The Things Customers Do

[Amiroo39 121]

Hey, you know what the real kicker is? He was Asian.

This occur in the great white north?

[AIREAYE 248]

This occur in the great white north?

Yes sir. The ladies get more of that than I do though to be honest.

[AIREAYE 248]

Another remarkable conversation I had with a customer the other day:

I was helping these two Arab fellows (one dressed in more traditional cultural clothing and the significance of which follows, don't care what race people are) with sticks and a new visor and while in the pro shop counter installing the gentleman's visor for him, another customer (Caucasian) comes looking for a skate sharpening, in which our tech at the time takes in. He then strikes up a conversation with me, "Hey, are you as nervous as I am? ..." Baffled, I ask him what he meant and he replies with "Straight ahead of you...aren't you nervous? I'm kind of scared..." I look up and see the two guys I was helping. The conversation continued with him saying how our city (one of the fastest growing in Canada, large influx of immigrant populations) has gotten 'worse' and that he directly implied that it was the fault of the growing Middle Eastern and South Asian (combined roughly 23% of the city's pop.) communities. It doesn't take a genius to figure out the underlying racist and anti-Islamic theme he was putting out.

I didn't say much; what could you realistically say to a customer like that? While he was pleasant enough to my co-workers and I, it seemed to me that that was, ironically, a great example of the closet racist. Pleasant and functional on the outside only. It's from perspectives like his where hate crime comes from and I'm sure there are many more who share his sentiments.

Edited October 20, 2012 by AIREAYE

[knp1288 0]

I hear you on that...am the only asian that plays in my league, and I think there's only one other playing in the next tier up. Most dont bother about the 'asian' thing, but I've played against a couple teams that are just plain racist (name calling during the post game handshake). Uncalled for, but thats what happens when you play against 'bogans'

Which rink do you play at? In my league at A/R, there are 4 Asians on my team! And no racism at all :D

[Goalieboy#1 1]

Had a customer come in today... older fella (40's-50's). Helped him pick out some gloves and other smaller items. Heading up to the checkout he goes "Actually, I need a new bag." So we head to the bag wall, and I show him what I think will be good for him (SWD 5030 Traditional/bauer carry)... He then proceeds to ask me which bag is the biggest... So I show him a T100 Goalie bag. He then tells me how he needs the biggest possible bag, because he needs to have at least two cases of beer in there with his gear. He also wanted outer skate pockets, to bring liquor in. It was good for a few laughs.

[Harv 86]

He then tells me how he needs the biggest possible bag, because he needs to have at least two cases of beer in there with his gear. He also wanted outer skate pockets, to bring liquor in. It was good for a few laughs.

My teammates in college used to pull the same trick. Steal the goal bag from the locker room and fill it cases of beer and liquor and everyone's shoulder pads. The shoulder pads took up the most space but were the lightest so it made the bag look full. Guys used to tell the hall prefects on duty on weekend nights that they were taking their gear up to their room for ''repairs and adjustments''.

[dsjunior1388 81]

My teammates in college used to pull the same trick. Steal the goal bag from the locker room and fill it cases of beer and liquor and everyone's shoulder pads. The shoulder pads took up the most space but were the lightest so it made the bag look full. Guys used to tell the hall prefects on duty on weekend nights that they were taking their gear up to their room for ''repairs and adjustments''.

I always pulled this move, it was pretty easy to get two cases of beer in once I took them out of the boxes, and because I had my hockey bag on my shoulder 2 or 3 times a week, no one got suspicious. I was smart enough to bring sticks to, (sometimes just because I was actually on the way back from drop in.) The one time my buddy didn't bring sticks, the RA asked him about it, but luckily he was quick on his feet and told her a sob story about how it got broken.

[fatwabbit 93]

Which rink do you play at? In my league at A/R, there are 4 Asians on my team! And no racism at all :D

Am virtually the lone asian in the league, unless you consider those that were born here in Oz after their parents/grandparents migrated here long time ago.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

7 out of 16 players on my one team are Asian. It's pretty impressive.

[strosedefence34 175]

I will put this in hear since I don't think I have seen "things your LHS does" thread.

If you saw the show it off thread I purchased new shin pads this morning. I found that my nexus 1000s where just too deep and when to my small LHS. There where two guys there the one who is always there who usually just lets me do my thing because he knows I know what I want/ need and someone who works there once a week for a little extra cash. So I was explaining to the one who isn't usually there how I loved the padding on the nexus pads and i thought they where great and they just weren't for me. I picked up the supreme one 80s and was about to try them on and he said to me "oh your a forward you don't want those they are made for people who play defense" I said "ok i still want to try them on". He obviously let me do that and then continued to provided great service bringing me a pair of vapor 7.0s and some easton stealths and said I should try them all on see which ones I liked the best. He also thought they looked a little short and he made me try on a size 15 which was also really cool of him. You could tell he really wanted me to be happy with what I purchased, which I was thankful for. I just could not get over his supremes where for defense comment. He also said the Vapors would be more form fitting and contour to my legs better. The irony behind his comment though was on Bauers page when you're on the protective page and click on the supreme stuff Steve Stamkos picture pops up. Also according to bauers page the supreme protective is a closer fit and the vapor stuff falls in between close and wide. Like I said he did a great job assisting me in buying my new shin pads and i have no complaints about the service just thought his comment was funny.

