Any crazy interactions at your LGS or sporting goods store

AlexanderA, I hear what you're saying, but if you cannot run a business above-board by being honest with your clients then you have no business being in business. Up-selling is fine provided that the features/improvements/upgrades/claims are real, or at least can be backed up. I really don't see S&W backing up a claim that their LS somehow has less recoil or muzzle blast over any of their other 38 SPL snubbies, much less the standard 642. Selling someone something that is not what was promised is called fraud. Now if the selling point was on the superior craftsmanship, grip feel, and/or trigger pull of the LS vs the LCR I'd have been perfectly fine with that. My experience is that the LCR is a better shooter in my hands, but I certainly would have not jumped into the situation as everything would have been above-board.

As others have said, I get why this might anger the clerk and why they would have kicked me out, but really the lack of embarrassment just shows that the clerk was used to this strategy and is not to be trusted.

DustyGmt good point on cornering. I had not thought of it at the time.

I’ve seen a bunch of cringe worthy antics in gun stores, some by employees, most by customers. Usually I wander away when idiocy rears it’s head, but there were two times I did pipe up.

I was at a LE-only gun store wanting to buy a S&W 642 they had for a really low price. At the counter in front of me were two fresh academy-grad guys, one filling out the paperwork buying a semi auto and the second fondling the display 642. The second guy kept opening the cylinder and snapping it closed by flicking his wrist like an idiot. He must’ve done that 30-40 times while the clerk was with them, I was gritting my teeth at the abuse occurring before my eyes but said nothing.

When the first guy finished the paperwork and it went back for review by the clerks boss, the other clown finally sets the 642 down and the clerk puts it back in the glass case. During the lull a second clerk was free and asks me if I would like to check out a gun, I said,” I’d love to buy a Smith 642, but not the one that he just ruined in the case. Please bring one from the back and I’ll get started on the DROS and 4473.”

The dude kind of half-turns to glare at me, sees the gray hair at my temples and my “you’re an F-Ing idiot” look on my face and realized that I’d been around the LE game a bit. He then walks off to the far side of the shop to wait for his buddy while I filled out my paperwork on an unmolested 642.

The worst one was years before at a Turners Outdoorsman (local hunting-fishing chain) in Chino. Again, some fresh faced young man was at the counter holding a revolver while chatting with his buddy the clerk while my then 8 year old daughter and I stood behind/to the side awaiting our turn (I was picking up a straight-pull Mauser 96 .270 after the 10-day wait).

The customer was waiving the gun about, aiming at nothing in particular, and in the process the guy swipes us with the muzzle. The first time super quickly so I thought it was unintentional then a second time clean with a bit of a pause so it was just plain stupidity.

Pissed, I ask them to please not point the gun in our direction. Both get this obnoxious, know-it-all smirk on their faces and the clerk says, “It’s unloaded buddy and besides, he’s a deputy sheriff.” I lit into them, making sure everyone at the counter heard me when I said,” I don’t care if he’s a M-Fing deputy, I’m a M-Fing sergeant and if that M-Fer points that gun at us again his station captain and I will be having serious words about his incompetence!”

Needless to say the kid with the gun got eyes as big as VW headlights, sets the gun down and left. The junior clerk walked off when the manager came over and helped me with my pick up.

Other than these two occurrences, which were about 15 years apart, I rarely say a peep when I’m gun shopping.

Stay safe.

Ooooof. Just.... oooof.
I also love that "Well I'm in the military/police/FBI/whatever" excuse people use when they are caught in something stupid. I hear that all the time at the range.
One of my best friends lit his hand on fire three separate times, while sober, the night before he shipped off to basic. Love the guy like a brother, but being an MP doesn't fix stupid.

I was asked to leave a LGS once.
A few months after sandy hook, I stopped in a store just to check if they had any 5.56 ammo. Since I stopped on the way home from work, I was still dressed in a military uniform. I asked the clerk and he said no. I glance down into the glass case and there it was; an old beat up 30 round AR mag. It had a price sticker on it of $99.95
I looked at the clerk and asked is that the right price on that mag?
He replied yep. I asked what made this magazine be worth $100. His reply? "Oh that's a magazine that the full auto guys use".
I politely told him that the magazine in question would in fact work if shooting full auto or semi.
I was told that the shop did not need people like me coming in and starting trouble and that I should leave.
Edit: I forgot this part-
Before I was asked to leave, another clerk came out of the back room with a backpack. He brought it to the counter and opened it up and said "this is the only AR ammo we have right now"
He proceeded to pull out some 30 round mags filled with ammo. He said "we don't put these out, but here is some". The price of each 30 round mag full of ammo was priced at $200 each. Yep, $200 for a beat up mag with no telling what type of rounds. Possibly even reloads.

