Don't mind me, just venting....

[mlrpa]

Greetings all,

Allow me a few moments to explain this vent. I am a asst. manager, (ie:peon) in a local music store. I am also a guitar tech of some 25 years, and, at least according to my customers, a good one. But I do have one weakness. I HATE STUPID PEOPLE. I sincerely believe that you should be required to take an IQ test before being allowed to breed, and that the vast majority of Americans have an IQ equal to that of a small furry rodent. There are some major exceptions to that, and I met most of those exceptions here.

Anyway......

While working Saturday, I had 2 furry rodents bring in their guitars for me to fix. (Hence the reason for this rant.)

1, A guy comes in with a electric guitar case in tow. He tells me that he put new strings on it, and now it doesn't make a sound when plugged into a amp. When I opened the case, I found an Epiphone paul with NYLON strings on it. After I explained why it wasn't working, I asked why did he put those strings on. He tells me that he was trying to make it an electric acoustic. (I kid you not gentle readers.)

2, At 5:30 pm, a half hour before closing, a guy comes in with his 18ish year old son, and a strat case. As he puts the case on the counter, I hear rattling. a LOT of rattling. When i opened the case, there was a Fender American Deluxe strat completely disassembled. And I mean COMPLETELY disassembled. Every single part that could be unscrewed was. Intonation screws, tuners, pickups wires neatly snipped, (At the pickup I might add.) everything apart. Then the man asked if I could have it done by 7:00pm, cause his son had a gig that night at 9:00pm.

After a few moments to compose myself, I asked when and how did this happen. The kid said he did it a few days ago cause he wanted to see how it worked. I then asked, after a few calming breaths, what made him bring it in, a mere three hours before the gig? His answer, and I quote, "I forgot about it." (At this point, the musician in me went bonkers, and I did the rare bit of yelling.)

"YOU 'FORGOT' ABOUT TEARING APART YOUR GUITAR BEFORE THE FREAKING GIG!?!?!? ARE YOU ON DRUGS?"

I asked his dad to check the kids room for drugs, cause only a moron or a speedfreak would do that. His dad looked at me as if I was on drugs for even suggesting it. And in a calm voice, he asked me how much to fix it by 7. I told him $500. $100 to rebuild it, $400 for stupidity fee. At this point, the rodent child, who had been tweaking away, badly I might add, on a mexi strat chimed in. "F**k that, my dad will buy me a new one for that. I want this one."

(Intermission. Now, a $600 sale on a day that was barely touching the $130 mark would have been a good thing. But I have a self impossed responsibilty to my customers. I refuse to over sale, or make someone get something they really don't need.)

I told the dad to seriously check the kids room for drugs, and that if he bought the kid that guitar, then he was a bigger moron than the kid. And then proceeded to pull a "Dr. Phil" and explained the complete lack of responsibilty that he was teaching the rodent child. His reaction?

"So, you can't fix the guitar by 7?" I just asked them to leave at that point.

Which is why I took today off.

See there are people stupider then G. bush.

[KIIMH]

hi duds - 1st post

i have a merican dluxe strt that migt ned fixin. i tuk off a cupple scroos an cant git it back un-apart. wuld i need a sodder iurn. are the wires impotent. how many of the spair parts can i jus leav out. thanks a bunsch. kyle

[mlrpa]

I love humorous replys! Just wish I saw one. ;D

[ChrisK]

Hey, hey, hey.

Count your blessings.

After all, this is what makes average average, and those there above, superior.


If'n it wern't fer der stoopid pipples, we'd have to try a bit harder, wouldn't we?


It's much better to be the windshield than the bug.


However, I must chastise you for failing to separate a most deserving fool from his money.

This seemed like a perfect customer for some truly "vintage stuff", in an ongoing manner, for a long time. Now, add in the $200 for the set of SCN Strat pickups, inform him that the pots, switch, and jack were GeFooey, and sell him a brand new guitar, one highest margin replacement part at a time.

And, encourage the dear lad to continue to experiment.

After all, it's low voltage, and he could be(come) a customer for a loooong time.


Don't forget, Custom Shop Strats DO make one a better player too.

[D2o]

Aug 11, 2008 16:17:36 GMT -5 mlrpa said:

I love humorous replys! Just wish I saw one. ;D

dud, w8 a sec ... wuz that you at that stor, man?

glad u see the humer.

I sympathize with you, and I gotta second Chris a little bit.

Unless you are the only game in town, nobody won ... the idiot still had his money (seemingly in endless supply, for the unlimited use of idiot junior) ... and idiot junior just went to your competition to get what he wanted (as opposed to kneeded ... as in a knee to the package) ...

You could have continued to chastise the young punk - let's call him kyle, and made your point (as much as was possible), while you made some legitimate money (a friend in kneed is a friend indeed).

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. You sure as heck aren't going to change that. Besides, kyle is probably a lot older than he looks ... after all, no one could get that stupid that fast.

DD

[mlrpa]

Well, while it's true that I should have seperated the fool from his money,
1) I just couldn't do it. Even after the surgury to remove it, my conscience would have bothered me.
2) And at 5 minutes to 6, and every place closing at 6, it's safe to say no one got a new guitar.

And no, I realize I wasn't going to change "Kyle" and dad. But someone had to try, right? And me, convince someone to buy a Fender? ME, He-Who-Hates-Fender-More-Than-Bush? I think not my friend.

[sumgai]

Besides.........

