What's with the attitude from gun stores?

[brobar]

I have been treated pretty well by the guys at Firing Line

After installing a trigger kit in my XDM 5.25... I wanted to see if I could get the pull-weight on the new trigger. I called the Firing Line and spoke with somebody and inquired if their gunsmith had a trigger-pull scale and if they would mind me getting a pull-weight on my new trigger if I brought it by. They said "yep, we have one... I don't think it will be a problem if you use it". I said thanks, hung up and drove on by the store. I spoke with the same guy behind the counter and he said "yeah, I said we have one, but it has been broken for a while". When I asked him why he didn't tell me that over the phone, he said "you didn't ask".

There was another time when I needed to adjust the adjustable target sights on my 1911. I inquired with a gentleman behind the counter if I could borrow a screwdriver for 2 minutes to adjust my sights. "I'll bring it right back", I said. The guy handed me a screwdriver that was in a cup full of pens and pencils and said "don't you steal this now". I said "you don't have to worry about me stealing it... I'll bring it right back" and he said "I know I don't have to worry about you stealing it... because I'm following you in there so you don't!"

Experiences like this are why I won't use them for anything other than their range. Customer service is NOT hard. Even if you are having a bad day, you can fake it. But if you put people in retail positions with no real customer service training... I guess that is what you get. If I managed a gun store, I would not put up with stuff like that from my employees. Smile and kill them with kindness... your paycheck depends on it. But you can't blame the employees. If the managers allow their employees to treat customers that way... the manager is just as much to blame.