Am I asking too much?
I recently went into Games Workshop Oxford and had the standard experience - the well-meaning staff member assumed I was lost, then served me as fast as possible to get me out the shop, seemingly on the assumption that I couldn't possibly actually want to be there. Given that all I'd done to give that impression was wear a skirt, that was a bit bloody depressing. On the other hand when I explained that I did play the game and mentioned three armies I played or was working on and one I was allying with and he did tell me to pass on to my male gaming partner how good his army was, so he did at least realise I was there.
An isolated incident, assuming you ignore the feedback from several friends who had similar experiences in other GW stores across the country. And the experiences I had in the past, which I thought were left in the past, but it seems that the Aylesbury store manager is not the norm, but in fact a radical progressive in his belief that anyone is allowed to shop there.
Never mind. There's another gaming system that Alan and Paul are looking at, so that might be worth a go. Ian suggested Warfare 2015, a gaming convention on this weekend, so I thought I'd give that a go. Ian did warn me however that women get free entry, thought it's not clear if that's a misguided attempt to get more women interested in gaming, or if it's just that the real attendees can bring their bored partners along without them having to pay.
It's the latter. I know this, because when I was googling for the postcode I found the event advertised with the line "Admission is only £5.00 GBP per person and women and children are admitted free.". Makes it rather plain how welcome I am there - I'm not considered human. I'm sure if I was to mention that it would be an overreaction to poor word choice, but yeah.
If anyone wants me, I'll be looking out my dowdiest geekish clothes in a vain attempt to be taken seriously by a hobby that seems to be making it pretty plain I'm not wanted.
An isolated incident, assuming you ignore the feedback from several friends who had similar experiences in other GW stores across the country. And the experiences I had in the past, which I thought were left in the past, but it seems that the Aylesbury store manager is not the norm, but in fact a radical progressive in his belief that anyone is allowed to shop there.
Never mind. There's another gaming system that Alan and Paul are looking at, so that might be worth a go. Ian suggested Warfare 2015, a gaming convention on this weekend, so I thought I'd give that a go. Ian did warn me however that women get free entry, thought it's not clear if that's a misguided attempt to get more women interested in gaming, or if it's just that the real attendees can bring their bored partners along without them having to pay.
It's the latter. I know this, because when I was googling for the postcode I found the event advertised with the line "Admission is only £5.00 GBP per person and women and children are admitted free.". Makes it rather plain how welcome I am there - I'm not considered human. I'm sure if I was to mention that it would be an overreaction to poor word choice, but yeah.
If anyone wants me, I'll be looking out my dowdiest geekish clothes in a vain attempt to be taken seriously by a hobby that seems to be making it pretty plain I'm not wanted.