The Things Customers Do

[kärpät 0]

I just check the fit and buy it online. :D :D :D

[Drewhunz 3]

I just check the fit and buy it online.

Than you're an asshole :D :D :D

[B-Nads 0]

Just for some more customer input here:

If there's one thing that gets on my nerves it is being chased around the store by employees. One of the bigger hockey stores in this area is sickening when it comes to this - it is crazy. I am all for helpful service when needed, but I also know enough about the equipment to be able to tell if I need help or not - and once I politely turn down help and go through the "feel free to ask if you need further help", I don't need to be harangued by someone else from the same freeking department. I understand that the stock is an investment, and I know there are some dimwits who don't appreciate that, but I am not one of them, and anyone seeing me look through gear at a shop would get to understand this pretty quickly. Maybe this place has its workers on a comission or something, but I seldom go there anymore due to this...it almost feels like they don't trust you around the equipment.

The other thing I don't get is the stick flexing thing. I all honesty, I was guilty of this up until I began reading on here that it is a faux-pas - it was honest ignorance on my part. I have to ask, however, and I am asking honestly with no judgement whatsoever - is it that serious an issue? I can understand if some idiot is flexing the stick as hard as they can to the point where they are stressing the fibres and such, but if someone is simply torquing the shaft a little to get an idea of its response, is there much likelihood of damage? Have poeple actually broken sticks doing this in one of your shops? I ask because there is a LHS with a demo area with a net and a plastic floor cover where you can try out any stick on the racks (snap shots and wristers only). Granted, a stick doesn't feel or flex the same on shoes as it does on skates, but isn't it nice to have this option - I buy my sticks there now for this very reason, and I have yet to have one break before its warranty was up.

Apart from that store where I buy my sticks, I do everything else at Fraser's on the West Island. These guys are awesome - they talk with you about the gear, they have an experienced staff in both sales and hockey, and they are flat-out honest with you. I brought my skates in for a profiling last week during a slower day and was looking through the stuff there, and ended up talking to one of the reps about sticks for at least a half hour - at the end, a couple other guys joined in. They knew I wasn't buying a stick - I told them so, but we talked aboutthem anyway. Obviously they couldn't have done so during peak hours, but knowing that there is a knowledgeable staff makes all the difference.

Finally, in response to one of the guys talking earlier about the customer getting to know their schedule and wanting him to sharpen for him all the time - maybe this is annoying to you in some way, but you should take it for what it is - an appreciation of the job you did - maybe you should have felt complimented by it...it is your job, and you do it well enough that someone decided to be loyal to you and give you their business. Yeah, having to listen to his glorious beer league goal summary might be annoying, but it makes him feel a little better about himself, gives you something to have a laugh at later, and puts some dollars in your pocket.

Edited May 4, 2007 by B-Nads

[Ngo_35 1]

Things that just piss me off:

1) Wet skates: Why cant you just take the two seconds to wipe your damn skates before giving them to me to sharpen? I feel like I should return the favor and dip the skates in water when I give them back.

2) The famous "So do you do a good job?" Guy. If its sarcastic with a smile I can laugh along but when someone asks me seriously I just want to smack them upside their head.

3) Moms (not really hockey moms) who complain that with a free stick they should get a free tape job. Oh my I remember I had a pile of skates lined up and one lady actually asked me to tape her stick. I sucked up my anger smiled and said "well my dear if you can sharpen these skates I'll tape your stick."

4)Guys who forget equipment and ask if they could return it after they buy it. Cmon man would you like a used jock?

5) The old guys who complain when sticks used to be $2. Dear god there is a reason why your old TIME PASSES AND PRICES GO UP!

Good things customers do:

1) Understand with 1 person in the shop it might take a while to get things done.

2) Hot Milfs during tournaments. damnnnn

3) Putting sticks back where they found it.

4) Ask how to do things (tighten blades etc...) you give them the tool and they learn.

5) Be down to earth regular people.

Thats about it for now, but I tell you folks every shift is a new story.

[TBLfan 25]

I was in one of my LHSs today and it was dead. When I walked in it was the owner, me and a ups guy. I just looked around and out of habit I put a couple sticks that were out of place back where they go. The owner thanked me and we talked shop for a few minutes. I don't frequent that shop but he's a nice guy. I think I even sold him on trying out a response lite and we both agreed that warrior sticks are overrated. A lot of what we talked about is covered in here.

