To our valued customers...

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funny

how werewolfs posts remind me why i left retail. and how much i loved barring folks when i owned restaurants. the shocked look on their face was priceless when they found out it extended to 20 places in the area we owned.
thankfully the attitude is not too common and is avoidable with judicious use of barring
 
So now - thanks to superb marketing and a generally increasing culture of compliance equals courtesy - that one is rude if they don't provide free janitorial service to every business that asks politely. My how times have changed.

Sorry but I don't play that game and it's sad and troubling that so many Americans do. This attitude isn't a matter of courtesy but is instead one of compliance and a culture of compliance is what we've become. I'll leave it to the readers here to extrapolate where that will take us.
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So that 6 seconds spent throwing my trash away at McDonalds, and the minute I spend sweeping up my brass so the next guy to use the lane doesn't go rolling makes me a cog in the destruction of these great United States?

Dang. :(
 
Don't forget, these days we also pump our own gas, check our own car oil level, clean our own windshields, collect our own groceries at the store and take them to the checkout, and find our desired products at the mega-hardware store. I not only bus my stuff at McD's but often buss the stuff that other rude patrons have left.

-terry
 
Thing about all this talk about how we bus our own stuff at McDonald's is we're not the one wiping down the tables and sweeping the floors after the trash is removed. I consider fast food places to be a halfway deal in that we pay less for more convenience, but they don't do quite as much between the start and finish. And that's okay.

I recall this one time at the Mexican restraunt here... and I'm in and out of there all the time... there was this one lady who's kid really made a mess that night. She wasn't about to leave without cleaning up behind her kid so the waiters wouldn't have to. The manager and a couple of the other guys looked like they were fixing to have a stroke trying to get her NOT to clean up because they were going to. But she wouldn't take no for an answer.:D

As for policing brass, I shoot at the local club range. Everybody picks up or sweeps up after themselves and sometimes multiple times because some guys commenting about their own shooting will say it looks like they started a war in a 20' radius around their position.:D :D :D
 
my five year old

would call someone who was too high class to return a target hanger or police their brass. they teach it in daycare and kindergarten. and if she didn't i'd teach her how some grownups aren't . he learn well from eeing folks who never did
 
You know, it wouldn't bother me a bit to cleanup after myself in most restaurants. I always felt strange at Wendy's when they first opened not bussing my table myself. Shooting range, I always cleanup after myself and usually do something just a bit extra in the process.
 
PS: And for the last time, no, we do NOT carry "clips (do you mean magazines?) for a Jimenez (pronounced: JIM-uh-NEEZ) foh'-five (I thinkthat means .45)." Okay? Okay.
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Wall, sheeet! If'n you don't got the clips fuh mah gun, I don't think I needs to freequent yer store. Suh thar!

Happy New Year, Shooter Girl. :)
 
Werewolf said:
Sorry but I don't play that game and it's sad and troubling that so many Americans do. This attitude isn't a matter of courtesy but is instead one of compliance and a culture of compliance is what we've become. I'll leave it to the readers here to extrapolate where that will take us.
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It doesn't require a whole heap of extrapolating. Your vision of the way things ought'a be will simply mean that shooting ranges will have to double or triple their staffing levels, which will result in the hourly (or annual) rate escalating to cover the cost of the additional labor required so that you don't have to feel "compliant."

Personally, I'd rather sweep my own brass and shoot cheaper. YMMV.
 
We clean our own range, as far as brass goes. We also remove targets, etc., but 99% of the time, customers are courteous enough to do it themselves. We do our own brass pick up because we don't want a lot of vigorous sweeping, which can make lead dust airborne.

Werewolf, I have no idea what you think McDonalds devious plan is, but I think they just want to make a buttload of money. There is no conspiracy, no black helicopters dropping leaflets urging folks to perform free janitorial services. I am willing to bet that if you decide to leave your big mac box on the table, no McDonald's employee will say a word to you. They will just smile, and have some poor retiree do it for you.

What I believe you are seeing is an evolution in the delivery system of many consumer goods, among them, food, gasoline, cigarettes, etc. When was the last time a gas station attendant checked the oil in your car, or washed your windshield? Does your grocer deliver? Does your doctor make house calls?

