I remember opening the Natick MA GC location and being told if you started growing a beard, they would make you use the AIDS blade in the bathroom to clean your face before your shift ... to make minimum wage.
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Music store employee horror stories???
- Thread starter Bagusys
- Start date
I love threads like this. It reminds me every day that, when I was behind a music store counter, there were a ton of people I could have given discounts to but didn’t, because they treated me like a dumb animal instead of a trained expert. Which I was.
Oh well.
Oh well.
i went to a Georges once and asked about their drum section. This georges has a smaller drum section than the other one that was close to my house. These dudes went ballistic on me it was insane. GET OUT HERE DRUMMER!!! GOTO THE SPRINGFIELD STORE FOR THAT DRUM STUFF! WE DON’T TAKE KINDLY TO YOUR TYPES AROUND HERE!!!
And I mean it’s not like they were just messing around, they were serious. There was like 5 dudes working there and all of em went nuclear, mind you their drum section wasn’t that much different than any other of the stores. The entire building got seriously uncomfortable to be in. Dirty looks, they were stalking me around the store, kids crying in the corner (ok that didn’t happen hahaha). Anyhoo, I make my way over to the guitar and my eye caught the Ibanez ZR (this was back when they first came out) I plugged it in and started riffing some serious progness. The dude I think was the manager comes over and is like “oh you play guitar too?” well G to the D if the entire aura of that building didn’t just pull a 180. Smiles back on faces, the record scratched dead silence played some music again. They even threw on some Pantera and we jammed out some of the songs.
I bought that guitar and 12 years later it’s still one of my 2 primary guitars. (After some of my personal mods).
Music store employees are seriously goofy lol. As I’m sure they get their doozies too and judging from the incredible stories this post got, it’s true hahahaha.
Much appreciated. Funny enough though, this post was started for stories about customers toward employees. Glad I got both aspects hahahahaha. My specific stories are about crazy employees I’ve encountered lol.
Not surprised; the probability is that, to him, Danny Carey is an old man.
Did he look like this?
Can we all just take a second out of our day to appreciate the Djembe god that is Brandon Boyd of Incubus. This Sam Ash kid, I mean he really took the time to research and listen around and can honestly tell you that BB is the greatest Djembe player of all time. If you make your way to Sam Ash in KOP and he happens to still be there today, 20 year later, he can even play you that little diddy that Boyd played on Incubus’s like 2nd album on one song that gives him this well earned title. Praise be to you Brandon and Praise be to Djembe for it is nothing without you.
He even plays the correct ways which is sitting with it between your legs slightly tilted or standing with a strap. Brandon has also never heard of this heathenous Djembe stand I spake of.
Ok continue
He even plays the correct ways which is sitting with it between your legs slightly tilted or standing with a strap. Brandon has also never heard of this heathenous Djembe stand I spake of.
Ok continue
I try not to talk to those guys. I just don't have the energy for any potential debates. But honestly they mostly leave me alone. Having some grey in your beard can speak for you.
The closest store to me really sucked. They doubled the price of all their strings then advertise them as 'buy one get one free'. So you're talking about $75. I had their tech install a preamp once and I wrote down details of how I wanted it complete with a diagram and he still botched it. Also one of their guitar teachers got busted for inappropriate touching with students.
Really, my favorite music store is one particular pawn shop. They have a huge music instrument department with lots of amps and pedals. I've seen some cool stuff there. Years ago I bought a Sovtek Mig100 full stack from them for $400.
The closest store to me really sucked. They doubled the price of all their strings then advertise them as 'buy one get one free'. So you're talking about $75. I had their tech install a preamp once and I wrote down details of how I wanted it complete with a diagram and he still botched it. Also one of their guitar teachers got busted for inappropriate touching with students.
Really, my favorite music store is one particular pawn shop. They have a huge music instrument department with lots of amps and pedals. I've seen some cool stuff there. Years ago I bought a Sovtek Mig100 full stack from them for $400.
Not a horror story as such (except for the store owner) but over 10 years ago I was looking for a 3/4 sized electric guitar for my daughter when she was 8. She was already showing some real talent and so I was looking at every smaller electric I could find within an hour or so drive from my place. In one store I walked in and there were two blokes behind the counter, neither of who acknowledged me when I entered. I gave them the benefit of the doubt as they may have been actually talking about orders or something (although probably not) and proceeded to look at what they had on the wall. After around 5 minutes of this with still neither of them asking if I needed help (I was the only person in there) I decided to pick some of the most expensive acoustic guitars off the wall and play them a little. They still didn't make a move and eventually I gave up and walked out. As I passed them one of them finally said "can I help you?". I replied "no thanks, I was just looking for a guitar for my daughter but won't bother here". The probably thought, cheap sale, no big deal.