Nothing crazy, just unexpected coincidence. Was in a LGS, small place with maybe 800 square feet of floor space, when a guy at the counter was completing a 4473 and he asks if Iowa had to be written out or abbreviated. Since I'm from Iowa originally I waited for him to complete the 4473 and I asked where in Iowa he was from. We talked for a moment and another guy comes into our conversation and it turned out he was from Iowa. Then two more guys who overheard our conversation joined in and they were from Iowa also. Five Iowans, from different parts of the state, at one time in a small gun shop in Tennessee.

George Dickel said:

Nothing crazy, just unexpected coincidence. Was in a LGS, small place with maybe 800 square feet of floor space, when a guy at the counter was completing a 4473 and he asks if Iowa had to be written out or abbreviated. Since I'm from Iowa originally I waited for him to complete the 4473 and I asked where in Iowa he was from. We talked for a moment and another guy comes into our conversation and it turned out he was from Iowa. Then two more guys who overheard our conversation joined in and they were from Iowa also. Five Iowans, from different parts of the state, at one time in a small gun shop in Tennessee.

Click to expand...

Sounds like 5 guys trying to see what real hills look like.

Just remembered another one.
I was in a shop several years ago and a young guy came in with his parents.
Apparently he either was in the police academy or had just graduated from the academy.
He wanted to look at a Glock. The clerk handed it to him and after examining it and pointing it in several different directions, he very purposely hit the mag release button while lifting the weapon up. The mag bounced off the floor.
He announced to his parents that was the way they taught him in the academy and it had become 2nd nature to him to drop the mag that way.
The parents beamed with pride that their son was so well trained.

Remembered this. I go to Cabelas again - it's on the way back and forth, so why not. A guy and lady friend are at the counter. He is asking for a pump shotgun because racking it will scare away the bad person. Then he say that he also wants some blanks in case the racking isn't scary enough. The clerk says: Well, you need some rubber buckshot.

I decide to speak up and say the standard blather. The guy, gal, clerk give me such a dirty look that I flee in terror. Won't speak up anymore unless asked. I do get asked as I look professorial and an extremely stable firearms expert, I suppose.

At Cabelas - I see a SW 632. That's a 327 mag. It's marked as a 22LR. I say to the clerk that is incorrectly labeled. Young kid who gets huffy. SW 63s are 22LR and this is the '2' variant. True - that's a 63-2. Older clerk comes by and says I am correct but they get the idiot tags from above. Same store - I need some shooting gloves. Gosh, we don't have them. So I wander and find the rack of shooting gloves.

In a sense with a crappy job, I understand folks don't care.

The LGS that use to be in town where I had bought several guns through. They had a retiree that helped man the shop. He was kind of a gruff, but I always got along with him.

One time I bought a new 357 mag. there. I shot less than a box of 357 ammo through it, the accuracy was not there. I found that the cylinder throats hadn't been reamed. They were under .350", consistently.

I took the gun back to the shop, hoping to talk to one of the owners. Only my gruffy buddy was there. I explained to him about the throats. The only way I had to show him was by flipping out the cylinder and trying to get the bullet to fit the throats. They naturally wouldn't even start to go in.

He said, "That's not how you load the gun".

I said, "I'm not loading them that way, I'm trying to show you the throats are too small for the bullet to pass through.".

He said, "But you don't load the gun that way."

We went back and forth, without me making any headway. So I left, feeling grumpy like him.

The next day, I called the shop, asked to be sure one of the co-owners were going to be there. This time I brought calibers. Then gun got sent back for repairs.

Riomouse911 said:

I’ve seen a bunch of cringe worthy antics in gun stores, some by employees, most by customers. Usually I wander away when idiocy rears it’s head, but there were two times I did pipe up.

I was at a LE-only gun store wanting to buy a S&W 642 they had for a really low price. At the counter in front of me were two fresh academy-grad guys, one filling out the paperwork buying a semi auto and the second fondling the display 642. The second guy kept opening the cylinder and snapping it closed by flicking his wrist like an idiot. He must’ve done that 30-40 times while the clerk was with them, I was gritting my teeth at the abuse occurring before my eyes but said nothing.

When the first guy finished the paperwork and it went back for review by the clerks boss, the other clown finally sets the 642 down and the clerk puts it back in the glass case. During the lull a second clerk was free and asks me if I would like to check out a gun, I said,” I’d love to buy a Smith 642, but not the one that he just ruined in the case. Please bring one from the back and I’ll get started on the DROS and 4473.”

