Down here at the pawn shop

[Undertoad]

I hope to take pictures of the test to show you guize.

[Pete Zicato]

Originally Posted by jimhelm

Pete, google acid test gold

Huh. Interesting.

[Undertoad]

Poor Richard.

He fell in love with a Yamaha digital piano in the shop. (I did too. It's such a beautiful thing. I hope to have one some day.)

It's $299. He came in two months ago and put $100 down in a layaway on it.

But hard times have fallen on Richard, and he's getting evicted. He has a temporary job and is going for a better permanent job. But now he's just hoping he can stay with a friend for a while until he gets back on his feet.

He came in yesterday with $13 to his name and put $10 down on the keyboard to keep hold of it. He needs it; it's as important to him as life. I know this; I helped him set it up when he tried it. I saw how he felt about it when he heard it.

The problem is that he told all of his story to Alan, the shop manager who has been there for 22 years. Alan has no sympathy; he's remarkably unmoved by any story at all.

Alan is not a sociopath, although his upbringing made him turn inwards, like an only child might do. But when Richard started buttering him up, saying "You've been as good to me as anyone in my life except my sister," this only made Alan freeze up a little. Made him uncomfortable.

Alan figures that Richard is putting it on thick because he is desperate to keep that keyboard. Alan has heard every story, and he is numb to it. He has to be, in order to do his job.

Right now there are thousands of dollars held up in layaways, and everybody who has one wants special treatment. At some point, if Richard doesn't come through, his layaway is going to become unprofitable for the shop, and the piano is going to go up for sale. And someone is going to buy it, because everyone wants that piano.

[Undertoad]

We don't like white people at the shop. It's one thing we all agree on.

95% of the customers are black. When white people come in...

A third are coming in via the methadone clinic down the block. These are troubled people, and may shake or be unable to speak correctly.

A third are ghetto people. White people who have somehow wound up living in the ghetto. These are troubled people, and may shake or be unable to speak correctly.

A third are suburban people who have Googled us to find a pawn shop, and want to sell us their expensive items because they like the idea of a pawn shop.

Last week a trio of serious white professionals, jackets and ties, came to the store with a bag of Taylor-Made golf clubs. An excellent brand. They wanted $1500. We offered $300. They left annoyed.

Now, I report to you this cultural phenomenon. At the pawn shop, you can get fifty cents on the dollar for many gift cards. White suburban young people have figured this out, and they come to the shop with their Home Depot cards that they got for Christmas. So gramma, understand that if you are giving junior $100 in Home Depot to outfit his apartment, he is just selling it at the pawn shop for $50 for weed or whatever.

Yesterday a guy comes in with his $100 Home Depot card and knows it's $50 at the pawn shop. But before he closes the deal, he says haltingly, "I know this is weird but can I get 50 dollars and 50 cents for it?"

Unpredictable last-minute dickering of the lowest quality. He is denied.

[Trilby]

fifty cents denied?

that is one tough pawn shop my brother. Or should I say 'my jawn'.

[Clodfobble]

It's not about the fittycents. It's about the bullshit pushing of the rules. Next time he'll push for $50.75, or $51.00... the thing people forget about negotiating is that you're not facing a computer. You're facing a real person who has the ability to be pissed off. This is the type of guy who tries to talk his way out of shit with the police, and eventually gets tasered because he just kept wanting to "explain."

If this is a regular customer, I would have refused to buy the giftcard at all. Tell him to come back next week and try not acting like a dick next time. (Well, I wouldn't have done it myself, because I'm terrified of in-person confrontation and could never work in a place where negotiations of any kind were a standard part of business. But I would have supported a business policy as such.)

[Trilby]

I see.

[footfootfoot]

Sounds like someone's got an early case of the Mondays...

[sexobon]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

... Yesterday a guy comes in with his $100 Home Depot card and knows it's $50 at the pawn shop. But before he closes the deal, he says haltingly, "I know this is weird but can I get 50 dollars and 50 cents for it?"

Unpredictable last-minute dickering of the lowest quality. He is denied.

Next time you might say "Only if you'll take the entire amount of $50.50 in pennies." I'd give him the 4 bits out of my own pocket just to see the look on his face.

[ZenGum]

Aww, C'mon, bro, like, it's not the money, it's the feeling of having WON against the system.

You could have said, yes, provided you take it as a money order. Then charge him a buck for the MO.

[Rhianne]

Could he have needed change for a parking meter/vending machine?

[Undertoad]

If he actually wants to negotiate, he should go to some round number like 55 or 60. A lot of people figure they have to negotiate, although our number is almost always final.

So he probably did have some special reason he wanted 50.50, but just acting all weird and asking for it awkwardly doesn't hold any sway. If he wanted meter reimbursement, he could have said so, and maybe we would have believed him and told him no anyway.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Since everybody knows a $100 card gets $50 at the shop, getting $50.50 would carry bragging rights, while just asking for just 50¢ isn't likely to piss anybody off enough to get him banned or anything.

Yes children, I'll tell you the story about how I got $50.50 for a $100 card, way back in '13, before your mamas were born.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Sounds like someone's got an early case of the Mondays...

Yeah, sorry about that... I think I've mentioned before, one of my first real jobs was doing low level (and I mean low level) tech support for a chain of pawn shops. I am intimately familiar with the environment UT has been describing in this thread. I'm the kind of jaded that UT is trying not to become.

Originally Posted by Undertoad

If he wanted meter reimbursement, he could have said so, and maybe we would have believed him and told him no anyway.

This is what it boils down to. There was absolutely no universe in which the kid was going to get the fifty cents, and I believe he already knew it. Assuming he did, he's just wasting everyone's time. A pawn shop is not a therapist, and they do not want to hear your sob story.

[Griff]

I'm getting jaded working with a similar clientele in education. The complete lack of foresight, integration with civilization, and human decency just wears you down.