by CHRIS BARRY

Name: François Charette

Age: 20

Occupation: Record store clerk

Salary: $11 an hour

Bio: This charismatic heartbreaker of a downtown resident had been living hard and wild before deciding that the best way to keep himself out of trouble might be to actually get a job. So two years ago he walked in to C’Dément on Ste-Catherine W., filled out an application and found himself deeply immersed in the noble profession of buying and selling used books and CDs the very next day. When not working in the endlessly rewarding retail industry, François is singing, mixing and producing techno music under the name Richie Hawtin, and can be found spinning occasionally at various local venues.

The rough percentage of people coming into C’Dément to sell CDs who have bad teeth, are constantly scratching themselves and are sporting mysterious big, black track marks all over their arms: "About 25 per cent."

When somebody is an obvious junkie, hurting for dope, will he offer them less money for their CDs, uh, just because he can? "No, junkies tend to argue the most about the money you offer them. And anyway, sometimes it makes me happy if I can give them more money."

The sort of thing that might lead him to suspect the records you’re trying to sell him may have been stolen: Coming in with 15 brand new John Coltrane box sets but wearing a RATT T-shirt, and "just not looking like you’re into Coltrane. We’re very careful not to buy stolen stuff."

Do people ever take it personally when he doesn’t want to buy their old Honeymoon Suite record collections? "Yes, sometimes. Some people just don’t want to believe that you can’t resell this stuff."

Is there a big demand for old Paula Abdul classics now that she’s back in the public eye with American Idol? Yes.

A few artists whose records people come in to sell every day but which François rarely purchases because nobody wants them: Howie Day, Our Lady Peace, Tragically Hip, Smash Mouth.

Best part of the gig: Meeting people.

Worst: Busting middle-aged shoplifters, having the police brought in and watching the shoplifter get carted off to jail in tears. "It’s hard, watching an older person like that cry like a baby because they don’t want to go to prison. With a teenager though, I don’t feel bad about it at all."

Childhood ambition: To work in a record store.

Where he hangs out: Blue Dog, Stereo.

Favourite alcoholic beverage: Labatt Blue Dry.

Does he get high? Sometimes.

Musical preferences: Steve Reich, Tiga, King Crimson.

Last book read: The Art of War, by Sun Tzu.

Film preferences: "I never go see films or watch television because it’s always the same old thing recycled. I’m 20 years old and I feel like I’ve seen all the movies I am going to see in my life."

Words of wisdom: "We are on the Earth to learn. Life is to learn, and that’s it."

Comments? dimwit@openface.ca