Was I in the wrong?

[Shienhausser]

I've done that with product at the place I work.

I sat and watched a co-worker blow off and not care about a customers inquiry in a 700$ item that we carried but did not have in stock. We can order it and get it in 2 days but he didn't care to bring that up.


I, the opportunist I am, found the customer and apologized and offered her a NIB of the thing she wanted for less that retail and to call me after work. I had won the said item a week before. Easiest 550$ I ever made.

 

[Ash_J_Williams]

How you did it can have as much to do with it as what you did.

I was very polite. I figured running out to follow this guy to the parking lot (his car being parked right in front of the door, so from across the room, I would have literally had to run after him) would have been just as obvious, but seemed even more dubious. I said in a very polite voice, "you know, if you're looking for one, I have one I might..." and that's as far as he let me get.

 

[Ash_J_Williams]

The Gun Store Owner, it's his store, he pays for the signage, lease, utilities, all overhead, and any advertisement associated with it. You would have had no opportunity to ever offer the gun to the individual had there not been a gun store paid for by the owner. The way he conducts his business is just that (his business). If you want to conduct personal business, do it outside, list it in the local paper, Craig's List etc. --Maybe you gotta be a small business owner to understand it.

I get that. But that said, he didn't seem interested in selling anything to this guy, and I made sure of that before saying a thing. I also intended to purchase from him, which he should know an attitude like that will remedy.

I see your point that "the opportunity wouldn't have presented itself," and no, it's not a swap meet... but it is a place where people of similar interests go. And again, he didn't intend to sell to him. So, would you yell at two customers for having friendly conversation, or agreeing to go shooting together sometime? Because that wouldn't happen if he didn't present his business to the public, either.

Oh, and I do run a small business.

 

[M-Cameron]

The Gun Store Owner, it's his store, he pays for the signage, lease, utilities, all overhead, and any advertisement associated with it. You would have had no opportunity to ever offer the gun to the individual had there not been a gun store paid for by the owner. The way he conducts his business is just that (his business). If you want to conduct personal business, do it outside, list it in the local paper, Craig's List etc. --Maybe you gotta be a small business owner to understand it.

i dont think anyone here blames the owner for not wanting a FTF in his store......

its the attitude in which he made it know that gets people upset.

like i said before, you can let people know without coming off as a jerk.

 

[Ash_J_Williams]

i dont think anyone here blames the owner for not wanting a FTF in his store......

its the attitude in which he made it know that gets people upset.

like i said before, you can let people know without coming off as a jerk.

And it's not like I had the gun on me, or even with me. We were just discussing, and didn't even get that far.

 

[whalerman]

You did fine. The shop owner is an ass. Don't spend any more time worrying about it. The dealer could have enforced whatever he needed to enforce in his shop. But being courteous is not optional. He could have accomplished both.

 

[Tinpig]

I'm a self-employed carpenter. When I'm at the lumberyard as a customer and I hear another customer getting bad advice from a clerk, much as it irritates me, I bite my tongue unless I'm asked. It's not my store, it's not my business.

Tinpig

 

[Frozen North]

This was my experience in a good gun shop....

I came into my LGS to sell a Ruger LCP that I didn't really care for. Wendy (the owner) gave it a look, smiled and yelled to another customer in the shop. She said, " Al, (the other customer and a friend of mine) come over here, this guy (me) wants to talk to you outside about an LCP he has for sale."

We did the FTF in the parking lot in front of the store.

I went back in and thanked Wendy for her help. She told me that Al was looking for an LCP or P-3at but she had none in stock. She said she wouldn't feel right taking a markup on a gun that I had, he wanted, and she had none of. She also said that she knew for a fact that Al and I both stopped into her shop first, and often ordered in stuff that we could get off the shelf in a bigger store. I told Wendy that I would rather do business with her, even at my inconvenience because I know she is rock solid honest and she has taken care of me even when she didn't have too!

Wendy has a very loyal customer base. I wonder if this grumpy gun shop owner does?

