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This morning I headed down to my car like I do every morning, ready to drive to work. When I climbed in my seat I noticed something was off immediately - the seat had been adjusted. I looked down at my change tray and it was empty. Someone with grubby fingers had been in my car.
Then I remember that I had left a box with all of my paints and modeling supplies in the backseat. I turned and looked and my heart broke a little bit. It was gone. Stolen. Over a thousand dollars worth of paint. No resale value, no reason to steal it, but stolen all the same. I just about cried. I can't even think about replacing the hundreds of bottles of paint I lost, let alone the fifty or so brushes, the coils of green and brown stuff, the diamond files and jeweler's saw. I just don't have the money right now.
After work I went down to my FLGS, Gary's Games in Greenwood (Seattle) to pick up some paizo stuff. Knowing he'd feel my pain, I told Tim (the manager) about the theft while he rang me up. And of course he's like "That's awful." All I was looking for, a little commiseration.
Then he tells me that his plan for the weekend was to take down the old display of Reaper Pro Paints that takes up too much wallspace for a mostly discontinued line, and that he was going to get rid of the smattering of paints that were left. And he invited me to take whatever I wanted, completely free of charge.
It was only a dozen or so pots of paint, and some pretty funky colors to boot (Gnoll Flesh? Wut?), but who cares? It was the nicest thing a game store owner has ever done for me, and it took what was shaping up to be a bad day and turned it right around.
So I'm just posting this to let you all know that if you're in the Seattle area and thinking about buying some RPG stuff, try checking out Gary's Games. They aren't just a friendly local gaming store, they're the friendliest local gaming store.
Let me start by saying how sorry I am to hear about your loss. Let's hope whoever's sniffing those paints falls into a bathtub while holding a hair dryer.
After complaining for a zabillion years about not having local game stores worth the powder it'd take to level 'em, I can now say in my area we have some pretty good ones. Here in Conway, AR (where I live) we have Bat Cave Comics. It's mostly comics, but the best dice selection I've ever seen (I'm a dice freak), and in nearby Jacksonville, there's Game Zone Alpha. Great space and great guys running it. I just offhandedly mentioned I was interested in Ultimate Magic, and when I walked in a few weeks ago for our Pathfinder session, Carl just handed me a copy and told me, "We saved you one." Awesome.
Also, in Sherwood/North Little Rock there's Imagine Games. Great place. There was a game store in Little Rock that had a long history of being open/being closed/being open/etc. They were rude and couldn't be bothered by customers with questions.
So now, I'm purty pleased with the selection we have around here.