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so what is the worst experience you've had at your local hobby shop?

my story is when I went in to do some painting and converting of a Iron Lich Asphyxious to make him into a Necron Overlord, so some SM player comes up to me and asked what base model I was using and I said it wasn't a GW model he just shrugged and walked away, seconds later the manager comes up to me and asked me to leave, when I asked him why he said because I was using non GW models, I was suitably annoyed but left calmly.

So what are your horror stories

Why is this a horror story? I have never had the urge to visit a GW store for a long, long time but I wouldn't eat a McDonalds burger in Burger King and nor would I be surprised if I were asked to leave.

I can see why he asked you to leave. Why should one company support a rival company? As small as it may seem, it all boils down to that.

The store manager had every right to ask you to leave, you were using the stores supplies on a product that they do not produce. Although im not sure I would like the guy that dobbed you in ethier.

OMG that is terrible! A real horror story.... not.

Someone started talking to me about lesbians, I was asked to leave (there were kids around) with them despite them being the only one talking and me try to politely distance myself...

Though luckily enough I was allowed back in after a friend talked to them and they found out I really had nothing to do with it.
It remains the only time I've been asked to leave from somewhere.

Other than that closest I have gotten was an event that was extremely biased in favor of Space Marines, big deal. So I don't really have any horror stories about GW where they are the cause of it (in before embargo, Aus prices, finecost, Ward, SPEES MEHRIENS etc).

As for non-GW models in a GW store I try to limit myself to at most one model and stick to their requirements. If people ask I just say it's a conversion, I don't point them towards the other line. Pretty much all the managers I've come across have been fine with this. Too many distractions to work on anything in store.

He could have just asked you to put the model away and not bring it back.
He didn't have to ask you to leave. It was rude watch the language please !

I was once asked to leave vet's night because I didn't look well and it might stop people coming in to buy things.

Yeah, the standard policy in GW is the models must be GW product.

The exception being bases and some bitz (blades / guns / etc) scratchbuilt Apoc units, but even then they generally need to be at least 50% GW Product ( I tend to find large amounts of Sprue Rubble on bases and Greenstuff to do the job of bringing up the percentage. )

Exception being scratch built apoc units that are just unreasonably awesome enough to stay.

My GW Horror story......................

One day I walked into the store and ended up with a trip to A&E and huge dentist bill in the afternoon. I picked up a box of 10 Ork Boyz and then noticed the price tag. My jaw hit the floor so fast in shock it knocked most of my teeth out. Quickly I made for the door holding my bloodied Jaw whilst my Wife grabbed all the my teeth from the floor. Unfortunately on the way out I glanced at the price for a tin of spray paint. It was at this point my heart stopped and I fell over in complete and utter shock and disbelief. My Wife quickly called 999 and I eventually regained consciousness in my local A&E hospital.

The hospital referred me to a councillor to help me to understand what had happened. She assured me that Games Workshop Executives suffer from the ‘GW’ (Greedy Wealth) Condition and leads them to increase their pricing to shocking levels. The shock of seeing the ‘GW’ Condition caused my incidents.............

I dont see this thread going anywhere useful

My horror story is from many years ago. A new GW was scheduled to open up right on my drive home from work. I was super excited because at the time, this was the closest FLGS, and dropping by would break up my brutal commute.

So, I placed a web order, paid online, and requested pick up at the new store (Order was for the newly released Chakax and another new lizardmen blister). A few days later, I checked my order online and saw it was ready for pickup. This was prior even to the "Grand Opening", so I was expecting the normal very friendly / enthusiastic GW atmosphere. In fact, I was looking forward to it, due to the crappy drive.

So I get there, and the immediate atmosphere is stand-offish. No greeting, GW guy looks up with neutral expression. Regardless, I am cheerful and happy, and go straight to the counter, super excited to pick up my order. I say, "Hi, I'm so happy you all have opened in this location!" Response: "OK"

I kinda tilt my head and continue, "So I have a web order for pickup." Response, "We don't have it." Immediate response, no bother to look. I said, "No, I checked, my web account says it was delivered here".

The GW guy says: Did you get a call from us?
Me: No.
GW guy: Then we don't have it.
Me: But here is my printout saying it is here to pickup.
GW guy, rolling eyes: Oh, that is you. Your order didn't have a phone number. You should learn how to enter it.
Me, stunned: Uh, I did. I don't know why it didn't go through, maybe something is wrong with the system. Anyway, can I have my order?
GW guy, with contempt: Fine, I'll get it. But you need to enter your phone number.
Me: Uhh... why? I'm here. You have the items. Can I just have my stuff please?
GW guy sneers. He walks to the back.

