Chuck V. Circuit City

This story made the rounds for a while. I was there to witness it. By no means is it all that funny decades later, but it is a good example of Chuck's slow burn deadpan humor.

Back in the 80's, Circuit City (original Roanoke location) was one of several places to buy blank cassette tapes. Today's teens and tweens can't imagine the importance of what is now called "cassette culture". All this compilation and playlist stuff from their world comes directly from cassettes back in the 70's and 80's. And, of course, we copied our favorite albums for each other in this way prefiguring so-called online piracy and illegal downloads.

Any way, one day we were at Circuit City because Chuck needed a new pack of TDK 90's. He found what he needed in a few seconds, but for the life of us we could not attract the attention of a salesperson. It was clear that his purchase was not important to anyone there. Believe it or not terrible retail employees are not an invention of the last ten years! FINALLY, after 10-15 minutes, someone bothered to come to the register.

With a totally expressionless face and only the very lightest sarcastic inflection Chuck says, "I consider it a privilege to buy these tapes."

I believe this was "the" brand, type and length that most of us used

A treasure trove of the many moods of TDK

In searching for these cassette photos online I was surprised to find that unused/still sealed cassette tapes are now sought after. A single still sealed TDK 90 can go for as much as $12 on eBay.