"Dont Play With That"

[ripcurlksm]

I was in the area so I stopped by my local indoor shooting range to check out their shop. I was browsing through their gun safes and was looking at a keypad lock and hit a few keys, which makes a small beep. Guy behind the counter says "Hey dont play with that." I think to myself "play?" I was just about to buy this d*mn thing. I shot him a stern look and he said "....please." I was so taken back to be told this I replied "sure" and promptly (wisely) walked out. I was not happy driving home.

Im thinking it over more and more and I understand that people probably touch those buttons all day, but come on you are at a shooting range man! A little beep is worse than gunfire all day? Just cost yourself a sale buddy! you can ->

That is the last time I go there, ever. Which is a good decision anyway because their reload ammo is a dollar less expensive to shoot than their production! Now I will exclusively go to Iron Sights in Oceanside to shoot. Thanks for making it an easy decision for me!

 

[mustanger98]

I know what you mean. I have a short list of shops I won't do business with because of snootyness and used car sales tactics. I have a list of shops I will do business with because they act like I and my business matters... like we're neighbors.

 

[hankdatank1362]

Try to imagine it from his POV. Imagine how many idiots go in there pressing buttons all day long. He probably thought you were just messing around. Besides, it might have a lock-out feature if the wrong buttons are pressed.

If you wanted to make a point, you should have bought it. Then he would have realized you weren't just messing with it and he would have felt like a real jack-a## for talking to you like that.

Instead you just walked out, and he'll just go on thinking you were just some dummy that come in there just to push his buttons (pardon the pun.)

Of course, if you really wanted the safe, you wouldn't have let something like that dissuade you from purchasing it. I know it's true, you know it's true, and that store clerk damn sure knows it's true.

It's like people who get upset when the waiter at a restaurant adds in the 15% gratuity (most of the time it's restaurant policy). They say "well I would have left more than 15%, but not now." That's BS. If they wanted to leave more, they still can leave a few extra bucks on the table. 99% of people who act like that are full of it.

Sorry for the rant... I used to wait tables when I was young.

 

[thexrayboy]

It's like people who get upset when the waiter at a restaurant adds in the 15% gratuity (most of the time it's restaurant policy). They say "well I would have left more than 15%, but not now." That's BS. If they wanted to leave more, they still can leave a few extra bucks on the table. 99% of people who act like that are full of it.

The waiter can add the 15% if they want but I can do math too. If the service is lousy I just take it right back off. Tips are earned, not automatic. Places that
automatically require them are insulting customers. You want that 15% extra then show up to my table promptly, get the order correct and be polite. Thats bare minimum. You want more go the extra mile.

If you think you are entitled to a tip because restaraunt pay is lousy then quit, go back to school and/or get a better job. I hate entitlement mentalities.

Gun shops are like any other business. The owner is free to act any way he feels toward
a potential customer, the customer is free to go elsewhere. If potential customers examine
merchandise to evaluate it the owner has two choices. Tolerate it or remove it from available inventory and put it behind glass so customers must ask to see it.

 

[JohnKSa]

Try to imagine it from his POV. Imagine how many idiots go in there pressing buttons all day long. He probably thought you were just messing around. Besides, it might have a lock-out feature if the wrong buttons are pressed.

If it's a problem, they can post a sign. If they can't manage that, they can be polite when they ask me not to punch the buttons. e.g. "Hey chief, if too many wrong buttons are pressed it locks us out". If that's too much for them they can tell me and my money goodbye.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Try to imagine it from his POV. Imagine how many idiots go in there pressing buttons all day long. He probably thought you were just messing around. Besides, it might have a lock-out feature if the wrong buttons are pressed.

Then take the freaking batteries out.

And gun shop owners whine and wonder why we do business online

 

[fireflyfather]

1. Can you tell us the name of the store? Some of us live not too far from Oceanside.


2. Hank: Not to be hostile, but leave your food-service thread hijack out of it please. The OP acknowledged that people are messing with the stuff all day long, you didn't need to drag that into this. Also, many of us WILL purchase something from an alternative source if faced with surliness on the part of employees. Personally, I'd have let the guy know that he cost the store a high end sale before leaving.

In any case, I talked to a number of people when I was safe shopping, and they mentioned that they sometimes had to deal with people who changed the combo/locked the safe/etc. Honestly, though, if he was afraid you were going to do something bad, all he had to do was come over and ask if you needed help. That way he can assist with a potential sale, and weed out those who are just playing around without being rude.

