Love for the LBS? Maybe not...

Quoted message said:

So I cruise in to the LBS...knowing full well that specing out my SS will likely push them past
their advertised closing time, but I figure that I'll be spending a good deal of cash, so the
customer is always right, right???

Anyway, when I arrive the first words I hear are,

"Your timing is bad. Bubba, the guy that does that sort of stuff leaves at 5:30."

"Well, can I get some idea of my choices by looking at some catalogs or something?"

"OK, but I'm leaving right at closing time."

WTF???

I mention that I plan on spending a fair bit of money and I had anticipated that the retailer
would be receptive to that sort of thing...

"And we are, but can you come back later?"

I'm a bit steamed, and it's ALMOST enough for me to click "Submit" on my www.webcyclery.com Surly
order. I think I'll cool down a bit first tho.

Gman

Come on man, they got families and after-work [censored] to do just like the rest of us. Cut them a little
slack....the world doesn't revolve around you.
--
Slacker

"Gman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
| So I cruise in to the LBS...knowing full well that specing out my SS will likely push them past
| their advertised closing time, but I figure that I'll be spending a good deal of cash, so the
| customer is always right, right???
|
| Anyway, when I arrive the first words I hear are,
|
| "Your timing is bad. Bubba, the guy that does that sort of stuff leaves at 5:30."
|
| "Well, can I get some idea of my choices by looking at some catalogs or something?"
|
| "OK, but I'm leaving right at closing time."
|
| WTF???
|
| I mention that I plan on spending a fair bit of money and I had anticipated that the retailer
| would be receptive to that sort of thing...
|
| "And we are, but can you come back later?"
|
| I'm a bit steamed, and it's ALMOST enough for me to click "Submit" on my www.webcyclery.com Surly
| order. I think I'll cool down a bit first tho.

Most of the time, I'm more than happy to wait, especially if somebody is willing to buy. There have
been times, however, when I've had something I had to get to right after work. If they had something
like that, they could have told you. Still, I think they're just watching the clock to get out on
time, to hell with your stuff. Attitude like that just drives me away.

---
__o _`\(,_ Cycling is life, (_)/ (_) all the rest, just details. Nelson Binch =^o.o^=
intergalax.comintergalax.comOpen ↗

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (grisoft.comgrisoft.comOpen ↗). Version: 6.0.510 / Virus Database: 307 -
Release Date: 8/14/2003

"Slacker" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

So I cruise in to the LBS...knowing full well that specing out my SS will likely push them past
their advertised closing time, but I figure that I'll be spending a good deal of cash, so the
customer is always right, right???

Anyway, when I arrive the first words I hear are,

"Your timing is bad. Bubba, the guy that does that sort of stuff leaves at 5:30."

"Well, can I get some idea of my choices by looking at some catalogs or something?"

"OK, but I'm leaving right at closing time."

WTF???

I mention that I plan on spending a fair bit of money and I had anticipated that the retailer
would be receptive to that sort of thing...

"And we are, but can you come back later?"

I'm a bit steamed, and it's ALMOST enough for me to click "Submit" on my www.webcyclery.com
Surly order. I think I'll cool down a bit first tho.

Gman

Come on man, they got families and after-work [censored] to do just like the

rest

Quoted message said:

of us. Cut them a little slack....the world doesn't revolve around you.
--
Slacker

See, even thinking about getting a SS and they start getting rude! ;^)

Mike - another Wheeler in the making.

Michael Dart said:

Quoted message said:

See, even thinking about getting a SS and they start getting rude! ;^)

Mike - another Wheeler in the making.

Me thinks GMAN has been SSing...I mean MSDBing much longer than me.

Peace, Bill The mind serves properly as a window glass rather than as a reflector, that is, the mind
should give an immediate view instead of an interpretation of the world.
:-]

Slacker said:

Cut them a little slack....the world doesn't revolve around you.
--
Slacker

It doesn't???!!!! :-)

One of my favorite sayings from all the [censored] performance/efficiency/teamwork training I've been
thru with various companies over the years is:

"This is the center of the Universe. This is you. You are not the center of the Universe."

The LBS may deserve a little slack, and maybe would have gotten it by approaching the situation with
a little more tact.

OTOH, I just decided to build up a more little chi-chi rig on webcyclery (lots of Race Face) and
found it to be VERY close to my target price range.

SEE! That's what I'm saying...I was ready to plunk down some change at the LBS a few hours ago, and
now I'm not so sure. A vendor needs to be prepared to close the deal when they have the
opportunity...

