Richard J Kinch wrote:
I was at the West Marine store looking around and musing over different
projects in prospect, and wound up wanting to actually buy only a baggie
with $4 worth of loose stainless hardware out of the bulk bins. This was
about closing time on a weekend, and the boss waved me out of the store,
saying "that's all you have today, then we'll get you next time".

Now I don't mind getting something for free, but I sure felt like, man, you
must get scalped at the chandler's every day if they can do that for guys
that look like they're they're three times a week. This was a store in the
next town that I hadn't actually visited before.

Yes, of course we all get scalped at the chandler's. It's a nautical
tradition that goes back to the days when Columbus had to pawn the
crown jewels of the Spanish court just to outfit
some leaky old wooden tubs in dubious condition (one sank during the
voyage) prior to a few weeks of slow-poke charter sailing.

I think the manager was probably pretty shrewd. He could have made
maybe $1-2 profit off that baggie of stainless fittings, or risked the
minimal loss of inventory and potential profit against building up a
relationship of trust with a customer. But do try to be picking out a
new outboard motor, (or at least an anchor windlass), when he decides
to demonstrate how much he trusts his customers-(and so implicity the
reverse must be true)- in the future.

We will all get screwed at the marine supply store- so it's nice if
just once in a while we can get kissed a bit in the process. :-)