P.S. Now that the kids are out of school I'm sure we're going to see more posts about how parents are idiots.

[godiogo 0]

Good things customers do:

1) Understand with 1 person in the shop it might take a while to get things done.

2) Hot Milfs during tournaments. damnnnn

3) Putting sticks back where they found it.

4) Ask how to do things (tighten blades etc...) you give them the tool and they learn.

5) Be down to earth regular people.

Thats about it for now, but I tell you folks every shift is a new story.

That fifth one can be difficult to come across these days.

[Ankles 3]

I'm sure this has been covered already, but I must reiterate. The #1 thing I hate that customers do is bring in a friend who "knows about hockey" to give them better advice about the equipment that I sell in my store, as if my knowing all the technical aspects isn't enough.

But I must agree with Ngo_35....Hot MILFs.

[Ngo_35 1]

I'm sure this has been covered already, but I must reiterate. The #1 thing I hate that customers do is bring in a friend who "knows about hockey" to give them better advice about the equipment that I sell in my store, as if my knowing all the technical aspects isn't enough.

But I must agree with Ngo_35....Hot MILFs.

Well the buddy thing isnt too bad since their helping themselves. Its only when they start looking down on you as if your a moron it gets to me.

[texanhockey 0]

As for stick flexing, anecdotally it seems evident from all the posts talking about how a 75 in this Easton stick is different than a 75 in that Easton stick, that a 75 is not always a 75.  And what do you do if you are used to an 85 in your Easton but are now looking at another manufacturer that doesn't use the Easton scale ?  A lot of stores I've seen actually put down mats for customers to flex their sticks on, and I've seen the sales guys flexing sticks while showing them to the customer, so why get mad at a customer for doing it ? If you don't want people to flex sticks, put up big signs saying not to do so.  Maybe some stores do, but I have never seen them.

Thanks for posting what I was also thinking. I guess stores that don't like people flexing sticks should lock up all of their sticks behind glass - that will stop those pesky customers!

What would you expect customers to do when they're about to lay out $150 on an OPS, or any other stick for that matter? When you're going to lay down that kind of dough there are only so many ways you can touch and interact with a stick as you're thinking about the feel of it in your hands, the weight, etc. Flexing doesn't sound all that stupid to me.

I bought a new stick a couple weeks ago and flexed all kinds of sticks before I knew which one felt good for me. I'm sure my LHS wasn't too sad when I walked out with a $100 stick and I just came in to get some numbers ironed onto my jersey.

Now if a guy was taking practice windups or shooting rolls of tape around the store - ok, that's stupid! B) (Unless you have a demo stick area where they're supposed to shoot things, then that's ok too.)

Maybe the LHS workers can tell us how they'd try out a new stick they've never touched before to decide if they'd buy it.

Id be annoyed if you bought a stick or not. Flexing the sticks proves nothing. It just makes you look like a retard. And also puts unneccasary stress on ALL THE OTHER sticks that you DIDNT buy. And wow, you bought a $100 stick. Way to go. Thats a way to make a store's day!

come on man. annoyed. sticks are made to take hundreds of shots. ive even beem told by an ex nhl player at a hockey camp that you want to feel them out and give it a litlle flex or two to see if it works for you. i can see you getting mad if some one leans and uses there body weight. but a little pop or 2 doesnt do anything wrong to a stick

[D aka speck 0]

Okay, not exactly hockey but...

I've pretty much been in retail my whole life. For some time, I sold mattresses. Keep reading this story is a riot!

A nice shiny Lincoln pulls up out front, taking 2 parking spots I might add. The man gets out of the car and walks in. He's wearing what appears to be a very nice and expensive suit and tie.

After quite some time, he has made a selection and wants to make a deal. I was pretty much sick of the guy buy this time so I just wanted to wrap it up and move on, I eventually gave him the absolute, bottom line deal of the day. That's when the fun started...

The next thing I know, this guy is trying to tell me that he knows what these things cost and calls me a liar. He starts yelling at me that I can go cheaper, as if it wasn't enough that he was getting a free frame, free delivery, out the door pricing AND a 10% discount. In other words, I wasn't really making anything for my commission. I explained that if I gave him any more of a discount, that it would come out of my check and I do afterall work to make money, not the other way around. Again, he called me a liar...

