The straw that broke the camel’s back was last Friday. I was in Large
Sporting Goods store where I was assisted by a very helpful employee in
confirming the black power supplies I needed didn’t exist in his store. I told
him I was just going to look at the pistols under glass on my way out, but that
I wasn’t in the market for anything any time soon and thanked him for his help.
As I worked my way down the counter, I ran into his associate who was chatting
up a couple. He asked what I was looking for, and I told him what caliber, but
that I wasn’t in the market yet. His response?
“I got a hot pink one in the back!”
I spun on my heel and started to exit, but stopped after two steps and
turned back.
“Really?” I said. “The first thing that comes out of your mouth is the color?
Not the manufacturer, or the model, but the COLOR? SERIOUSLY?”
The female half of the couple standing there assured me that it was
real “purdy”. She’d seen it!
I sighed and resumed my exit.
I don’t have a pink hammer, or a pink trim saw, pink kitchen knives, a
pink mixer, a pink lawnmower or a pink car. Other than one pair of scissors, I
can not think of a single tool I own that is pink. When I walk into a wine
store, the salesweasels don’t assume I drink white zinfandel, or show me where
the wine coolers. My used car guy doesn’t try to sell me a minivan. Why do guns
stores think I want a pink gun?
So what is worse, being offered something in pink, or being totally ignored?
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a preferred flavor of crappy customer service, actually.
DeleteI love the "You have three heads" look I get when I ask to see the purple colored handguns.
ReplyDeleteListon - I get ignored, too. I went into my local gun store and told the guy who recognized me that I was there for their FB special for the "Out of the box Mosin Nagant". He immediately interrupted to tell me they were missing some info from the seller on the transfer then did for me 3 months earlier. (Read: They didn't copy it down). I tracked it down for him at which point he filled out the book, and then excused himself to go attend to customers. I said "What am I? Chopped liver?" The phone rang, he answered it, and then walked off with me still standing there.
ReplyDeleteI am most certainly a novice. But if you want to sell me a gun based on color rather than asking what I plan on using it for I'm not so sure I'm going to have a lot of faith in anything you tell me. Help educate me and earn my trust, and you'll have a customer for life.
i love how the first response gives off the air of "well you ASKED for it!"
ReplyDeleteno. we ask for respect. we don't ask to be treated like children. assuming we'll buy anything based on color is assuming we have the maturity of children.
I Feel Your Pain.
ReplyDeleteBlatant stupidity in this day and age... Sigh...
ReplyDeleteBasic black & a string of pearls!
ReplyDeleteAnd yet the other woman in the store confirmed the stereotype, didn't she?
ReplyDeleteSadly, folks like you and Tam are few and far between.
90% of customers in gun stores confirm another sort of stereotype, Mr. B, and yet I will address you as though you are an intelligent person who knows what you want and understands which end the bullet comes out, even though, sadly, people like you are few and far between.
DeleteI hate the color pink. But, I have learned that a band of pink glow in the dark duck tape on all my tools & equipment, keeps them from walking away, and can be spotted at distance.
ReplyDeleteHey, consider it a compliment! the guy immediately recognised that you were a girl! Regrettably, a painfully inordinate percentage of [ostensibly] female customers at a friends small firearms store locally take several hard [and painful] looks to determine their gender...
ReplyDeleteI detest pink and just hate the way everything geared for selling to women is pink. Thanks, but even though I am average height and 120# female, that doesn't mean I need a pink and dainty hammer or a pink gun.
ReplyDeleteMy power tools are yellow and black, or red and black. My hand tools are in "mens" colors. And my guns are black. Don't even try to give me a pink anything!