So i'm at the gun store...

[AStone]

Nematocyst--thanks for clarifying. I was stumped for a minute...

Delta9, thanks for asserting your point.

This is an important issue.

I have zero desire to turn this
into a flame throwing contest.

I hope we can just discuss this rationally.

But sometimes, gauntlets need to be thrown,
and lines need to be drawn in the sand
on a gun store floor.

 

[Bazooka Joe71]

I personally did not find the joke offensive either, but I also call my girlfriend "honey" or "baby" on a daily basis and haven't ever thought twice about it...But neither has she.

This however, is worth repeating:

but just have to point out that elderly ladies are people you're supposed to go out of your way to accomodate and be nice to

It doesn't seem to happen much nowadays.

 

[buck00]

I'm sure next time she's looking for something she won't think twice about going to the store where everyone laughed a joke she didn't understand.

Yeah, I'm sure grandma will be back for an Arsenal AK-47 real soon.

 

[Stump Water]

Babe, baby, honey, and sweetie are all diminutives commonly used to belittle women. Some people use them trying to be friendly and those people are seriously off base.

Not just women. Perhaps it's not "belittling" or perhaps they don't even know they're doing it (as in the use of the word "like"), but I can't hardly go to a local eatery around here with out being called "hon/babe/shug/etc." by the waitress.

Drives me nuts.

Whatever happened to "sir"? Or, simply, "you".

(Now back to this episode of "This happened in the gun store")

 

[RLsnow]

dont see what the problem is

 

[DragonFire]

elderly ladies are people you're supposed to go out of your way to accomodate and be nice to

My grandma would have kicked you HARD if you told her that. She just wanted to be a person. Not an elderly person, not even a women, just a person. She also felt that you should treat EVERYONE the same! Saying you should be especially nice to one "type" of person, implies you can be less nice to other "types". She also felt that she could stand up for herself. No one had to say when she was offended or slighted.

Grandma would also object if she wasn't included in any of my joke telling, no matter what the topic or if it was a bit risque. She didn't always laugh, but she was never offended either. She told me once that my generation didn't invent sex, and that if I ever told her a dirty joke that she didn't understand she'd let me know... and she never let me know.

old doesn't mean stupid.
not funny doesn't mean offensive.

 

[siglite]

Firing off a joke, having not made sure of your target and what's behind it, is a rules violation.

True!

 

[Grizzly Adams]

There are much better ways to get your point across then making people the butt of jokes.

I'm afraid I would have to tell the shop owner that I was taking my business some place else.

 

[Ed Ames]

I don't see the old woman in this story as the butt of a joke.

On the other hand I do find the joke to be in very poor taste... and I LIKE pepper. I'm a pepper fiend. I go through pounds of the stuff.

Beyond the obvious issue (wasting pepper) I have a problem with this sort of "joke" that is if anything more serious. It makes light of killing people. Not directly... not like the jokes about buying guns for "two legged wolf hunting" and similar BS. But it takes a serious issue... effective self protection, and turns it into, "I wanna kill someone more than I want to stop the attack."

On my better days I would walk out of the store. When I'm backsliding I may settle for a "you're all nuts but I still need this box of ___________" look and not returned. In any case it's bad form.

 

[RPCVYemen]

After the laughter died down (she was the only one that didn't get the joke) she bought her pepper spray and left.

I don't much like jokes where the point is, "I am smart, and you sure are dumb."

I especially don't like jokes where the point is, " I am smart, and you sure are dumb", and the object of the joke is an elderly woman.

The real point if the joke is that women don't belong in gun shops, and it does us no favors.

The customer seemed to me to be doing a pretty reasonable thing - following advice from what she considered a trustworthy source. And it

I lived with my mother-in-law when my wife and I were first married. I had a belly full of how traditional "male" environments - particularly car repair shops - treat elderly women.

Babe, baby, honey, and sweetie are all diminutives commonly used to belittle women. Some people use them trying to be friendly and those people are seriously off base. "Babe" is utterly beyond the pale, most especially for an older woman.

100% agree with delta9 on this one. Nothing riles my wife faster than some salesman using a term like that. Coming from a waitress at a waffle house, it seems like friendly Southern colloquialism. But a salesman who uses it won't see her anything - it is clearly an attempt to belittle her.

Mike

 

[Professor Gun]

I conduct NRA Basic Pistol classes for women in my community. What I hear on a regular basis is that a gun shop is a really intimidating place for women who want to get started in shooting or just want to buy a handgun for self defense. Two of the gun shops in our area really go out of their way to assist first time buyers of firearms (or pepper spray) of both genders but especially women because they understand that even with a friendly environment their shop is intimidating to most women because tradtionally firearms are viewed as a "guy thing". They also understand that if a woman buying her first firearm feels comfortable in their store, she will come back and buy other items from them (hopefully in addition to the initial large outlay of cash to purchase that first firearm).

