Idempotent
Zombies' Worst Nightmare
- Apr 12, 2010
- 1,623
I recently bought a rimfire 22 at Dick's Sporting Goods. In the end, I got what I wanted at a decent price (a Marlin 795 for $125), but it just took so darn long. First of all, they only had one person on the sales floor managing both the fishing section and the hunting section, so we had to wait for him to finish up showing fishing poles to someone before he could help us. And then once we finally got him, it turns out he wasn't qualified, as far as the store is concerned, to actually sell firearms, so he could only get us so far in the paperwork process before he was forced to then call over another employee who of course then proceeded to check everything over again.
Then, before we could pay, we had to go downstairs to the manager-on-duty who checked everything over for a second time, as well as filling out a variety of additional in-store paperwork (required by the store's policies, not by any state laws, and not submitted to the state) that duplicated all of the stuff we had already filled out on the official paperwork. Ugh.
In the end, just to buy a Marlin 795, it took over an hour and a half. That's what I get for buying a gun at a sporting goods store as opposed to an actual gun store, who have the process down to a bit of a science.
On the other hand, all of the employees we dealt with at Dick's were friendly and helpful. Despite all of the hassle involved, it was really obvious that the first employee we dealt with was happy to be selling me a firearm (I don't think they actually sell that many guns there, despite how many guns they have up on the racks). You could tell he was a gun nut. It's definitely a plus to deal with someone who doesn't just want to get their hourly pay with a minimum of effort, whose ideal day at work is no customer interactions because that requires the least amount of work.
Edit: Okay, people demanding pics, here's one.
Then, before we could pay, we had to go downstairs to the manager-on-duty who checked everything over for a second time, as well as filling out a variety of additional in-store paperwork (required by the store's policies, not by any state laws, and not submitted to the state) that duplicated all of the stuff we had already filled out on the official paperwork. Ugh.
In the end, just to buy a Marlin 795, it took over an hour and a half. That's what I get for buying a gun at a sporting goods store as opposed to an actual gun store, who have the process down to a bit of a science.
On the other hand, all of the employees we dealt with at Dick's were friendly and helpful. Despite all of the hassle involved, it was really obvious that the first employee we dealt with was happy to be selling me a firearm (I don't think they actually sell that many guns there, despite how many guns they have up on the racks). You could tell he was a gun nut. It's definitely a plus to deal with someone who doesn't just want to get their hourly pay with a minimum of effort, whose ideal day at work is no customer interactions because that requires the least amount of work.
Edit: Okay, people demanding pics, here's one.
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