Adventures of buying climbing equipment

Once again I was thwarted with a no-show prearranged appointment and left with no other option but to seek revenge by taking my credit card and going to the competitor...When will sales people learn?

Here's what happened...I made an appointment (why do I bother...really.) at a local outdoor outfitter. There are only two in town, and I learned over the weekend that the owner of the "north-end" store had climbed a couple of mountains, so I thought he would be the perfect person to help me select my climbing equipment and supplies. Monday morning I called his store, talked with him personally, explained what I needed, and made an appointment to meet him at his store at 5:30 that evening - they're open until 8, so I thought that was reasonable. I walked through the door of his shop promptly at 5:30 as promised (those who know me, know I'm incapable of being late). In the store, I found one very young salesman suffering through helping a couple with a couple of very young active children, so I waited patiently until he was free and asked for the owner by name. He looked at me blankly and told me he'd gone home for the day. I paused for options, but none came, so I informed him that I had an appointment and asked if there was someone else I could talk with. The salesman quickly retreated to the back room and a second or two later, out came a young woman with a name tag that said, "Manager" on it. She asked if she could help me, and I explained that I had a 5:30 appointment with the owner to select my equipment for an upcoming mountain climb. She grinned, wiped her hand over her face, and said, "gee, I guess he totally forgot about it." I waited a beat to see if she was going to offer to call him, offer to help me...anything, but there was nothing. So, I politely thanked her and turned to walk out of the store. Could she leave it at that? Oh nooo...As I was walking away, she said in a less than sympathetic voice, "Sorry 'bout that!" So, I turned and said in my brightest and most cheerful, but fairly loud voice, "Oh, no problem at all dear...there are other places to shop."


... Okay, so I wasn't nice, and actually they did me a favor, because on my way home I stopped at the other better STOCKED AND STAFFED outdoor outfitter store in town. There I had the very good fortune of being hooked up with Steve, who, by the way, is one of my newest heroes. He rock climbs and knows all the best brands, knew just where to direct me when he looked at my equipment list, is excited about my climb, and was so very-very helpful. After about an hour and a sizable dent in my Visa card, I walked out with Asolo (pronounced "Osloe") boots, (exactly the brand recommended by Aaron, my friend's son who climbed Kili in 2007), the best wool socks with liners (made in the USA, yep they still make some stuff here), and really cool trekking poles that have little shock absorbers in them to save my forearms. In addition, I now know the size day pack I need, space wise and fit wise, and the store will special order what I choose, and most of all, I feel confident that what I bought is exactly the right stuff for the climb. Thank you Steve! You're awesome!!! Thank you-thank you Champaign Surplus, for being efficiently stocked with exactly what I need for my climb...You guys ROCK as outfitters big time!

This morning, I spoke with Ira, the owner of Champaign Surplus, to tell him about his wonderful employee and to ask for permission to use the name of his store in my blog, which he approved, and although I had intended to hit him up for a donation at some point - just not quite yet, he actually asked to donate! He and his wife, Lynn want to be counted among my donors...So thank you Ira and Lynn, you guys not only have the BEST outdoor outfitting store, you are simply the BEST people! Thank you so much for your support!