OK, now I'm rambling...

Gman out

Gman <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

So I cruise in to the LBS...knowing full well that specing out my SS will likely push them past
their advertised closing time, but I figure that I'll be spending a good deal of cash, so the
customer is always right, right???

Anyway, when I arrive the first words I hear are,

"Your timing is bad. Bubba, the guy that does that sort of stuff leaves at 5:30."

"Well, can I get some idea of my choices by looking at some catalogs or something?"

"OK, but I'm leaving right at closing time."

WTF???

I mention that I plan on spending a fair bit of money and I had anticipated that the retailer
would be receptive to that sort of thing...

"And we are, but can you come back later?"

I'm a bit steamed, and it's ALMOST enough for me to click "Submit" on my www.webcyclery.com Surly
order. I think I'll cool down a bit first tho.

Gman

Pull the trigger, GMan. That's not what a good LBS will do.

JD

Gman <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

So I cruise in to the LBS...knowing full well that specing out my SS will likely push them past
their advertised closing time, but I figure that I'll be spending a good deal of cash, so the
customer is always right, right???

Anyway, when I arrive the first words I hear are,

"Your timing is bad. Bubba, the guy that does that sort of stuff leaves at 5:30."

"Well, can I get some idea of my choices by looking at some catalogs or something?"

"OK, but I'm leaving right at closing time."

WTF???

I mention that I plan on spending a fair bit of money and I had anticipated that the retailer
would be receptive to that sort of thing...

"And we are, but can you come back later?"

I'm a bit steamed, and it's ALMOST enough for me to click "Submit" on my www.webcyclery.com Surly
order. I think I'll cool down a bit first tho.

Gman

On one hand, customer service has to be the name of the game no matter what business it is today;
but on the other hand, do you know how annoying it is to see someone come in at the last minute (so
to speak)? Most of the time, it's someone who knows full well that you close at a certain time. I
know, you're busy, and I'm busy to, but most shops have hours at least on Saturday too, so why
bother someone at the last minute, when you can plan on another day when you dont' have rush
yourself or open yourself up to that kind of attitude from someone?

Gman said:

So I cruise in to the LBS...knowing full well that specing out my SS will likely push them past
their advertised closing time, but I figure that I'll be spending a good deal of cash, so the
customer is always right, right???

Anyway, when I arrive the first words I hear are,

"Your timing is bad. Bubba, the guy that does that sort of stuff leaves at 5:30."

"Well, can I get some idea of my choices by looking at some catalogs or something?"

"OK, but I'm leaving right at closing time."

WTF???

I mention that I plan on spending a fair bit of money and I had anticipated that the retailer
would be receptive to that sort of thing...

"And we are, but can you come back later?"

I'm a bit steamed, and it's ALMOST enough for me to click "Submit" on my www.webcyclery.com Surly
order. I think I'll cool down a bit first tho.

This is exactly why I hated working retail, oh so many moons ago.

You knew the shop was closing.

You knew it wasn't just a "run in and grab a tube" type of shopping trip.

You were told the person best suited to helping you was long gone.

And you have to wonder how many times this guy has spent time and effort helping out "Looky Lou",
who's actually just comparison shopping and has every intention of going home and placing his order
with PricePoint.

Respect has to go both ways.

Kathleen

Quoted message said:

So I cruise in to the LBS...knowing full well that specing out my SS will likely push them past
their advertised closing time

I think the LBS would prefer you bought it online.

Quoted message said:

The LBS may deserve a little slack, and maybe would have gotten it by approaching the situation
with a little more tact.

Methinks an SO promised some hanky-panky in the sack. What if you knew you were going to be wailing
and moaning with the sounds of extasy from 5:30PM until dawn? Would you like to hang around the shop
and spec out a bike, possibly with some extra chi-chi?

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Gman <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

So I cruise in to the LBS...knowing full well that specing out my SS will likely push them past
their advertised closing time, but I figure that I'll be spending a good deal of cash, so the
customer is always right, right???

Dude, I know you're psyched to pick up your new ride, but it seems to me that you are drifting over
into "customer from hell" territory here. When a shop stays open late to help out a valued customer,
that is a Good Thing. The mark of a fine shop. When a customer acts like he's got a right to keep
the bike shop guys in the shop late just because he's plunking down the dough and he's "always
right", the second rule of retail applies: the customer is always an [censored].

CC

[email hidden] wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Gman <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

So I cruise in to the LBS...knowing full well that specing out my SS will likely push them past
their advertised closing time, but I figure that I'll be spending a good deal of cash, so the
customer is always right, right???

