Unbelievable. TAKE MY MONEY. You are doing literally nothing else.
Twice I have come in, and there have been two gentlemen working. I've struggled to get their attention, and I'm treated so dismissively when I finally insist on buying something. I don't want to say that it's because I'm a woman, but when I tell this story, others think that's part of it. I don't dress "like a million bucks" but what makes you think I wouldn't drop a few grand that visit? Or that I don't know people in the community?
I've held positions on the Trout Unlimited board of directors both in Eastern Idaho and Salt Lake City. I've been viral on social media with videos about tying and entomology. It doesn't take an MBA to know - it costs you nothing to be nice.
My last interaction went something like as follows: I walked around for some time, even browsing higher ticket items, trying to initiate small talk and failing, before finally asking point blank "can I please have some help with flies?" And it looked like the dude was in pain to even walk over with me. You could have talked me into anything! The feedback was little more than "here are the mayflies" (pointing to the entire section on the back wall). "Yep, there have been some small ones coming off." Is there anywhere good to wet wade? "Yeah, if the water is lower, pretty much anywhere. Right now it's hard." Tells me about Fall Creek and the Heise bridge. (Wow, why didn't I think of those?) He brings up "have you tried zebra midges? We have some good sparse ones right here" ...for crying out loud my dude. I just told you, I have my field tying kit in the car. I've timed myself, it takes me 9 minutes to tie 5 of those.
The last straw was when I'd remarked that I'd forgot to get any split shot in town. "We have these. But no, not like you'd be looking for." I glanced around as if to say, is there anything else I can buy? And the answer was no. It looked like you wanted me to leave.
I'd given it a lot of thought before writing this review, and even debated leaving it at all. I won't be proactively disparaging. But I do not think I will have anything positive to say about your shop, lodge, or service in general when it comes up. I hope you'll consider this feedback and be more inclusive of women and younger people. Because I don't think your core demographic (just a guess - old rich white dudes born in the 60s?) is getting any...
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