, opened it, set it up like we were in the middle of a game, and sent them a picture of it with the caption "We found a fun and simple game you might enjoy!" I don't know why they put up with us either.
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Jul 10, 2017 05:21
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bulletsponge13 posted:I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not. I'm...not really sure where the problems are in your stories? Sometimes you guess wrong about how old someone is. It happens - people have been pegging me at 22-24 for the past decade as I went from one side of that figure to the other. What matters is that when you find out the person you're chatting up is inappropriately young, you stop (and probably feel kind of embarrassed about it). I met my fiancee at a community college and I can tell you there was more than one conversation before that happened that ended abruptly after I asked someone what they were studying and found out they were there for an advanced course in high school.
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Jul 10, 2017 05:35
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Val Helmethead posted:The owner of that store suggested they play this game because it would be a simple game for beginners like them. I think they wound up playing Mansions of Madness instead. Takenoko looks cute and fun tbh
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Jul 10, 2017 08:04
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Voyager I posted:I'm...not really sure where the problems are in your stories? Yeah, especially in the horror comic story. Sounds like you catered to the customer's requests, then she pushed herself past her own boundaries, which had nothing to do with your actions.
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Jul 10, 2017 10:26
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Heath posted:Takenoko looks cute and fun tbh It is. It is also pretty good for picking up quickly since the rules aren't too crazy complex. Takenoko is rad.
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Jul 10, 2017 14:29
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the weird part is when he's proudly tasked with being the sole guardian of the hot teenage girl.
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Jul 10, 2017 14:35
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Edgar Allen Ho posted:the weird part is when he's proudly tasked with being the sole guardian of the hot teenage girl. I didn't say proudly- I just said I was tasked, just like I was tasked with restocking shelves, keeping Joe away from female customers, telling the MTG players to keep it down, cleaning bathrooms, front and face shelves, and answering dumbass questions. I once got in trouble when while doing inventory, I overheard this conversation- "...he never cast anything higher than ninth level in the book! My cleric is higher level!" "We'll, Dumbledore never really cast much at all, and like nothing from the handbook!" "I'm telling you, Gandalf would kill Dumbledore in a magic fight!" "No way!" One of my friend's playing, "Hey bulletsponge, who would win in a fight, Dumbledore or Hangout?" "loving nerds."
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Jul 10, 2017 15:03
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EmmyOk posted:what the gently caress am i reading I am very poorly trying to use this thread to convince myself that it is ok to go out and play board games
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Jul 10, 2017 15:09
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go play games if you want to, dude, drat.
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Jul 10, 2017 15:38
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Boobs are cool and as a boob haver its totally understandable why one would look at them just dont make it weird.
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Jul 10, 2017 16:11
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Really? As a boob haver, I don't get the appeal. They're big blobs of extra weight that go everywhere when you try to jog, and make it harder to squeeze into small spaces. I get it's not that way for guys, but they don't have to haul them around for the 99% of time they're not in use.
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Jul 11, 2017 00:13
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Domus posted:Really? As a boob haver, I don't get the appeal. They're big blobs of extra weight that go everywhere when you try to jog, and make it harder to squeeze into small spaces. I get it's not that way for guys, but they don't have to haul them around for the 99% of time they're not in use. Congrats on being a straight woman!
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Jul 11, 2017 00:19
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Len posted:Maybe she wore that top because she could trust it to distract the creepy nerd on the other side of the table I assume. If I saw a dude sitting there with a visor and shades on I'd assume he's attempting to pull some professional poker poo poo - 90% bared breasts are also uncommon enough in that context to guess that she's clearly going for the distraction. Not that there's anything wrong with that, assuming it meets the store's dress code. If there's one thing I've found from situations like this as well as hearing my friends' opinions about skimpy female twitch streamers it's that a lot of men get mad when called on how easily gulled they are by boobs. Also continually surprised at the amount of people who don't realize you can look at a woman's chest without being a creep about it, like there's nothing between ogling and chastly diverting your eyes.
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Jul 11, 2017 00:33
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I'm a card dealer at a casino and I promise you hygiene problems, guys being lovely towards women, the women who come in with their tits hanging out (to gain an edge), and the awkward motherfuckers who can't speak to another living soul isn't exactly specific to nerd stores. I think the big difference is we have supervisors and security staff to take care of these people. So, they tend to check their poo poo at the door. You have to tell these people that acting like a terrible person isn't normal, I applaud stores that have policies and actually stick to them. Most people just want to have fun and play cards, It doesn't matter if it's Magic or poker. I gaurantee that if you let these people run wild your business will fail.
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Jul 11, 2017 01:00
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I Brake For MILFs posted:You have to tell these people that acting like a terrible person isn't normal This is actually v. normal
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Jul 11, 2017 01:24
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Cumslut1895 posted:This is actually v. normal Shh, play along, these people don't really get out
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Jul 11, 2017 01:27
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