Originally Posted by
samburger
Just curious, what exactly is your experience in retail? If you come from a recent background of retail employment (ie since big business took over the world & taking advantage of a company's desire to avoid bad press from abusive customers by caving in to their ridiculous demands became the norm) & have still managed to keep a positive attitude about retail customers, more power to you. But it's hard to take criticism from someone who compares working in an auto shop to working in actual retail just because you happen to deal with customers. Again, kudos of you actually know what it's like, that's just not the impression I'm getting.
I worked in retail: my family had a business when I was a kid, and my wife and I did for a number of years whilst raising our kids. We had Customers come in and ask tons of questions and even take pictures of our work, so as to go out and make it themselves or buy it elsewhere. We did our best to treat everyone as a valued Customer, even if they were total jerks. But the number of jerks was greatly outweighed by the number of genuinely good folk.
I pretty much buy most everything from my LBS. In some cases, when I don't want to spend the gasoline to drive I will internet shop, but in the end the treatment I get (courtesy, patience, real assistance) has me spending money there. And if I am just shooting the breeze with a worker there, I cut the conversation and step back (I physically step away) so they can turn to the person that just came in. I love cycling, the folks that I like to ride with, and try to carry that attitude to the shop. They give me a 10% discount from being a local club member, and in the end that makes my internet shopping only a small amount better price wise after shipping. And in the mechanic shop, they go WAAAY beyond the call of duty - a bike fit, seat post, stem, front and rear hub rebuild, and derailler adjustment cost me $96.
And there is that other, bigger local shop up the street. I won't spend my money on discounted merchandise there, I'd rather pay full $ at the shop down the street.
As to the Bastard population in Georgia, could it be, El Guapo, that just maybe your Bastard Detector is more a self-fulfilling prophecy kinda thing? And to "take criticism" from someone that only works in an auto shop? The needle is starting to move on the Detector, but I wonder why?