The dude kind of half-turns to glare at me, sees the gray hair at my temples and my “you’re an F-Ing idiot” look on my face and realized that I’d been around the LE game a bit. He then walks off to the far side of the shop to wait for his buddy while I filled out my paperwork on an unmolested 642.

The worst one was years before at a Turners Outdoorsman (local hunting-fishing chain) in Chino. Again, some fresh faced young man was at the counter holding a revolver while chatting with his buddy the clerk while my then 8 year old daughter and I stood behind/to the side awaiting our turn (I was picking up a straight-pull Mauser 96 .270 after the 10-day wait).

The customer was waiving the gun about, aiming at nothing in particular, and in the process the guy swipes us with the muzzle. The first time super quickly so I thought it was unintentional then a second time clean with a bit of a pause so it was just plain stupidity.

Pissed, I ask them to please not point the gun in our direction. Both get this obnoxious, know-it-all smirk on their faces and the clerk says, “It’s unloaded buddy and besides, he’s a deputy sheriff.” I lit into them, making sure everyone at the counter heard me when I said,” I don’t care if he’s a M-Fing deputy, I’m a M-Fing sergeant and if that M-Fer points that gun at us again his station captain and I will be having serious words about his incompetence!”

Needless to say the kid with the gun got eyes as big as VW headlights, sets the gun down and left. The junior clerk walked off when the manager came over and helped me with my pick up.

Other than these two occurrences, which were about 15 years apart, I rarely say a peep when I’m gun shopping.

Stay safe.

Click to expand...

Excellent. I really don't enjoy confrontation, I will leave stupid people to do stupid things all they want, as soon as their stupidity is aimed in my direction though, my ears will smoke and I'll hit the roof just like you did, especially with my daughter

"He's a deputy sheriff". Oh my lord. The smarmy lil tandem smirks would have put it over the top for me too. Glad you pulled his card and set them straight. The Deputy probably had alot to think about on his ride home.

DustyGmt said:

Excellent. I really don't enjoy confrontation, I will leave stupid people to do stupid things all they want, as soon as their stupidity is aimed in my direction though, my ears will smoke and I'll hit the roof just like you did, especially with my daughter

"He's a deputy sheriff". Oh my lord. The smarmy lil tandem smirks would have put it over the top for me too. Glad you pulled his card and set them straight. The Deputy probably had alot to think about on his ride home.

Click to expand...

I really try hard to fly under the radar and do my best to live and let live...which is why 99.5% of the time I’ll just silently mosey on over there when folks are acting silly or a clerk is uninformed. Overt dangerousness or blatant stupidity just doesn’t cut it, so in those cases I’ll say something more as an educational than to be snide.

But yes, my launch button was hit by the guys at Turners, that rookie arrogance frosted my hide something fierce. In public I keep quiet about my profession and I hate when folks toss theirs around like everyone else is supposed to be in awe. I was also so hacked at the clerk for condoning such unsafe behavior that I told the manager I’ll never come back to his store again...and I never did. (The Chino store closed ages ago, others have opened elsewhere that I’ll frequent when there’s stuff to buy on the shelves.)

Stay safe.

welldoya said:

...after examining it and pointing it in several different directions, he very purposely hit the mag release button...

Click to expand...

That's the way I was trained to drop the magazine in the academy in 1994, and it's kinda stuck with me. Is there a new "current hotness" technique that's relegated "purposely hit the mag release" to obsolescence?

Common practice to jerk the Glock off of the lightweight magazine.
But I don't consider dropping the store's magazine on the floor to be good shopping etiquette.

kwb377 said:

That's the way I was trained to drop the magazine in the academy in 1994, and it's kinda stuck with me. Is there a new "current hotness" technique that's relegated "purposely hit the mag release" to obsolescence?

Click to expand...

Never said it wasn’t correct in a combat situation but it’s ridiculous to do it in a store with a pistol that is not yours, seeing as how the magazine bounced off the floor.
If you cannot put your hand under the magazine in a situation like that, you aren’t well-trained, you are just a show-off.

There's a correct way to break out a car's side window, too, but you shouldn't do it in a car dealership unless you are going to buy the car.

FROGO207 said:

So I was at the local WM yesterday checking out the sad firearms collection. A guy that appeared in his early 20's arrives and states that he needs some 9MM. The clerk says that there is none on the shelf and haven't had any in quite some time. The dude goes off on him in quite a "Ken" manner and says everyone knows you guys hide the ammo out back and save it for your friends in a almost yelling voice. SO BRING ME FIVE BOXES NOW!!! This was the first day here without needing a mask and he repeated all that louder and louder as his face got redder and redder while pounding his fists on the glass counter. At this point several other employees had arrived and he was escorted out of the store yelling, surrounded by what I assume was security. Sorry, I never thought to use the camera to film this until after. I worry about people like this actually owing a firearm in the first place! Anyone got any strange stories to add.

