The Things Customers Do

[JR Boucicaut 3793]

I would hope he would know how a skate fits since hes been "skating a long time" but any pointers for the future like for the little guys I take out the footbeds and make them stand on it for the parents to see should I proceed on doing this with everyone?

Judging by the fact that you can put 1 footbed in 3 different sized skates...no.

[dumbpolak9 1]

Got'cha thanks for the help guys. I guess I'll continue posting stories from the monkey

[wrangler 157]

Got'cha thanks for the help guys. I guess I'll continue posting stories from the monkey

You're way ahead of the lazy LHS staff that don't care, and make it up as they go along, like some of the stories you've seen.

It's great to see you're trying hard to do a good job.

[raganblink 82]

Sizing is a weird thing. Last week a guy with a 11 shoe came in, put him in bauer skate gauge, guy is really a 7ee. He went with a 10d. We tried on everything in between. People are weird.

[HockeySavants 5]

"Hey how do you hockey stop?"

Edited January 3, 2011 by HockeySavants

[JoeyJ0506 192]

He must have retractable toes to go down 2.5 sizes when he already fills out the length of the 11.5.

Not so unbelievable. I'm currently in a size 11.5 pair of Nike Cross-Training shoes that I had to go up a size from my normal 11 because this particular shoe "runs small". A few weeks ago I got properly measured for the first time in a long time for skates. My larger foot fits like a glove into a size 8 Supreme One100, my other foot is somewhere between a size 7 and 7.5. Luckily I had a good guy at the shop that basically refused to sell me the skates because "unless you go custom one skate or the other is going to be an absolute mess on your foot." His store (Hockey Chain Store) does not have the "competent staff" to fit a custom skate, He directed me to where I can have all the measurements and such done.

Moral of the story... all of our feet are like... snowflakes

Edited January 3, 2011 by JoeyJ0506

[Lee-Bro 1]

95% of people I've seen buying skates don't wear the "correct" shoe size, especially in sneakers. You should never trust anything they say about sizing and measure them.

This.

My shoe size will range anywhere from 9.5 to 10.5 depending on what type of shoe, manufacturer, and style. When buying shoes I'll typically start at the 10 and go from there. There's a couple 11s in there too. For my running shoes, I've never bought the same shoe twice (updates & such). I bring in my current shoe, talk to the associate about what I like, they look at the wear pattern, measure me and we go from there.

I got into hockey just before the holidays and I went to 2 diff't LHSs. The first store had me feeling good in a 8.5 Reebok 4k (can't remember width). The second (better stocked & where I purchased) had me feeling good in Vapor 30s @ a 9EE.

[srv2miker 0]

I don't work in a LHS, but i went to sportchek today and was near the skates section.

The employee was trying to sell skates to this woman buying it for her husband. He told her straight up Bauers can not be baked and only Reeboks could be.

Then she asked about the X15s and One60s because she said her husband had narrower feet. She wanted to know which one was better. The guy then states that the One60s are for forwards and the X15s are for defensemen because they provided more ankle support. And of course, he tries to sell the x15s for $150. She goes, well i do want him to have more ankle support so i'll take those (X15s). The One60s were only $20 more.

I wanted to say something... but didn't want to intrude.

My best sportchek story:

I'm hanging out near the skates and overhear this gem from a Sportchek employee regarding CCM/RBK's lacelock feature - "Oh that? That's to help keep your feet warm".

I swear sportcheck's training program involves nothing more than teaching kids how to tell what items cost more than others.

[dsjunior1388 81]

"Hey how do you hockey stop?"

I had to ask my dad that question when I was 10. I had never done anything but open skate, and would just slow down and then catch the boards to stop. I thought I knew how, tried it at way too high a speed and almost broke my ankles.

[XveritasX 13]

My best sportchek story:

I'm hanging out near the skates and overhear this gem from a Sportchek employee regarding CCM/RBK's lacelock feature - "Oh that? That's to help keep your feet warm".

I swear sportcheck's training program involves nothing more than teaching kids how to tell what items cost more than others.

Believe it or not their training program is fairly good. The problem is that many of sportcheks employee's are high school kids that could really care less about having a part time job.

