I might as well add something here. I used to work at Milarm - I was the tall younger guy with blonde hair. I don't spread my name around the internet, so please don't bring it up if you knew me there. But I do have a little more insight into how Milarm works, for those who have had bad experiences there.
And moreso than anything else, I've got more insight into how Gord works. He's a good guy and extremely knowledgeable about firearms, particularly precision rifles and scopes. But he's got a very particular personality - he can be pretty abrasive even if he doesn't mean any offense. He also has no time for bulls**tters and knowitalls. I'm not saying that the posters in this thread that have butted heads with him are either of those, but I've never seen Gord give it hard to someone that didn't deserve it in some way. What I have seen is people who think they're experts come in and get challenged on their beliefs by Gord. When people are too sensitive and take it the wrong way, they can get offended and think Gord's just being a douchebag. Most of the time, it happens because people are self-declared experts. But it's entirely possible that I've missed Gord treating people poorly - I wasn't there all the time.
Some people have touched on this, but I've been in retail on and off for awhile in a few different industries, and selling firearms can be the most frustrating experience around. You have to contend with young thugs, knowitalls who obsess over their "pet brands", tactical teds, fudds, walter mittys, and the useless jerks who want to talk about *wink wink* "maybe-not-so-legal" modifications to their guns. Those people can be infuriating, but I still spent the majority of my day talking to friendly, nice people who are legitimate firearms enthusiasts, and the odd person who was thinking about getting into hunting and shooting.
I've got a little perspective on both sides though, since I'm not just a (former) clerk but a customer too. Even when I worked there, I still shopped at other places. I've seen good and bad service, but even at Wholesale, I've never seen it consistently enough to call the whole shop bad. Some people have bad days, some people are just a**holes, and sometimes it's just a misunderstanding. But sometimes it's the customer, plain and simple. I hate the crap about "the customer is always right". It's a horrible attitude that just reinforces the entitlement problem that our culture has right now. Good, honest service doesn't mean following the customer around, agreeing with everything they say and being their best buddy. To me, good customer service means using your knowledge of your products and your greater knowledge of firearms in general to determine the customer's needs with them. Emphasis on "with them". That doesn't mean forcing your own preferences on your customers - it means talking to them, answering questions when you can, admitting when you can't.
