The Things Customers Do

[AHF 1]

One pet-peeve of mine that I don't think has been brought up yet...

Eager customers calling the store to see if the piece of equipment they ordered has arrived. The good ones call on a daily basis too...

Sweet christ man. We'll call you when it comes in. Until then, fuck off! :lol:

[Stacey 0]

Funny you mention that because it was from one of those calls that I found out about MSH. I remember the day very vividly because our store received about 10 calls inquiring about the availability of a particular shaft that was on it's way out of rotation and had apparently been hot commodity on this site. Since then we routinely get calls about product that correlate very well with certain hot topic discussions on this board ie availability of Pro Tacks skates ;)

[Hooah4 12]

I've run into so many customers at Lightning/Red Wings games, they'd be like "You're the dude from the pro shop! You sold me a pair of skates and they are the best I've ever had."

I run into a lot of my customers as well...wether it's at West Edmonton Mall or at Rexall Place, I do see a lot a familiar faces. Most don't recognize me though, as I always wear a hat away from the store. Hehe

Well I stick out like a sore thumb at hockey games anyway so it doesn't take much.

Must be the haircut ;)

Everytime I read this thread it makes me visit my local shop.

[dalebert 8]

Another personal favorite.

When a customer calls the shop I work at we answer the phone by saying [store name] how can I help you? Then our wonderful caller hits me with this one..."Is this [store name]? So my answer once was..."hold on let me check."

[marcuslid 0]

No, lets talk more about robots. When will they make robot goalies?

Maybe Marty is a robot?

[AHF 1]

Got myself a $20 tip today. B)

Long story short: mom and son came in with the intention of getting a new helmet...we tried a few helmets, I tried (and tried, and tried) to get a cage/visor combo to fit properly together. I tried many combinations, and after about an hour, we finally got a winner; NBH 8500 with the Oakley cage they already had. (The initial plan was to purchase a new cage/visor combo as well, but the darned FX50 just wouldn't do it no matter what I tried. Curse that damned thing!)

[furlanitalia 1]

Thats pretty cool to hear. I only ever got 5 dollars for applying shaftsaver to some kids low end one piece lol

[forbs02 20]

That is a very rewarding feeling...

I've run into so many customers at Lightning/Red Wings games, they'd be like "You're the dude from the pro shop! You sold me a pair of skates and they are the best I've ever had."

Sometimes they get a little too appreciative. I was working at an arena part time after I had quit my job at the hockey shop. I had a customer recognize me from fitting him/sharpening his skates. We made small talk and then the guy put hands on my neck and pretended to choke me because he was so upset I didn't work at the shop anymore.

I do still get people who remember me from the shop and its been almost 3 years since I worked there.

[JR Boucicaut 3759]

That is a very rewarding feeling...

I've run into so many customers at Lightning/Red Wings games, they'd be like "You're the dude from the pro shop! You sold me a pair of skates and they are the best I've ever had."

Sometimes they get a little too appreciative. I was working at an arena part time after I had quit my job at the hockey shop. I had a customer recognize me from fitting him/sharpening his skates. We made small talk and then the guy put hands on my neck and pretended to choke me because he was so upset I didn't work at the shop anymore.

I do still get people who remember me from the shop and its been almost 3 years since I worked there.

Ha, should've kneed him in the nuts and then apologize and said that you had been taking self-defense courses and instinct took over. :)

BTW - congratulations on a great season - all the way to the Frozen Four!

I'll have to call ya soon and catch up...

[AHF 1]

Is looking after your kids really that hard to do?

Dad came in to get two pairs of skates sharpened. As I was doing them, his two little rats were running around like crazy, screaming nonsense the whole time, and just being royal pains in the ass. Grabing sticks, trying gloves on their heads, playing with the skate oven, laying out pylons all over the place...

...and dad didn't flinch. Instead, he chose to text on his phone, or just ignore them completely.

Grrr.

[DarkStar50 679]

Is looking after your kids really that hard to do?

Dad came in to get two pairs of skates sharpened. As I was doing them, his two little rats were running around like crazy, screaming nonsense the whole time, and just being royal pains in the ass. Grabing sticks, trying gloves on their heads, playing with the skate oven, laying out pylons all over the place...

...and dad didn't flinch. Instead, he chose to text on his phone, or just ignore them completely.

Grrr.

With the shop being inside the rink, that is when I show the kids where the lobby is, with or without Daddy.

This hasn't been mentioned in a long time: the knuckleheads who bring their oversized equipment bag into the shop to take their skates out for sharpening. Nothing is happening until that bag goes outside the shop. "I'm sorry, sir but if I let one bag in here than everyone wants to bring their bag in here. And we just don't have the room for everyone's bag." ;)

[shotty 7]

Things LHS employees do to piss off customers:

shoot a fucking hockey ball and hit my 11 month old son in the face, then drop the stick and hide behind the desk.

[AHF 1]

Things LHS employees do to piss off customers:

shoot a fucking hockey ball and hit my 11 month old son in the face, then drop the stick and hide behind the desk.

Wow. That's brutal.

Did the manager step in? Or did they ignore the incident altogether? Either way, I would've been livid...

I don't care how slow the store is, employees should never shoot pucks/balls. It's extremely unprofessional, and like you just proved, dangerous as well.

Edited July 9, 2009 by AHF

[RadioGaGa 162]

That's brutal. I hope that employee was disciplined.

