@glupson2The harsh stuff you did not care for did not come until AFTER the business was up and running.
MY education, which my dad said I needed since he had been in retail all his life, was provided by customers I still don’t believe sometimes.
I was totally astounded by this behavior, and HAD to come up with ways to combat it. One day, a guy walked in, picked up an item from the shelf, and ran out. Good grief! I was so amazed I barely had the sense to call the police.
Another time, the locksmith next door who put new locks on my door for me hired a criminal from NJ to drive down and rob the shop. Cops stopped him at 3am driving a van full of my stuff cause in Boca in those days NO ONE drove around at 3am. I was lucky as they thought it was an inside job. Good news was I had not even had time to get insurance yet, so they realized what happened eventually, but I WAS THEIR PRIME SUSPECT!!
I was a kid trying to open a business with great intentions to bring wonderful music to as many people as I could. HAH! As my dear dad tried to explain to me, retail is a nutty business.
SO, the harsh stuff above was simply a necessary REACTION to the behavior I experienced from nutty customers.
That is why I sold the business--could not believe people were such dorks when all I wanted to do was HELP them. Naive? You betcha!
Went back to school, got a couple more degrees, and spent my career at a major computer company while the PC was being invented. Exciting times, and most customers were thrilled to see and use this new technology. Sure, there were nutty ones, but mostly it was a very professional environment that was what I THOUGHT I would have with the shop.
Live and learn, my friend, live and learn.
Cheers,
Richard
