I'm sure we're none of us fans of the corporate megastore on principle but I can't help but feel that the management buy out at Virgin has acted as a motivational fillip for the people behind the counters, who seem in some places at least to have been transformed into groovily genuine smiley types, perhaps at the promise of increased bonuses or profit share or maybe just because all the grumpy ones got fired. The young lady who serviced me in Oxford Street last week could not have been more accommodating and my needs, as I'm sure you can imagine, were far from pedestrian.
So hurrah for Snazzi, or whatever they're called. They've given me the thinnest of excuses I need to post these gems at last.
The Buzzcocks - 'Why She's A Girl From The Chainstore' (1980)
The Freshies - 'I'm In Love With A Girl On A Certain Manchester Megastore Check Out Desk' (1980)
Did you ever fall in love with an assistant in a record shop? And was your love requited?
"The young lady who serviced me in Oxford Street last week could not have been more accommodating and my needs, as I'm sure you can imagine, were far from pedestrian."
ReplyDeleteCertain statements really must be taken in context. Snazzi indeed.
I've been watching too many Dick Emery clips on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteI used to have a buzz for one the girls at 'Adrians' in Wickford. (actually the only girl at 'Adrians' in Wickford). And we did have a couple of clinchers at the Pink Toothbrush in Rayleigh. But that was it, no long term love interest or more importantly making stealthy use of the staff discount for me.
ReplyDeletei was trying to remember the last time i was in a big record store. it's been a long time. i used to go to virgin to read magazines but that's about it. and i've never really known girls in record shops apart from the one in clerkenwell music and my mate married her. i'm not convinced they really exist outside of mucky dreams.
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When I think about it....Ally is spot on with her observation. Girls did not work in Glasgow record shops....but oh the number of times I fell in love with the Saturday girls who were employed in Boots the Chemist.
ReplyDeleteOh yes. Nice Alison from the Sixth Form worked in Boots for the summer. We tried to egg each other on to go in and ask her for condoms, but bottled out - naturally.
ReplyDeleteMiss Ally speaks the mostly truth of course - but perhaps there were fanciable boys for someone?
And Mondo, may I say, "a couple of clinchers at the Pink Toothbrush in Rayleigh" = pure poetry - and there's your first album title, right there.
I know (in a virtual online kind of way, and I'm starting to think 'what other ways are there') some of the DJs from The Pink Toothbrush - I'm thinking from what I know of them that some serious rawking might be going on there.
ReplyDeleteI tend to fall in love with women in Delis rather then record shops, although (dick emery alert) there was one in Virgin back when it was Virgin who I always tried to be served by.
No, but it did happen to me the other way round. Working in Andys Records in Stafford, I really fell in love with a stunningly beautiful girl who I served in a few times - I naturally ended up a blithering idiot every time she came in. I managed one date when I stupidly revealed my feelings and yes it was unrequited. Still remember her fondly though.
ReplyDeletedundee. yes. 1990? i think. went into Virgin to pick up my ordered copy of the peel sessions lp (yes, lp) by the chameleons. the girl/young woman who served me smiled and said she liked the cover art. I smiled back and said something like 'er, oh, yes, well, that's reg and his crayons, he does all the...' - and as i left the shop, blushing and falling over myself, i had fallen in love. again. i have never forgotten that moment and i still think of her when i play that lp. her name was linda. it said on her badge.
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