Being a girl does not make me stupid....

[dalesys]

...shoots .500mm - aka

mechanical pencil lead, fine gauge.

I thimk you meant 0.500 inch... or they were using the "this is 12 inches scale"...

[Shalom]

. The other sales guy seeing me at the checkout got all pissy that the sale wasn't going through under his name.

"Big mistake. Big mistake. Huge!"

[Ironclad Alibi]

I thimk you meant 0.500 inch... or they were using the "this is 12 inches scale"...

50 calibre diameter is .510 inches, or 12.95 mm.

From 50 BMG. (No relation to the BFG 9000.)

[Shalom]

The best response to this sort of fuckwittery that I've seen was from Diana Gabaldon's latest Outlander book, An Echo In The Bone.

It's too long to type in here, so I'll just give the link: Page 147. Relevant quote is four lines from the bottom.

[PepperElf]

mechanical pencil lead, fine gauge.

I thimk you meant 0.500 inch... or they were using the "this is 12 inches scale"...

lol yeah. 50-cal. ROFL. thanks.


Checked out another shop today too and got a holster. ... was talking to the female there and found out she has trouble with some of the older military guys who come in, look at her, and say, "Where's the MAN?"

... only to find out that the "man" doesn't know as much. And yes he's her husband and no it's not his store, it's HERS and was hers before they were married.


And I'm betting it puts a stick in some of their craws that does.

[DeltaSierra]

Another techno-savvy gal here. I built my own system and just spent the weekend installing Linux on my brother's laptop for him. He won't go shopping for computer components/peripherals without me, and invariably the male sales clerks zoom in on him and start asking him questions about what he wants and he always points to me and says "Talk to HER - she's the geek in the family, not me." Even my Dad calls me the "family geek."

[ShootMePlease]

Not to be alliterative or anything, but now you know why Bob boycotts Best Buy.

We have three or four of them within 30 miles of here. My female friends usually ask me to go with them when they want to go to Best Buy--not only because they know I know my stuff, but they also know that I can back off douchebag salespeople like the one in the OP and have done so in the past. This must be a BB epidemic because I see it happening nearly every time I'm dragged kicking and screaming into one of their stores.

Regarding cameras, some of them are more than $1000 and don't even include a lens. Suppose Kisa would have wanted to buy a camera like that. The BB douche could've potentially cost the store a $2000 sale easily (camera body, camera lens, a bag, an SD card, an extended warranty...it can add up fast).

Stories like this are what make me more prone to invite anyone who wants to go to BB over to the house to do some online shopping (Newegg, Tiger Direct, etc.). You can get better deals that way anyway.

This is very offensive to me.

It's no secret I work at Best Buy and I resent you calling us "douches". I have NEVER treated anyone disrespectfully or in a sexist manner. Of course there are employees who have. I can also tell you I have had customers treat me like I'm stupid and garbage because I'm a girl, so I must not know anything.

Condemning Best Buy as a whole for a few people's unacceptable behavior makes you no better than the people we complain about on this board. What you could have done is report their behavior to a superior. I know none of mine would tolerate it.

[Peppergirl]

Ok everyone. Lighten up.

There are people who work in ALL fields and types of stores on this board. Generalizing is not cool.

At the same time, if something offends you - use the freaking report button. It's not there for decoration.

If it happens again, I'm shutting down the thread.

[guywithashovel]

I kind of feel silly for saying this, and I don't mean to steal anyone's thunder, but this sort of thing sometimes happens the other way around, too. When I worked at Wal-Mart, I would sometimes get sent to cover the craft department, and customers there would sometimes treat me the same way you ladies have been treated for being into electronics, football, and other things stereotypically for males. Granted, I wasn't an expert on crafts, but I did know more than most other guys probably do since my mom was into crafting for a long time.

I guess people just freak out when we break stride with gender stereotypes.

[Kogarashi]

I guess people just freak out when we break stride with gender stereotypes.

I think you hit the nail on the head right there, guywithashovel.

I've yet to notice salesperson stereotyping against Hubby and I, but one of these days it's going to happen, I'm sure. Neither of us really follow the "standard" stereotypes. Yeah, I'm crafty and sew, but Hubby is the one who crochets, and crochets well (learned in Venezuela how to crochet hammocks). Hubby also cooks/bakes, and is more the "domestic houskeeper" type. Meanwhile, I'm the bigger computer nerd between the two of us, the official owner of all the video game materials in the household (three consoles and corresponding games), and the one who enjoys sports more (though I prefer to be a participant rather than a spectator).

[PepperElf]

Regarding cameras, some of them are more than $1000 and don't even include a lens.

That actually doesn't surprise me. When I was in Japan some of the very high end cameras were around that price... and yes, just the body. My BF would point out some of them to me and then point out how much everything would cost in the end. Oh and that's not even starting on the lenses... our favorite store there had one for... *!* around $10,000 ... and I'm not talking yen - i'm talking the $ equivalent. (although you'd at least get over 1K back in points but still, holy crap)

but back on topic... I too find myself saying sometimes that I'll find one of "the men" or "the guys" to check on something... I've been trying to make a conscious effort to say "the tecs" instead. Although in all honesty, the techs actually doing the repairs *are* men. The only other woman there handles almost everything except repairs, although I suspect she could do that too.

[Andara Bledin]

Pink is icky. Lol.

I built my own computer. It has a metallic hot pink case.

It has to be a nice in-your-face pink, though. No dusty rose or salmon or any other timid color.

You can hang out with me. I have a pathological resistance to pink things simply because they're PINK, and I have refused to cater to the stereotype since I was old enough to dress myself.

Funny thing, though... not getting pink things because of other people's opinions about it is very nearly the same as getting pink things - you're still letting other people decide for you.

That said, I still won't have anything to do with polka-dots for almost precisely the same reason.

Not to be alliterative or anything, but now you know why Bob boycotts Best Buy.

My local one is obnoxious, and the last time I set foot inside, was staffed by jerks. The one a couple miles further away was totally nicer.

I don't go there because their prices on a lot of components are just stupid outrageous. If I needed fully built gear, though, they aren't too bad. But mail order is still better for nearly everything I've priced out.

Oh and it was a S&W 500, which shoots .500mm - aka "50 cal". and yes it looks fucking sweet. And yah, big fucking boom. One of the salesmen suggested I was a "recoil junkie" (but not in a bad way of course).

Saw a guy with a pair of 50 cal Desert Eagles at the range, once. Those things are loud as hell and from what I could tell, kicked like mules.

The muzzle flash on 'em is pretty impressive, too.

As a note, his were one silver and one black (that's showing up so many places it's becoming cliche), and not gold or tiger-striped as a couple of ones in the link were.

^-.-^

[Moirae]

Weird, I've never had that experience at Best Buy and I'm a girl. I can talk my way around most of the people that work there, and generally know more than they do. Oh and I taught myself too.

The thing is, I have absolutely no fear of out right telling them exactly what I need and that they need to grow up and start treating me better.