I'm really, really puzzled at this point, but chalk it up to dude having a bad day, whatever. So I go talk to another guy in street clothes, sitting near by, painting the newly released Stegadon. I try to strike up a convo, about the new lizardmen, excitement about the new releases, about painting, the mini, anything. Nothing but monosyllable responses, snotty, condescending. As it turns out, this is another GW employee, in on personal time.

Other GW guy comes back, and I'm still trying. I ask if they had heard anything about some rumor on the internet- completely light and open, just a, "Hey, have you guys heard anything about..." (can't remember what, now)

GW guy: WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT?
Me: Dakka or Warseer... kinda interesting, that is all.
GW guy: The internet is for losers. Anyone on the internet is a troll.

He's is clearly targeting this comment directly at me.

Other guy: Heh heh yeah, internet is for losers.

Again, targeted directly at me.

These guys are so nasty they don't even get the irony that I was lambasted for not working the internets correctly (phone number), but then I'm a troll for being on the internet. At this point, I am completely offended. I silently pay and leave. I am ready, right then, to quit and sell every last GW product I own, and if I can't sell it, burn it.

I talk to a friend, who knows the regional manager. Regional manager asks me to come to lunch, apologizes, and comps me a Stegadon. I find out later that both were fired, not because of this, but I still am relieved they aren't around anymore.

That regional manager kept me involved in GW, but I still will not step foot in that store. It can rot for all I care.

Jon Garrett wrote:I was once asked to leave vet's night because I didn't look well and it might stop people coming in to buy things.

That's more likely to be a sarcastic/attempt-to-hide-real-motive-behind-humour way of saying 'Get out! I'm not sure which of Nurgle's many and bountiful plagues infects you currently, but I don't want everyone else to be blessed with the same malady after your visit'.

No horror stories, once got told to steer my conversations more towards the hobby when talking about video games during non-games-night opening hours, but that didn't really bother me...

Gymnogyps, that is quite a genuinely awful story. Sadly, you occasionally get social misfits working in GWs, and it's good that they were got rid of.

Ovion wrote:Yeah, the standard policy in GW is the models must be GW product.

The exception being bases and some bitz (blades / guns / etc) scratchbuilt Apoc units, but even then they generally need to be at least 50% GW Product ( I tend to find large amounts of Sprue Rubble on bases and Greenstuff to do the job of bringing up the percentage. )

Exception being scratch built apoc units that are just unreasonably awesome enough to stay.

I've regularly used entire squads that are not GW models in a store. My IG army is a mix of Pig Iron heads, heavy-walkers and Copplestone Castings terminators. There is even an Infinity model in there, the key is:
- Paint your models, so it is not immediately obvious.
- Don't draw attention to them - if 'that kid' points them out, refute his claim (I always say the Copplestone Castings models are OOP Necrons for instance)
- Don't be a prat and behave like it is your God-given right to use them. It helps if you know the guy working in the store, but always be conscientious with their use.
- Spend money in the store, if the guy working in there is not a complete jobsworth then usually that gives you some breathing room.

Of course the best answer is to play in a club or FLGS, and to revel in the freedom that they offer you, but if you are smart about it you can play unmolested most of the time. I've been at events in Warhammer World where 'best painted' armies have had non-GW components and even models in them, but so much of it comes down to your behaviour and whether you try and behave like a wise guy.

Gymnogyps wrote:My horror story is from many years ago. A new GW was scheduled to open up right on my drive home from work. I was super excited because at the time, this was the closest FLGS, and dropping by would break up my brutal commute.

So, I placed a web order, paid online, and requested pick up at the new store (Order was for the newly released Chakax and another new lizardmen blister). A few days later, I checked my order online and saw it was ready for pickup. This was prior even to the "Grand Opening", so I was expecting the normal very friendly / enthusiastic GW atmosphere. In fact, I was looking forward to it, due to the crappy drive.

So I get there, and the immediate atmosphere is stand-offish. No greeting, GW guy looks up with neutral expression. Regardless, I am cheerful and happy, and go straight to the counter, super excited to pick up my order. I say, "Hi, I'm so happy you all have opened in this location!" Response: "OK"

I kinda tilt my head and continue, "So I have a web order for pickup." Response, "We don't have it." Immediate response, no bother to look. I said, "No, I checked, my web account says it was delivered here".

The GW guy says: Did you get a call from us?
Me: No.
GW guy: Then we don't have it.
Me: But here is my printout saying it is here to pickup.
GW guy, rolling eyes: Oh, that is you. Your order didn't have a phone number. You should learn how to enter it.
Me, stunned: Uh, I did. I don't know why it didn't go through, maybe something is wrong with the system. Anyway, can I have my order?
GW guy, with contempt: Fine, I'll get it. But you need to enter your phone number.
Me: Uhh... why? I'm here. You have the items. Can I just have my stuff please?
GW guy sneers. He walks to the back.

