The Zombie
I used to work in HMV, one of the properly massive ones. I was in the Specialities bit, obviously the HR woman had taken one look at me and though "this is the man to take over Easy Listening" :/

So, after a few weeks on the job I start to discover the regular customers, mostly old dears who like a bit of Sinatra or Max Bygraves... Then one day I met him. The Zombie.

He was a very tall feller, old, a little fluffy white remainder of hair... dressed prettymuch like all old people do, except for his fabric leg brace thing. This made him walk very very slowly, with a noticeable limping gait. In addition to this, he obviously used to be something of a smoker and was reduced to mumbling his requests in a very gruff, growly, low pitched voice. Very hard to make out any words at all.

Then there's the fact that his jumper (always the same blue jumper) was covered in a range of interesting stains; beetroot, mustard, beige...errr...stuff...

Pretty average. Until you consider that his skin was rotting. His bald patch had a large section where it was quite literally rotting away, permanently leaking puss. Also, his hands, quite evidently not washed in years, covered in bits of food, dirt, rotting flesh...

Combine the whole lot - mumbling growl, slow shuffle, rotting flesh, deathly smell and need for Easy Listening music and you can see how I arrived at his nickname.
( Sonic James Doom forgetting the date since... umm..., Thu 22 Mar 2007, 15:58, Reply)