The Customer Is Always Right?

[George Hill]

There are plenty of threads in the archives about bad gun dealers and the stupid things people have heard them say.
How about this... How about a thread where Dealers get to post some of the stupid things we've heard customers say?

Magic Guns are common, but two stand out in my mind:

I had one guy look at a new .308 and hand it back with his nose in the air. "I think I'll stick with my SKS. With Wolf Ammo and can keep all my shots inside two inches at 200 yards."

Another fellow walked up to the counter looking like was pissed at the world and in a hurry for something. "Just give me a box of ammo," he said. "What caliber would you like?" He looked like I had asked the dumbest question in the world and rolled his eyes. "Doesn't matter what caliber. My gun will shoot any of it."

Wish I had guns like these.

 

[308win]

I overheard the following exchange. Fellow looking at pistols handed back a police trade S&W and told the salesman behind the counter: "I'm only interested in Glocks because they don't rust so I don't have to clean it."

And thus, the Glock legend grows.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

This could be a great thread.

At a Vegas gun show (I lived there for a time), a guy was looking at some AKs on a table and asked if they were full auto. In his favor, the name of the vendor was Machine Gun Kelly's.

 

[romma]

Great thread idea, however, gun owners as a whole are not supposed professionals, where shop employees should have a good idea what they are talking about. If shop employees don't know something, they should get answers before putting the foot in the mouth.

That said, this could be a fun and interesting thread....

 

[CJ]

Will a paintgun store count? We had a special where, if you bought a new gun, you got a free pass to our range/field. After hearing this, one guy showed up a couple weeks later. "I bought this online! Can I get my free pass?"

 

[News Shooter]

I work in a small sporting goods store in MA near the NH border. This guy comes in with a bunch of computer printouts and announces he is looking for a gun and intends to get the best price he can on it. He tells me he was just up at Riley's at Hookset (75 miles) away and price some gun at X and what would our price be.

Well, our price was higher and he says he'll buy it up there and have it transferred to us ($50). He then pointed out how there is no sales tax in NH.
I'm quickly doing the math in my head and it came up to a $10 savings, NOT including gas, time and aggravation.

Now this idiot goes over to the owner and tells him he hasn't even decided what gun he wanted and proceeds to ask him to show him just about every gun in the counter. Gives them back walks over to me and asks the same thing. The guy continues to ask incredibly stupid questions and then asks to see the same guns again after we had put them away.

Anyway, this goes on for an hour. I was amazed at how calm and polite the owner remained knowing all the time this clown was doing nothing but using us and wasting our time so he could go to Cabela's or somewhere and think he is saving five bucks.

Idiot.

 

[Navy joe]

"Denzels" are quite popular at my favorite gun shop. For those of you that don't know, a Denzel is the 18" bbl Mossberg 590 pistol grip only shotgun. So named because the preamble to seeing the gun and getting the store employee to point to the right one in the rack invariably involves "Yeah, yeah, like the one Denzel(Washington) had in Training Day. After answering a bunch of stupid questions the shop guys usually sell the customer some 3" slugs and give them a 5 visit free pass to the store indoor range. I haven't seen one fired, but I'm sure the post-sale service is unequaled.

 

[hrgrisso]

Double Action Rugers

We had a guy come in asking if we can order him a double action Ruger P89 Special Edition.

I asked him what made it a special edition?
He did not know only that he wanted a double action one.
asked if the one in the case was "double action enough?"
He said maybe if it really was double action.
I pulled it out, checked chamber and handed it to him. He asked if he could dry fire it. Ok.
He pulls the trigger, click.
asked if that was double action enough.
He said maybe, "It does fire 2 bullets every time you pull the trigger right?"

Yeah it's double action right?
:banghead:

Another guy came in telling me he wanted a glock but not a "cop glock!"
"Whats a cop glock? A police trade in?"
No one that ejects the magazine when you empty it.
WHAT?
Yeah he bought a "cop glock" and whenever he shot the last bullet the magazine goes flying.


I strongly suggested getting it to a certified glock armorer.

 

[Library Guy]

Overheard this in a shop:

Customer: (Filling out paperwork) What’s it mean? Nationality?
Shopkeeper: What country do you live in?
Customer: Amurica.
Shopkeeper: So, you’re an….?
Customer: ….Amurican?
Shopkeeper: Good, now write it down.

 

[Walkalong]

Customer: ….Amurican?
Shopkeeper: Good, now write it down.

Frickin' awesome. Just awesome. I think I work with a couple of his relatives.

 

[Werewolf]

Flying????

Yeah he bought a "cop glock" and whenever he shot the last bullet the magazine goes flying.

Being the occasional IPSC competitor I find that feature quite intriguing. Might be useful. More than once I've been so focused on firing that when the slide locks back I fail to notice. Add to that that I'd not need to hit the mag release while pulling the reload and still inserted mag and I could knock at least a 1/2 second, maybe more, off my reload times.

 

[Feud]

Overheard:

Customer: (interrupting our transaction) Hey! You guys sell shotgun shells?
Clerk: Sure, what kind are you looking for?
Customer: Doesn't matter. (several moments later) Which are cheapest?
Clerk: The bird loads.
Customer: (picks up a random box) Are these it?
Clerk: No, the ones right there in front of you.
Customer: (picks up another random box) These ones?
Clerk: No, the ones that have birds on the box!
Customer: (brings a box to the counter) Oh, these are 16 gauge, I need 12!
Clerk: :sigh:

 

[SuperNaut]

Customer: "Do you carry 1911 mainspring housings?"

Owner: "Why would we when you can buy whatever you want on Brownells.com? Black, silver, checked, stippled, plastic, aluminum, lanyard, bobbed, whatever. We can't compete with that."