I'm really, really puzzled at this point, but chalk it up to dude having a bad day, whatever. So I go talk to another guy in street clothes, sitting near by, painting the newly released Stegadon. I try to strike up a convo, about the new lizardmen, excitement about the new releases, about painting, the mini, anything. Nothing but monosyllable responses, snotty, condescending. As it turns out, this is another GW employee, in on personal time.

Other GW guy comes back, and I'm still trying. I ask if they had heard anything about some rumor on the internet- completely light and open, just a, "Hey, have you guys heard anything about..." (can't remember what, now)

GW guy: WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT?
Me: Dakka or Warseer... kinda interesting, that is all.
GW guy: The internet is for losers. Anyone on the internet is a troll.

He's is clearly targeting this comment directly at me.

Other guy: Heh heh yeah, internet is for losers.

Again, targeted directly at me.

These guys are so nasty they don't even get the irony that I was lambasted for not working the internets correctly (phone number), but then I'm a troll for being on the internet. At this point, I am completely offended. I silently pay and leave. I am ready, right then, to quit and sell every last GW product I own, and if I can't sell it, burn it.

I talk to a friend, who knows the regional manager. Regional manager asks me to come to lunch, apologizes, and comps me a Stegadon. I find out later that both were fired, not because of this, but I still am relieved they aren't around anymore.

That regional manager kept me involved in GW, but I still will not step foot in that store. It can rot for all I care.

What a bunch of ers. They were fired? YEHZ. what a nice manager.

I was at my local GW, and it was storming like crazy outside. The lights were flickering, so it was kind of hard to play our game, so we left out armies on the table and went to go get some chow at the local Taco bell. We came back, and the whole store was a bloodbath. The redshirts were covered in blood (but you know, they're red shirts, so you couldn't really tell), and all the other players were thrown into a heap, with their skulls in another pile. There were guts and blood all over the cash register, and a random severed head on the bathroom door handle....Standing in the middle of it all..... a kharne the betrayer model.......He looked at us with his cold, pewter eyes and did something that looked like laughing, and walked out the front door (which was hard, since he was only an inch and a half tall. I had to open it for him). We packed up our armies (that now looked a lot more chaos-y with all that blood on them) and called the police.

We were totally shocked. The police didn't believe us, and we were charged with manslaughter, but we got off because of our taco bell alibi. Thank the emperor.

It was believable until you mentioned you went to get food at Taco Bell.

My horror story was the day I made the 2 hour drive to my 'local' GW only to find out they closed two weeks prior

My horror stories? Well, this is from the opposite side of the coin from when I worked in the local store before it closed;
- Construction workers cut our internet cable on purpose, (they were told which lines to leave the hell alone and bright neon tape affixed to ALL internet wires in their work areas), 5 days before Christmas!!!
We went for 11 totaly days with no ability to process debit or credit transactions, including a 6 hour stint on the last Satuarday before xmas with no till at all - hand written, cash only transactions worked out on caculators!

- Construction workers cut our internet lines twice more after that first incident.
Each time forcing our store's provider to come in with their own work crews to replace about 3 football fields length of cable...

- Massive power outages becoming the order of the day and hitting like clockwork at least once every two weeks.

- Our till exploded at one point - completely fried and HQ had to ship us an entire new computer. Good thing we had lots of training in how to hand write and calculate those orders!

- A new elevator went in in front of store! Yippie, more mall traffic to take advantage of, right?!
6 weeks of an open-air, stinking, crap-filled mud hole with the smell constantly wafting into our store later, we were thinking our next store event would be something like Klingon death matches in said pit...
Oh, then we get told 15 minutes prior to close one night that the welding crew would be coming in and we needed a firewatch due to the likelyhood of flying sparks overnight.
The mall ordered the wrong size of stairs for said escalator so the crews had to grind down those steel stairs... During mall hours! (cue severe nosebleeds every morning due to the smell/dust)
The escalator was bigger than anticipated and thus blocked off our storefront from view on the upper levels... So much for extra traffic.

- A new recieving bay went in behind our store. When the d-bags applying the chemical sealent to the concret floors had finished, they vented the very unhealthy fumes... STRAIT INTO OUR STORE!!!
My manager and I got pretty ill, the other redshirt working that day got very high, and then very ill. Oh, and mall admin forced to stay open all day despite no one venturing anywhere near our end, The Bay closing off their mall entrance to protect their shoppers and that it would still take about 2 hours to fully vent the fumes out of the mall. (we shut down and went to the hospital to be checked out obviously.)

