At a Gun shop just off the end of the earth

[venomballistics]

It's more true of where I am from than where I am.
Can't say that mastery of the banjo was required back behind the cheddar curtain, but it was not a bad idea either.
Scottsbluff really had the vibe of home.
It's fairly obvious that if you are an outsider, your not going to be tolerated.

It's plenty hard to crack into such a community by its nature.
Add to that a thick layer of suspicion brought about by idiots who think they can outrun their own *** holes and you really have a battle on your hands.

 

[walnutred]

I moved from a rural community to a rural community a couple counties away. First thing I did was join the local American Legion. While that did not give me "local" status for at least a decade it did establish me as someone who would fit in. Vernonballistics advise is just as valid, I just took a different route.

 

[williamlayton]

IF, this was supposed to be funny, it missed the mark.
If it was meant to discourage a looker---it did that, very well.
Hospitality is the only thing a looker can expect--if, the feller is open for business.
If you don't want lookers--lock the door.
If you just don't like folks--don't have a business.
If you think that lookers are stupid, just look in the mirror and wonder about yourownself.

I was in West, by God, Virginia a number of years ago--on a wanderlust--and drove by a hardware store in a little of burg. Wood building and painted on the front was a sign. "Wood stoves."
Now this perked my curosity--being from Houston and not all too familiar with wood stoves and just driving and looking-- I made a U-turn and went back.
A person greeted me as I entered with," morning, can I help." I asked if they minded a flat land tourister wandering around and looking at the stoves.
The gal said--"hep yourself".
Now, I found some cast iron cooking equipment that a feller I knew was looking for--and bought them for him, looked at a display of at least 25 wood stoves and a lot of other things that are not of interest enough in Houston for most stores to carry.
Hospitality made that store some money--not enough to keep the doors open--but it helped.
Blessings

 

[35Rem]

Life is 90% of how YOU react to it. So the guy wasn't an extrovert? Big deal.
How was the shop? Prices decent? Selection? What type of items?

That's what I'm concerned with when I go in somewhere. Sure the attitude received can sour the experience.
As far as it being in a mobile home, who cares? It's a structure. That statement alone tells me a lot about your attitude walking in his door.

 

[MOONDAWG]

If one doesn't like trailers and those who inhabit them , one should not open the door and enter.

Problem solved.

 

[arjay]

I'm always surprised by the guys in a retail business that hate dealing with the public.It doesn't compute[emoji57]

 

[tlmetesh]

I went into a very small new-to-me gun shop over the weekend. The guy behind the counter was having a casual conversation with a friend in front of the counter when I walked in. I walked through the shop, bent down and looked at a few guns, and spent a total of five minutes there and the guy behind the counter never acknowledged me and kept up with his conversation the entire time.

 

[ordy]

Went to the indoor range I frequent a few weeks ago. I know most of the staff by name and they know me. I was talking to one of the guys about my upcoming retirement and he asked what I was going to do with no job to go to. I jokingly said I was going to apply for a job here. His face changed and he said I shouldn't do it. He said, "I know you like guns and I used to as well, 'till I started working here". I got the impression that it was ignorant customers that he didn't like.

 

[wnwitzell]

You do not have to be in rural America to get poor treatment at a gun store. They are often where I turn invisible, even after buying several guns. The young guys are usually, but not always, the rudest. Is the retail gun industry so difficult You get jaded?

 

[venomballistics]

You do not have to be in rural America to get poor treatment at a gun store. They are often where I turn invisible, even after buying several guns. The young guys are usually, but not always, the rudest. Is the retail gun industry so difficult You get jaded?

I can see where it can be.
With CCW making way for girls with guns, where most of those guns were designed by men and man sized hands .... yeah I can see a whole lot of drama potential.

For the young set, its often just a job, and not a passion.

 

[mtgianni]

I went into a very small new-to-me gun shop over the weekend. The guy behind the counter was having a casual conversation with a friend in front of the counter when I walked in. I walked through the shop, bent down and looked at a few guns, and spent a total of five minutes there and the guy behind the counter never acknowledged me and kept up with his conversation the entire time.

I so prefer that, than someone asking what I am looking for.

 

[KS1800R]

I've been to several gun shops that were lacking in customer service. I had one gun shop that I frequented that was absolutely fantastic. Great prices, the owner would message me right away when I expressed interest on a gun, and if I asked him to hold one for me until I could get there, he did. If something came up, he would do his best to make things right and as quickly as he could. I was in there fairly often (much to my wife's chagrin lol). Unfortunately, he had to close his doors, but I still keep in touch with the owner.
A lot of the others I've been to struck me as somewhat elitist. If you came in looking for anything under $1,000 you weren't of much interest to the guys behind the counter. You could ask to look at an M&P .40 or an XD, but he'd immediately try to sell you on the Kimber. Look at an 870 (I'm a simple kind of guy), they'd tell you how much better off you'd be with a Browning or Beretta. After you turn them down on the higher priced stuff, they'd just hurry to get you out of the store.
Sorry, but I believe in telling the customer what they want to know, and suiting their needs. Develop a relationship with the customer, and you'll likely have repeat business. I think too many guys these days only think of the quick money and not about the value of repeat business on a good reputation.

 

[venomballistics]

Why just sell when you can up sell.
Those tools don't seem to understand that even the mighty Wilson combat race gun is a mere fraction of the ammo it'll eat.
Hook em up with a press and he'll keep your family fed with component sales. The gun is chump change.