I know his part of town - there ain't no other competition to speak of, unless you drive like 20+ miles to a Guitar Center, in a mall, that's getting ready to close (and you know what that means, attitude-wise), and you've still got a 7:00pm gig. Now are you getting mlrpa's picture? ;D

Maybe it's a NorthWest thing, but life's too short to keep fools and money apart, they always find some way to get back together again. The sheer number of Starbucks outlets here (and their competition) proves that! (We've got twice as many of them as we do sebenty-lebenties. :

It's like plugging the 101st hole in a , knowing that the first 100 holes are gonna get bigger and bigger, the longer you stand there.........




sumgai

[KIIMH]

Well, mlrpa, you're either a bigger man than me, or a bigger fool than me.

I don't know any man here who is the latter. Well done.

[lunaalta]

LOL.....
Hey mlrpa, keep it together or it'll fall apart, unless the rodent gets there first.

[mlrpa]

Thank you one and all!

I see what I do a bit differently then some. I've developed a great reputation with my customers. I have grandmothers come to me, looking for a guitar for their 9 year old grandkid, and leave with a great guitar, and future memories. Other customers intially want a new guitar, and leave with just their guitar a bit modded out. Yeah, we lost a 300-600 sale that day, but in the next 6 months, they'll buy an amp, case, strings, and all sorts of do-dads WELL over that . I have guitar mod customers, that if I told them to cover their guitars with human feces, leave it sit for 3 days, then clean it off with their wife's wedding dress, the only question I'll get is, "Should I cut the dress in strips, or just as a wad?" I like having that kind of rep, and I refuse to allow someone like "Kyle" and rodent father to make me compromise it.

I guess I just have some old fashioned principles. (sigh... there goes that gig at GC I suspose...)

[ashcatlt]

I wasn't a party to the this conversation. Don't really know you aside from a passing acquaintance here. I certainly can sympathize with frustration over the rampant idiocy in the Amerikan populace. I've mentioned elsewhere on this board how I believe some of this has been deliberately engineered into the public school system as we know it today.

All that said, I feel like the basic tenets of professionalism preclude such things as calling your customers idiots, morons, and drug addicts, and yelling of any sort. I can see where, in a music shop, one might be required to raise one's voice occasionally simply to be heard over "Stairway...", but you get the point.

You claim to be concerned about your reputation. Well, how do you think that's going to go with the friends and relatives of this particular pair of subgeniuses? What about the other members of Kyle's band? You think that these folks will grant to you the fact that they are idiots and thereby deserved your tongue-lashing? I'm thinking not. I'd be willing to bet that for years to come every time little Kyle passes your shop he will relate his side of the story to anybody within earshot. "That's the place where the [explitive deleted] said I was on drugs and called my dad a moron."

Seems to me as though you might have had a rental that night, a repair job the next day, and a customer for life. You could have been the guy who saved his butt and really came through in a pinch. You might also have invited Kyle to stop by and watch as you performed the reconstructive surgery. Education really is the best (as in, least messy) way to combat ignorance.

Oh well.

[mlrpa]

You knoiw Ash, I can agree with you on all points there. I could have scored the "trifecta". Money, sale, and being a hero. But....

I was a speed freak at that age. There are unmistakable "vibes" I guess you could call them, that those who did it pick up on. I truely believe he was using. Fixing his guitar, or allowing his dad to pay for a new guitar, wouldn't have helped him in the long run. So yea, in that case, to him and his friends, I am a villian.

But don't we all need some kind of villian at some point in our lives to help point us in the proper direction?

[D2o]

mlrpa,

At first, the story - as you laid it out - made it seem like you were just pd at young kyle's stupidity. Now it seems you were genuinely concerned about his welfare.

Reflecting on it a bit, do you think they thought you were concerned about kyle's welfare, or just on a rant?

What if you had accepted the job, and then used the contact info to give kyle (I'm not sure which one) a call and have a chat about your concerns?

I hope you do not regret starting this thread. If you were genuinely - but perhaps ineffectively - trying to help young kyle, it's a good thing you did start this thread.

Thank you for having enough trust in us to share your past struggles with us.

Your perseverance in straightening up and flying right is a reward for all of us.

DD

[ChrisK]

I remember a GC sale some years ago where a Fender Mexican Strat was offered for $300 (I think that they were $350 street at the time). It was red and shiny.

There was also a Parker P-38 (HSS with Fishman piezo saddles and PowerChip) for $300 (they were $600 street at the time). It was also red and shiny.

A fellow was a'shoppin' for an electric guitar. I was helping him shop since I knew a bit more aboot stuff than the GC sales folk (who were busy), and "specials" were a poppin' up all day (I can think of worse places to loiter).


He really liked the Parker due to its feel, tone, flexibility, and sale price.

However, he felt compelled to buy the Fender guitar because "folks" would think more of him if'n he had a well-known name brand.

Did I mention that they were both red and shiny?

Well, after all, "nobody ever got fired for specifying IBM."


I ran into him a number of years later and he said "I should have bought the Parker." I just smiled..........

[andy]

mlrpa,

Thanks for being so honest. In your defence, I have close friends who reckon they can spot a crystal fiend a mile off. Guess it leaves a pretty clear mark.

I was in two minds about the shop incedent, of course only having read about it, but the destruction of ones own guitar the day before a gig does hint at a bit of a lack of wherewithall! On the other hand I am terrible at being rude, even when it is fully deserved (I am an Englishman, after all! ).
It seems customers are quite used to being grovelled to by companies counting every penny to pass onto their shareholders- I haven't worked in a shop for many years, have never called anyone Sir or Madam, and don't like to be called as such (especially not Madam!), but my wife is a retail manager, and is obliged to be nice to the rudest, most pompous, and frankly, on-the-make, people. I also have a friend who runs a market stall. His customers occasionally stamp their feet and scream to get their own way too, not realising that no-one will sack him when he tells them where to stick their fresh bunch of notes...

[clr]

hahahaha

well the customer's always right?