Interesting observations by Darko…
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Hmmm, I’ve never felt that way walking into a business because the people working there have no idea what my financial situation is.
Perhaps they’re sensing that you don’t feel that you belong there for whatever reason.
I guess I’ve kicked too many tires. Once you get that bad taste in your mouth it’s hard to forget.
He’s got a good point about general intolerance. But it’s not just how much or how little a person has to spend that gets the pissing contests started but what they’re going to spend it on.
Most of my hobby/obsession money and attention has gone into motorcycles the past umpteen decades. That community is rife with stereotypes but oil is the only thing that’ll launch internet brawls the likes of measurements, cables, and regenerators and even that’s usually just poking.
Darko is also spot on with his poverty statement. There are plenty of people who’ll by choice or necessity be very frugal with their AV choices. Fortunately you can build some pretty good systems these daze for relatively little money but I’d be surprised if too many are choosing between head room or a roof over their head.
So there isn’t a one of these pissing matches that is anything beyond trivial.
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From 3:29 - 11:57 the video addresses “the inverted snob”.
Thought he was absolutely spot on.
I have an excellent dealer, their product range is designed for budgets ranging from $1,000 to $1,000,000, and you get pretty much the same service irrespective. They have regular open days so clients can become familiar with the unobtainable, the possible and the affordable and there is no pressure selling, quite the opposite. Every listening is by appointment and everything is delivered and installed, unless you choose to collect.
As for the rest of it, he’s exactly right. Would you tell a friend that they are stupid to spend $10,000 on a DAC when you can get a perfectly good one for $500? Obviously not, because most of us don’t want to offend our friends, whereas offending people on the internet rarely comes with consequences. Moreover, we probably have a good idea why our friend might spend $10,000 on a DAC, but we rarely have any idea about what motivates anyone on the internet.
I moved beyond caring what others think about how much I spend on HiFi years ago. I could care less what those with a ton of money spend it on, as long as it is legal. Condescending attitude at a B&M dealer is easy to handle: simply walk out. That happened to me just once, here locally in Chicago. I assume the dealer made a snap judgment about my income, taste and knowledge from the worn jeans and t-shirt I was wearing (some people make instant evaluations of others based on the purely superficial). I bid him good day and left, together with my money. Have never set foot in the place again. Snobbery problem solved.
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Years ago was shopping for the Harman Infinity Beta 50’s which
for entry level speakers seemed quite good with well known mags giving
good insight to these.
So seeing that the now defunct Circuit City carried them and proceeded there
to have a look.
I must have been there quite a while even bringing them down onto floor level
about a 6" shelf off of the floor to look them over…No one ever came over
to see what I was doing or even ask to see if I had any questions regarding them.
As i exited Circuit City there were 4-5 “clerks” hanging around the middle part
of the store and did not even acknowledge me…
Shortly thereafter Harman had opened up a bargain outlet selling the off
'the Beta line of speakers for about 50% off…needless to say a pair of these
came home…
The clerks at CC must have thought the same regarding myself and who knows
how many more customer as dumb ignoramuses…
The result Circuit City folded…too many dumb ignoramuses came through their
doors…left unattended or treated in less than a dignified manner…
If we the ignoramus shoppers had been attentively taken care of…they could possibly
be around…Look at Best Buy…still going strong in my “hood”…
Best wishes ya’ll
Best wishes
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At times businesses pay so little, turnover gets so high and they play catch up on training forever and ever. At other times, businesses focus on hiring part timers / transient staff when the nature of the industry requires stability, good industry and product knowledge. Loosely speaking, a business mirrors its leadership!
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When I was young, one of my uncles gave me a great piece of advice. “Never assume you know what’s in a man’s wallet”. A bit of wisdom that has served me well in the years since.
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I found the inverted snob part the most relevant today. So few dealers and the ones I know can be a bit snobby as they do try and put people into categories before they even open their mouth. they judge prematurely. But I spend way more time online discussing this hobby than I could ever visit dealers. Just too few and now with Covid one wants appointment only. he is wide open and usually does not say dont come in, but wants people to call first. The next closest dealer is like an hour from my house. just not going to drop in except when in area. Did that with Safe n sound in MA. They were great. let me walk around. I did have 2 speakers on hold, but he talked with me in spare time and let me walk around to many rooms they have with some expensive stuff. Very good dealer.
But back to inverse snob, this seems to be everywhere now a day. Oh my $500 dac is all you should have bought. That other one is waste of money. Dont get me going on Mr. Measurement over on that website. Just about the most ridiculous bunch of inverse snobs…or measurement snobs I guess. Now all these Chi-Fi companies making the measurements look great and poof they are the best. I just dont get it. But that sit is super snobby to outsiders who do not follow the chant pay tribute the all mighty scope.
This is one of the reasons why I really like this forum. Not snobs, open to things, very honest with answers and we dont jump down peoples throats with questions…just had a stupid question in the network section…answered in minutes and fixed my issue.
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I work in the casino gaming industry and customer-facing employees have all of the “snobbery” tales to tell. Whales can appear to be all-but-homeless to the overly opinionated eye.
What’s the worse you could do while working at a high-end audio equipment store? At least ask a person their audio fancy. It’s not like these places are ever crowded.
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