Would you be mad? Employee playing with your gun.....

[Theohazard]

Once the customer has made any indication that they intend to buy a specific firearm, I treat it as theirs. The only time I'll even touch it without permission is to do things that are directly part of the sale, like check the serial number.

It's simply a respect thing. Sure, racking the slide and dry-firing it usually won't hurt it and has probably been done before by other customers looking at that gun, but it's simply the principle of doing it to a customer's gun.

Unfortunately, employees in many shops don't automatically think of it that way. They're used to handling the shop's guns, so they don't think twice of handling a gun a customer is buying. That sometimes even extends to online transfers that aren't owned by the shop: I've seen employees pick up and dry-fire transfer guns when they're being booked in.

I don't think it's necessarily a rudeness issue, it's just an employee not thinking about what they're doing and how it might be viewed from the customer's perspective. When I've seen employees doing that at the shops where I've worked and pointed out why they shouldn't do it, they always understand right away and stop.

 

[Varminterror]

I wonder how much "outrage" there would be if the guy behind the counter had been one of many celebrity trainers or gun celebrity writers, that soooo many suck up to and name drop, who had performed the very same actions with the pistol.

Not much I bet...Man crushing would abound and most on this, or any forum, would have been floating to the exit, near orgasmic.

You guys are entertaining. The Spike and Chester show for sure...

Two thoughts to this:

1) WTH do your comments have to do with anything? Seems like you just have an axe to grind and enjoy stereotyping and insulting forum users.

2) Most of the "celebrity trainers or gun celebrity writers" I have met know better than to handle a firearm without the permission of the owner. I have had first hand experience where these folks will ask, "mind if I take a look at that...?" or "can I borrow your (weapon) for (this demonstrative reason)?"

The gunshop dude likely gets chastised for handling the merchandise on regular business hours, so they work all day around these things, but can't actually handle them - an agonizing form of passive torture, in my personal experience. Organically, it follows the employees only really have an opportunity to handle the toys when a customer asks to see something, or when a purchase is made and the guns come out of the case and are SUPPOSED to be handled to some extent. As such, it's natural to have "that guy" at different gun shops, who will interject himself at any opportunity to handle and manipulate a firearm, and like the guy in the OP's situation, he's typically completely oblivious to the fact he's effectively looking through someone else's underwear drawer.

 

[strangelittleman]

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you sad...Did it hit close to home?
Are you enjoying your feigned righteous indignation and 2a snowflake/SJW outrage?
I don't have to stereotype you, you do a great job all on your own, Pfft.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you sad...Did it hit close to home?
Are you enjoying your feigned righteous indignation and 2a snowflake/SJW outrage?
I don't have to stereotype you, you do a great job all on your own, Pfft.

You are one strange little man.

 

[strangelittleman]

You are one strange little man.

I like your avatar.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I like your avatar.

Thanks
so do I

 

[JR24]

Wouldn't bother me overmuch.

 

[JONWILL]

Just a function check. If you didn't like it you should have spoken up then, instead of being cowed down.
Complaining about it now accomplishes nothing.
I think you're outraged for the sake of having something to be outraged about.
Don't act like a 2nd Amendment Snowflake/SJW.

Probably happened before he knew what was going on. Snowflake is term I am surprised someone on the site used toward another member.

He is simply asking a question of the members. Rude comment IMHO

 

[JeffG]

It's Cabela's, overpriced items and employees that lacking in knowledge of products and common courtesy are the norm.

Pretty much what killed Gander Mountain.

 

[Steve S.]

A cowboy, look-at-me, Mr. Macho, show-off; he wants attention. As a high note, the piece probably did not suffer for the worse with that small amount of abuse. The scary part of that encounter is knowing that there are more of “them” than there are of “us” - the world is full of that kind, you learn to deal with that behavior more aggressively as you come to realize that bad behavior will continue until it is challenged. Good shooting.

 

[JDR]

Cabela's isn't known for hiring from the big brained portion of the workforce.

Cabela’s is just like every big-box retail store chain, their counter people are there to sell you what they have in stock on their shelves, at the time they have your attention. They are not there to sell you what you want or need if it isn’t already on their shelves. They do not generally hire firearms enthusiasts, they want people who can move their merchandise. They are typically at or near retirement age or are part-timers who are willing to work for what they get paid. I’ve bought a few firearms from the local Cabelas out here and I’ve generally been happy with their customer service and especially their layaway policies.

 

[glc24]

I was at Cabelas and purchased an FNX-45 Tactical in FDE. The background check is done and they are finishing the paperwork.

One of the employees, a man in his 50s proceeds to do the third serial number check. He picks up (my) new $1,300 gun and:

Racks and drops the slide multiple times on an empty chamber
Releases and slams the magazine home several times
Dry fires in double action 3 times, racks to the rear and dry fires in single action 3 times

I'm standing there watching this and it made me very upset actually. There was no reason for him to do that and I felt like it was very disrespectful.