Most folks feel lucky to have a place to shoot. They WANT to help, and will do anything they can, within reason, to ensure that the range stays in business. Policing brass or targets does not seem like a big deal to them.

Clip vs magazine, seems a little pedantic to me to correct a customer on that point. Makes for good internet bulletin board debate, though!:)
 
This thread makes me thankful that I'm no longer working retail. Though at the range I used to work at, almost everybody cleaned up after themselves and the range was usually left in a pretty good condition.

As for females working in a gun store, I still remember keeping a guy on hold waiting for a male employee to come back. Somehow for that month or so all we had were three females working during the day. He demanded to speak to a male so we put him on constant hold until a male employee showed up. He lasted about 20 minutes or so until he finally got sick of it and hung up. Sadly it's just part of the territory. I wouldn't let it bother you shootergirl. I usually just ignored them and laughed about it later.
 
Uvakat, I'm learning to do just that. It's hard sometimes, but really... in retrospect, some of the situations I've experienced were pretty funny.

Happy New Year to you too, Aguila! : )



PS: those of you who think "clip" vs. "magazine" is petty are right. the OCD gets the best of me sometimes. =/
 
I always clean up my own brass...I am a reloader! I LIKE people who don't clean up all thier brass, never know what I am going to find. Found some Lapua 7.62x54R brass once, that way.:cool:
As for female gun shop employees, I always loved watching the Alpha males "challenge" my ex boss Liz, who always carried a concealed 44Spl snub, that she could use to shoot the eye out of an coyote at 25 yards. Petite and sweet, and deadly as a striking cobra.
 
Police brass, take down cardboard and targets. Those are the rules at the range I go to. The rules I agreed to when I signed up, and payed my dues.

Also been known to look like a bum going threw the brass barrel :D




When I go into a gun shop I already know what I want. Ive already done the research, and know more about the weapon I'm looking for than any gun shop employee can tell me. Be you male, or female I don't want any social chit chat. Show me the weapon I ask for, and step back. If it passes muster, then on with the paper work. I'm not rude about it, but will tell the employee that I'm not interested in his, or her opinion.
 
Be you male, or female I don't want any social chit chat. Show me the weapon I ask for, and step back. If it passes muster, then on with the paper work. I'm not rude about it, but will tell the employee that I'm not interested in his, or her opinion.
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Now, I generally know what I'm interested in or not, and if I haven't seen something I run across in a shop I'll check into it right there and do more research if I'm interested. But I won't do business with shops where I can't lean on the counter and visit.
 
"Be you male, or female I don't want any social chit chat. Show me the weapon I ask for, and step back. If it passes muster, then on with the paper work. I'm not rude about it, but will tell the employee that I'm not interested in his, or her opinion."

You sound like a very pleasant person to deal with.:rolleyes:
 
Here's my take! When you are paying range fees, it is essentially money for "RENTING" a spot at the range. If you were renting a house, would you dump trash all over the floor when vacating the home? Surely you'd forfeit a security deposit or a cleaning fee. I always sweep up my brass and throw away my empty boxes. Why? Because i am happy to do so to prevent raising of fees that the range would need to hire an extra person to walk around sweeping during business hours. With Arizona's Mminimum wage now at $6.75 per hour, I'm sure they'd have to charge a substantial amount more than what I already pay.
 
Another ex-retail person here...

I have yet to meet the person working in retail that after a few years has not developed a jaundiced eye toward customers due to repeated encounters with people who are not simply rude, but downright pathological.

Some people enter establishments with an entitlement attitude that goes way beyond "service" and enters the realm of "power trip". Get that enough times and eventually every customer that walks in gets the stinkeye for a second until the social interaction starts.

For those that will say "then quit working in retail, nobody forced you to, and there are plenty of other jobs out there" I spent the last 2-1/2 years of my retail experience trying to get a job outside of retail before throwing in the towel and becoming self-employed. No benefits, no parachute, but no power-tripping customers demanding that I roll over on my back and pee on myself when they walk in the door either.

