Walking Into A Brick & Mortar High End Audio Store

Avgoround,
If it's about poker, I support organized and conservative game. There are money there if you know the game. Las Vegas? Not the best spot since there are lots of pros that won't be able to categorize or grab idea on how they play certain hands... Most of the time you see folks with caliber and great strategy.
Suburban local casinos quite often have consistent players that you can recognize and fairly quickly grab idea on how to play against them and win.

If it's type of game against casino dealer, you will be broke very soon.

This website has become a sounding board for what seems like angry people venting for reasons not pertaining to audio.
In the old days these people would be banned from the site.
By allowing these types of posts I now think that Audiogon should be banned.

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In the old days these people would be banned from the site.

Seems like you are referring to the golden era of Audiogon (chuckle).
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Wow .....I'm reading through the last few pages of postings on this forum and I am flipping out. You guys are all nuts ! Why don't you all just take a deep breath and relax. Put some Coltrane on your turntables, pour a nice snifter of single malt scotch, and enjoy the music. Life is too short to be going crazy over this stuff. How about some peace, love, and understanding ? It's all about the music ..... so enjoy it !

I'm going to chime in here since I think my earlier comments helped fuel the fire of this thread. I've only been in this hobby about 5 or 6 years even though I've worked in the audio/video production field for over 20 years.

I stated that when I go visit a HiFi shop I go in with a purpose; to audition some gear. I carry my CDs with me and explain that I'm auditioning, for example speakers, and what do they have in a certain price range.
I've adopted this practice after salesmen showed little or no interest in helping me when I was "tire-kicking." Many times I have asked to see some gear and the salesman would set it up and leave the room...there was no interest on his part to ask what components I owned or to have a dialogue with me. Many times the shop was empty, but I still had to go and find the salesguy to ask a question.

When I visit a shop, I'm not pretending to buy anything and it is part of the sales staff's job to try to sell me something. The shop should welcome a customer in these days where money is tight and budgets are lower. And the people in sales should know that their job carries certain risks such as not making a sale that day or losing a sale to another salesman because he has devoted his time to someone like myself.

As I stated earier, this is a hobby and a business where there is constant upgrading on the client's part and a good salesman should want me to return and to refer others to his shop.