 

[Ryder]

I don't really have an overwhelming desire to touch other people's stuff but when I do get the urge I'll ask first. Seems to be a more respectful way of doing things.

The lockout is timed and the more wrong combos you punch in the longer it takes to reset. It's not linear. The amount of time added doubles each time or something like that. When I was safe shopping the salesman easily opened them, first time, everytime. That was as good as anything coming out of his mouth in my decision to buy. Can you imagine being told come back tommorrow and I might be able to show you how it opens.

 

[Hoppy590]

try being young. everywhere where you go your treated as if you have nothing to offer.
theres a local show where 3 guys work. one is very polite, and could talk me into buying a sail boat in wyoming. another is nuetral and the last is rude. rude to me, rude to my father, rude to everyone who goes in there. and that one employee has cost the company alot of money ( unfortunatly hes part owner. so no chance of gettign him fired) my father went in, talked to guy #1 had discussed a 'smithing service. came back like a day later, spoke with guy#2 and was told that its "impossible" and that they never made the item in question, DESPITE guy 1 showing it to my father in a catalog. and guy 2 would hear nothing of it... lost money there. the list goes on.


as for waiters. if your a good waiter. i will put your children through college with my tips. if your grumpy, anti social, slow, stupid, or otherwise unworthy of a tip. i am not ashamed to not tip at all. like a wage, tips are earned.if you dont physicaly show up to work, you dont get your hourly wage. and if you dont mentaly show up for work, you dont get your tip. you knew the pro's and con's of tipped work before you took the job. ( how ever, this does not apply to highvolume tipped jobs, dunkin donuts employees, coat check people, anyone with a "tip cup", and the like. them i normaly leave the remainder of the dollar.)

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I would have walked out too but not before I informed him and the owner of the loss of a big sale because of they way you were treated.
-The End-

 

[Manedwolf]

The doubletake for something I'd heard in a gun shop was "Get that out of your mouth!"

It was to the owner's dog, who had been trying to pick up some or the other item on the floor.

 

[sicario103]

For me, the way the employee talks/treats me dictates whether I buy at that place or not. If they are rude, forget them.

To keep this gun related- This happened to me in two different gun shops. In the first one- While I was checking out a rifle, I'm looking at it, feeling it out etc (no more than 5 mins), the sellers goes to me "are you going to buy it?" I gave him a disgusted look and told him not anymore and walked out. I know there are a lot of window shoppers that all they do is look and ask questions, but c'mon! I'm not going to just look at it and throw out my cash just like that.

The second shop.... well it was actually over the phone... keep in mind, not many stores got websites or good catalogues in Quebec, Canada. So, I always call before I drop by so I don't waste a trip if they don't carry what I'm looking for. Anyways, I asked him about the price of a particular shotgun. He gives me a ballpark price... ***! I asked him if that was the 3 or 3 1/2... and you know what he says to me?! "... It's right behind but I can't see it well... ah... listen I can't check now. I'm kinda busy". Well what can you expect of a store that tells you "hmm I don't carry any 308's but... I got 30-06" when I called them about some cheapo ammo...... Why in hell would you tell them you don't carry a particular caliber and tell them you have something else in another cal. when the person asks for a specific one! lol

lol I can't even make sense of what I wrote.... well its 4:46 am.....

Anyhow, I'm never going back to neither one of those shops.....

 

[Snowdog]

I used to become incensed by unintentional slights like that as well, but I suppose I grow more mellow as I age. I've adopted the adage "Those who anger you, control you". Doesn't drive home unless you truly think about and put it into context.

As for the gratuity for restaurant service, I like to apply a tactic my old man taught me when I frequent my favorite dining spots. He'd put five near the condiments before the food was even served and kept a few ones hidden but within reach. Every other time the table was serviced, he toss a bill along side the five. It seems we always enjoyed prompt and courteous service, especially if was the same waiter as the time before.

I've always felt gratuity should be earned and not assumed. It's no different from everthing else; the harder you worked, the more you make. Likewise, if you tip them well today and tomorrow, they'll likely serve you enthusiastically the next.

 

[WeedWhacker]

At the risk of being off-topic:

You want that 15% extra then show up to my table promptly, get the order correct and be polite. Thats bare minimum. You want more go the extra mile.

If you think you are entitled to a tip because restaraunt pay is lousy then quit, go back to school and/or get a better job. I hate entitlement mentalities.