Anyway, when I arrive the first words I hear are,

"Your timing is bad. Bubba, the guy that does that sort of stuff leaves at 5:30."

"Well, can I get some idea of my choices by looking at some catalogs or something?"

"OK, but I'm leaving right at closing time."

WTF???

I mention that I plan on spending a fair bit of money and I had anticipated that the retailer
would be receptive to that sort of thing...

"And we are, but can you come back later?"

I'm a bit steamed, and it's ALMOST enough for me to click "Submit" on my www.webcyclery.com
Surly order. I think I'll cool down a bit first tho.

Gman

On one hand, customer service has to be the name of the game no matter what business it is today;
but on the other hand, do you know how annoying it is to see someone come in at the last minute
(so to speak)?

WTF do you know about anything, Doofusski? If you want to stay in business, you figure out a way to
have folks spend money at *your* place, not at Kevin's place. Especially in the bike world. These
things we ride are purely recreational, and have no necessity. Therefore, shop owners and their
employees have to be willing to go the extra mile to get the job done, to make sure they have a job
to go to tomorrow!

I worked retail long ago, and I got paid commission. I never griped about going home a half hour
late to take care of someone, even if they didn't buy a damned thing. Because those folks almost
always came back and dropped coin later. I knew then the same thing as I know now - when you sign on
as a retail employee in a luxury-good industry, you're gonna stay a few times past closing. And
customers are pretty understanding if you tell them that you have plans that night, and should be
home at a certain time - you work out a deal so that they come back, and you give them a
discretionary discount. It's not too tough - even you should be able to figure it out.

Greg - go with Kevin. Your LBS is lame, and doesn't deserve your business.

Spider (been there, done that, bought from the web.)

Gman <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

OTOH, I just decided to build up a more little chi-chi rig on webcyclery (lots of Race Face) and
found it to be VERY close to my target price range.

Kevin at Webcyclery is a lying douchebag. I wouldn't give him the peanuts out of my [censored].

JD

Kathleen <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Gman said:

So I cruise in to the LBS...knowing full well that specing out my SS will likely push them past
their advertised closing time, but I figure that I'll be spending a good deal of cash, so the
customer is always right, right???

Anyway, when I arrive the first words I hear are,

"Your timing is bad. Bubba, the guy that does that sort of stuff leaves at 5:30."

"Well, can I get some idea of my choices by looking at some catalogs or something?"

"OK, but I'm leaving right at closing time."

WTF???

I mention that I plan on spending a fair bit of money and I had anticipated that the retailer
would be receptive to that sort of thing...

"And we are, but can you come back later?"

I'm a bit steamed, and it's ALMOST enough for me to click "Submit" on my www.webcyclery.com
Surly order. I think I'll cool down a bit first tho.

This is exactly why I hated working retail, oh so many moons ago.

You weren't of the proper frame of mind for it. As you demonstrate...

Quoted message said:

You knew the shop was closing.

Hey, I work too. Funny thing - if they close at 5:30, and the whole world gets off work at 5...

Quoted message said:

You knew it wasn't just a "run in and grab a tube" type of shopping trip.

Yeah, and you expect that when you're gonna lay down big green, that you get cut a little slack,
esp. if they know you.

Quoted message said:

You were told the person best suited to helping you was long gone.

But if you know what you want...

Quoted message said:

And you have to wonder how many times this guy has spent time and effort helping out "Looky Lou",
who's actually just comparison shopping and has every intention of going home and placing his
order with PricePoint.

Tough [censored] for him. Bikes are luxury items, and you have to be prepared to make sacrifices if you
work in the biz. If you don't like

Quoted message said:

Respect has to go both ways.

No, it really doesn't. When I worked retail, I knew that I'd have to stay late every now and again.
At the time, computers were luxury items (for consumers, at least) and people didn't know much about
them. The shop closed at 6, and I stayed over quite often. But I made commission, and you're damn
right I'm going to stay until the guy lays down green. Or not. If I'm nice, and he feels good, then
he'll come in another time. I win, even if he doesn't buy from me, because the shop stays open, and
I have a chance to sell to other people.

In business, if you're not willing to go the extra mile, someone else will. Obviously retail wasn't
for you, and you chose some other pursuit. I went elsewhere because I saw the handwriting on the
wall with Dell, Northgate, Zeos, etc. And I was right. 😉

Spider

Kathleen <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Respect has to go both ways.

So when some butthead uses foul language with me on 911 I should just hang up, right?

