What goes around comes around at card shop

Rush

I went to my local card shop taday to burn away my "card allowance". There was this young boy hanging around the store asking the shop owner a million questions about every card in the display case. The owner looked a little annoyed but tried to answer all his questions as he waited on customers. After brousing and not seeing much I wanted to buy in the way of sports cards I decided to buy some Star Trek Enterprise cards. I grabbed two packs and this boy come up to the box and point to one pack and says "the autograph is in that one". I said "All right I'll get that one too". After paying for the packs I made sure to rip the selected pack first. BINGO! An autograph. So I said to the boy let me get you a pack of cards. He told me he like football and pointed to boxes of Topps. The shop owner grabbed a pack of Topps but I said let him get a Jumbo pack. The boy picked his pack and I paid for it. He ripped it open and pulled a jersey card.
This just made my day. I was happy I got and an autograph as per his advice and I was happy I could return the favor. I know it made him happy as he said he had never gotten a jersey card before.
He just seemed like the type of kid who hangs around the store because he loves cards and can once and a while afford a pack of $1 to $2 stuff.
I have read some the stories about the money spent on this Hobby. Could you imagine being in this kid's shoes. This "crappy" little $15.00 jersey card was like a gold mine to him.
So, next time you pull a "crappy" game used card, remember your roots and how you got started in this Hobby. You might just feel better.

wisdotman

Very well said!!
Kinda like the saying: "One man's junk is another man's treasure!!"
Thanks for the reminder.

ChrisStufflestreet

That kid may not be able to spend a lot of money now, but if he's still interested in the hobby after he gets his first job, he'll be back. When that time comes, he'll make up to that seller for all the times he asked a million questions and spent just a few dollars.

20 years ago, I was that type of kid. I spent a lot of time asking questions about the hobby, the game in general and essentially being a pain in the *sses of local sellers around Watertown, New York. I eventually figured out the ones that treated me the best, and was soon spending the bulk of my lawn mowing/snow shoveling money at their stores. And the stuff I learned from those sellers about the business helped me immensely when I became a weekend seller later on.

Thanks for the story, Rush...maybe that kid will remember your random act of kindness and pass it along to another youngster when he's in your shoes later on.

Gemmy10

<<That kid may not be able to spend a lot of money now, but if he's still interested in the hobby after he gets his first job, he'll be back. When that time comes, he'll make up to that seller for all the times he asked a million questions and spent just a few dollars.>>

That is my theory about the 2000 Upper Deck Yankee Collection. Although kids who are growing up loving Jeter and the Yankees now can not afford the set, when they grow up they might be able to afford them, and there will be less of them to go around since 100 or so of the 500 sets are history.