Choice nuggets from the LDS

I was in two different shops today...these places never cease to amaze me.

First shop had a new diver (10 dives) inquiring about a charter trip to a destination that can be at times be quite challenging. Instead of counseling him about the potential range of dive conditions and experience levels possibly required, they felt it more important to discuss the merits of owning a Spare Air.

I stopped at the second shop to see about pricing on a Al40 deco bottle. When I asked if it could be purchased in brushed aluminum rather than the yellow shown the catalog, the clerk launched into a condescending lecture of how "deco bottles typically contain high percentage nitrox blends and NEED to be yellow."

Oh, I see...very informative, sorta, not really...never did find out what my color options were. Oh well, there's always online...

Oh well ... nobody ever said you had to know anything about scuba to work in a dive shop ... =-)

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

ask him what color he would recommend if the deco bottle was going to be filled with 100% O2...but I didn't want to see his brain bearing seize up.

My favorite was the "owner" of a shop I no longer frequent answering my question about a certain brand of BC. He said it was junk and I'd be throwing my money away.

Six months later "lo and behold" he was now an authorized dealer of that very brand. I walked in and he tried to sell me the very same model I had asked about. It was now, apparently, the greatest innovation in diving since the Aqualung

Phone each LDS, ask for the manager, tell him/her the respective story, and see if he/she cares. Perhaps things will get better? If not, and everyone goes online, maybe you can open a store when they go under for the last time! :approve:

DON

I recently heard a salesman tell a new diver (with mustache) that a full face mask would be the best way to solve his mask clearing problems ...

-Klaus

Last week I was helping a friend pick out gear for his OW class. The clerk keep pushing neon green fins. My friend said, "no thanks, what other colors do you have?" The clerk then pulled out neon yellow. My friend said, "I'm not a neon kinda guy, what other colors do you have?"

The clerk said they also had blue and black. However, he highly recommended against them because they were hard to see. He went on to explain that the visibility is very low for all the local diving and that dark colors would be hard to see with only 10ft of viz. He continued to say that having an all black wetsuit and BC (like most rentals) would only make things worse and that you need to pay attention to these things when selecting gear.

I told him that I recently went diving with a couple guys that had all black gear and didn't have any trouble keeping track of them. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "I don't believe you." I explained to him that when the visibility is that low I don't let my buddy get that far away. He claimly (and quite sincerly) replied, "that's nice, but what if they aren't paying attention to you and swim away?" As he handed the neon fins to my friend, I said, "Well, I don't dive with people like that. You should probably look for a better buddy."

The clerk was quiet. I guess he didn't have a sales pitch for that one.

I went into a shop to get some tanks filled with nitrox. The store manager never asked for my nitrox card or even a c-card. I decided to be one step ahead of the game and just lay them on the counter for him. He kept glancing at them and finally asked if they entitled me to some type of discount. No wonder it's called Divers Surprise.

Lead_carrier once bubbled...
I went into a shop to get some tanks filled with nitrox. The store manager never asked for my nitrox card or even a c-card. I decided to be one step ahead of the game and just lay them on the counter for him. He kept glancing at them and finally asked if they entitled me to some type of discount. No wonder it's called Divers Surprise.

Click to expand...

Geeezz,

Hope you checked and rechecked your mix. I don't know if I would be comfortable dealing with someone like that.

I had a friend that came back with an excellent fill from them. We hooked it up and it had about 4000 psi. They kept putting air in until they got the proper mix. Not bad for an AL80.