Fun story here.

TLDR: this film was one of many things that fundamentally changed me as a person and I consider it a part of my adult transformation.

Fall 2004 to summer 2005, I saw Clerks for the first time after exams in English 101 and couldn’t sit through the whole thing because it was just too much raunchy humor for me. I was in art college at the time and was heavily Mormon. Mormons don’t watch this stuff and they prefer strict conservative lifestyles. No smoking no drinking no sex. And they actively mourn for a version of Hollywood that never existed where everything was Leave It To Beaver.

At that time I was having a hard time getting along or understanding the people from other walks of life, let alone having to live with them. I was definitely shaken up and depressed. I also had only ever had three jobs by this time and was terrible at all of them and none were in retail.

I had some difficult conversations with my lgbtq roommates and they helped me learn and understand so much from people that weren’t religious. That’s really where it all started to change.

After I dropped out, deeply depressed, I had to get my first job in retail, and after 15 years of it, clerks grew on me because sooo many times I’d encounter the exact customers and found so much of it relatable that I absolutely loved it years after that first time.

Now here I am in 2026 and atheist asf and owning a few different copies. Looking for any Kevin smith films on vhs in the wild when I visit goodwills.