Seems that I've never seen a more joyless group of people anywhere. Are they all gigging at night, working during the day and sleep-deprived, or stoned, or just lacking in any kind of positive,customer friendliness, or career satisfaction what-so-ever? Wouldn't mind hearing from ya'll on this.

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"

more like their souls have been stripped from them by having to listen to all those hacks come in and grab a guitar they can't afford and plug into an amp they have no idea how to get any tone from and play 3 hours of a tune they don't know at a volume they can't hear everyone (except for the 16 others in the store just like them) tell them to leave the damned guitar alone if they don't know how to tune it...

There a simple cure for this problem....


Stay out of Guitar Center!

At my locally owned shop, they are as helpful and happy as ever.

_________________
Marriage is like playing cards...

At first all you want are Hearts and Diamonds.

But in the end, all you really want is a Club and a Spade.

Hahaha - I think we ALL know what you're talking about, Doc!

Mind you, turning your gaze from those behind the counter to the customers in most bigger guitar shops sometimes gives a clue as to the cause of their gloom. They must be thinking: "Oh great. Smoke On The Water again! 20th time today..."

And nothing like assisting a kid to demo guitars for three hours, tolerating to his tuneless screechings, and then selling him a set of strings and a pick to darken your mood. In the full knowledge he's off to buy the guitar on the internet at a discount.

And all of that goes doubly on a Saturday.

Good grief - I've almost talked myself into feeling sympathetic to guitar shop assistants. Almost...

Cheers - C

_________________

+1!

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

You know, lately I've been seeing a great attitude out of the GC and Sam Ash workers here in Vegas. We've been hit pretty hard by the economy, and people are just happy to be working at all.

I can't say I notice that kind demeanor here too much anymore. It's been a pretty nice experience the last few times I've visited.

_________________

HaleAmano- House Of Sharks (Now On iTunes)
http://www.reverbnation.com/haleamano
http://www.haleamano.com

Perhaps that's because Jer Gervasi is the GC Vegas manager now. I did business with him here in my town of Commack, NY. Then they moved him to Jackson Heights, then Carle Place, and then he left town much to my surprise. He handled my Gilmour purchase and my CS guitar a few years back. Just sent him a New Year's greeting. Next time you're in there, look for him and send my regards.

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"

Great analysis mate. Well, once I got there today it turned out to be a tad more congenial that I had anticipated. Even went home with two "Zoo" coffee mugs for having traveled the distance. Part of your viewpoint brought back a memory. When I lived in Brooklyn, I used to shop the Sam Ash store in the Mill Basin area. This goes back some 17 years now. They used to have a sign up which read: "No Smoke, No Stairway!"

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"

I'm glad that we only have one large retail chain here for guitars and that's Long & McQuade,granted they have their share of Saturday afternoon novice shredder/dreamers but by and large they only occasionally invade the store as it's pretty out of the way on one of the main roads into town.Most other stores have a "you damage you buy"policy so dreamers are reluctant to pick up a $4,000 Gibson and giv'er.It would be much better for stores if they enforced these policies and restricted guitar trial to underage strummers accompanied by adults that way serious buyers would be less likely to be buying a "used" "new" guitar and store staff would be spared aural torture.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I've gotta say my local Long & McQuade and my local Tom Lee both have a pretty decent crew working. I actually get pretty good service as well as being left alone if I want to just "noodle". No real complaints.

I try to cut them some slack because working retail is a tough racket. Long hours on your feet, the odd snotty customer, newbies in abundance and all for little pay. They are there because they like music and instruments, (for the most part.)

Peace,
Gridlok

They just don't have ""HAPPY FEET "" (Steve Martin)

_________________
"C'est parti mon Kiki "

So, we gotta wait even longer now for pics!

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Regrettable..The worst thing about getting off the train, is getting back on. You have to start at the rear car and work your way forward all over again.

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"

First day of work was kinda a doozy... I can understand why some will be a little deprived...

I got three calls about rentals and one about repairs, and being new I wasn't so sure about the subjects yet...

This one guy walked in and got right in my face and said "Where's the owner!? You don't look like you know what the H&!! you are doing!" and I replied "Why thank you sir! Its my first day..." He continued on swearing when I told him the prices for rentals...

But don't worry... I won't let it ever get to me I love the place, and I'm so thankful for the job

_________________
Kid: "Hey Smokey! Where did you get your name?"
Smokey the Bear: "Well..."
(former user jimbo612)

maybe GC employees should be issued a big fat joint at the start of their shift?