 

[Ash_J_Williams]

I'm a self-employed carpenter. When I'm at the lumberyard as a customer and I hear another customer getting bad advice from a clerk, much as it irritates me, I bite my tongue unless I'm asked. It's not my store, it's not my business.

Tinpig

Bad advice is different. I've heard clerks telling customers, for example, that the tax stamp to cut down a shotgun below 18" barrel length is $5, and they can do it before applying.

However, this guy was through with his transaction. The clerk wasn't giving him bad advice or a bad deal; he wasn't interested at all, and the customer was leaving.

 

[Ringolevio]

I think you failed to show respect to the proprietor

hso:

How you did it can have as much to do with it as what you did.

Ash_J_Williams:

I was very polite. I figured running out to follow this guy to the parking lot (his car being parked right in front of the door, so from across the room, I would have literally had to run after him) would have been just as obvious, but seemed even more dubious. I said in a very polite voice, "you know, if you're looking for one, I have one I might..." and that's as far as he let me get.

I beg to differ. I don't think it was all that polite to do an "end run" around the shop's proprietor. He probably thinks you were the jerk. I think you should have addressed him, saying "I might be able to help; do you mind?"

That way, if the proprietor had said, "I can't allow that" or "Take it outside", at least you've shown him proper deference, and the other customer still knows he can deal with you privately.

 

[makarovnik]

I would gesture to that store owner that he's number one.

 

[Ash_J_Williams]

hso:


Ash_J_Williams:


I beg to differ. I don't think it was all that polite to do an "end run" around the shop's proprietor. He probably thinks you were the jerk. I think you should have addressed him, saying "I might be able to help; do you mind?"

That way, if the proprietor had said, "I can't allow that" or "Take it outside", at least you've shown him proper deference, and the other customer still knows he can deal with you privately.

Sorry, but I can't imagine how that even functions in your mind. If the customer is leaving, and the owner has shown next to no interest in helping him or selling him anything whatsoever, I see no "end run" going on here, whatever that even means. I see a guy who hasn't gotten the answer he wanted, nor the service, leaving and someone else offering to give them what they came there looking for. If the owner wanted to make a sale, he could have done it a number of ways (from offering to order something in to giving the guy sites to order from in which he could do the FFL work for, and profit from) even if he didn't have anything in stock. He did none of this.

The end result is exactly the same. I can only expect someone hearing "I might be able to help, do you mind?" giving me a perplexed look, and then when I continue with exactly what actually happened, offering my property, it'll play out... exactly as it did. All you're suggesting is that I add another convoluted step. Hardly seems more polite to me.

 

[psyshack]

I would have taken my cash out waved it in the jerks face. Let him know where I stand. " You blew that person off now I'm blowing you off "

I work in a small business. If we can not help a customer with a certain item, service or issue we offer to find it for them or direct them to the vendor that can help or address need. WE WILL even get on the phone for the customer track it down confirm stock and direct them to said supplier or vendor.

Just today I had a person come in needing head gaskets for a Laars Boiler. I told the cust we do not rep Laars. Made a phone call and got him setup with the local Laars Rep. Later in the day he returned and purchased a McDonald & Miller flow switch, level control and relief valve from us and thanked me for the direction as he started into the project of repairing the boiler.

I would have told that LGS owner to suck root right in his face!

 

[Ignition Override]

No matter what the business, that is the owner's problem if he doesn't want to help.
But it is always better to catch people outside, if other people are not distracting an owner.

A guy here has a very tiny, dirty gun shop on Summer Ave.
When I did one dry fire 'click', his response was "One more and you are buying that gun". This was before I began to read that dry-firing is not always considered polite.

Anyway, his blunt response (instead of stating that it is better to first ask) and the nasty pervasive smell of cigarette smoke has kept me away for over 1 & 1/2 years, and there are two much larger shops within five or fifteen minutes.

 

[firemanstrickland]

I would have done the same thing

 

[The Sarge]

Sorta hard to apply one single rule of "gun culture etiquette" that would apply in all situations. However most would find it of poor taste to solicit sales, of any product, in the confines of another fella's store.