[shotty 7]

their trainging program is good, but flawed, i know because i i've PK'd sport chek and coast mountain sports/atmosphere staff both before and after their new training programs were initiated, and to be honest, i prefer the previous method.

in the new method, the team leaders/managers of each department from each store gather at a single location and sit through product knowledge clinics with the sales reps or tech reps, usually all the brands in one day. each brand gets an hour or so to do their thing, and the staff members go back to their respective stores and educate their peers. unless that one staff member was taking serious notes or has a photographic memory, the knowledge he passes down to the rest of the department will be seriously lacking. if he quits, the department is screwed, and usually the region trainer will come in and educate the department. the problem with regional trainers is that they THINK they are tech reps and more often than not, provide false information. if more than one store is saying that a certain skate is a defenseman's skate and another is a forward's, they were probably trained by an in house regional trainer. the other downside is that after, say, the first two or three brands, the staff start to get distracted or bored and lose focus.

in the previous method, each rep visited each store after hours and did a more intimate PK/clinic with the majority, if not all, of the staff members at any given location. it cost more time and money for the reps, however i think that the outcome was far superior. as a rep, you got more face time with the staff, were able to make an impression, and educate them first hand. and of course, every kid loves free pizza and pop.

Edited January 3, 2011 by shotty

[wrangler 157]

Not so unbelievable. I'm currently in a size 11.5 pair of Nike Cross-Training shoes that I had to go up a size from my normal 11 because this particular shoe "runs small". A few weeks ago I got properly measured for the first time in a long time for skates. My larger foot fits like a glove into a size 8 Supreme One100, my other foot is somewhere between a size 7 and 7.5. Luckily I had a good guy at the shop that basically refused to sell me the skates because "unless you go custom one skate or the other is going to be an absolute mess on your foot." His store (Hockey Chain Store) does not have the "competent staff" to fit a custom skate, He directed me to where I can have all the measurements and such done.

Moral of the story... all of our feet are like... snowflakes

Shoes vs. skates OK, but this is the first I've seen of 2.5 sizes in skate vs. skate, where the guy said his toes were touching the toe cap, in the larger size.

[Chadd 916]

Shoes vs. skates OK, but this is the first I've seen of 2.5 sizes in skate vs. skate, where the guy said his toes were touching the toe cap, in the larger size.

If his heel isn't locked in, his foot will slide forward and touch the front, or they could be touching the sides.

[wrangler 157]

If his heel isn't locked in, his foot will slide forward and touch the front, or they could be touching the sides.

Makes sense, but I assumed that the heel was all the way back in both skates. I keep forgetting what a dangerous maneuver that is, and I execute it way too often, usually without protection.

[Chadd 916]

Makes sense, but I assumed that the heel was all the way back in both skates. I keep forgetting what a dangerous maneuver that is, and I execute it way too often, usually without protection.

I've learned that you really can't expect most players to know how to fit a boot. While you can't talk down to them, you really should start with all the basics when fitting people. Loosen the laces and have them slide their foot as far forward as they can without causing pain and you would be surprised at how often you can see enough space to go down at least another half size.

[wrangler 157]

I've learned that you really can't expect most players to know how to fit a boot. While you can't talk down to them, you really should start with all the basics when fitting people. Loosen the laces and have them slide their foot as far forward as they can without causing pain and you would be surprised at how often you can see enough space to go down at least another half size.

I've never had skates that loose. I've always had to push my heel down to get them on, my toes have touched the front, and the skates have been snug, but not too tight. Since I'm not too conversant with fitting process and problems, I'm thinking I've been fortunate.

[HockeySavants 5]

I had to ask my dad that question when I was 10. I had never done anything but open skate, and would just slow down and then catch the boards to stop. I thought I knew how, tried it at way too high a speed and almost broke my ankles.

This d-bag at the rink was out skating like a moron and asked the rink guard on how to hockey stop and gave him a very basic tutorial on how to do it, but when the guy tried he fell flat on his face and his gf laughed at him.