Finally, I broke down. I asked the prick if he came into my store for a real good buy. He said that he had. So I said...

Good Bye! :lol:

[sensrock15 0]

lol....snobby rich people....im not one of those pests in the stores but i was in my lhhs and someone came in and wanted 3 pairs of skates shaprened for him kids...the dude told him it'll bee a while...so he was standing areound and he saw a stealth.....he looked at the price and said some bad words out loud....he terned areeound and the whole reack of stealths fell over.....one broke...they asked him to pay for it and he just bookered it out the door....his kids skates are in the used section now....

[chk hrd 164]

I'm sure this has been covered already, but I must reiterate. The #1 thing I hate that customers do is bring in a friend who "knows about hockey" to give them better advice about the equipment that I sell in my store, as if my knowing all the technical aspects isn't enough.

But I must agree with Ngo_35....Hot MILFs.

sometimes you can't blame people for bringing someone knowledgeable in. I have been in to many pro shops that had people working there that had no clue on what they were doing.

[hockeyherb 1]

As for stick flexing, anecdotally it seems evident from all the posts talking about how a 75 in this Easton stick is different than a 75 in that Easton stick, that a 75 is not always a 75. And what do you do if you are used to an 85 in your Easton but are now looking at another manufacturer that doesn't use the Easton scale ? A lot of stores I've seen actually put down mats for customers to flex their sticks on, and I've seen the sales guys flexing sticks while showing them to the customer, so why get mad at a customer for doing it ? If you don't want people to flex sticks, put up big signs saying not to do so. Maybe some stores do, but I have never seen them.

Thanks for posting what I was also thinking. I guess stores that don't like people flexing sticks should lock up all of their sticks behind glass - that will stop those pesky customers!

What would you expect customers to do when they're about to lay out $150 on an OPS, or any other stick for that matter? When you're going to lay down that kind of dough there are only so many ways you can touch and interact with a stick as you're thinking about the feel of it in your hands, the weight, etc. Flexing doesn't sound all that stupid to me.

I bought a new stick a couple weeks ago and flexed all kinds of sticks before I knew which one felt good for me. I'm sure my LHS wasn't too sad when I walked out with a $100 stick and I just came in to get some numbers ironed onto my jersey.

Now if a guy was taking practice windups or shooting rolls of tape around the store - ok, that's stupid! B) (Unless you have a demo stick area where they're supposed to shoot things, then that's ok too.)

Maybe the LHS workers can tell us how they'd try out a new stick they've never touched before to decide if they'd buy it.

Id be annoyed if you bought a stick or not. Flexing the sticks proves nothing. It just makes you look like a retard. And also puts unneccasary stress on ALL THE OTHER sticks that you DIDNT buy. And wow, you bought a $100 stick. Way to go. Thats a way to make a store's day!

come on man. annoyed. sticks are made to take hundreds of shots. ive even beem told by an ex nhl player at a hockey camp that you want to feel them out and give it a litlle flex or two to see if it works for you. i can see you getting mad if some one leans and uses there body weight. but a little pop or 2 doesnt do anything wrong to a stick

Interesting that you bring this back up about a year later - I realize I've sure learned a lot on this site in the meantime.

Such as:

- LHS doesn't make that much money off of a $100 stick. It's nice to sell it of course but not going to make anyone jump for joy.

- flexing sticks does weaken the OPS more than people know before they're educated. I no longer flex sticks.

Maybe that should be one of the slogan's for MSH - The Premier Site for Educating the Uneducated Hockey Buyer.

[TBLfan 25]

I flex sticks but it's jsut to get an idea of where the sticks flex(where the kickpoint is). It only takes a little bit of pressure, just enough to barely flex the stick. You can feel how low or high the flex point is and it gives you a better idea of how the stick will compare to what you are using.