In a very related story I went to Play It Again Sports first to see if they had a selection of shin pads that I could look at figured if I could trade mine in and get a little money towards the new ones I would be ok with that. Well they had nothing and when I went to see how much they where worth the guy said $15 cash because in a few months he will probably be marking down all of the nexus stuff to make room for the new stuff. I took my shin pads and left and wanted to tell him that bauer typically cycles each line every two years and that new nexus stuff probably wouldn't be out for a year and half, but thats what I get for going to PIAS.

END RANT

[IniNew 53]

Similar to the Vapor/Supreme skate line, the fits of the two pads are different in that the supreme is more of the traditional anatomical fit (IE, closer to your leg as a whole), while the vapor pad has a much more extreme taper. That is what he was talking about when he said it would contour to your leg better.

As for the Supreme for defense, Vapor for offense, you can thank Bauer's Marketing department for that one.

[wrangler 157]

I will put this in hear since I don't think I have seen "things your LHS does" thread.

If you saw the show it off thread I purchased new shin pads this morning. I found that my nexus 1000s where just too deep and when to my small LHS. There where two guys there the one who is always there who usually just lets me do my thing because he knows I know what I want/ need and someone who works there once a week for a little extra cash. So I was explaining to the one who isn't usually there how I loved the padding on the nexus pads and i thought they where great and they just weren't for me. I picked up the supreme one 80s and was about to try them on and he said to me "oh your a forward you don't want those they are made for people who play defense" I said "ok i still want to try them on". He obviously let me do that and then continued to provided great service bringing me a pair of vapor 7.0s and some easton stealths and said I should try them all on see which ones I liked the best. He also thought they looked a little short and he made me try on a size 15 which was also really cool of him. You could tell he really wanted me to be happy with what I purchased, which I was thankful for. I just could not get over his supremes where for defense comment. He also said the Vapors would be more form fitting and contour to my legs better. The irony behind his comment though was on Bauers page when you're on the protective page and click on the supreme stuff Steve Stamkos picture pops up. Also according to bauers page the supreme protective is a closer fit and the vapor stuff falls in between close and wide. Like I said he did a great job assisting me in buying my new shin pads and i have no complaints about the service just thought his comment was funny.

In a very related story I went to Play It Again Sports first to see if they had a selection of shin pads that I could look at figured if I could trade mine in and get a little money towards the new ones I would be ok with that. Well they had nothing and when I went to see how much they where worth the guy said $15 cash because in a few months he will probably be marking down all of the nexus stuff to make room for the new stuff. I took my shin pads and left and wanted to tell him that bauer typically cycles each line every two years and that new nexus stuff probably wouldn't be out for a year and half, but thats what I get for going to PIAS.

END RANT

Here's the thread you want: http://www.modsquadhockey.com/forums/index.php?/topic/55520-the-things-lhs-do/

[DarkStar50 679]

Customer: Do you have Dirtbags?

Oh, you mean Gritbags?

True story,

[AIREAYE 248]

Cool, so a mom just called in asking for 'Viper' skates

"What, you don't know Viper? The car?"

It would be hilarious if the people who say 'Boo-ur' or 'Bar' met her.

[wrangler 157]

I remember people at a Tennessee Ford dealer selling SUVs with the "Eddie Boyer" package.

[Monty22 832]

I've had people ask for "Twick" holders. Guess the font throws folks.

[Harv 86]

Jofa was always a good one as one.

Joe-Fe, Jo-fay, Ya-fa, Jay-off, etc etc...

[EvilPepe 24]

I've heard the "Viper Skates" before as well as all the variations on Jofa. My favorite though was when we had a few Ballistik sticks (just prior to the total switch to the Combat branding). All sorts of fun with that one :p

[IPv6Freely 2092]

I've never heard the word Jofa said before, only written. How is it supposed to be pronounced?

[Gummer12 134]

Yo-fuh

[wrangler 157]

But there are a whole lot of folks out there that can't get past the "J", and use the hard "J" sound. Hopefully they do better pronouncing "Jukka".

[Law Goalie 147]

Bloody anglicisms! -- Sincerely, guilty hard 'j' Jofa pronouncer who calls guys named 'Jukka', 'Joker'

[JSK81 400]

Just pretend it's y instead of j!

[IPv6Freely 2092]

well there we go. I've always said joe-fuh because despite knowing its origins, I had assumed it had become anglicized here.

[kojack 0]

Im half guilty of going into a store to size for the internet, but being impaitent I just end up buying there. Then return because customer service is number one. Ha ha. I never told them that tho!....I dont shop at my local local store anymore however, because they screwed me over....long story im not getting involved in here, and has nothing to do with product or price on their end.