Was I out of line?

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The phrase was started around the turn of the century, before anybody knew what a chain store was. I get nothing but horrible service in places like Best Buy, and I won't step foot in a WalMart.

Anybody who disagrees with the concept just needs to go work for somebody with some business sense. Or go work at a chain store, where they can gt away with being surly.

Well that is the whole chail store mission statement isn't it? Reduce proces at the expense of service.
 
sorry for being off topic, but it is poor customer service.....

Ohio (44001).

My odyssey was about a year ago. Our neighborhood has the locked drop boxes. If you get someones (the wrong) mail in your box you cant put it in the other (correct) box. I was getting my mail from neighbors on the weekend becasue the guy could not hit the correct hole. Then he just stopped delivery. I am not kidding. No mail for one to three days then it was stuffed. I never really noticed until I had a few specific gun part orders coming in. All pre-paid and I was waiting for them. I got calls from the sender (3 separate) with a notice of refused delivery. I was really pissed off as one was shipped back to the place I ordered it from.

As I mentioned I met with my local postmaster and she REALLY did not give a ****. I could tell she really did not like hearing what I was saying.
Its not until the ball got kicked over he head she got a new attitude.
I told her that if they (her and the mailman) just did their jobs I have no beef with them. Once I get the attitude I really dig my heels in and have a point to make.

Fun stuff

Not fun thats just one more federal bereaucarcy we are almost forced to used. We still habd carry every thing to a central post office NOT in our zip code. I broke down one time and went to the office in 75182 and shipped a car part that I had sold on ebay. I was too long for any of the competition but fit thier guidelines. It was thin sheetmetal and I packed it in a long hard cardboard tube. A week later the guy is pissed cause he paypalled the money and I said I shipped but he hadn't seen it. 75182 had no record I had ever shipped it even though I the receipt. Shows up on the doorstep about a month after I sent it with a return to sender stamp on it bent in half. You could see a big old footprint on it where someone had stepped right in the middle of it to bend it. It had never been even been opened. Further inspection found that it had never left 75182. THE POSTAGE WASN'T CANCELLED! Of course I didn't buy insurance on a part that I sold for $20,they wouldn't even return the poatage, and I just didn't feel like pumping it up the food chain over $20. Lifes too short to always be fighting someone.
 
To me this is much like happens on occasion in my business. I am a general contractor and hire subs to do windows, siding, painting etc. When one of my subs is at a client's home and a neighbor approaches him and asks for a quote on HIS home, I FULLY expect the sub to direct that neighbor to me. It is very UNCOOL to do otherwise. In YOUR case, you were waayyyyy WRONG.
 
To me this is much like happens on occasion in my business. I am a general contractor and hire subs to do windows, siding, painting etc. When one of my subs is at a client's home and a neighbor approaches him and asks for a quote on HIS home, I FULLY expect the sub to direct that neighbor to me. It is very UNCOOL to do otherwise. In YOUR case, you were waayyyyy WRONG.

Why?

And how is that analogous to the poster's situation? (i.e. who would the sub be in the gun store situation?)
 
Just Plain Bad Manors...

It's about grabbing business on the cheap from someone that has worked hard to earn it and forgetting where / who you are in an effort to grab up a "deal".

I am stunned by the numbers of posters here that think that they are entitled to do and say whatever they want, whenever they want and wherever they want.

This sort of privileged behavior without consideration of responsibility or good manors is typical of those you used to see OUTSIDE the gun community, I am distressed to see it now among us.

Drew
 
Because the sub only has the job because of the general in the first place. In other words, he's biting the hand that feeds him. That's why most GOOD general contractors don't hire dirt-bag subs.......and there's lots of them out there.


And how is that analogous to the poster's situation? (i.e. who would the sub be in the gun store situation?)
The OP would be the sub. He's there, in another man's place of business and is trying(intentional or not) to undercut the owners profits. Now I realize that the OP had no intention of doing this, but I'm sure the gun shop owner has been thru it so many times, he's fed up with it, and he assumed the OP was. There's lots of dirtball gun buyers out there also. Many will gladly be an azzhole just to save a few bucks. I have no problem with gun shop owners throwin' em out.
 
I am stunned by the numbers of posters here that think that they are entitled to do and say whatever they want, whenever they want and wherever they want.

This sort of privileged behavior without consideration of responsibility or good manors is typical of those you used to see OUTSIDE the gun community, I am distressed to see it now among us.

Drew

The entitlement mindset is everywhere Drew, doesn't surprise me one bit.
 
On the contrary, I think the "entitled" mindset is those business people who think their entitled to reduced competition or special treatment just because they're in business. There's no union for business owners.

It's business. It's competition. It's about giving the customers what they want. I deal with clients every day, and you don't win business by talking down to your customers or beating up on your subs. You win business by giving the customers what they want - at a better price, better service, or with better quality.

And no, the original poster was not a "sub" of the gun store owner. Not at all. He was a potential customer who was lost. If you think I'm wrong, consider that the gun store owner got a call from this potential customer and offered to buy a product. Instead of making a sale, the gun store owner decided to teach him a lesson on "good manners." I'm sure that did wonders for the gun store owner's ego, and it sounds like all of you would get satisfaction in doing the same thing.

But at the end of the day, the sale was lost. And I wonder if the OP will ever go there again - for another gun, ammo, or anything other reason.

Again, the "I'm going to get on my high horse and tell the customers how it works" mentality is incompatible with a service business. Tell me I'm wrong, but you can't argue with the bottom line - sale lost.
 