[DarkStar50 679]

I had a guy in yesterday buying some youth elbow pads for his 6 year old. I had seen him pull up to the rink last week in his Lexus. His kid has been skating for over a year. He wanted to know if his size small youth elbow pads no longer fit. They were stretched out and too tight on Jr. I showed him the NBH EP 10 youth elbow pads in size large. They fit fine and he agreed to get them for the kid. Then he wanted to know if he could get a discount. This wasn't the first time I've heard that, nor will it be the last. Its just that the elbow pads sold for $12!!! A discount on $12??!! Please, get back in your Lexus and ............ No, I didn't say that. I just said I was sorry but I couldn't give a discount. The elbow pads were all new stock. Thanks.

[Nick23 0]

I guess you dont get rich by spending it all...

[icedevil82 0]

I can relate to shop owners/workers not wanting people to flex sticks from personal experience. There's a difference between feeling a stick out and flexing it with your body weight and muscle. I was showing my teammate a new two piece xn10 that I had just bought when he started doing all this flexing and bending to the shaft, eventually cracking the blade near the insertion point. I wanted to smack him, but I just took it back and didn't say anything. Luckily I could just replace the blade on that stick, but I imagine that similar damage could occur on a one piece. There's a difference between getting the feel for a stick and doing the kind of flexing that some people do. When you're using a stick during a game you put a lot of pressure on it for a very short period of time, milliseconds really...whereas someone like my teammate was practically bouncing up and down on the shaft and putting sustained pressure on it, the stick isn't designed for that.

[oliverloran 0]

I can tell, that i've done so with a couple of things in my LHS, that i tried them on and ordered them from the US, but come on isn't it's robbery when some1 tries to sell a 300$ for 600?

[Chadd 916]

I can tell, that i've done so with a couple of things in my LHS, that i tried them on and ordered them from the US, but come on isn't it's robbery when some1 tries to sell a 300$ for 600?

The dealers charging $600 have to pay a lot more for their gear than the dealers charging $300. Once your local shops pay the distributor and extra duties, they have to charge higher prices to stay in business.

[oliverloran 0]

I can tell, that i've done so with a couple of things in my LHS, that i tried them on and ordered them from the US, but come on isn't it's robbery when some1 tries to sell a 300$ for 600?

The dealers charging $600 have to pay a lot more for their gear than the dealers charging $300. Once your local shops pay the distributor and extra duties, they have to charge higher prices to stay in business.

Yea, i know, but then i don't understand how could they charge so much, if the are telling that they are the official distributors of the company in the country and that they get the gear directly from the manufaturer.

[TBLfan 25]

because they can't afford to buy in higher numbers so the manufacturer charges them more. HG or HM is going to buy more product from the manufacturer so that company will charge them less for the product. So in turn HG or HM can sell the product for a lower price, not to mention their volume of sales. Also much of their product is stored in a warehouse instead of a sales floor, a showroom floor space is going to cost a LOT more than a warehouse full of gear. It has to be presentable, air conditioned/heated, etc, etc...

Edited June 11, 2007 by TBLfan

[crazylegs_9 0]

Not an LHS, but at the rink I work at, We had a tournament going on one weekend, and some kids were pushing themselves up by the bars on the bubble hockey machine, flexing them downward. When I told the kids to quit doing it or get away from the machine altogether, one went and told their parents that I made them quit playing and I need to refund their 50 cents. I just told them they would have to wait and talk to the manager when he was done cutting the ice, but they left before he came up.

[TBLfan 25]

that reminds me... I was coaching and I happened to look over and saw a kid doing something with his stick. He was prying a metal electrical outlet cover off with the blade of his stick. I walked to the end of the bench and told him to stop and he got scared and ran away... I seriously want to know where his parents were, probably at the bar.

[Hobbes_86 0]

Well this story isn’t really a complaint about customers but more about managers. :P

I had a guy come into the shop yesterday to get a routine sharpening. I noticed the back outside edges of both skates were tore up pretty bad. So when I was done I asked the guy if he remembered possibly kicking the metal supports while sitting the bench. I guess the guy was impressed that I took the time to explain what I noticed and that I took extra time to clean them up. So he starts asking me a few innocent questions about sharpening and stuff. Well before you know it my manager, who had been snoozing on the skate bench, was right beside me chest all puffed out prison shiv in his hand like he was my ex-con pop! Poor guy ran outta the store so fast I didn’t even catch his name.

What’s wrong…you don’t think a chick can handle talking to cute customers JR??

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

HAHAHAHA I did NOT have the shank in my hand!