[sockeyes17 0]

Things LHS employees do to piss off customers:

shoot a fucking hockey ball and hit my 11 month old son in the face, then drop the stick and hide behind the desk

where was that at?

[CTK30 0]

Things LHS employees do to piss off customers:

shoot a fucking hockey ball and hit my 11 month old son in the face, then drop the stick and hide behind the desk.

I'd have to punch him at least once

Edited July 9, 2009 by CTK30

[tonguesOUT4life 17]

Things LHS employees do to piss off customers:

shoot a fucking hockey ball and hit my 11 month old son in the face, then drop the stick and hide behind the desk.

I'd have to punch him at least once

twice.

[Too Old 1]

And cross check him through the front door glass to boot.

[1stLiner91 0]

I was going to a hockey tournament in Ottawa and our team stayed at SouthWay Inn which happened to be right across the street. I needed new skates as my 5k pumps were all torn. I was there for about 20 mins browsing skates and I couldn't decide between S15s and one95s so one of the employees (who looked like Jason Spezza LOL) measured my feet then brought 5 boxes of skates, I was overwhelmed that someone would do this for me. Helped him put the skates back in the boxes then he put the one95s in the oven. Needed some sticks so i bought an ak27 combo and a one95 blade. One of the nice girls at the till said something about her being sorry that I couldn't get a deal which i never even asked for.

We won the tournament! :P

Went there last week and they all recognized me and asked how the skates were and everything.

[interpathway 9]

Things LHS employees do to piss off customers:

shoot a fucking hockey ball and hit my 11 month old son in the face, then drop the stick and hide behind the desk.

I'd have to punch him at least once

Probably in Rockville Maryland. The shop at Rockville Ice Arena is absolutely horrendous and I hope to never do business with them again.

Edited July 13, 2009 by interpathway

[DeuceNine 1]

If someone who works at an LHS ever wonders why people prefer to shop online, or go to competing stores - this is the exact attitude that drives it. If you treat my $100 likes it no biggie, then I won't bother to shop at your store and I'll go somewhere where they're happy to sell me anything because they know it leads to a happy customer and more future purchases.

I know exactly the type that you sound like. you're busy talking on the phone or staring at the computer, I ask for some help or something, you're pissed off because I broke some 'golden rule' like don't flex the sticks, so you slowly get your lazy ass off a chair and probably let out a little sigh too, and then serve me with a frown. Next time I come in, I flex all the sticks I want until I decide, then walk out and then go buy online from someone who won't give me attitude cuz 'it's only $100'.

This is where the phrase 'good help is so hard to find' comes from.

I know I'm responding to an old post, but screw it, I just joined the forum. Thx joysticks...

I've never worked at a lhs, but many years in specialty retail. Trust me when I tell you that people that shop online do much of their fact-finding (and time-wasting) locally. If the online shopping ecosystem were self-contained, no retailer here would say a word.

Edited September 24, 2009 by DeuceNine

[raganblink 82]

My gripes, all of which are typical with everyone else... we all deal with the good, the bad, and the shitty assholes you want to throw something at.

Most current, biggest one - Guy comes in looking for a top-end stick for his HS kid. All of our top-ends are together, and after me asking "is there anything i can help you with' right when he came in the store, and than 5 minutes later after he had been looking at the same stick time and time again. Another 10 minutes passed before he came up to me and asked: "So what kind of shitty store are you guys?" ME: "Excuse me?" Him: "You heard me. You guys don't even carry the S17 Easton what kind of shit store are you? [other shop in town] has the s17 for $180 and its supposed to be better than the se16, which you have here for $200 (grip). I'm going over to [other shop in town] to do all of my business from now on because you guys are over-priced and don't carry anything." [not true, we're biggest by far, 4 or 5 fold for the state, and prices match hockeymonkey]. Me: I am like totally like WTF shocked atm so I just kinda of string together "well, im sorry you think that we are a shitty over-priced store, but quite frankly, we aren't. Infact the reason we don't carry the s17 is because the S19 will be in our store in about 3 weeks, so it is kind of dumb to get a pervious model. If you want to go over to the other shop that is fine but before you attack us, our products, and our prices, do some research first, instead of blindly attacking us." Him: (now totally stunned like i wa) "thats not how you talk to people I'm leaving and never coming back".

then yesterday i was sharpening goalie skates and the guy bitched me out because "you don't sharpen goalie skates like that"....even though i've done about 1000 pair of goalie skates before on the same machine the same way...Apparently you need a special sharpener and wheel to sharpen goalie skates, according to this guy. He said he didn't want me to sharpen his kids skates...why the fuck would you hand me them then????

Typically once a week we just get a total arrogant jackass-dumbass to come into the store, who is mis-informed and over-exaggerates. Internet people need to stay there, just don't bring your facts into a lhs and act like you KNOW MORE than we do.. 99.9999% of the time you don't, and just look like a jackass. /end rant. :)

[DarkStar50 679]

Wow, Vakar and I thought all the a-holes were in metro NYC.

[Krev 86]

Yeah... that's quite the rant. Sounds like you handled it as best you could. Customers like that you don't want in your store anyway.

[VakarLajos 5]

Wow, Vakar and I thought all the a-holes were in metro NYC.

sometimes they're assholes when they get here. lol

by the way, the breastfeeding lady i had previously mentioned in this thread was back again. i guess her child is still breastfeeding.