Since that day that particular daughter has purchased something like 6 guitars, the last one being a $2000 Maton. Plus she's bought numerous pedals, PA speakers and mixer, mics and more. Her little sister has bought around 4 guitars, the last one being an $1800 Mini Maton, Venue DI, OC2 pedal, Yamaha Reface Keyboard and more. That doesn't include all the stuff I've bought since then including a new PA, a couple of basses, amps, pedals, keyboard etc.
The moral of this story is for guitar store employee's. While a lot of people buying entry level gear for their kids may never buy another thing, if you give good service to each and every one of those people, some of them will spend the next ten years or more as a regular customer. I was recently visiting my parents and drove past where that store used to be!
Since that day that particular daughter has purchased something like 6 guitars, the last one being a $2000 Maton. Plus she's bought numerous pedals, PA speakers and mixer, mics and more. Her little sister has bought around 4 guitars, the last one being an $1800 Mini Maton, Venue DI, OC2 pedal, Yamaha Reface Keyboard and more. That doesn't include all the stuff I've bought since then including a new PA, a couple of basses, amps, pedals, keyboard etc.
The moral of this story is for guitar store employee's. While a lot of people buying entry level gear for their kids may never buy another thing, if you give good service to each and every one of those people, some of them will spend the next ten years or more as a regular customer. I was recently visiting my parents and drove past where that store used to be!
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We do have two threads going here and since I worked in a music store for a couple years you can guess which thread I'm contributing to.
Michael Shrieve of Santana once came in and spent his time there screaming obscenities at the whole store in general about how we were an awful ripoff. Eddie Vedder came in once and quietly and politely did his christmas shopping there.
Some guy from a foreign merchant marine service used to come in every few months and would not just demo a drum machine but would insist that I go through each parameter on the machine and through the manual discussing each function and variable of each function in minute detail. He might eventually after several of these hours long visits actually buy something but he always returned it and started over again. We eventually stopped doing that.
Every week someone would come in and want to demo all of the worst used microphones, looking for some special grungy quality. We sales staff would try to caution them that you can make a decent mic sound bad but you can't get a bad mic to do much of anything. They would spend hours and hours and then bring it back when it couldn't be amplified over a band in their first rehearsal with it.
Peter Buck was disgusted that I couldn't run through all the functions of an obscure antique cheesy Baldwin mini keyboard, the Discoverer. This was in the days before Google so how the heck as I supposed to know. I told him I really liked his work with Robyn Hitchcock which I guess was kind of a backhanded compliment at best.
Many side deals were made: stolen Mellotrons traded hands on the stairwells, modular synths were refused at the door and bought surreptitiously outside. Those were the days...
The former houseboy/roadie from Nirvana used to come in occasionally and he was really scary.
Michael Shrieve of Santana once came in and spent his time there screaming obscenities at the whole store in general about how we were an awful ripoff. Eddie Vedder came in once and quietly and politely did his christmas shopping there.
Some guy from a foreign merchant marine service used to come in every few months and would not just demo a drum machine but would insist that I go through each parameter on the machine and through the manual discussing each function and variable of each function in minute detail. He might eventually after several of these hours long visits actually buy something but he always returned it and started over again. We eventually stopped doing that.
Every week someone would come in and want to demo all of the worst used microphones, looking for some special grungy quality. We sales staff would try to caution them that you can make a decent mic sound bad but you can't get a bad mic to do much of anything. They would spend hours and hours and then bring it back when it couldn't be amplified over a band in their first rehearsal with it.
Peter Buck was disgusted that I couldn't run through all the functions of an obscure antique cheesy Baldwin mini keyboard, the Discoverer. This was in the days before Google so how the heck as I supposed to know. I told him I really liked his work with Robyn Hitchcock which I guess was kind of a backhanded compliment at best.
Many side deals were made: stolen Mellotrons traded hands on the stairwells, modular synths were refused at the door and bought surreptitiously outside. Those were the days...
The former houseboy/roadie from Nirvana used to come in occasionally and he was really scary.