Poster #86, Go back and read post #63, And maybe, just maybe you will understand, I was not trying to get something on the cheap. By the way, who appointed you to decide who has good manors or not? Also, I would bet you are always right.
 
I am Poster No. 86.

You should know that my comments were initially directed at some of the more outlandish positions taken by the chuckle chorus that followed, but given the tone of your last comment, I wonder.

By the way... wasn't it you that suffered from a moral conundrum and couldn't figure out if you were right or wrong when you asked in the OP "Was I out of line?"... or were you simply trying to gather allies?
 
And no, the original poster was not a "sub" of the gun store owner. Not at all. He was a potential customer who was lost. If you think I'm wrong, consider that the gun store owner got a call from this potential customer and offered to buy a product. Instead of making a sale, the gun store owner decided to teach him a lesson on "good manners." I'm sure that did wonders for the gun store owner's ego, and it sounds like all of you would get satisfaction in doing the same thing.


Looks like the OP hasn't a problem with the gunshop owner, and the sale is not lost, it seems :confused:

"The owner and seller had already made the deal. I just commented to the seller that I wish I had known he wanted to sell before he came in. I was looking at a similar model the owner had for sale that I liked much better and would sill buy if he would work with me a bit. I hold no bad feelings in this whole deal. There are just a few stores in town that I deal with and he is one of them. I just think this was all a misunderstanding."
 
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Theur,
You can rest assured that a business owner is "entitled" to reduce "competition" inside his business. Not just the gun business, any business.
"It's business. It's competition". Not inside another persons place of business.
The sale was lost because the OP did not want to pay the asking price for the weapon. He asked for a discount and was turned down. That's business.
In my opinion, and I know everyone has their own, you border on being a troll. You have been repaeatedly told about gun store manners, and you continue to argue.

Markeb,
You asked the question and you do not like the answer. Why ask if you are going to argue about the answer.

Both of the above,
I have been conducting business inside gun stores for many years. I have made observations of the conduct of customers and owners. Whether either of you guys like it or not, there are certain things that usually are not permitted in a gun store. Most importantly, you do not make comments to potential buyers or sellers. Other posters have said the same thing. I have witnessed people asked to leave for making comments. I have also seen people asked to when they brandished a loaded weapon. Gun store manners. As I have said before, if you conduct yourself as a gentleman, you will be treated as a gentleman. If you do not know how to conduct yourself, observe and learn. If you want to keep making comments to other customers, be prepared to get the boot. Many gun store owners don't give second chances. Dean
 
Gentlemen,
To those who supported my "subcontractor" analogy, my appreciation. To those who could not "see".............. The job for/to which I hire a sub is MY STORE. All transactions/negotiations in MY STORE are directed to me or my agent PERIOD. It is MY reward and NOT the sub's that a neighbor approaches the job site, MY STORE, and presents an inquiry . The best the sub should/could do is direct the inquiry to me. The worst is .................be a scumbag and STEAL the client.
Let's forget "wrong", you were BLIND WRONG.

Mark
Having said THAT, I'd rather be in Wyoming.
 
The job for/to which I hire a sub is MY STORE.

It's not YOUR STORE. It's your customer's private property. And the neighbor you talked about is on his private property.

So if a neighbor talks to your employee on his private property - where you aren't even doing any work - it's really not your business. You may not like it, but life just isn't fair all the time. You're just pissed that you aren't getting a cut of their private transaction, which is kind of odd in itself, when you think about it objectively.
 
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Eagle-eyed store owner saw what was going on and charged me an extra $20 to pick up a new gun I had pre-paid for and ordered. Told me that will "teach me to pull a fast one on him". Haven't talked private sale business near a gunshop since.

That would have been the last $20 he ever made off of me! :eek: Kick me out, fine, ban me from the store, fine, refund my money and refuse to sell to me, fine, but don't hold my prepaid-for property ransom in an effort to teach me so-called manners.

I worked in two different gun stores over the span of about 8 years, one a very small shop and one part of a corporate chain, and it is always a struggle for me to keep my mouth shut in stores when I hear some silliness, misinformation or outright lies from either side of the counter. Sometimes they don't know any better, sometimes they are misinformed, and sometimes they just smell blood of an easy victim. Generally I will only comment on someone else's transaction if either 1) I am friends with both the buyer and seller or 2) I like the seller and am sure that I can add something useful that will aid in the sale. For example, I was in a friend's pawn shop the other day while one of his new clerks was showing a Glock 19 Gen 4 and M&P 40 to a couple female shoppers. They complained about the size of the grips, he didn't know that the backstraps could be changed, so I pointed that out and showed how to do it. Everybody happy.

That said, business owners have to protect their interests (they are doing this for a profitable living) and have the right to run their business however they see fit (within the constraints of the law), but I also have to right to take my business somewhere else if I don't like how they run it.
 
theur,
You have confirmed my impression of you. I think you are a troll. You come to this forum and appear to only want to argue. Things have been repeatedly explained to you in a civil manner, and you continue to argue.
If you practice business in the methods you advocate, you are without morals or really don't have any idea about the proper way to conduct business. Maybe both. You stated that every effort should be made to please the customer, aparently no matter what that customers does or says. But you seem to have failed to make an obvious observation. The contractor is the customer of the sub. If the sub does not conduct himself in a professional manner, the contractor will not be pleased and the sub will loose his customer, the contractor. Word would probably get around among contractors and the sub may have trouble obtaining new customers, other contractors. So in my opinion, the methods you advocate seem to be extremely short sighted and not based on logic or credibility. Dean
 
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