Expeience at a small music store.

Jeremy Bender

Platinum Member
Went into an independently owned music store the other day, they sell mainly guitars and a handul of keyboards and a modest drum section cosisting of a few kits, some basic snares and a dozen or so cymbals fom the big 3 displayed on cymbal trees.

Upon enetering, the salesman asked what I'd be interested in looking at and I told him 'drum gear'. Going off to the far side of the store to try out a couple of new 2002 crashes on the tree for sale ( a fair coat of dust on them). I noticed the sticker price -MAP. That's fine, we could deal with talking about price later.
Then... a college age employee comes over and says "what are you here to buy"? I answer 'I'm here to browse and if I hear or see something I like I'll probably get it.'
He steps away to take a phone call at the desk.
A couple more taps on some ride cymbals a few more glancing blows to hear the crashes again with a 5A.

He returns and says "Sir could you please stop playing those cymbals? I'm trying to conduct business on the phone."
As I place the mismatched complimentary sticks aside I ask him 'you sell cymbals but don't want people to hear how they sound before they buy them?" his response "They're loud."

So, scratch that store off potential places to spend my money in the future. Now I understand why the dust stays on the cymbals.
It's sad because Mom and Pop music stores are a dying business model of the 20th century and situations like this just shorten their life span.
 
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yeah, that's very unfortunate. They obviously don't know how to run a music shop.

As a coda to the experience, you could call up the owner of the store and offer to buy all the Paiste tins at wholesale cost, telling the owner that it'd obviously help his business, as the sounds of the cymbals severely dampen sales. ;)
 
Maybe a chat with the owner would clear this up, and maybe the kid was out of line. Second chance may help???
 
That was extremely patient of you. I’d have probably shut him down right quick. Something like , “where’s your degree in music performance from, beginner? I got mine before you were born. Go bother the owner about how loud I am.”
 
Hi JB. I would go back and ask to speak to the owner and tell them what you told us and also how much money and business they might be loosing. It might be between a few hundred to maybe $1000 or more per month. If they don't know they can't fix it this problem.
 
The local store near me closed. The guy running the place was a complete douche. I had been playing guitar for 3-4 years and went in to buy a capo. They didn't have what I wanted, then the guy muttered "You probably wouldn't know what to do with it anyway." He didn't know me from Adam's house cat. Last time I went in there. A few months later they closed. Didn't surprise me in the least.
 
Given the size of the store, could you have been on the phone taking an order and answering questions if someone else was crashing cymbals nearby?
 
I don't think the guy was out of line to ask you to wait while he was on the phone. I work in a drum shop, and even there, our instrument is loud, and can make talking on the phone nearly impossible if someone's just absent-mindedly crashing on cymbals. A little empathy goes a long way, and it strikes me as even more buttheaded to think an appropriate response would be to flaunt your music degree in the face of someone trying to do their job, though that wasn't OP.
 
..I don't think the guy was out of line to ask you to wait while he was on the phone..


That's exactly what i also was thinking a few days ago when i read this thread the first time..

Personally i would not even consider to start hitting cymbals when other people could possibly be bothered by that, even if they work there..

And yes, that music degree crap (not by thread starter) makes really completely no sense..
 
I don't think the guy was out of line to ask you to wait while he was on the phone. I work in a drum shop, and even there, our instrument is loud, and can make talking on the phone nearly impossible if someone's just absent-mindedly crashing on cymbals. A little empathy goes a long way, and it strikes me as even more buttheaded to think an appropriate response would be to flaunt your music degree in the face of someone trying to do their job, though that wasn't OP.

Are you mad at me?
 
This is why online shopping has hammered the high street/retail shopping into the ground.

The purchase of goods should go like this.
1) Go into store
2) Pick item
3) Pay for it
4) Leave

Sales staff make this way harder than it needs to be. You did the right thing by taking your business elsewhere.

I had a run in with sales staff years back after I'd spent money in the store. I went to have a go on the v-drums which everyone does because nobody has a spare £5000 to spend on the ones they have set up and plugged in!

This dufus comes up to me and starts giving me some speech about playing them. Wonder if he does it to all the kids who come into the store just to mess with the gear and buy nothing. The temptation to take the drum mics I'd just bought back to the til and tell them to shove them up their arse was strong!
 
I’m not mad at anybody but it would be a different thing if someone pulled something like that in real life. And for whatever it’s worth, I also have a music degree.

Everything in this kind of situation depends on tone, posture, etc.. I don’t know if the salesperson was polite but a bit brusque, or just unbelievably snotty. I was guessing the latter. And in that case, he would both deserve and desperately NEED pretty much the exact reponse I suggested. In my humble opinion. Lol
 
Hmmmm. So he asks if you need help and you tell him of your interest in Drum gear-AND you'll likely buy if something you like. So he goes off on the phone-which is fine. But was he doing personal business or music business-so I wonder where his priorities are. Then too he could have been more diplomatic asking "Hey sounds like you're finding something you like-could you please wait a minute while I take this call so I can help you" I guess I can see both sides but music store lost a sale. Reminds me of story my brother told me visiting a friend who owns a gun store-while they were chitchatting some toothless bearded old man in overhauls comes in looking at his guns. The owner ignored him entertaining my brother. The man looks around then comes to the sales desk and pulls out a big wad of money telling him "I was coming in here to buy a new gun but I see you aren't interested in selling me one" and walked off. If I was the owner I'd be teaching that young clerk how to negotiate situations like that.
 
..I don’t know if the salesperson was polite but a bit brusque, or just unbelievably snotty. I was guessing the latter. And in that case, he would both deserve and desperately NEED pretty much the exact reponse I suggested..


I had to read this a few times..lol..

But you really have the impression that there will be ANY music store employee in the world impressed by that response..?

And if they would be impressed, then THAT would actually be a perfect reason to fire them..
 
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I had to read this a few times..lol..

But you really have the impression that there will be ANY music store employee in the world impressed by that response..?

And if they would be impressed, then THAT would actually be a perfect reason to fire them..

It’s not about impressing someone. It’s about testing the salesperson to see how they respond.
 
Called the store on the phone to see what's up with trying some gear out. Guy says "Owner's not here at this time I'm alone. Could you call back and maybe schedule a time to come in and try something?"
'No thank you.'

I truly just don't have the time or patience for this sort of thing, so it's off to
another shop when I'll need gear.
 
The guy must want the owner/shop to fail.
 
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