Customer: "Yeah, okay, thanks," exits store...

Owner: "Jeez, the things some people expect...



True play-by-play at unnamed gun store in SLC. Who's the stupid one here?

 

[George Hill]

SuperNaut, have you thought about retail shelf space? How much it costs, what products you can put out and where. Most shops don't stock an assortment of parts. If you do, then what other products do you not offer because you simply don't have the space for it. Then be expected to compete price wise. Its hard for a store to compete with online only shops like that and Midway USA.
Loving the responses so for... Keep them coming!

 

[iamkris]

Overheard...

Customer: I need some ammo for my gun
Counter guy: What kind of gun?
Customer: My little one
Counter guy: OK, what kind?
Customer: I think it's a Marlin
Counter guy: OK, is it a .22?
Customer: Yeah, I think so. (Turns out he had a Marlin Model 60)
Counter guy: What kind of cartridges do you want?
Customer: I don't want the regular kind. I want the army ones.
Counter guy: Ummm...what kind?
Customer: You know, the 5-5-7 ones. Regular people call them 22s but the army shoots the 5-5-7

...and it went downhill from there

 

[iamkris]

Its hard for a store to compete with online only shops like that and Midway USA.

Maybe...

Then again, if the dolt had a sense of customer service, maybe he would have pulled out his own Brownells, looked up what the guy wanted and offered to order it for him.

Some would balk that they could get it themselves for cheaper...others, like me, might appreciate someone going the extra mile for them and go ahead and let the gunshop order it.

Seems like a lost opportunity to me.

 

[Glockamania®]

Customer: May I see that Glock, I have a few at home.
Salesguy: Here you go.
Customer: So, where's the on/off safety? I don't see it.
Salesguy: :banghead:

 

[ArmedBear]

The customer is not always right.

However, the customer is always the customer.

Something my boss told me at my first real job, where I was a one-man IT shop supporting a bunch of customer service people who spent their days on the phone. I've always liked it. "The customer is always right" is bad advice and bad policy, but his motto can actually work.

 

[George Hill]

Hey now, no bashing gun store clerks... your team isn't up at bat right now. But that was funny...

 

[George Hill]

"The customer is not always right. However, the customer is always the customer."
Yes, of course. But your missing the point. Try to have a some sense of humor, please. Perhaps you could borrow some. I'm not talking about customer service. I'm not talking about making fun of customers... This is about a little venting here... Most gun shops have just come off the busy seasons... Hunting and Christmas. Gun Clerks take a lot of abuse during this time and then get more on the gun forums when people post about dumb gun clerks. Please, allow us a little therapy. Thanks.

I had a guy walk up the counter, Marine T-Shirt on, cap low on his brow. Stern look on his face. No smile. Two by Four up his backside. Asked about an old out of favor cartridge that most shooters never even heard of. One I've not shot in about 25 years myself. Wanted to know the velocity. I made an estimation and said "About 2600 FPS".
"Well that's close to the .308, it can't be that fast. I'm going to go look in the manual."
I pointed where they were.
Dude comes back, calls me an idiot, and says "it's 2550."
"I did say 'About'", shrugged and walked over to the ammo shelves. Found a box. On the box it said 2625 FPS. I tossed it to the sour puss. "That's 'about' too."
Guy looked at the box, looked at me like I was making it up... left the manual and the box on the counter and muttered curses under his breath as he walk out.
Can't please everyone.

 

[Tokugawa]

Now I know what folk mean when they say working retail is hell.......!

 

[SuperNaut]

SuperNaut, have you thought about retail shelf space? How much it costs, what products you can put out and where. Most shops don't stock an assortment of parts. If you do, then what other products do you not offer because you simply don't have the space for it. Then be expected to compete price wise. Its hard for a store to compete with online only shops like that and Midway USA.

My point was, both the owner and the customer left feeling like the other guy was being stupid.

But the gun-store owner is definitely caught in a catch-22. He can only compete with online sales with deep inventory, and that is the one thing he cannot afford.

 

[oldgold]

About twenty years ago I was helping out my buddy who owned a gunshop. An old timer brought in his Winchester single barrel .410. He wanted to trade up to a pump but before he let the owner give him a price he stated he had a confession to make. You see he was out hunting squirrels with out much luck and out of desperation he took a 60yd shot. He said he new it was too far but he couldn't resist. He said he strained the barrel ! Derned thing hasn't hit anything since.

My buddy's eyes lit up for a second and then he came back to earth and offer the gentleman a fair price. He told the old man he could get it fixed cheaply and since he was a good customer he'd eat the cost.

Everybody was happy. Nobody laughed until he left.

 

[.cheese.]

I asked him what made it a special edition?
He did not know only that he wanted a double action one.
asked if the one in the case was "double action enough?"
He said maybe if it really was double action.
I pulled it out, checked chamber and handed it to him. He asked if he could dry fire it. Ok.
He pulls the trigger, click.
asked if that was double action enough.
He said maybe, "It does fire 2 bullets every time you pull the trigger right?"

Yeah it's double action right?

I'm waiting for the Brady Campaign to read this and go into a frenzy thinking all these double-action guns are really select-fire.

 

[1911Tuner]

Okay...My turn.

Guy walks into the shop at opening bell. A little agitated, and apparently in a bit of a rush. Says he wants to buy a gun.

"What kind"

"The cheapest one ya got."

"The cheapest one here is this used RG .38 Special."

"I'll take it."

"Well...It's cheap beause it's not really a high-quality gun. You can't shoot it an awful lot, or...."

"Don't matter. It's only gotta work once."

He didn't get his gun...