Click to expand...

A guy that emotionally unstable is the LAST person I want to sell ammo to.

I've seen stupid stuff in gun shops, especially the ones that are more geared toward the tactical crowd. There is one shop not far that is basically all black plastic guns, not a piece of walnut in sight. I hate this place. I like black guns as much as the next guy but it's the type of crowd it tends to attract. Think first season of "better call saul" when Mike is hired for security. The tactical ninja guy packing 4 backup guns. Yeah, those types. "I keep it old school with a Wilson Combat 1911 and Glock 22 in an ankle holster, and those are just the two that I'll tell you about"

There was one incident from many years back in this lil hole in the wall shop that was kind of weird. It was run out of the garage of a very well known gun dealer not too far from me. I don't hold any grudges because he was very old and I guess just didn't get a good read on the situation.

I was in there with my dad when I was a kid, late teens probably. My dad and I liked to go to shops together and of course if I saw something I liked I'd start nudging him a lil to try to get him to buy it. I might have said, "yeah get that one" or something and the old man bellered "NOW JUST WAIT A MINUTE, now that ain't gonna cut the mustard!!!". Me and my dad both looked at each other confused, my dad very politely just asked if there was a problem and the owner said something to the effect that he wasn't selling him a thing if it was meant for me and that it was a straw purchase, etc...

My dad just calmly explained that I was his son and that he was taking me to some shops to look around and that there was no funny business and the old man kind of changed his tone and became a lil friendlier. Oh well, weird stuff happens sometimes. The place was right in the middle of a S*hole part of the city so I'm sure he has seen more than his share of straw purchase attempts, he just didn't call that one for what it was is all....

Wishoot said:

There's absolutely NOTHING at the LGS to buy. So nothing to get worked up over.

I was the other day to bring in an old Remington M58 12 gauge for repair and the shelves were bare. No powder, primers, ammo. Other than rifles and shotguns, pretty scarce.

Click to expand...

Yup, everyplace I vist they have some guns but no ammo or reloading supplies.

My crazy interaction was today and not so negative as some stories. I was looking at some S&W and CZ guns, and another guy was looking in the same case, then his eyes got big when he saw what was on the salesman table. It was a smaller hand held flame thrower. It was for sale, he was excited about it. He googled it on his phone and had to show us an ad for it that showed a gal using it. I went on to another case to look at some other stuff but before long he was pulling out the cash for the $699 price tag, getting it all back in the box and walking out the door acting like a kid who just bought the coolest toy at the toy store.

FROGO207 said:

The dude goes off on him in quite a "Ken" manner

Click to expand...

Still trying to figure out what the heck is a “Ken” manner… Is “Ken” code for (butt)hole?

Pat Riot:
A Ken must be the guy version of a "Karen" obnoxious know- it - all?

Pat Riot said:

Still trying to figure out what the heck is a “Ken” manner… Is “Ken” code for (butt)hole?

Click to expand...

Ignition Override said:

Pat Riot:
A Ken must be the guy version of a "Karen" obnoxious know- it - all?

Click to expand...

I have also heard "being a Chad" is also used for that certain individual description.

Hooda Thunkit said:

It's the Crocs that are a dead giveaway. No Gun Guy would wear those horrid things.

Click to expand...

I have to confess that I wear them around the house and yard. Not out in public, though.

There used to be a Facebook group called "I Know Your Crocs Are Comfortable, But You Look Like a Dumbass."

FROGO207 said:

So I was at the local WM yesterday checking out the sad firearms collection. A guy that appeared in his early 20's arrives and states that he needs some 9MM. The clerk says that there is none on the shelf and haven't had any in quite some time. The dude goes off on him in quite a "Ken" manner and says everyone knows you guys hide the ammo out back and save it for your friends in a almost yelling voice. SO BRING ME FIVE BOXES NOW!!! This was the first day here without needing a mask and he repeated all that louder and louder as his face got redder and redder while pounding his fists on the glass counter. At this point several other employees had arrived and he was escorted out of the store yelling, surrounded by what I assume was security. Sorry, I never thought to use the camera to film this until after. I worry about people like this actually owing a firearm in the first place! Anyone got any strange stories to add.

Click to expand...

Look for his follow-up post on r/liberalgunowners where he tells his version of what happened.

/then everyone clapped