Monday, June 12, 2006

Blog Stuff: Miscellaneous ramblings...

My plan to go to bed early last night was foiled by the fact that I woke up at, like, 2:50AM. Wide awake, I sat and poked at the 'net and read the latest at pdb's blog.

Then, still wide awake, I read some older stuff at pdb's blog.

Then I read everything at pdb's blog.

pdb, for those unaware of him, is someone who must have committed a heinous crime in a previous incarnation, for his chosen hell is not a place so full of mature consumers as, say, a music store or a gun shop; no, pdb has chosen the self-flagellation of the vidjo game bidness. I once worked in a Babbage's; six weeks of slinging Nintendo cartridges to the maturity-challenged and pimple-gifted in a mall would have extirpated the karmic debt of axe-murdering my grandparents, so one can only imagine what his past-life transgression was. *Shudder!*

Interesting to note the pet peeves we share...

Although some folks may think that the retail pixies magically seed my shelves with merchandise, this is actually not the case. Every day I have to walk the floor, determine what has sold and how fast, decide if anything new is needed, order the stuff, put it in the computer, price it, and put it out on the floor. Believe it or don't, stuff is hanging on certain pegs, in certain places, in a certain order for a reason. I can walk past my rack of, say, Galco holsters and, on the fly, out of the corner of my eye, know what's missing and needs to be re-ordered. Theoretically.

In real life, what happens is the nice customer comes up and asks "Do you have a nice holster for my Expensomatic Importblaster?"

"Why certainly, sir; I have a few different options for you. Do you prefer kydex or leather?"

"Oh, leather."

I walk him over to the Galco rack and point out both IWB and OWB styles for his pistol. He requests IWB. I show him the Galco Summer Comfort. He fondles the packaging, then opens the bag to huff some leather fumes. His lips move slightly as he silently reads the list of Expensomatic models that will fit this holster. Then his eyes widen. He has reached the price tag. The thought of putting his $800+ investment, hand-assembled from the finest virgin injection-molded polymer by Geman gun gnomes in the depths of the Schwarzenwald, in a holster that costs a staggering $64.99 is just too much to contemplate.

He starts to put it back.

Now, as an aside, I should mention that people who look for inside-the-waistband holsters for whamdigious huge plastic blasters are few and far between, therefore I only keep one of this particular model in stock. That means that, right in front of him, in the middle of a wall full of Galco holsters, is one empty peg, its backtag there to guide his hand home like a weary traveller to a firelit tavern on a winter's eve. His hand with the bagged holster wanders uncertainly forward and...

...puts it on the wrong peg.

"Can you show me something in kydex? Maybe around $20?"

"Sure, sir, follow me."

*sigh*

13 comments:

BobG said...

It never fails to amaze me how people will spend a fortune on a firearm, and then put it in the cheapest holster they can find. I wonder if they buy the cheapest ammo they can find, whether it is the best for their purposes or not.

Anonymous said...

Oh, it's far worse than you imagine.
He's a former CANADIAN LIBERAL.
Yeah, yeah, born in the US (mere echnicality)

This is penance for his unceasing (and vociferous) belief that the Enfield #4 was the supreme Battle Rifle of WWII.

Get thee stocking those videos, Enfield boy! (Us Garand guys have a shoot thisaway!)

Anonymous said...

Hey! It lost my name!
I do not despair against the retail wrath of a pdb! Let the world know who reveals his secrets!

Besides, I've still got his S&W 65. :)

Dr. StrangeGun said...

Uhhh... this dude has a web site somewhere. I remember the stories... something of doom? Dunno. He was working on a book and there was a lull when he went to South Korea to teach English.

Anonymous said...

Dr:
No, no,that's Gord. ( http://www.actsofgord.com/Chronicles/ )
Don't give pdb delusions of Gordhood.

Dr. StrangeGun said...

actually, looking at acts of Gord home page there's a line... "I knew him as Gord. These are his stories."

Perhaps it *is* the same guy?

Have we accidentally seeded Tam's internet addiction with enough stories to keep her glued to a screen for a week?

Paul said...

Fear the Gord, your Gord!

I worked at a GameXchange for three years in high school. I have mostly fond memories of it, but only because I had smart, witty co-workers.

You think used guns are nasty. Have you ever handled used video games? Zomigosh. We went through gallons of soap.

We used to play paper-rock-scissors when we saw a customer coming in with a duffel bag. At least the "winner" had the slim hope that it would be a bag full of like-new SNES rarities, in pristine boxes, instead of the much more likely N64 sports titles with cola stains and a mysterious smell of pot...

But anyway. My wasted youth. I'll go read the guys blog now.

Anonymous said...

Dr:
No, he was still slaving away as an help desk padwan when Gord was writing. Plus, he was from the wrong side of Canada.
But much anger both of them in is.
Gord apparently doesn't see the need for anything as clumsy or random as a USP.
I've shot IDPA with pdb. Clumsy and random, much he is. :)
(What can I say, he's going to be unsufferable now...)

phlegmfatale said...

That's an odd disconnect - to house an epensive item in lesser-quality digs makes no sense to me.

Cowboy Blob said...

I hold in high regard all you folks who must deal with the public...All my jobs had me buried deep within the organization, doing technical magic but out of sight and earshot from the customer. Twas a good thing.

Anonymous said...

I've long opined that everyone should be required to work at least one year in retail (including a full Christmas season).

farmist

Anonymous said...

I gotta agree with Steve.

My two criteria are also comfort and ease of draw and retention.

Ok, my THREE criteria are comfort, east of draw, and retention.

The price or how cool it looks are WAAAY down the list. Now, if I could just get my students to understand that...

I actually had a student show up with a Jennings 9mm the other day.

You should have seen his face the day before in the classroom when I told the students not to depend on anything that says "Jennings, Byrco, Lorcin or Raven on the side"

I would have given the gun props had it run. But, of course, I don't think he ever got six rounds off without a malfuction.

Anonymous said...

Yup. I work full time in the gun dept. of a large sporting goods store, and Tam, I share your pain. I don't know why, but it seems like holsters and slings are among the worst "peg jumpers", though still not up to the level of ammo, spare pistol magazines, and the hands-down winner in our store, reloading bullets.

Steve