(no subject)
Okay, I always knew that scifi and gaming conventions didn't always attract the most, ahem, socially competent of persons, but this just takes the cake.
At Comunicon (no, that's not misspelled, at least not by me) I had one of my model ships sitting out on the table, not really paying attention to it because I was speaking to someone at the time. This particular ship has fishing line tied to it, since at home it hangs from the ceiling. (The previous tenants were kind enough to leave us plant hooks for just this purpose, no doubt.) This particular model took me for-freakin-ever (or sixty hours, take your pick) because almost every single bit of detail was reverse-masked, airbrushed, then masked before I added the final coat and camo. I really must update the article on that one.
Anyway.
I hear a noise, glance behind me and see...
...the guy who was earlier sitting near the con's registration desk/canteen holding the fishing line between his grubby little fingers, twirling the ship back and forth a couple of inches above the table and when I turn around he drops it.
"Excuse me," I say, a bit sharply, because more people than usual have failed to demonstrate their understanding of the basic concept 'if it's not yours, don't touch it', "Could you not touch the models, please? They're fragile."
Idiot Boy laughs sneeringly and gives the model a derisive shove with his finger. "Oooh, lookit the glare!" he jeers, "Look at her glaring!"
"Look," I snap. "These are models. They are not toys. I spent over sixty hours on that, and if it gets broken, I'm going to be...upset." Now I give him a real glare, the one that usually makes annoying fanboys run away, and even pissed off customers that are bigger than I am back off. This guy? This particularly maladjusted, socially inept asshole?
Digs out a palmful of change, makes a show of searching for a quarter, and tosses it down on the table before swaggering off.
I think I would have jumped him if T. hadn't distracted me by saying something shocked.
Oh, and did I mention this guy was supposedly con staff? Yeah.
Batousai came back from the Battletech game at this point, found out what happened, and we indicated Idiot Boy to him. Idiot Boy at this point is still occasionally glancing over at our section - oh, did I mention he decided to come over when only the women were there? - probably in hopes of seeing me cry, and instead finds himself the recipient of angry glares. Batousai tells us that the GM in charge of Battletech told them to keep an eye on the table during break since Idiot Boy has apparently been known to pocket people's miniatures. Great. So now I'm thinking he's just some jerk who likes to pretend to be con staff to make himself look important. SoundEffect and another member of the group return, learn the story, and the other member of the group points out the con organizer and advises us to tell him about the incident, which we do.
So yeah, I guess someone (someone tougher than the organizer, apparently) was going to speak to Idiot Boy about it.
When Idiot Boy was done playing Munchkin. Great.
Well, at least we knew where he was for a couple of hours. He avoided eye contact with us for the rest of the day, and wouldn't come near our tables, probably out of fear of getting his skeevy ass kicked. I'm still unclear as to whether Idiot Boy was con staff, or just a hanger-on who came with them, but either way, you don't let people hassle your guests like that. Even at work, I don't think I've ever had a complete stranger be so randomly rude.
His quarter is still sitting where he left it, so far as I know. Frankly, I think he needs to make contact with someone who cares much more than I do. Asshole.
Even aside from that, it was a lousy con. All but one of the vendors pulled out (maybe Idiot Boy was their contact?), and the only thing he was selling was sealed packs of miniatures for the D&D mini game that was being run. If it survives till next year, we're not going.
At Comunicon (no, that's not misspelled, at least not by me) I had one of my model ships sitting out on the table, not really paying attention to it because I was speaking to someone at the time. This particular ship has fishing line tied to it, since at home it hangs from the ceiling. (The previous tenants were kind enough to leave us plant hooks for just this purpose, no doubt.) This particular model took me for-freakin-ever (or sixty hours, take your pick) because almost every single bit of detail was reverse-masked, airbrushed, then masked before I added the final coat and camo. I really must update the article on that one.
Anyway.
I hear a noise, glance behind me and see...
...the guy who was earlier sitting near the con's registration desk/canteen holding the fishing line between his grubby little fingers, twirling the ship back and forth a couple of inches above the table and when I turn around he drops it.
"Excuse me," I say, a bit sharply, because more people than usual have failed to demonstrate their understanding of the basic concept 'if it's not yours, don't touch it', "Could you not touch the models, please? They're fragile."
Idiot Boy laughs sneeringly and gives the model a derisive shove with his finger. "Oooh, lookit the glare!" he jeers, "Look at her glaring!"
"Look," I snap. "These are models. They are not toys. I spent over sixty hours on that, and if it gets broken, I'm going to be...upset." Now I give him a real glare, the one that usually makes annoying fanboys run away, and even pissed off customers that are bigger than I am back off. This guy? This particularly maladjusted, socially inept asshole?
Digs out a palmful of change, makes a show of searching for a quarter, and tosses it down on the table before swaggering off.
I think I would have jumped him if T. hadn't distracted me by saying something shocked.
Oh, and did I mention this guy was supposedly con staff? Yeah.
Batousai came back from the Battletech game at this point, found out what happened, and we indicated Idiot Boy to him. Idiot Boy at this point is still occasionally glancing over at our section - oh, did I mention he decided to come over when only the women were there? - probably in hopes of seeing me cry, and instead finds himself the recipient of angry glares. Batousai tells us that the GM in charge of Battletech told them to keep an eye on the table during break since Idiot Boy has apparently been known to pocket people's miniatures. Great. So now I'm thinking he's just some jerk who likes to pretend to be con staff to make himself look important. SoundEffect and another member of the group return, learn the story, and the other member of the group points out the con organizer and advises us to tell him about the incident, which we do.
So yeah, I guess someone (someone tougher than the organizer, apparently) was going to speak to Idiot Boy about it.
When Idiot Boy was done playing Munchkin. Great.
Well, at least we knew where he was for a couple of hours. He avoided eye contact with us for the rest of the day, and wouldn't come near our tables, probably out of fear of getting his skeevy ass kicked. I'm still unclear as to whether Idiot Boy was con staff, or just a hanger-on who came with them, but either way, you don't let people hassle your guests like that. Even at work, I don't think I've ever had a complete stranger be so randomly rude.
His quarter is still sitting where he left it, so far as I know. Frankly, I think he needs to make contact with someone who cares much more than I do. Asshole.
Even aside from that, it was a lousy con. All but one of the vendors pulled out (maybe Idiot Boy was their contact?), and the only thing he was selling was sealed packs of miniatures for the D&D mini game that was being run. If it survives till next year, we're not going.