Things you probably shouldn't say on Facebook when you own a business

This is a straight-up nerd fight, y'all! And I say that as a self-proclaimed nerd.

I don't play Magic the Gathering (I told you this was nerdy), but I know people who do. And I know them well enough that whether I like it or not (I don't), I hear plenty about it. Being uninterested, I retain very little, but for the past few months, I've been hearing some complaints about resident Magic the Gathering store Gaming Universe--mostly little things, starting with my brother hearing the owner complain about friends of his because they go in and trade cards, not buy. Now, the way I see it, you shouldn't be complaining about a legitimate business transaction, especially one you enter into willingly, but okay.

But then the complaints have just started adding up--the wait to play is too long, the store-credit prize isn't very useful due to small inventory, a guy known for cheating who was banned elsewhere is still allowed to play.

And for those reasons, my Magic-playing acquaintances have, for the most part, gone elsewhere--most notably Four Horsemen in Morgantown and The Gaming Dungeon in Washington. Non-Nam interlude! If you're in the Washington area and prefer comic books and graphic novels to Magic the Gathering, like me, definitely hit up The Gaming Dungeon on Main Street. The owner, Anthony, is great, and my boyfriend and I are regular customers.

Now, one of those pesky complaints I've heard about is the owner's tendency to imply his store is superior to others, which is a complaint I haven't heard about those other stores. In fact, I haven't heard any complaints about those other stores. It's one thing to try to create more business and have competition between certain businesses, but I find it hard to believe these stores are direct rivals when they're so spread out--the one exception being Morgantown isn't to far from Uniontown--and on top of that, it's another thing entirely to start badmouthing other stores--and players who don't come to your store--on Facebook. Because that's when people start to get put off and say, "Wow, this is really unprofessional." Observe, from comments on their Facebook group:

"Everyone knows I have the best Prize support for every tournament, yet not everyone plays at Gaming Universe. Do guys just want to play Magic and don't care about prizes?? Maybe I should just payout the same ridiculously low prizes every other store does, I would make a lot more money??"

In short: yes, some of them don't care about prizes. For the long answer, reread this entire post. And for an added bonus, you're not entitled to customers just because they like something you sell, and if you keep losing money despite your amazing prizes, perhaps you should rethink your approach.

Basically, getting nerds to spend money in your store is way more complicated than just prize incentives, and now you've just made it worse by sounding obnoxious.