So I sympathize with the OP for trying to vent her frustrations while keeping her job, as she can't start copping an attitude at work or else she'll be "that b%$h at the gun store" and things will only get worse for her.

gp911
 
It was at Collectors Firearms. The man refused to answer any questions about the guns in the case, just glared at me and kept making a point of letting me know that I was wasting his time since I diddnt know what I wanted. After about 3 minutes of wasting his time and not even getting to put my hands on a single firearm I left with a bad taste in my mouth.
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If that was in Houston, I feel your pain. I’ve bought ONE and only one firearm from them. I will not buy another. I go there simply to waste time and hold milsurps now. And now that my C&R app is out the door, I won’t be needing them anymore for that.

Jerk-ta-tude happens on both sides of the counter.

I’ve come up with a little test. I let my wife start talking to the counter person. If he turns to address his answers to me… we leave. If he treats her with contempt or “little lady” syndrome… we leave. Basically if they don’t show her all the Southern-Gentleman-hat-taken-off-how-may-I-serve-you-ness that I’d expect from anyone in any other store… they will not see a dime.

I’ve also seen a couple of Counter folk take WAY MORE ABUSE than I ever would. One time, I turned to the clerk when the @$$hat customer left and said, “You have the patience of a saint.” His reply, “I work in a room full of Guns, ammo, knives, mace, clubs… you just have to find other ways to cope.”
 
My sympathies to Shootergirl. My wife and I worked p/t at a range in Houston. Not far from Collector's as a matter of fact. At the time, there were two other 'girls'...can't really call those two women due to their maturity level...behind the counter. They were hired as window dressing only.

I got the job for my wife as a way to fill time until she found a full-time gig in her chosen profession. She only knew what I was able to show her at the time...and that still isn't a whole lot. Whatever else she knows about guns she learned on the job by asking questions and taking a real interest in her work. It showed.

She received a fair amount of 'lil lady' syndrome from the clientele there. But, coming from a job dealing with attorneys all day long prepared her for that. Similar alpha-male dominance issues and all that. (No offense to any attorneys here:p ) If she didn't have an answer for them, she'd get one, or get someone who had an answer.

After about three months working there she had enough basic knowledge to handle the stupid customers. It was fun to be a fly on the wall when I was there working and see her put them in their place. The way customers underestimated her was like watching a very bad car wreck...you just couldn't turn away and not look at the end result.

Now, I get to tell my buddies my wife is Swedish AND knows how to field strip an AR-15. How sexy is that?! :evil:
 
I can relate to getting poor service on the other side of the counter as well. I went to a shop to check out a couple Handi-Rifles and two different workers said the same surprisingly blunt thing to me:

"Just get a Thompson". When I mentioned one Contender barrel cost as much as an entire Handi, and that accessory barrels for Handis ran from $40-$90, they both separately said "I'd just get a Thompson". One was hovering and kicking in his opinions at random because he was bored. These opinions included "I don't know why people like that cheap crap (Handis)", "why get a .45-70 when you can get one of those (Handis) in 500 Smith for the same money?" and my personal favorite which drove me from the store "7.62 X 54 ammo huh? *smirk* I guess you don't like accuracy!" My only reply was in regards to the ammo comment: "Well, *smirking back* it's been around for over a hundred years, so there must be something special about it..." followed by a glance at his idiot friend, to whom I said "He must be off his Ritalin today. Decaf only for him from now on." This got a laugh from the friend and drove off the more rude clerk.

Needless to say I didn't get a Thompson, nor did I do much browsing through their firearm section anymore, aside from buying the occasional box of ammo. There was one older guy there who was knowledgeable and liked to talk about .45-70 loads and such. Too bad he was part time, he actually taught me a few things and was very helpful.

gp911
 
gp911

I'd be interested in finding out your secret to being self employed and not having to deal with customers:confused: :)

I always thought the perfect self employed business would require no:
Customers
Employees
Suppliers
 
Another semi ex retail person here. I agree that you start to develop a 'sense' about people, and it really can get to you over time to have to continuously deal with the bad apples. :banghead:
Whenever I deal with salespeople, or servers, I try to be extra courteous, because I know what it is like to be on the other side. I honestly think we would have a much better society if everyone had to work some sort of service job for a couple years.
Shootergirl, best of luck to you. You have my sympathies!
David
 
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