I agree with the first half, but not the latter. Do you know what the pay for most waitrons is? It's $2.13 an hour. (The caveat that the business needs to make up any shortcomings in tips plus wage between that and the minimum wage? I just found out about that now.)

So, yes, if you go to a restaraunt where they take your order and bring your food to you, then even when the minimum of service is given, a tip is a given. Not leaving a tip is akin to flipping your server the finger (assuming they didn't screw something up).

I used to work as a waiter, and, like military service, wouldn't shed many tears if some whack-tastic politician instituted short, mandatory service terms for both.

By the way, you really shouldn't piss off the folks who handle your food... just not wise.

 

[MaterDei]

Rude people suck.

 

[ZeSpectre]

But the thing is people consider a salesperson or whomever to be rude, but never tell them so. They just expect that salesperson to magically self-correct.

If you have a problem with someone's attitude/behavior/style of salesmanship then kindly, politely, correct them. Take the high road.

I had a similar issue with a salesperson recently and wound up going back to him and saying (SAYING, not whining, or being overly aggressively) something to that salesguy.

Winds up he had misheard me from the start and was operating from that bad beginning. He apologized and admitted his follow-up behavior had been unprofessional and we've never had an issue since.

Of course if that person is still an ass then it's time to go to the next level of management or whatever.

 

[DRZinn]

Do you know what the pay for most waitrons is? It's $2.13 an hour.

I highly doubt, and your link does not support, that most waiters are paid the absolute minimum required by federal law. Here in CA, it's minimum wage, which is 6.75/hr.

 

[WeedWhacker]

California != "most" of the USA, contrary to popular belief.

(Not to say I agree with the principle of a federally-mandated 'minimum wage' but I think most folks will agree that $2.13 per hour is an absolute pittance, and that my link DOES support the statement that tips are at least generally expected.)

 

[Glockamolie]

The ones I know around here are paid very close to the minimum for waitstaff, around that $2.50/hr mark. That may vary a little, but I can assure it's NOWHERE NEAR $6.75/hr plus tips.

 

[goodformeto]

I've been on a wait list for 5 months for my handgun because the shop that had it in stock (cheaper)was disrespectful to me.

California is passing legislation at this moment to lower the wage for waitresses.

 

[lysander]

If you wanted to make a point, you should have bought it. Then he would have realized you weren't just messing with it and he would have felt like a real jack-a## for talking to you like that.

So in essence, your suggestion is to reward the shopkeep for behavior that turns off a customer. Precisely what kind of lesson is that?

"Hey...look at me...I have enough money to buy a safe from you...and you can demonstrate lousy customer service skills and I will still buy it from you...I'm a pushover."

I have had experiences similar to this at gun shows, gun shops, restaurants and any number of retail outlets. Many times it has happened when I have money in my pocket that I am looking to spend.

I've also worked retail and food service. Every customer is a potential sale or good referral for future business. It IS YOUR JOB to treat them in a way that encourages them, not only to spend money with you, but to TRUST YOU and RETURN with future business. If you don't like your job, or you don't like your customers, perhaps you are in the wrong business?

If you would prefer that customers don't "handle" merchandise then put it behind a counter or mark it clearly...otherwise you should expect people to "kick the tires." Floor models are floor models...you can always depreciate the inventory or sell it at a loss and play tax games with it.

The real lesson would have been to have gone to a competitor of this local store, bought the safe, then returned with the receipt to show the owner of the store what you did and explain why you did it. That is a lesson...tangible, clear and chock full of learny goodness.

 

[Mot45acp]

2.13

As of the human resource manager for waffle house (my wife) you have minimum wage and wait staff minimum wage and $2.13 p/h is correct

 

[slzy]

as usual,my posts have little to do with the topic,but this is about a good spot to tell this. i was in a store that sold real expensive out door stuff. the lady in front of me rolled the cash register over $1100,and the cashier said no more to her than when i paid for my watch band. i think a thank you and please come back may have been warranted for an $1100 purchase.

 

[springmom]

It would have worked to just look at the guy and say, "Well, I am thinking of buying it. Would you like to show it to me?" The amount of exasperation versus exaggerated politeness in your tone is up to you As it is, the clerk unfortunately learned nothing about his own behavior. Unless you're 12 years old, the phrase "play with that" is so far out of line as to be just amazing; so an immediate, if polite, answer would have been totally justified.

Springmom

 

[PWRDbyTRD]

I know several people that serve...$2.13 it is. If you can manage your job, you make alot more though. By the way, if you do not make over the minimum wage with tips, your employer must match atleast minimum wage...in TN.