BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="WJC" data-source="post: 3529259" data-attributes="member: 25191">More often than not, life in retail was good for me. But, every so often I would have to deal with a real winner:It MUST Be Right ... It Was in A MagazineA woman came into my shop wanting to purchase a binocular “suitable for bird watching and kayaking.” After showing her several instruments that would satisfy her needs, she began firing off questions and continued to launch into more before I had a chance to answer those already asked. Furthermore, it was evident she misunderstood much of what she had been reading. When she paused for a breath, I pointed out her questions had covered a lot of topics and it might be good to answer those already asked before we moved on.Considering her previous comments, I tried to correct some of her misgivings. But at that moment I lost her. She wasn’t prepared to accept that she had been mistaken about ... anything. Halfway through the next sentence, she whipped a Sea Kayaker magazine from under her arm, shook it in my face, and asked if I thought I knew more about binoculars than the person who had written the article. Seeing the title and author, I sheepishly replied I thought I knew at least as much. Becoming incensed she tucked the magazine back under her arm and stormed out of the shop. The article had been written by a freelance writer I had helped with at least two other optical pieces over as many years and, not only was I the optician interviewed for the article, I provided the last technical edit before it was published. Sadly, my personal attention and interest in helping with her specific needs weren’t good enough. But then, she didn’t need any human help; she had a magazine.</blockquote>

Verification