 

[kd7nqb]

Almost sounds like you hit a nerve with this guy. Like he recently had some terrible experience with FTF transfers on his store grounds. Anyway I think you were fine.

 

[natman]

The Gun Store Owner, it's his store, he pays for the signage, lease, utilities, all overhead, and any advertisement associated with it. You would have had no opportunity to ever offer the gun to the individual had there not been a gun store paid for by the owner. The way he conducts his business is just that (his business). If you want to conduct personal business, do it outside, list it in the local paper, Craig's List etc. --Maybe you gotta be a small business owner to understand it.

+1.

I'm not saying the owner couldn't have handled it better, because he could have. But once you're inside his door, any business is his, to accept or turn down as he sees fit. Making any sort of side deals while in his shop is out of line, period.

 

[Ash_J_Williams]

No matter what the business, that is the owner's problem if he doesn't want to help.
But it is always better to catch people outside, if other people are not distracting an owner.

A guy here has a very tiny, dirty gun shop on Summer Ave.
When I did one dry fire 'click', his response was "One more and you are buying that gun". This was before I began to read that dry-firing is not always considered polite.

Anyway, his blunt response (instead of stating that it is better to first ask) and the nasty pervasive smell of cigarette smoke has kept me away for over 1 & 1/2 years, and there are two much larger shops within five or fifteen minutes.

Following him out was my other option, but as I said, being that his car was right outside the door, it would have been just as obvious, except the owner wouldn't have heard my actual offer, so he could have constructed whatever dubious and illegal scheme he could think of. It's like showing a movie monster off-screen. Your mind always makes it scarier when you don't see it.

There were two places similar to the one you described. One was a pawn shop, their prices were way too high and everything inside was disgusting, reeked of cat pee, and the other was obviously at one point a little bodega, and they still sold candy and cigarettes, but it was so smelly and gross inside that I didn't even ask if they had any of what I needed.

 

[Ash_J_Williams]

+1.

I'm not saying the owner couldn't have handled it better, because he could have. But once you're inside his door, any business is his, to accept or turn down as he sees fit. Making any sort of side deals while in his shop is out of line, period.

You seem in the minority on this one.

Judging from his choice of words and his immediate response, it doesn't seem to me like he was upset that someone else was trying to sell something. That doesn't seem to be his issue, at least to me.

 

[HOOfan_1]

I wouldn't worry about it. I wouldn't worry what others think either. If you just put it out of your mind, it will stop bothering you after a while. If you keep thinking about it and debating it, it will nag at you longer.

He didn't want you talking about selling a gun in his store, you likely won't be going back to his store. So I would say that issue is pretty much resolved. Life's too short to let the trivial stuff like that nag at you.

 

[natman]

You seem in the minority on this one.

Judging from his choice of words and his immediate response, it doesn't seem to me like he was upset that someone else was trying to sell something. That doesn't seem to be his issue, at least to me.

Won't be the first time, nor the last.

What do you see the owner's issue being then?

 

[Legionnaire]

Shop owner could have communicated his wishes without being a jerk. I once arranged to meet someone for a FTF sale of a long gun; we chose a gun shop we both knew that was pretty close to being half way between us. I arrived first, and decided to browse the used racks. Owner asked if I was looking for anything in particular, and I said, "No, thanks; just waiting to meet a guy for a private sale." He said, "Fine," and then asked politely that we not conduct the transaction on his premises. He didn't offer an explanation, and I didn't ask for one. When the other guy arrived, we did our deal outside. No big deal. Owner wasn't offensive, I wasn't offended, and I continue to frequent the shop. Dealer you ran into was a jerk.

 

[eye5600]

I don't see that the OP did anything wrong. Maybe the store owner's problem was with notion of a derringer. If you'd had an unhappy circumstance among your friends or family with a derringer, you might overreact.

 

[Fishslayer]

Sounds like a cranky old geezer that's stressing because the O'bama panic is over & people aren't willing to pay MSRP + 20% anymore...

Wrong or right, I don't know but I woulda probably followed the guy out & talked to him in the parking lot. Kinda bad form to do that in front of the owner, even if he is a jackwagon.