What I like best about this is that you told them that they did not speak Spanish, not that you could not speak Spanish.
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Guitar Center fail - but with a twist
- Thread starter MultiScaleMale
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What I like best about this is that you told them that they did not speak Spanish, not that you could not speak Spanish.
Speaking as a video producer who shoots in retail places a lot, you did the right thing - not because you had to stop, but because you had every right to play and play loud. And you took the high road. If they needed quiet then they needed to buy the bass and take it home. "The customer comes first" is true at most retailers. We always respect the customers.
Ok I'll be the jerk here and say "you want to shoot a video? Why don't you go see the manager. Most guys I know would have actually said that amongst a few other things too especially if they saved their money, drove a ways, or put off a fishing trip and god forbid taking a day off from work.
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My days of being nice and polite are over. I've recently done some serious soul searching and determined that being a nice guy for the first 39 years of my life got me nowhere but walked on. Even still, I'd still never physically hurt anyone (unless they come at me first). But there's nothing wrong with standing your ground and telling them to go pound sand.
Flatulence and eye contact, together, can end a lot of awkward social situations.
- Jun 6, 2012
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- I don't wait 30 minutes after eating, to go swimming.
Sometimes we have to be more patient ... in the end you could just explore the shop to check for other stuff meanwhile although people can be irritating sometimes ....
Anyway I was more susceptible when I was younger ... nowadays I tend to be more elastic
Anyway I was more susceptible when I was younger ... nowadays I tend to be more elastic
Normally I get the exact opposite reaction. If I grab a Bass and start to play, it seems that every kid comes out of the woodwork, sits down next to me, cranks up the volume and shows off their poor Slap and Pop technique
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I suspect it's more to do with HOW the OP was being asked that WHAT he was being asked.
A few years ago I had a confrontation with a guy while waiting to pay at a grocery store. It was pretty busy. The guy pretty much pushed me aside from where I was standing (right by my stuff on the belt) while saying something like "excuse me please, would you mind moving over while I put some of my things on the belt"... even if the belt was fully occupied and there was no space until the cashier freed some more at the front. The thing is the guy said the right words, and even if there was no space for him I would have moved, of course. But he was rude about it, the words were unsincere with a tone to match, and he just fully expected that by saying 'please' then it would be ok to physically push me.
So I pushed back and loudly I said "no, if you wait another 15 seconds or so, you'll have plenty of room".
He didn't like it.
I'm generally pretty accommodating and courteous in most things in life. But some people are too self-centered and I guess they get used to everybody else just letting do whatever they want to. Some days I just shrug it off... "who cares" right? But some days it just brings the "f*** you" in me.
I suspect if the OP had been asked nicely this thread would have never existed, the OP would have let the people film, and he would have tried the amp a few min later, no problem. I find it fascinating that some people called him out for being bothered despite his being compliant. I would have loved to see some of those people's reactions if they were aproached in the same way the OP did.
We're all saints at the keyboard, eh?
What? Bravado, cynicism or humor found in the body of talkbass replies? That is simply preposterous!
which in Spanish is the usual way to say it... there's no distinction made between "I don't speak..." or "I can't speak...".
(it would actually be "No hablO español", not "no hablA"... but I didn't want to be picky
)
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
I suspect it's more to do with HOW the OP was being asked that WHAT he was being asked.
A few years ago I had a confrontation with a guy while waiting to pay at a grocery store. It was pretty busy. The guy pretty much pushed me aside from where I was standing (right by my stuff on the belt) while saying something like "excuse me please, would you mind moving over while I put some of my things on the belt"... even if the belt was fully occupied and there was no space until the cashier freed some more at the front. The thing is the guy said the right words, and even if there was no space for him I would have moved, of course. But he was rude about it, the words were unsincere with a tone to match, and he just fully expected that by saying 'please' then it would be ok to physically push me.
So I pushed back and loudly I said "no, if you wait another 15 seconds or so, you'll have plenty of room".
He didn't like it.
I'm generally pretty accommodating and courteous in most things in life. But some people are too self-centered and I guess they get used to everybody else just letting do whatever they want to. Some days I just shrug it off... "who cares" right? But some days it just brings the "f*** you" in me.
I suspect if the OP had been asked nicely this thread would have never existed, the OP would have let the people film, and he would have tried the amp a few min later, no problem. I find it fascinating that some people called him out for being bothered despite his being compliant. I would have loved to see some of those people's reactions if they were aproached in the same way the OP did.
Based on the OP, I didn't find anything remotely rude about the request. Maybe I missed some details. The kids were not confrontational and they were not breaking any social codes (such as budging in line). I would actually be quite surprised if somebody said "no" and continued to play over their video given the circumstance. Additionally, the suggestion of refusing and then actually making a point to interfere with the video is far more offensive that somebody asking a stranger to hold off for a minute while they film. Of course there is the fact that these were children/teenagers which should factor into any reasonable adults reaction to their social graces.
If the worst part of your day involves the sentence "somebody at GC asked me to stop playing" then you should really sit back and evaluate your life because it is friggin' awesome.
I personally wouldn't use a retail store as my free venue to shoot a video and if I did so, I'd work around people that are trying to check out gear, giving them priority, instead of claiming "dibs" on a large chunk of the retail floor and asking others to stop playing.