Would you be upset too?

Yes, I'd be upset, and I'd be kicking myself right now, for NOT speaking up. Shame on you for letting him (employee) do that.

IMHO, as others have posted you paid a little too much for that pistol. But that's Cabela's for you.
As for the gun, I have one. You will definitely be impressed with it for sure.

 

[GBExpat]

Seems to me, from your behavior in this Thread, stranglelittletroll would be a more accurate moniker.

 

[BSA1]

I can understand being annoyed buy the actions of the employee. I am also not surprised.
It's Cabela's, overpriced items and employees that lacking in knowledge of products and common courtesy are the norm.

Ditto.

Me?

I would speak to the Manager and tell him that I want to purchase a new gun, not the used gun that his employee just abused without my permission. And I would not take no for an answer start asking for higher up names and telephone numbers.

Of course after inspecting the gun to ensure no damage had been done I would be receptive to a significant price discount as it was now a used gun.

The employees in the gun department at the Cabelas closest to me are mostly totally clueless about guns and how they operate. I brought a blackpowder revolver from them once and nobody in the entire store could tell me how to disassemble and reassemble it. After I got it home I figured out how to disassemble it but I could not figure out the trick to reinstalling the cylinder. Took the gun back and, yep, not even the department manager knew how to do it.

Since then thanks to YouTube I have learned how to completely disassemble and assemble it, cleaned up the action and figured out how to reinstall the cylinder (Pietta 1858 Remmie).

In fact I now do most of my shopping on Cabelas website with in-store pick-up. Saves me time and tracking to track down merchandise in the store.

 

[fjblair]

I would have been more worried about the employee than the gun, but it is disconcerting. Just enjoy your new gun.

 

[jonnyc]

NO ONE in my shop would EVER do that. Very unprofessional.

 

[hdwhit]

Saw this sign at a gun store a long time ago:

"You can dry fire my guns all you want; $50 for the first; $80 each thereafter."​

 

[Milt1]

I would have said, would you mind telling me what you are trying to do? I'm in the process of buying that pistol!

 

[hdwhit]

Hokie_PhD wrote:
I’d probably have ripped the guy a new one, and demanded that the manager come over.

You could have asked the manager how much of a discount he was going to give you for selling you a used gun since that was what it was after his oaf got done playing "junior green beret" with it.

 

[FN in MT]

Somewhat related, this post reminded me of a great story from forty years back. I used to frequent a large LE Supply/Gun Shop in NJ. They sold a LOT of S&W's back then, mostly revolvers. One of their salesmen would routinely unbox a new Smith, then point it towards the floor and double action it a few times. Did it to one of my revolvers once and I ragged on him a bit...but saw it fell on deaf ears. So I avoided him there after and used other Salesmen, Or the Manager.

One evening right before closing I was picking up ammo for the Department and was taken aside and told to brace myself for a "negligent discharge". They had put a couple of black powder blanks in a gun this guy was to transfer to another Cop....Also "In" on the joke.

Have to say...It was hilarious to see this guy pull that 4" M-66 out....point it towards the floor and KABOOM, with a big cloud of white smoke! He absolutely turned pale white. I don't recall I EVER saw him do anything but open the cylinder and check for ammo, then put it on the counter or back in the box.

 

[Jim K]

The employee may have been out of line, but if your new gun won't stand up to that treatment, why in heck would you even think about carrying such a POS and depending on it to save your life?

Jim

 

[Mn Fats]

I would be upset too.

However, I would also caution you to realize that probably 500 other people who probably handled it worse than the employee have racked the slide on that pistol and dry fired it, in the weeks before you got it out the display case and bought it.

This was my first thought. I've seen tire kickers abuse the snot out of guns, then back in the display case they go. One of which was a beautiful classic double barrel that was handed to a customer who broke it open, then slammed her close one handed and gave it back to the employee. Barf.
When buying a new gun at a big box store (rare) I always ask if they have the same model in the back. If not, I have them order it. Back to op, yes, I'd be pretty annoyed by unreasonable handling. Probably ask "now that you did all that, can you give me one good reason why you did?".

 

[Theohazard]

The employee may have been out of line, but if your new gun won't stand up to that treatment, why in heck would you even think about carrying such a POS and depending on it to save your life?

That’s not the point here. The point was that it’s the OP’s gun and it was extremely disrespectful for the employee to do what he did.

If you walked up to my dog and kicked him, he’d be just fine. He’s a darn tough dog. But I’d still be mad.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm wondering why you didn't tell him to stop instead of telling us? If it were my gun I would have immediately asked him to stop abusing my property.

 

[Robert]

This appears to be generating more heat than light and is really not going anywhere productive.