Funniest things you've heard customers say?

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Once I was selling a SilencerCo Saker to a customer and I referred to it as a silencer. That's when another costumer who had overheard us decided to march halfway across the store and correct me; he informed me that "suppressor" was the only correct term.

That annoyed the heck out of me. I told him that no, "silencer" was actually the most correct term considering the original inventor used that word to name his invention, and that was the primary term used for most of the 20th century until the 80s when a gun writer made up the term "sound suppressor" to be more politically correct. To say he looked confused after hearing this would be an understatement...

I don't usually correct people on terminology; I use the terms "silencer", "suppressor", and "can" interchangeably. But I get so tired of people who "correct" others by whining, "It's not a silencer, it's a suppressor!" when actually "silencer" is the most correct term from both a historical standpoint and a legal standpoint.
 
Theohazard;

According to one source (who I love dearly and may be entirely full of blue mud at times), the term 'silencer' derives from the British term used to describe what people in the U. S. call - in my experience anyway - a 'muffler'.

At any rate, unless it is the patented and 'protected' trade name for an item, the term 'silencer', 'suppressor' and even 'muffler' are all accepted generic terms for that sort of device.

I prefer 'hush maker' myself.
 
Jim Watson said:
When my friend started working there, he soon understood the problem and would sell him nothing but H870 for his rifle so that a case full would not be an overload.
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How kind of the salesman. Doing what he could. That man - the salesman - gets a beer on me.
 
kozak6 said:
"Does it come with a clip?"

No, I'm not being a jerk about the whole clip/magazine thing. And really, it's not an unreasonable question.

...Except when we are talking about a Mossberg 500 :eek:.
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I saw that very thing happen a a gun store a few days ago. The salesman was very helpful in explaining the fix to the customer. I actually thanked the salesman for helping the guy out.

Most people worry me.....
 
Great stuff on here. The past few days have been a hoot on THR listening to your stories on what dealers/ customers say.

Was thinking about the whole clip vs. magazine thing. I may go into my LGS and ask if they've got any new "magazines" for my AK pattern. The 5th grader in me still wants to call those things "banana clips".

On a side note, I once asked a clerk if they had any Henry rifles in 30.06. He looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears. Yep.
 
newfalguy101 said:
Not so much funny as, well,

I sell brass at gunshows, a customer walks up and asks if I have any 38 brass. I smile and kindly say " you are going to need to be a bit more specific" he looks at me like I am stupid or just here from Mars and answers very slowly , and with careful enunciation, apparently so I would understand, " 38 CALIBER" to which I reply ( al little irritated but still friendly, "well I have 38 special, 357 mag, 9mm and ,380" which 38 caliber are you looking for?" At this point it seemed to dawn on the guy what he had asked and he meekly said .38 special, and to his credit he DID purchase a couple hundred from me.
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I am sorry, but your approach on "educating" this customer in this particular situation was totally unnecessary.
I think that you knew that he needed .38 special, but decided to throw in all your knowledge and make him feel stupid. If he needed .357 or 9mm cases, he will tell you so. Bullet diameter is the same, but why somebody who needs empty cases for reloading his .38, would even consider 9mm ?
That is the type of "service" that customers most commonly complain about their LGS' staff. They feel that people behind counter sometimes purposely make them feel like idiots ( like showing a gun to a first time buyer : "see, this is the side where the bullets come out " )
 
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Archie said:
Theohazard;

According to one source (who I love dearly and may be entirely full of blue mud at times), the term 'silencer' derives from the British term used to describe what people in the U. S. call - in my experience anyway - a 'muffler'.

