I worked at a LGS shortly after college for a couple years back in '80 & '81. . Had a older fellow come out of the Adirondack mountains with his whole family in tow. He plops a gun in a beat-up case on the counter and says, "That was my grandpappy's, it's over a 100 years old, what's that worth." He was all grinning with great pride thinking he was about to come into a windfall. The owner takes a rusted, beat-up, store branded, single shot shotgun out of the case. He looks at the old-timer and says, "It's worth about $15." The old-timer starts ranting and raving about how old it was and that my boss was trying to cheat him etc. My boss calmly said, "Sir, I'm not trying to cheat you cause I'm not offering to buy it. I don't want it. You asked me what it's worth and I told you. It was cheap junk when it was brand new and now it's just old, rusty, cheap junk."
Had a fellow come in wanting to buy a replica of a Colt cap and ball revolver. "I don't need a permit to buy one of these right?" "That's correct sir. I can sell it to you but you'll need a permit if you are going to shoot it. However, I can't sell it to you along with the powder, caps or balls" "Ok good, I've got a problem with a neighbor and I want to scare him with it. I can come in at a later date though and buy the powder and stuff for it right?" "Sir, I'm not going to sell it to you, please leave the store."
A young fellow in his mid 20s came into the store with a couple of buddies in tow asking if we had a rifle in a certain caliber (I can't remember the caliber but it was something that wasn't popular in our area.) He wanted it for deer hunting. The only rifle we had in the store in that caliber was a Ruger No. 1. Though it's a fine rifle, it was one that we had in inventory for a long time. I showed it to him and he "Oh, its a single shot." I sized him up, looked at his buddies and asked, "Are you a good shot?" "Oh yeah, I never miss!" "Well then, for a guy who never misses, all you need is the one shot, right?" "Yeah, yeah, that's right. I'll take it." The following year it was back on the rack as a slightly used gun.
Lastly, had a scruffy looking guy come in looking around the place and acting kinda sketchy; walking around aimlessly, kinda nervous. He was the only customer in the store but his head was on a swivel looking around but not at anything specific. It was obvious he knew very little about guns as he asked some stupid questions. I was working alone and he points at a gun on the rack that was the farthest from the cash register. Without asking anything about it he says, "Can I see that one?" I replied, "I don't know? Can't ya see it from where you're standing?." He didn't reply but stood there a while and left. We didn't carry pistols on us in the store but my loaded .357 was on a shelf just under the register. I wasn't about to move away from it. I'm a believer in trusting your gut.
