Tales from the LBS.... When the day starts like this you KNOW your in trouble..

[shootingstar]

Pause . . . .

me: But we can sell you some rim adapters so you can use a Presta stem with your Schraeder wheels.

http://wheelsmfg.com/content/view/513/38/

Even for Caveman this might be too much info. He may not admit knowing what is diff. between Presta & Schraeder stems. Cavemen sometimes need to be SHOWN, in action with concrete physical examples. They are ACTION oriented.

Why? So one can redirect their inate embarrassment, manifesting as anger/belligerence to something that requires him to pay attention and NOT look at the woman who is dispensing advice to his face...who clearly knows what she is talking about/is expert but words are not penetrating Cave man.

But do remember not all cave men fall into particular generation.

Thx, for some of these stories, Runningmommy, kenyonchris..

I deflected some (not always) cavemen's anger by not yammering away about research, but showing them the coveted book/magazine article, giving them something or demonstrating on the database itself. (I always wondered how in the hell people remember some of those complicated database features if they weren't making notes while watching. Guess they sneaked off and wasted another 1-2 hrs. of work time to recall their memory of what they learned from me.)
____________________________________________________________

It will be interesting when the next generation after boomers...age and how they cope on knowledge, learning and listening to instructions/expertise from people 2-3 decades younger than themselves.

[Running Mommy]

Michelle got this one...

M: Good morning sir. How may we help you?

Customer: I need a pole and a seat...

M: A pole? for???

Customer: my beach cruiser.

M: Ohhhh. do you mean a seatpost? Ok, what size do you need? There are a bunch of different sizes, and you really have to know the exact size.

Customer: oh. hmm. I didn't even think about that. I will have to come back

M: Ok. If you can bring the old post in, or the bike we can use the calipers to measure it. They vary by mm's, so it's important we get the right size.

Customer: .... ok. I'll be back. Thanks for your help.

He was a nice guy actually. But when he said "I need a pole" I thought to myself "oh no here we go"....

Oh and Irulan- that was some funny stuff.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I have always found it best when dealing with either children or cave men (or cave women), to just tell them initial answers in terms of the simplest statement possible. Such as "Those won't fit on there."....."We are not having ice cream now."....."I need to know the size first."...."This one is better for you."....etc.
I'm not saying you did this in this instance, but Caveman's impatience reminds me of when I see mothers do this with their kids- The kid asks if they can go to Johnny's house after school. The mother says "I don't know if that's a good idea since your sister has a dentist appointment at 5 and Daddy is driving the car with the extra seat today and I need to pick up my friend on the way, so not everyone will fit in my red car. Maybe we can ask Johnny's mother if you can go there tomorrow instead." Meanwhile, by the time she said "I don't know if that's a good idea....", the kid had already sized up the answer as "No." and ran off to another room .

If you start by giving them a clear detailed explanation, many children and cavemen types' eyes quickly glaze over and they look for someone who can give them a simpler answer.
People who are capable of grasping the finer points or terminology will ask you to elaborate on the details of why or how, after your initial simple answer.
Perhaps a little of this came into play with CaveMan?
You might have lost him already at bottom bracket, truing the wheels, and extended valve stems. Just an additional thought, might not apply here.

[Triskeliongirl]

I think you got some good suggestions. Perhaps it is best if you choose one of the following:

1. Refuse to work on wally world bikes.
2. Stock unusual parts/solutions that wally world bikes frequently require.

I can see either choice, but if you choose to work on them the suggestions to be prepared, and keep it simple, are good ones. Just cuz *we* all like to talk about bike stuff with a lot of detail doesn't mean all your customers do.

As for whether to have these folks as customers, only you can decide that. But, from a business perspective I can give an example of where my hairdresser needed a new bike, and since I cycle he asked me to recommend a shop. The shop I recommended doesn't work on wally world bikes, which his bike at the time was, and he didn't want to do business with them because they were rude to him when he attempted to get his bike serviced. So, he and his partner both bought nice new bikes from the LBS that does work on wally world bikes, especially when they politely explained to him how much it would cost to service his old bike vs buying a new better one, and why the new ones were better, etc.

[Irulan]

I think you got some good suggestions. Perhaps it is best if you choose one of the following:

1. Refuse to work on wally world bikes.
2. Stock unusual parts/solutions that wally world bikes frequently require.

I can see either choice, but if you choose to work on them the suggestions to be prepared, and keep it simple, are good ones. Just cuz *we* all like to talk about bike stuff with a lot of detail doesn't mean all your customers do.

