Argument in store over used bass

[High ISO]

Imagine the scuffle that might have ensued had this rare gem been marked at $79. Might not have ended so peacefully...

 

[30yobass]

And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
A D-bag for an Epi T...
And did you exchange 89 bucks for a bass for an epic fight on the streets?

 

[zontar]

In the scenario painted by the OP my first thought would be to politely walk this instrument up to the counter after playing it, rather than setting it down and walking away. I would tell the guy behind the counter - whomever he might be from among the store's staff - that it looks like I'm buying this instrument today and would like them to hold it up front for me while I check out a couple of other instruments and some other gear too.

That's not always possible- depending on how busy they are, what they're doing, if they're decent salesmen, store policy,e ct.

But when it's possible, it is a good idea.
I once had a salesman offer to do that for me when I was buying two used pedals for $10 each, and I wanted to look at some more stuff.

 

[ac11367]

Hey, to the OP, I AM that D-Bag you were referring to. I was looking to buy that bass for the sole purpose of smashing it on stage later, as that's what that particular bass is really good for. Next time, show some respect and refer to me as Mr. D-Bag.

...just kidding, and congratulations on your purchase

 

[Stripes]

I don't really understand the hostile reaction towards OP. Based on most of the logic here you are not allowed to try a second bass without someone taking the first one from under your nose ? Yes , he could have given it to a sales clerk but when you're a couple steps away and back in under a minute in a rather quiet store would you have done that ? I don't think most of the people here who are giving the OP a piece of their minds would have done that.

Mind you , without knowing all the details and how thing's really happened there isn't really a definitive answer on how well this was handled by both OP and his dbag.

 

[gregmon79]

It was a Goth Epi Tbird for $89. I'm not sure if he really won.

hashahahahahahha AMEN!! Although, I guess $89 is a pretty sweet deal for most basses let alone a Tbird.

OP, you wanna get technical about it, that dude had every right to pick that bass up and go pay for it if he wanted. Courteous? Hell no its not. But its also not very courteous to hold down multiple basses in any isle/room of a music store and try them all out and act like theyre all yours and no one can touch them while theyre "in your possession". Lame on both ends IMO. No hostility here. I wouldve been perturbed if I was the dbag. I would've asked you if you were done with it first. But still, you sort of acted like you owned the place IMO.

 

[Gaolee]

Since you're questioning it, I'd venture a guess English is your second language.

I don't know about you, but English is my second language. Unfortunately, I don't have a first language.

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

I'll just have to remind myself to take my steak dinner with me while I pee at a restaurant, don't want someone taking it from me since I hadn't paid for it yet and walked away...

Irrelevant metaphor- you already made a verbal contract to pay for the steak when you ordered it. A more apt metaphor in the same vein would be if a restaurant had lobster and you were hemming and hawing over which one you wanted, and the person from the next table over ordered one of the ones that you wanted. It's far more discourteous to make the entire restaurant wait to pick out your lobsters until you have decided which one you want then it is for the other restaurant go over to quickly pick theirs and move on.

 

[awilkie84]

He can compare as many as he wants. None are his though, and he certainly doesn't get dibs on them all just in case he decides he wants one of them. Trying out basses doesn't mean you get to hold them hostage- the other guy grabbed the bass because he was actually going to purchase it. Until you lay money down, you're just windowshopping.

Sure, the other guy could have gone above and beyond common courtesy and asked if the other person was planning on buying that bass. But then he's running the risk of the OP lying and saying yes just in case the OP wanted it even if the OP wasn't sure yet. That's expecting a whole lot from a stranger who just wanted to buy something that they had every right to buy.

So, you're saying that if I grab 2 basses & sit down with them, plug 1 in & try it out, put it down & grab the other, some other dude can come up & grab the one I put down while I'm in the middle of comparing the 2? That's a load of bull.

You're one of those guys who goes ruthless during Black Friday sales, aren't you? No courtesy at all for anyone else in the store.

 

[Humbled]

one rule I learned by frequenting the local flea market: If you want it, or are thinking about wanting it: pick it up. As soon as you start to eyeball that shiny piece of junk, the guy next to you is most likely going to instantly see the beauty in that item and snag it...

Just like auctions. They are a profitable game because they exploit the adrenalin rush of human competitiveness more than the actual desirability of the item on the block.

 

[Deleted member 264575]

 

[tmw]

It's not the Taco Bass Recovery thread but it has certainly become entertaining.

 

[mdogs]

I could not even finish reading the thread, now I have this picture of Beavis and Butthead fighting over an $89 Goth T-Bird, that in reality was barely worth $89 new. The only real problem with this story is that someone had to win and someone had to lose...2 losers fighting over a POS bass...man this world sucks!!

 

[Geekydad]

Geeze, this is why I stay the heck out of stores on black Friday. People get crushed to death in the madness, quite literally.

If you spot a bass someone else has just been playing, a simple, "Hey, are you done? Can I check it out?" is easy enough- I'm sure there were other deals in the store.

If you were the OP, let the guy have the bass, and when he turns to walk away, bash him in the head with the other bass you picked up.*

-----
* - I am not responsible for any assault or manslaughter charges received as a result of following this obviously bad advice.

 

[RandalPinkFloyd]

I don't know about you, but English is my second language. Unfortunately, I don't have a first language.

It's ok. I can't read or write.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Since you don't have a cart, if you out the bass down and walk away, it's probably up for grabs. But there is gray area for dispute. Both can be correct. Only Judge Judy can determine the proper outcome.

 

[hopsbb]

If I took every instrument that I was thinking about buying up to the counter then there wouldn't be any room at the counter.

I could understand if I would have set it on the amp and walked to another aisle or even the end of the aisle but literally I just took my hands off and stepped 3ft so I could move two basses that were I front of another that I wanted to try.

There is no entitlement involved.I know I don't own anything in the store until I pay for it but at the same time ppl should be decent humans and use a little common sense/courtesy.Guy was a dbag.If I wouldn't have said anything he would have walked out with a bass that I had been playing/testing out for the last 20mins.

For whatever reason ppl seem to not pay attention to the fact that there was almost a 100% certainty the guy saw me playing the bass and knew I had sat it down momentarily to get out another.We were on a dead end aisle just us.Not a crowded Walmart on black Friday.He knew what he was doing and wanted to be a dbag and thought he could walk up and get it and I wouldn't say anything.

Then after he picked it up and made his comment and I told him I wasn't done with it,that's really when the situation went down hill.When he started smarting off.I'll go ahead and say it,if he wouldn't have acted like he did after I told him I wasn't finished it might not have been that bad.Once the dbag started smarting off it wasn't as much about the bass anymore as it was about his attitude.

That is the real issue.I mean the bass is bomb and all but attitude had more to do with it.Can't help I'm not a very passive person.

 

[CBRStingray]

I don't care if your hands weren't on the bass, you were obviously still using it. I assume he heard you playing it, also, right up until the 8 seconds it took you took put it down and grab another bass. He clearly knew you were still using it. I would have reacted the same as @hopsbb.

 

[Son of Wobble]

Others are condescension-enhanced but logic-challenged, a sad combination.



Such misogyny. Are there any other classes of people you'd care to insult, or will this be the only one?



That's not what you said. Your conflation of living in a right-to-carry state with killing each other is the problem here, not anyone else's inability to recognize irony (or rather, a failed attempt at same).



You already stand guilty of gratuitously insulting a lot of women, and I don't see any confusion other than your own.

Reid

Pardon me, but you dropped your purse.

 

[wintremute]

I wonder if this thread would have progressed differently if the OP had not referred to the other guy as "captain dbag".