- Nurmerous small fires started by the construction crews.

- Smaller chemical spills that just made the air taste like everything from rotten fish to a well-used latrine.

- Construction crews not properly secruing the safty walls to the floor AND the cieling so when the inevitable spring/fall wind storm hit, we had to hold up the boards to stop them from crashing down onto passing shoppers.
At the other end of our mall, the feds got involved after a section of the safty hordings were blown down and hit a mother & infant in stroller.



Now, the worst incidents however included;
- The Eastside Mario's attempting to burn the mall down... This of corse was the Black Friday weekend! So we running the Tanksgiving event, and our manager would then be running his own special event which he would then photograph and show-off at the regional manager's meeting the following week!
So, some moron on the line tells someone who's never worked in a kitchen to turn on the salamander oven... except it's empty of food, but hasn't been properly cleaned... So they blast-cook grease.
3 firetrucks, 5 police cruisers, 2 ambulences, a total mall evacuation and three hours later, our day is completely ruined. Despite being on track for pulling in at least $1500 that day, we finish barely half that and our regional manager asking why he's been cursed dealing with us!

- Construction crews are very late getting a new store ready for open. They decide to put down the industrial glue solvent at 6am in the morning, despite the fact it needs 4+ hours to vent and is highly toxic. At least by this point, I'm on a first name basis with the fire fighters who are coming into my store and telling me to once again evacuate the area!
The police bring in a mobile command center and the regional hasmat team to help out! It only takes 6 hours to re-open the now 'poisonous-death-free' mall... a couple people actually were rushed to hosptial too as they were overcome by the fumes.

- The D-tox store above our nieghbouring store, (Carolton Cards), has their water heater explode over night and then rain down into the card shop. We also got hit - I get to introduce myself to Mr. Mark Ferguson at the north american HQ by informing him that our LotR wall is now a gently cascading waterfall... (and he *really* wasn't pleased with the BS leter mall admin gave out informing us that WE were on the hook for any damages)
By 2pm my manager & I have dryed up what we can, written off the destroyed product and seen off the repair guy who came in to dry out our back wall and carpeting. of corse, the card shop is a total write-off and are dealing with most of their ceiling tiles having come down, their carpet turning into a 'free' splashpad and 36 feet of wet, rotting cards. And the smell is wafting through the walls into our store, which is dark because we still can't turn on any lights due to a continuous slight trickle still coming from the busted water heater.
We closed down for the day at this point.



The best of all that no other GW store will ever match;
- Academy program release day, where we are giving a target to basically fill-up our first month that weekend. All's going swell and we're well on pace to hit our target. A late summer storm rolls in... Ominous, dark clouds gather over us... Environment Canada issues 'severe thunderstorm' warnings for pretty much every area around us, but luckily (yay right), not us!
Last couple hours of the day, mall's still busy! We hear a thunderclap, then a very loud 'boom'. The alarm system goes off, but it's only the 'first stage' so no one's really worried. A minute later, the GTFO stage sounds and we're forced to close up and get our customers out of the store and head to our evac point.

God threw a lightning bolt at us... Right above our end of the mall, we got hit by lightning which caused the alarms to go off and they couldn't be shut down... Bye-bye to our target.



Thus was the true legacy of GW Burlington!

Leigen_Zero wrote:

Jon Garrett wrote:I was once asked to leave vet's night because I didn't look well and it might stop people coming in to buy things.

That's more likely to be a sarcastic/attempt-to-hide-real-motive-behind-humour way of saying 'Get out! I'm not sure which of Nurgle's many and bountiful plagues infects you currently, but I don't want everyone else to be blessed with the same malady after your visit'.

No horror stories, once got told to steer my conversations more towards the hobby when talking about video games during non-games-night opening hours, but that didn't really bother me...

It was about 18 months ago, so this may not be word perfect, but the conversation was something like this;

I was sitting by a table, something I'd received special permission to do because I have an injured knee and back, and was obviously in pain, due to said knee and back. My pain killers were taking time to kick in and so, since there wasn't a table (there were only two to around a dozen people) I was sitting and watching a couple of my mates having a game when Redshirt approaches.

RS: You ok?

Jon: Yeah, just in a lot of pain today. Don't feel brilliant. Bit of a headache as well.

RS: Well, you should head home then.

Jon: I might well in a bit. I'll just see which of these two wins.

RS: Nah, you should go home now. People aren't going to want to come into the store if you're there, looking sick.

Jon: ...alright.

Bear in mind this was around half six in the evening.