As for whether to have these folks as customers, only you can decide that. But, from a business perspective I can give an example of where my hairdresser needed a new bike, and since I cycle he asked me to recommend a shop. The shop I recommended doesn't work on wally world bikes, which his bike at the time was, and he didn't want to do business with them because they were rude to him when he attempted to get his bike serviced. So, he and his partner both bought nice new bikes from the LBS that does work on wally world bikes, especially when they politely explained to him how much it would cost to service his old bike vs buying a new better one, and why the new ones were better, etc.

As much of a pain as BSO ( bicycle shaped objects, box store bikes) are, I think that refusing to work on them is really shooting oneself in the foot. You just piss off a lot of future, potential customers, and lose the chance to educate them and/or convert them into real customers who will buy real bikes in the future. They may even consider you rude, and bad mouth you in the community.

I run into similar scenarios all the time with my business - I repair outdoor equipment, and box store tents are the bane of my existence. I would LOVE to just tell people "I don't work on cheap pieces of crap" but the real world doesn't work that way. I do the work at a rate that two repairs could have bought a second tent, and never miss the chance to explain the difference between a real tent and a cheap tent.

[Crankin]

I agree with Lisa. Today I went to a bike shop (I don't go to one very often, since DH does all mechanics in our house) to buy gloves. I did not go to the shop where I bought my bike, but to another one that is just as close and my son used to work there. As I was perusing the gloves, I heard a young sales guy showing a man a bike. The man had a paper with what looked like a print out from the web. The sales guy said, "This bike has Tiagra components. You might want to think about that." This got no response from the customer, so the sales guy says, "Tiagra components don't have a good reputation and can break (or something like that). I doubt the customer knew what a component was. Then, not sure what the customer looked at or said, since my back was turned, but i hear the sales guy say, "Oh, you'd have colors just like Astana..." This was met by silence. Sales guy says, "You know, Astana, the team that won the TdF..."
More silence. The customer left.

[TrekJeni]

Sorry Running Mommy - I'll buy you a beer at Interbike, how's that?

Geoff's got a HUGE metal sign up on the outside of the shop that reads something like this: Attention all Department Store Bicycle Owners, we require a 50% deposit on all work.
He was sick and tired of all the walmart stuff accumulating in the warehouse when people refused to pick it up even though they had been given an itemized estimate BEFORE they were allowed to drop it off.

Geoff also deals with CM mentality in the fact that as he is the general manager at age 24, and has been coming to work with his dad (family owned shop) since he was in diapers and wrenching on bikes since he was eight, he has a hard time getting respect from some of the older generation. His dad has to come out and finish the sale....

A few months ago they had a engineer (it seems to always be the engineers here in Cincinnati that are the problem) they thought he could fix everything and because his bike was mis-shifting, took the cassette off and looked at it under a microscope. He determined that the cassette needed to be replaced. All it needed was a barrel adjustment!

LBS's should write a book!

Jeni

[Triskeliongirl]

I think the problem with refusing to work on department store bikes is the customers never get educated. For example, my hairdresser just thought their refusal to service his bike was 'snotty' and 'elitist'. I tried to explain to him that it was not cost ineffecient to repair them, so the shop just didn't want to deal with it, plus there were safety/liability concerns if the bikes failed once they left the shop. But, I still think that if instead of saying no, you explain very clearly to the customer what it would cost to repair, and why it still might not perform as expected, you end up with more new customers than by being rude or posting a sign on the door 'no department store bikes.'

But there is something about the tone of this thread I don't like that does smack of elitism. So what if the customer doesn't know its called a seatpost, or can't understand the technical problem with his wheels? That doesn't make him a caveman. It just makes him a customer who happens to not be as knowledgable about bikes as we all are.

I really don't think the way the OP was treated was about sexism. I think she was just talking to him at a level he couldn't understand, whereas the shop employee, who happened to be a man, was able to explain it to him at a level he could understand. But, I could be wrong, I wasn't there, so its just a thought.

[SadieKate]

Even for Caveman this might be too much info. He may not admit knowing what is diff. between Presta & Schraeder stems. Cavemen sometimes need to be SHOWN, in action with concrete physical examples. They are ACTION oriented.

Sooo? I wasn't commenting on any caveman psychology; I was just providing some bike parts info that would have shortened up the conversation immediately.

[Tri Girl]

Wow- what a day! I'm sorry it happened, but on the selfish side- I laughed A LOT while reading your stories. Good thing I took a nap beforehand so I was rested and ready. Thanks for sharing. You made my day. I'll be extra nice next time I'm in the shop.