Throwing another orange at that rotten apple, maybe I should have hung up on that dude who
inconveniently rolled his car and didn't know where he was at 03:28 last week. As far as the rotten
apple goes, it was so rude of him to make me have to stay on the phone with he, his broken arm, and
friend with an open head injury until 03:48 when I was scheduled to leave at 03:30.

The PC powers that be here call them "customers".

JD

JD said:

Kathleen <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Respect has to go both ways.

So when some butthead uses foul language with me on 911 I should just hang up, right?

Throwing another orange at that rotten apple, maybe I should have hung up on that dude who
inconveniently rolled his car and didn't know where he was at 03:28 last week. As far as the
rotten apple goes, it was so rude of him to make me have to stay on the phone with he, his broken
arm, and friend with an open head injury until 03:48 when I was scheduled to leave at 03:30.

It's about context, Jer. Are you comparing shopping for bike parts with life threatening injuries
and situations?

Quoted message said:

The PC powers that be here call them "customers".

Then they're idiots. The administration at the hospital I worked for for 11 years insisted that we
refer to patients and their families as "guests". Kinda makes you expect to see the consierge come
upstairs and do your hysterectomy personally.

Kathleen

Corvus Corvax said:

Gman <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

So I cruise in to the LBS...knowing full well that specing out my SS will likely push them past
their advertised closing time, but I figure that I'll be spending a good deal of cash, so the
customer is always right, right???

Dude, I know you're psyched to pick up your new ride, but it seems to me that you are drifting
over into "customer from hell" territory here. When a shop stays open late to help out a valued
customer, that is a Good Thing. The mark of a fine shop. When a customer acts like he's got a
right to keep the bike shop guys in the shop late just because he's plunking down the dough and
he's "always right", the second rule of retail applies: the customer is always an [censored].

CC

After searching, thinking and weighing my options, I went back to the LBS today to see what we could
work out. We talked, we cried and we worked thru
it. Hooked up with a bike shop lead dude that was VERY helpful in checking the availability and
pricing on a wide variety of parts. Bike is on the way.

Am I a [censored]??? Am I an a..hole??? I think so. I am an informed consumer, and yes, I feel that the
shop OWES me a pretty decent amount of respect... maybe wrong, maybe right, but that's just the way
it is. They want my money, they play by my rules, because there are plenty of retailers out there
that will.

Gman "[censored] customer from hell"

[email hidden] (Spider) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

<SNIP the predictable novel written by JD junior>

Quoted message said:

I worked retail long ago, and I got paid commission. I never griped about going home a half hour
late to take care of someone, even if they didn't buy a damned thing. Because those folks almost
always came back and dropped coin later. I knew then the same thing as I know now - when you sign
on as a retail employee in a luxury-good industry, you're gonna stay a few times past closing. And
customers are pretty understanding if you tell them that you have plans that night, and should be
home at a certain time - you work out a deal so that they come back, and you give them a
discretionary discount. It's not too tough - even you should be able to figure it out.

Greg - go with Kevin. Your LBS is lame, and doesn't deserve your business.

Spider (been there, done that, bought from the web.)

If you have any kind of customer service sense, you would not tell someone that you have plans
tonight and have to be home at a certain time? Isn't that the same thing as telling one it's closing
time? Yes it is, thanks for playing, JD junior ski 🙂

[email hidden] wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Spider) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

<SNIP the predictable novel written by JD junior>

Uhh, a paragraph is a novel? You are pretty dumbski - ooops, knew that already...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I worked retail long ago, and I got paid commission. I never griped about going home a half hour
late to take care of someone, even if they didn't buy a damned thing. Because those folks almost
always came back and dropped coin later. I knew then the same thing as I know now - when you
sign on as a retail employee in a luxury-good industry, you're gonna stay a few times past
closing. And customers are pretty understanding if you tell them that you have plans that night,
and should be home at a certain time - you work out a deal so that they come back, and you give
them a discretionary discount. It's not too tough - even you should be able to figure it out.

Greg - go with Kevin. Your LBS is lame, and doesn't deserve your business.

Spider (been there, done that, bought from the web.)

If you have any kind of customer service sense, you would not tell someone that you have plans
tonight and have to be home at a certain time?

It depends on the customer and the plans. Every situation is different.

Quoted message said:

Isn't that the same thing as telling one it's closing time?

No. Can't you read?

Quoted message said:

Yes it is, thanks for playing, JD junior ski 🙂

As usual, your attempts to be witty fall as flat as your MTB "terrain."

Spider