Ask Ms. Meeple: What We Owe to Each Other | BoardGameGeek News

Roughly a year ago, a young man with some money started a board game shop and courted our group to attend. Of course we did…at first.

There’s no way around it: The store owner is a complete jerk. He exploits people’s interest in community for free labor and improvements to his store. The play area has cheap plastic tables with harsh lighting, and it often reeks with BO. He charges for open play but has an incredibly limited selection of games. Most often, we played the games we brought ourselves. He openly chastises his employees and speaks publicly about how he wants to reduce their wages. There’s so much more, but that encapsulates it well enough.

We started rotating to our original location, and the owner has since blamed us directly for his store failing. Now we’re pretty much back to our OG spot, but it’s awkward because we live in a small town. Of course I want to support a FLGS, but that requires the “F” in the first place.