That made my day...and to make things worse I 'hockey stopped' right in front of him and climbed into the bench, he then asked me if I played hockey, etc. "No man I just know how to climb into benches and have skated since I was 4, why would I play hockey" is what I wanted to tell him

[XveritasX 13]

their trainging program is good, but flawed, i know because i i've PK'd sport chek and coast mountain sports/atmosphere staff both before and after their new training programs were initiated, and to be honest, i prefer the previous method.

in the new method, the team leaders/managers of each department from each store gather at a single location and sit through product knowledge clinics with the sales reps or tech reps, usually all the brands in one day. each brand gets an hour or so to do their thing, and the staff members go back to their respective stores and educate their peers. unless that one staff member was taking serious notes or has a photographic memory, the knowledge he passes down to the rest of the department will be seriously lacking. if he quits, the department is screwed, and usually the region trainer will come in and educate the department. the problem with regional trainers is that they THINK they are tech reps and more often than not, provide false information. if more than one store is saying that a certain skate is a defenseman's skate and another is a forward's, they were probably trained by an in house regional trainer. the other downside is that after, say, the first two or three brands, the staff start to get distracted or bored and lose focus.

in the previous method, each rep visited each store after hours and did a more intimate PK/clinic with the majority, if not all, of the staff members at any given location. it cost more time and money for the reps, however i think that the outcome was far superior. as a rep, you got more face time with the staff, were able to make an impression, and educate them first hand. and of course, every kid loves free pizza and pop.

I was talking about the online portion of training, it is fairly informative. They still do some training where company reps go store to store to talk about their product and how to fit it properly, this seems to be mainly for snowboard/skiing though. I do agree that sending a single manager out to learn everything and teach the store can be pretty bad. I work at a sportchek and I was there when a bunch of store managers were recapping what they learned at the hockey PK and yeah their memories must suck. I had to correct them when they were talking about how the U+ CL stick was so light because it has eight holes in the shaft. I suppose I may be somewhat bias since I know that my store has some players that play up to university level hockey coupled with a genuine care for helping the customer, so I honestly think our store can rival many LHS for quality of service. I do realize that my store is the exception to the rule here though.

[raganblink 82]

Hey LHS guys, can you help me out on this one?

Where do you buy the gridwall in the background?

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/9916/gridwall.png

Double bared? We don't care about the width or height of the bars, just need to fill an 8X8 section with double bared gridwall.

Any help in the right direction would be most appreciated.

And things customers do rant -

Come in 5 minutes before close with their buds, then there buds go to their cars to get skates to sharpen, so we get to leave 20 minutes late.

[Chadd 916]

Hey LHS guys, can you help me out on this one?

Where do you buy the gridwall in the background?

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/9916/gridwall.png

Double bared? We don't care about the width or height of the bars, just need to fill an 8X8 section with double bared gridwall.

Any help in the right direction would be most appreciated.

http://www.storesupply.com/c-700-wire-grid-and-slat-grid-panels.aspx

[raganblink 82]

Thanks chadd.

[Chadd 916]

No problem, we used them for a lot of our stuff. Prices aren't terrible and they ship pretty quickly.

[raganblink 82]

Price is actually about 5% lower than where we got our original shipment in, definitely will stick with these guys in future, already shipped.

[raganblink 82]

Another goodie,

Had a dad who comes in for skate sharpenings weekly, returned a cage, their kid plays high school hockey (senior) and literally got 5% of his gear from us, they got it from another hockey shop (now closed) or online except for some gloves and his latest stick (another very long story... tried to exchange broken one from online with one we have in shop).

So I return the cage and charged our restocking fee (6%). It was 2.10 that they didn't get back on the cage. Dad was cool with it. He had sharpenings so he just paid with his sharpenings with the money he was getting back.

I get a call from the Mom, who went complete apeshit on me it wasn't funny. Apparently a restocking fee is ridiculous, and that she's never heard of such a thing, and that the other shop that is now closed never had one. I tried to explain why it is there - fee for credit card, don't make a final sale, now have to repackage cage to look like others which costs man hours. This is illogical to her because a restocking fee is 'fucking stupid, you're just trying to scam us', so she told me she was just going to buy all of her stuff online... They have a restocking fee (that is higher %) & you have to pay to ship it back usually.

I'm still in amazement. Oh and the reason the kid wanted to return it (bought it day before Christmas...now is just returning it) is because he wanted white, not gunmetal. Problem is right now they don't make a bauer truvision in white. Makes me smile :)

[dumbpolak9 1]

I got nothing bad but I had a customer come into day and thank us for opening the monkey