I’ve had nothing but great customer service from most of my music store visits (GC included).
But there’s one small music shop that I refused to visit a second time. I went in initially to buy a low G string for my daughter’s ukulele. (They had a sizable selection of ukes at this place). The sales guy told me there was no such thing. That ukes only had high G strings. “The math just doesn’t work for low G,” he said. And yet...they exist.
So I bought a music stand. While chatting during the sale, it came up that my daughter also plays double bass...1/16th size. He looked at me confused and said “The math just doesn’t work for basses to be that small.” And yet...they exist.
Couldn't bring myself to return to that shop and support that guy who, I guess, only knew about math regarding guitars.
But there’s one small music shop that I refused to visit a second time. I went in initially to buy a low G string for my daughter’s ukulele. (They had a sizable selection of ukes at this place). The sales guy told me there was no such thing. That ukes only had high G strings. “The math just doesn’t work for low G,” he said. And yet...they exist.
So I bought a music stand. While chatting during the sale, it came up that my daughter also plays double bass...1/16th size. He looked at me confused and said “The math just doesn’t work for basses to be that small.” And yet...they exist.
Couldn't bring myself to return to that shop and support that guy who, I guess, only knew about math regarding guitars.
No real horror stories for me as an employee but I did get asked some bizarre questions:
“How much are your guitars?”
“Why does this $3000 guitar sound better than this $99 guitar?”
“Can I get a pair of strings?”
I could go on and on.
“How much are your guitars?”
“Why does this $3000 guitar sound better than this $99 guitar?”
“Can I get a pair of strings?”
I could go on and on.
A store vs. customer story ( . . . . I've told this story before here in the TB, but will repeat for our newer readers . . . )
I was working in a music store when 'Spinal Tap' was released into theatres, and of course every musician I knew had seen it. DiMarzio was selling a big range of aftermarket parts in those days, and picking up on one of the 'ST' gags, began selling those plastic bell knobs like you see on a Strat that were marked to eleven.
So one day after we put some up to sell, one of the local hotshot guitar players came in, saw them, and just had to have them for his Strat. Brought it in, we pulled his old ones, and put the '11's' on and we all had a giggle about it.
Then . . . . . a few weeks later, he brings the Strat in, and explains that 'you know, ever since we put those knobs on . . . . this guitar sounds different . . . . ' .
The OEM knobs had come right off, I knew we hadn't damaged the pots, and everything else was the same as it was a few weeks ago. Then he said it:
' . . . . don't we need to put in '11' pots to go with these knobs? '
Quickly, I said that they're back-ordered, but as soon as we get 'em, I'd call him.
True. Really sad, but true. I'm afraid he's still waiting for me to call him . . . . .
I was working in a music store when 'Spinal Tap' was released into theatres, and of course every musician I knew had seen it. DiMarzio was selling a big range of aftermarket parts in those days, and picking up on one of the 'ST' gags, began selling those plastic bell knobs like you see on a Strat that were marked to eleven.
So one day after we put some up to sell, one of the local hotshot guitar players came in, saw them, and just had to have them for his Strat. Brought it in, we pulled his old ones, and put the '11's' on and we all had a giggle about it.
Then . . . . . a few weeks later, he brings the Strat in, and explains that 'you know, ever since we put those knobs on . . . . this guitar sounds different . . . . ' .
The OEM knobs had come right off, I knew we hadn't damaged the pots, and everything else was the same as it was a few weeks ago. Then he said it:
' . . . . don't we need to put in '11' pots to go with these knobs? '
Quickly, I said that they're back-ordered, but as soon as we get 'em, I'd call him.
True. Really sad, but true. I'm afraid he's still waiting for me to call him . . . . .
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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How about Lightning Joe from Lightning Joe's in Arroyo Granderson telling my wife that his Ibanez basses are far higher quality (same models) then the one she bought me for our anniversary online, and that's why hes selling them for far more money. That actually happened. Hahaha dude had an SR605 on his rack for 1200 bucks. She said, "Are you serious? I just bought my husband this bass for $897 with tax." That was his response.
- Oct 18, 2012
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Most of my experiences have been positive, even at GC. However, I've had a couple of bad ones as well. I had an employee at GC tell me that GK and Ampeg are not compatible because according to him, "GK is made in Europe and they have different electricity over there".
