Ahhhh, the bike biz...

One of the wisest quotes ever came from a Vermont
collegue: "The customer is always the customer."

Just leave it at that.

Stephen

--- Tom Boldway <jboldway@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Hi everybody. Let�s end the vendor thread. I was a
> vendor in bicycles � and
> finally realized I had to leave retail when I
> started referring to my
> customers as �the vermin customers.�
> Sadly, most people have NO idea how hard it is to
> run a business or even a
> clue at all about retail, business or capitalism.
> Markups? You mean you sell
> it for more than you paid for it?
> The customer is NOT always right. I told one fellow
> to never come back and
> if he had any friends to tell them not to come
> either. You�d be amazed at
> what people want �warrantied� � just thinking about
> retail and dealing with
> vermin . . . err . . . I mean customers makes me
> apoplectic. A lot of it has
> to do with your customer base � I was dealing with
> customers in the �Happy
> Valley� (Amherst, MA area). Lots of ex hippies,
> hippie wannabees and general
> malcontents. An example would be one baked
> trustafarian who droned on for
> about an hour and  half while I worked and he was
> asking about different
> derailleurs for his bike. When he finally wore
> himself and everybody else in
> earshot out he said �well I can get that for 20%
> less from Bike Nashbar� and
> left.  Imagine my surprise when he showed up a month
> or so later with the
> same derailleur we were talking about � now in his
> hand and a mangled piece
> of fecality. Why was he coming to my shop? To have
> it warrantied by us, or
> so he thought . . . (that sizzling sound you now
> hear is my brain
> overheating again).
> Bicycle business on Cape Cod was a different story �
> loads of happy
> customers, friendly people (which you would NOT
> expect in a tourist trap
> area).
> So, folks, let's cut the vendors some slack.
>

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