Salespeople

[TAlderson]

So, I went to get my banjo spiked (model railroad spikes installed in the fingerboard so I can "capo" the 5th string), and I went to the guitar/banjo shop nearby (I'm currently at a pre-college vocal program at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh) and had the guy do it for me. Now, he knows a lot about the banjo and music, and his shop has a ton of stuff, but he's one of the worst businessmen I have met. I come in and ask him if he could do this work (I had talked to him about it a few days earlier), and said I was playing a show on Saturday, so I'd like to have it done by Friday (not an unreasonable request, since it was wednesday). Now, this is a job that, while it should be done by someone who knows what they're doing, should take all of about 20-30 mins. Hell, it only cost me $15, so it can't have been very hard at all.

But when I ask him to have it done in TWO DAYS, he tells me, "Well, it's not a high priority for me, so I probably won't get it done today. It's about a 50-50 chance I'll do it tomorrow, and I don't do any repairs on the weekend, so you probably won't have it by friday."

Now, if there were ten other people in the shop, and he had a huge order coming in the next day, I would have been fine with that. But the only other people in the store were my two friends (who were only there with me), and I've never seen more than three in there at a time. What he basically told me is that my $15 weren't worth him taking a few minutes from his web-surfing, and that he'd get to it when he had absolutely nothing else to do.

Now, I'm not sure how much business he does, but I'm guessing that a completely acoustic shop that specializes in banjos isn't going to be the hangout spot of choice for Pittsburghians. And with an attitude like that, I'm surprise dhe has any customers at all.

Anyone had any similar experiences?

-Tyler