Another GC employee had never heard of Eden. When I mentioned the brand he said "Like Barbara Eden? Like the Garden of Eden? Never heard of it".
About 15 years ago, my band was leaving for an 8 week tour. The night before we were leaving, I realized that I didn't have any extra strings so I went to my local store. The clerk placed a couple of sets on the counter and I commented that I was a little surprised by the price because they were $10 cheaper per set at Guitar Center. He picked up the strings, threw them over his shoulder and said "Then go to Guitar Center". I told him that was exactly what I was going to do and he said "You're going to drive 45 minutes to save $10 per set on strings"? My reply was "No. I'm going to GC so that you don't have the satisfaction of taking my money". I then added "It's not about the money, it's about your attitude. I would have gladly paid the extra $10 per set. I was merely commenting that I was surprised that the price was a lot higher than GC". I left and went to GC. I finally went back to that store about a year ago. While I was playing a bass, the owner approached me and commented that I was obviously a very experienced player. He asked why he had never seen me in the store. I told him the story about the strings. I also told him that over the past 15 years, I had spent about $25,000 on gear, and that as a result of my previous experience, none was purchased at his store. He apologized and we had a good conversation. I still haven't purchased anything from the store. Mostly because now they carry lower, entry level instruments.
Another GC employee had never heard of Eden. When I mentioned the brand he said "Like Barbara Eden? Like the Garden of Eden? Never heard of it".
About 15 years ago, my band was leaving for an 8 week tour. The night before we were leaving, I realized that I didn't have any extra strings so I went to my local store. The clerk placed a couple of sets on the counter and I commented that I was a little surprised by the price because they were $10 cheaper per set at Guitar Center. He picked up the strings, threw them over his shoulder and said "Then go to Guitar Center". I told him that was exactly what I was going to do and he said "You're going to drive 45 minutes to save $10 per set on strings"? My reply was "No. I'm going to GC so that you don't have the satisfaction of taking my money". I then added "It's not about the money, it's about your attitude. I would have gladly paid the extra $10 per set. I was merely commenting that I was surprised that the price was a lot higher than GC". I left and went to GC. I finally went back to that store about a year ago. While I was playing a bass, the owner approached me and commented that I was obviously a very experienced player. He asked why he had never seen me in the store. I told him the story about the strings. I also told him that over the past 15 years, I had spent about $25,000 on gear, and that as a result of my previous experience, none was purchased at his store. He apologized and we had a good conversation. I still haven't purchased anything from the store. Mostly because now they carry lower, entry level instruments.
not a GC horror story, just odd/funny: so i asked the guitar/bass counter guy if he had any roto swing 66 stings thus-and-such gauges, and he said: "you don't want those --- you want these..." i looked at the guy and laughed out loud --- i couldn't believe he had just said that. i was having trouble not laughing and he asked: "why are you laughing, dude, what's so funny?" i said: "you told me that i don't want what i asked for and that i want something i didn't ask for --- what a stitch!" he looked at me, very seriously, and asked: "yeah, so why is that funny?" i almost laughed some spit in his face and fell against the counter laughing. he asked if i was "on something." i 'staggered' to the entrance/exit, laughing... without any strings. 
(i have been to that store a couple of times since and did not see him.)
writing it out makes me laugh about it again.
(i have been to that store a couple of times since and did not see him.)
writing it out makes me laugh about it again.
That string story just reminded me of a old one, a sales person wich I asked for standard guitar string, bring me .9 . When I said to him that I wanted .10, he answer me by saying that standard was .9
Pointing out a pack of ernie ball and d'addario saying regular slinky/gauge for .10 was of no help...this guy knows better.
Pointing out a pack of ernie ball and d'addario saying regular slinky/gauge for .10 was of no help...this guy knows better.
I wanna believe you, but the math doesn’t add upI’ve had nothing but great customer service from most of my music store visits (GC included).
But there’s one small music shop that I refused to visit a second time. I went in initially to buy a low G string for my daughter’s ukulele. (They had a sizable selection of ukes at this place). The sales guy told me there was no such thing. That ukes only had high G strings. “The math just doesn’t work for low G,” he said. And yet...they exist.
So I bought a music stand. While chatting during the sale, it came up that my daughter also plays double bass...1/16th size. He looked at me confused and said “The math just doesn’t work for basses to be that small.” And yet...they exist.
Couldn't bring myself to return to that shop and support that guy who, I guess, only knew about math regarding guitars.
