Bit of a Rant re: Tackle Shop Culture

[Ell]

I recently went to a tackle shop I haven\'t used for a while, to get a few bits and bobs for a boat trip. There were a few regulars in at the time, chatting to the owner, cup of tea, seat in the corner, fag on the go etc. I wasn\'t after anything fancy and although I\'m open to any constructive advice from anyone in the shop I also like to think I have a reasonable idea of what I want and what I don\'t. They had a poor selection of boat angling kit anyway and what was there was a bit pricey, I had a good shufty and found a few bits and bobs, on top of that I bought a number of leads. Took them to the counter. Then the smart arse comments began.
\"You must be crap having to buy all them weights\" (10)
\"Can you not tie your own rigs like\" etc.
I was not in the mood to crack one back, why should I have been, and got a bit flustered sorting out the right card to pay with, more snide comments. I started to leave but hadn\'t picked up something I payed for, more wisecracks, by the time I\'d got back to the car I was ****ing raging but the moment had passed. Deep breath.

On a good day it wouldn\'t have bothered me in the slightest but ....
It wasn\'t. I also think this type of behaviour puts a lot of newer anglers off going into a tackle shop. I went back to the same shop today for convenience and although not up for a ruck thought if the same **** happens again someones going to catch it. It didn\'t.

Anyhow, point to the story if there is one ...Don\'t take the **** when someone\'s parting with their hard earned and you\'re hanging out in someone elses shop, you are ****ing with their business.

In case I have cast any nasturtians It wasn\'t any of the following i.e. Billy\'s, Andy\'s, Terry\'s or Concorde.

Anyone else had the same experience?

[RobAdair]

I\'d hazard a guess at the Sunderland area Ell??? Shot in the dark but I\'ve had the same s**t regarding trying to purchase live bait of the nippy variety? I may be wrong because parking is a t**t and the leads are pretty cheap, but the bulls**t sounds the same?? Sounds the same as guitar shops (due to my vast experience with them) but yeah, why part with your hard earned cash to a t**t when there are plenty of decent tackle dealers in this area? (certain tackle shops excluded of course!!)

[Edited on 31/7/2004 by RobAdair]

[Ell]

Rob, Guitar shops, spot on mate, exactly the same vibe. Specialist Car Audio places, any trade counter you\'ve ever layed your elbows on, same snotty attitude. I generalise of course. By the way the guys running the shop weren\'t joining in, no problem with that, it was only the locals.

[RobAdair]

As you said though Ell the point is, why put up with the cr*p? Newby\'s will be put off good style, and surely the point of NESA is to educate and encourage newcomers?? God, I\'m the 1st person to offer help to anyone (even the charva\'s after a spinner!) and surely this is how the sport will grow with the next generation (and I would have thought the tackle dealers would be on the same wavelength?) Terry (and his mate John) are good examples of forward thinking tackle dealers???

[gag1]

Had the same problem ELL. Will ONLY deal with Billys, Temples or Scotts nowadays otherwise, its mail order for me. Sorry to say but at least its shopping without the bother mate.

Cheers.
gag1

[tich]

Totally agree, they are the only ones I go to,, good bait, good advice, good service,what more do you need

[willywetegg]

Ian been there meself, It\"s not nice or neccesary. There are so many D**ckheads standing around drinking tea in tackle shops. All I can say is well done for not rising to their bait. Oops nearly named the worst place. Remembered Tony\"s words to think before posting. cheers mate.

Jim.

[bribones]

well i cant say ive been to the shop in question ,as with gag i only go to the shops i know ie billys ,temples and ID on chillingham rd,was in billys on saturday and introduced myself ,got me nesa badge etc ,and the crack was spot on ,got to talking bout fishing marks and half the punters joined in the convo,as a newcomer back to the sport this is the type of encouragement you want as micky taking does put you off a bit and make you self consious about buying kit,id recommend billys to any newcomer as well as temples and ID,billys has the bonus of 10% discount for nesa members lol ,i bought 10 weights as well so Ell that makes both of us crap lol

[bigdavewsf]

it happens in all shops thet are specialising in something or other and its typically a british thing, think back if your old enough to the not the nine o\'clock sketch about the fella in the recoerd shop trying to buy a grammaphone

its worse for kids coming into the sport, when i was starting out i spent every penny of my pocket money on fishing gear and my mum and dad wernt exactly well off so it wasnt much, it was a choice of ne w line OR hooks OR weights depending on the priorites (notice the OR it was one OR the other) and the fella that run my local tackle shop coudnt be arsed with us kids, woudnt help us out with info or advice it was a case of just get your stuff and get out the shop!!, so what did we do, yes we went somewhere else, it was further away and a pain in the arse to get to but the owner talked to us without patronising us, helped us out with advice and places to go, ive beent back to that shop ever since coming on 25 years now( i have been back to the other but only when the gob****e had died), and my couple of quid a week turned out to be thousands all the stuf ive bought over the years, this is another reason we should be trying to get more and more kids into it, but if we dont offer them help to catch a few fish when there starting off they will just get bored and not bother going fishing again


now with the buying over the phone and internet taking more and more buisness local shop owners should be doing more for customers service/relations its what the big outlets with their buying power and therefore usually cheaper prices cant offer


rant over


dave

[Chris_Hughes]

Rule number one in any customer / shopkeeper relationship (or servant / master or employee / employer ) is \"don\'t bite the hand that feeds\".

On the other hand, it must be very annoying to the shopkeepers when the proverbial rod shaker (an order of human being very similar to the tyre kicker in the motor trade) enters their premises, handles the goods, maybe purchases a few bobs worth of gear, then leaves and purchases their main items via the internet or discount mail order.

[Davyred]

Name the shop Ell...Theres nothing worse than the bloody hangers on. If the owner of this amateur comedian support centre - sorry - shop, has any balls, he\'ll tell the comedians that what they\'re doing is causing bad press and costing him customers. I have a mate who won\'t go into a certain sunderland tackle shop beginning with R cos of all the wanna be chubby browns sitting there.

[micky-quayle]

davy, i often sit in that shop (i think we are talking about the same one)drinking a couple of cuppas having a joke and banter about footy etc. maybe take the water out of a couple of mates but NEVER out of strangers or newbies. infact i often take time out to give a little friendly advice to kids etc as to wheres the best for them to learn to fish, best bait, rigs etc. and most of the other lads in there will do the same. i think its obviously an odd bad apple that can cause problems. i don\'t think the owner would be too happy if anyone was chasing punters away.

[alan]

It used to always put me off when i was younger if i got a snide p=ss taking remark but i would\'nt think twice to tell them to fork #ff now,most people are speechless if you bite back with a quick witty remark no matter how big or how many are standing there.Never had a problem at Blyth\'s one and only shop,Brian the sales lad could\'nt be more helpful.

[Davyred]

Micky, I personally have had no problems in the shop, just making the point, as you do, that some people can drive customers away by trying to be funny.

[Ell]

amateur comedian support centre

LOL N1
Mickey I use R\'s (seen you in there a couple of times) and some times it\'s tough to even squeeze into the place but had NO bother there re: being made to feel like a gimmer. In fact just the opposite. Still not sure about naming the place as it would certainly have some negative effect on their business but as others have said the owner of this place should make it clear to the homeless ones that their smart arse comments are not appreciated.