In a music store in Rome, 2001. Salesman wouldn't let me play any guitars due to my non formal attire. The salesman was brazen enough to take the guitars off me while I played them. Yes, I wanted to deck him but I couldn't believe it was actually happening.

Being an Aussie with Italian background, that didn't go down to well so I called the manager and the salesman to the counter. I laid the cash on the counter that I was going to pay for a Fender Thinline Tele and a Stratocaster, and in my best Italian, told the boss his employee was a stronzo and had just cost him 2 sales with shipping back to Australia.

I picked up the cash, waved it around (you do dramatic things if you have Italian blood ...), put it back in my pocket and walked out. On leaving the store, turned around and saw the boss's arms flapping about in the air and yelling at the salesman.

Didn't feel sorry for him but at least an unpleasant situation ended with a comical twist.

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Cheers, Jackson Moon

That's cool; good for you, man!

I was holidaying in Florida and asked a taxi driver to take me to some guitar stores - first stop was GC. I told him I wanted to buy 2nd hand instruments so he took me to a pawn shop. The door was locked so I had to be buzzed in, and when I entered and saw the pistol in this tall scary-looking guy's holster, I felt like I was in a certain scene from Pulp Fiction. I didn't ask him to "Bring out the guitars".

A girl brought in a 12 string guitar that had bounced around in the back of a pickup without a case for two years. The pickup bed was covered by a shell, at least. She asked me if I could do anything with it. I told her to leave it and I would see what I could do. There were bent tuners that I replaced, I straightened the neck, lowered the saddle, restrung the thing, and even touched up the fiinsh and gave it a good general cleaning. I laid the guitar on top of the glass showcase and took a step back to admire my work...

I heard a crash, followed by a second crash! The ceiling opened up and a man fell thru the air and landed right on top of the guitar. The guitar exploded into hundreds of little pieces as the guy fell thru the glass case, one glass shelf at a time. When he hit the floor, I call 911. He lived.

The girl came in for her guitar later that day. I started off my story by saying "I'm going to tell you the truth the first time". She didn't believe me and I told her to look around. She saw the big hole in the ceiling and little pieces of glass and wood everywhere. She believed me then. I ordered her a replacement and she was fine with it.

What led up to the man falling thru the ceiling? The music store was in an old bank. There was a big glass skylight on the roof. The man was a maintenance guy who went up on the roof to chase off the pigeons. Since the skylight hadn't been cleaned in decades, he stepped on to it thinking it was "just roof" and fell right thru. He fell about 30 feet in total. We had a lower acoustic ceiling that he went thru on the way down.

just the common jackass at guitar center who even though is clearly more exprienced than most has the audacity and ego to prove himself by being a know it all smart $@!

Don't you just love when you walk into GC and ask a basic question about an amp(or any other product)that has been out for months or years and you quickly find out that after a few minutes on the fender website you know much more about the product than the clown that gets paid to work there! Not unlike most retail stores I go to now a days.

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98 MIA Strat, 07 MIM 60's Reissue Strat, Mustang l, Mustang lll

When I was a teenager I went to Florida on holiday, and made a point of visiting at least one guitar shop, although I hadn't yet switched from bass to guitar, and I picked up a few wee bits and bobs, a strap and stuff, and was eyeing up a Fender Jazz bass, and the salesman came over and started chatting.
We had quite a long chat about the gear they had, what I had etc. and then he asked how long would I be in Florida (I'm from the UK), and I told him "oh I go home in a couple of days", to which he replied "Ah thats a shame, we are looking for somebody to look after the bass section of the store (or something like that), you could have come to work here"



I still feel a bit sore about it, maybe in another life I could have taken up his offer, as I haven't had a single lucky break in music ever since! Nor is another one likely to come along.

Ho hum

Drew

Years ago there was one music store in town where most of the local musicians used to drop by on Saturdays.This particular day one local"celebrity"-he had his own local TV show-was in the store when he saw an obvious rookie police officer take out his ticket book and start to write a parking ticket for a brand new pickup truck.With that he ran to the door ,flung it open and bellowed"Don't you dare ticket that truck."with that the cop sheepeshly put the book back in his pocket and walked away.We were surprised at this outburst and asked him when he got the new truck to which he replied "That's not my truck."The guy always had a reputation for being a nutter and that incident galvanized it.

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'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.

My strangest experience? Went into a Guitar Center and the salesman was very helpful.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

If I was his boss I would have taken his Italian bread away so he couldn`t shovle the Manicotti onto his fork...us Italians know what hurts...

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stratoBobster...I don't think much can top your story! that's incredible.

You ain't kidding. You couldn't put that in a TV sitcom. People would just say it's too unbelieveble.

Very funny story though.

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No no and no

Where I live in the uk I went to a guitar shop and asked to play on a PRS (£2000) and a Gibson Les Paul (£2000). I asked the salesman in the shop if I could play one and he said 'Well people mite actually want to buy them and you mite scratch it!'. So my friend and I continued to look round the store and played on an Ibanez Jem priced up as £3000 and nothing was said.
The funny thing was though I had been to the bank before I went, to transfer some funds. So me being me after we had finished playing on the JEM, I went up to the sales assistant showed him my statement and walked out. His face was priceless when he saw I could have bought all 3 guitars. But it was strange he wouldn't let me play the les paul or PRS that was much cheaper than the ibanez I was playing.

ha ha ha ha ha