I was not at the shop discussed at the start of this thread so have no idea of what the intentions were of the salesman or how the woman took the joke. I would suggest that as gun owners we all need to try to avoid the perception on the part of new gun owners that we are laughing at their expense or that we are disrespectful to them. This goes double for women who are looking to join our ranks; we must have them on our side to maintain our political strength. They also decide what activities the kids in their house get to participate in, hopefully more of them will allow their kids to get involved in shooting sports and in hunting.

 

[Hokkmike]

He said in addition to a handgun, it would be a good idea to carry pepper spray". "Well, we have pepper spray but i just carry one of those little packets of pepper like you get at McDonalds. After i shoot him i just sprinkle pepper on him and when the cops get there i just say i peppered him but it didn't work so i shot him."

Not really that funny I guess.

 

[Poper]

Originally posted by Buck00:

Yeah, I'm sure grandma will be back for an Arsenal AK-47 real soon.

It appears the concept of common courtesy my have not been accepted in at least one government school district.
Your statement is a shining example of the concept that delta9, and other posters, too, are trying to get across. Common courtesy costs nothing.

Future firearms sales was never the issue, as far as I can tell. Tell me, how does the condescention and ignorance of your statement assist anyone?

Poper

 

[CountGlockula]

Bad timing or bad illustration.

 

[SuperNaut]

I bet the laughter stops pretty quickly once they find out she now frequents a competitor's store.

There are quite a few dedicated gun shops and pawn brokers in Utah, I'll only shop at two. One of those because I want to and the other because of inventory. The others seem to have a strong dislike for money.

 

[BridgeWalker]

Yeah, I'm sure grandma will be back for an Arsenal AK-47 real soon.

When I am shopping for a gun, I always check out a store across the road from my grandma's house. Y'know why? Grandma recommended them.

When a business decides it's ok to be rude to anyone who isn't gonna be doing a lot of business with them, they tend to find their business dwindling. This irks me in the case of gun stores because there aren't enough of 'em, and I'd like all gun stores to stay in business. The atf tries hard enough to shut them down. It doesn't need help from store owners and employees.

 

[magsnubby]

Unfortunately i was right. Humor is dying a slow tragic death in this country.

The store is owned by a husband/wife team. Weather you are buying your first gun, a long time gun owner, young, elderly, male or female, they will spend as much time as necessary to help a customer make the right choice. They only offer facts, not opinions. Even when they know the customer is just a tire kicker (if you've ever worked in retail sales you know it's fairly easy to spot tire kickers) and has no real intentions of buying the specific weapon they just asked to see, they will still treat them as they would a paying customer.

The customer is a retired school teacher and weather see got the joke or not, she was not offended by a simple joke. Even though the store was fairly crowded the clerk spent quiet a bit of time showing her different types of pepper spray and even gave her a few tips on how to use it. She left the store happy with her purchase.

 

[SuperNaut]

Unfortunately i was right. Humor is dying a slow tragic death in this country.

One day no one will laugh, ever.

 

[magsnubby]

That day is closer than you ever imagined.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Unfortunately i was right. Humor is dying a slow tragic death in this country.

If you consider that terribly witty comment about pepper to be funny, humor deserves to be put out of its misery.

 

[Im283]

whats the big deal with this?

The lady got what she was looking for and at worst the sales clerk told a dumb joke that is not really that funny. I doubt I would have laughed at it either. Give the woman some credit, i bet she just did not think it funny.

 

[Doggy Daddy]

That joke made me think of Hee Haw, but without the Cornfield Cuties. Don't think I would have laughed either.

It's not a foreshadowing of the death of humor, it's a sign of the raising of standards.

 

[carguy]

I thought the joke was the quote that the staff was friendly and knowledgable! Lately it seems if you're kicking tires no one can be bothered. It seems they forget the economy is effecting everyone so we want to spend our money as efficiently as possible...and with the prices of some ammo lately that is harder and harder to do.

 

[SuperNaut]

That day is closed (sic) than you ever imagined.

I wonder how it feels to have an offhand comment turned into something far more serious than intended. Probably a lot like having a serious comment turned into a joke.

Maybe there is more to this thread than meets the eye. If you are into irony that is...

 

[magsnubby]

I'm sorry. I never realized that all gun store owners and employees are nothing more than a bunch of red neck morons with nothing better to do than kick puppies and make fun of their customers while snatching the cash from their hands and booting them out the door while making jokes about how stupid they are. Again, i apologize for thinking a gun store employee was anything other than a complete moron.

From now on i'll just buy all my guns, ammo and related items on line so i don't have to deal with idiotic gun store employees.