At any rate, unless it is the patented and 'protected' trade name for an item, the term 'silencer', 'suppressor' and even 'muffler' are all accepted generic terms for that sort of device.
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The silencer was named by its inventor, Hiram Percy Maxim: He patented his invention under the name "Maxim Silencer".

maximsilpic.jpg
 
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dekibg said:
I am sorry, but your approach on "educating" this customer in this particular situation was totally unnecessary.
I think that you knew that he needed .38 special, but decided to throw in all your knowledge and make him feel stupid. If he needed .357 or 9mm cases, he will tell you so. Bullet diameter is the same, but why somebody who needs empty cases for reloading his .38, would even consider 9mm ?
That is the type of "service" that customers most commonly complain about their LGS' staff. They feel that people behind counter sometimes purposely make them feel like idiots ( like showing a gun to a first time buyer : "see, this is the side where the bullets come out " )
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That one struck the same chord with me.
 
The silencer was named by its inventor, Hiram Percy Maxim: He patented his invention under the name "Maxim Silencer".
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And indeed, he invented silencers for both firearms and car engines. :)
 
Sam1911 said:
Ranger Roberts, I mentioned this one before in a similar thread and it happened at exactly the same place:

I'd walked in on a Wed. night to pick up a pistol with my 4-year old son. As we approached the counter, I noticed a young "PA Cowboy" and his "gals."

(I don't know if that's just a PA thing, but the young guy in his early 20s, slim, tanned, dressed to the nines in western shirt, pointy boots, hyper-curled straw cowboy hat, big belt & buckle, and attended by two young ... uh ... "hotties" I think is the term, who'd turn heads on the stuffed critters hanging on the walls -- all looking like they'd just stepped out of a Country Music Television video. I mean, it's PA. The real cattle folks I know and work with wear coveralls, trucker caps, and rubber boots...but anyway...)

He's looking at an Uberti or some such SAA clone, and as we get there he takes a big step back and -- if I'm lyin', I'm dyin' -- starts TWIRLING it!

You ever see something so flipping unexpected you simply can't process it for a minute. That was me, and the counter clerk too, I think.
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I'm from Central PA, and I'm 100% not kidding - I think I know that guy. Went to high school with him. Not just a guy like him - he's a little unique. That exact guy. I could probably tell you his name and one of the women he was with.

Having said that, I can also twirl a Colt.
(Again, not kidding.)
 
I saw that very thing happen a a gun store a few days ago. The salesman was very helpful in explaining the fix to the customer. I actually thanked the salesman for helping the guy out.
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What is the "fix?" What is the issue with Mossberg 500's?
 
Quote:
I saw that very thing happen a a gun store a few days ago. The salesman was very helpful in explaining the fix to the customer. I actually thanked the salesman for helping the guy out.
What is the "fix?" What is the issue with Mossberg 500's?
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The Mossberg 500 is a pump action shotgun that feeds from a fixed tubular magazine.

Asking about a clip for it reveals a complete lack of understanding of the nature and operation of the firearm, and perhaps dangerously so.

One "fix" is to explain that it's built into the gun, and to fetch a snap cap to demonstrate safe loading and unloading as the clerk at my shop did.
 
My wife and I were at the range a couple of days ago. This is a state of the art, indoor range, with a fairly impressive fully stocked gun store attached (They don't have enough classic revolvers, but that's besides the point.) You have to literally walk through the gun store to get to the range.

The range is slack that day, so it's quiet and I can hear the conversation down the line between a customer and the range officer (an employee of the place, naturally.)

"Do you know of a good place near here to buy guns and gun stuff?"

The RO looks kinda confused and says, "Sure...right here."
 
Asking about a clip for it...
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Ahh...The idea that someone would ask about a clip for a pump shotgun is something that is so illogical my mind couldn't process the reference to it, let alone there being a "fix" for it.

(And I don't doubt it has happened many many times.)
 
Customer walks in and interupts a sales clerk that is assisting another customer. The guy had purchased a SA XD pistol from them a few weeks ago and was having problems with it. The clerk begins asking questions about the problems. The customer, who I would classify as a "loud mouth", begins yelling at the clerk about how she is wrong. The clerk asks the customer what he thinks is wrong. The customer then lays out some intelligence and says "The problem is that your selling me this cheap foreign ammo to go into this American made pistol.....I want American made ammo!"
 
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