I should possibly mention that this red shirt and I did not get on especially well since, soon after meeting him I asked him if it was true that GW were going to put out FAQs for the Fantasy Armies (this was just after 8th, and I'd read the rumour here). He loudly announced, in front of a store packed for veteran's night that no, there was nothing coming and that I shouldn't listen to the internet - redshirts were always the first to hear about this stuff and the only ones to know, reliably, about it. I figured fair enough. It was literally the next day when the FAQ's were released. He never seemed to like me much after that...

n0t_u wrote:Someone started talking to me about lesbians, I was asked to leave (there were kids around) with them despite them being the only one talking and me try to politely distance myself...
.

Doesn't it depend on how you were talking about lesbians? If you were being derogatory then why shouldn't you asked to leave? But I'd it was because the staff said 'oh noes, the kids in the shop must be protected from mentions of gay people' then I'd have a problem.

What's with all the GW bashing threads? I thinks that there should be a new DakkaDakka rule:

'thou shalt not make a thread to bash Games-workshop '

Howard A Treesong wrote:

n0t_u wrote:Someone started talking to me about lesbians, I was asked to leave (there were kids around) with them despite them being the only one talking and me try to politely distance myself...
.

Doesn't it depend on how you were talking about lesbians? If you were being derogatory then why shouldn't you asked to leave? But I'd it was because the staff said 'oh noes, the kids in the shop must be protected from mentions of gay people' then I'd have a problem.

Well, you can talk about lesbians in a way that most adults would protest their children hearing about without being derogatory...
I can't really imagine that the conversation was about the plight of the homosexual communities at large.

Experiment 626 wrote:Thus was the true legacy of GW Burlington!

If even a quarter of that actually happened, that is more than most retail employees deal with in their entire career.

Arm.chair.general wrote:What's with all the GW bashing threads? I thinks that there should be a new DakkaDakka rule:

'thou shalt not make a thread to bash Games-workshop '

Meh, a GW bashing thread every now and again is healthy. I say that as an accused fanboy/white knight. It only gets tiresome when its thread after thread of the same thing (like this thread, one pops up every week or so on the same subject) or people chime in with exaggerated examples of how GW is evil because of it business practices or sales tactics.

Also OPs "horror story" example is completely justified on the GW managers part.

I was working at my GW store ( yes yes, I wear the GW eagle on my chest), when a customer asked me if it was ok to have other company's models in the store. He indicated another customer to me. I looked over, and saw this person working on converting an Iron Lich Asphyxious into what I believe was a Necron Overlord.

I politely asked this customer to leave, as we do not allow other companies products in our store. I have never seen such a sad look.

I felt really bad...I should have just asked to have the model put away.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

TheSecretSquig wrote:My GW Horror story......................

One day I walked into the store and ended up with a trip to A&E and huge dentist bill in the afternoon. I picked up a box of 10 Ork Boyz and then noticed the price tag. My jaw hit the floor so fast in shock it knocked most of my teeth out. Quickly I made for the door holding my bloodied Jaw whilst my Wife grabbed all the my teeth from the floor. Unfortunately on the way out I glanced at the price for a tin of spray paint. It was at this point my heart stopped and I fell over in complete and utter shock and disbelief. My Wife quickly called 999 and I eventually regained consciousness in my local A&E hospital.

The hospital referred me to a councillor to help me to understand what had happened. She assured me that Games Workshop Executives suffer from the ‘GW’ (Greedy Wealth) Condition and leads them to increase their pricing to shocking levels. The shock of seeing the ‘GW’ Condition caused my incidents.............

I hope you never look at PP or Reapermini prices.....

General Hobbs wrote:

I was working at my GW store ( yes yes, I wear the GW eagle on my chest), when a customer asked me if it was ok to have other company's models in the store. He indicated another customer to me. I looked over, and saw this person working on converting an Iron Lich Asphyxious into what I believe was a Necron Overlord.

I politely asked this customer to leave, as we do not allow other companies products in our store. I have never seen such a sad look.

I felt really bad...I should have just asked to have the model put away.

ITS A GW CONSPIRACY!!!

Kanluwen wrote:

Experiment 626 wrote:Thus was the true legacy of GW Burlington!

If even a quarter of that actually happened, that is more than most retail employees deal with in their entire career.

It's all true. Our area manager hated dealing with us because he honestly thought we were either making crap up or helping these things along...

For example, my manager's conversation with his boss when Eastsides lit the place on fire went along the lines of;
Our Manager: "Hey Ash buddy how's it going?"

Area manager Ash: "What happened now?!"

Our Manager: "Um, our mall's on fire."

Area Manager Ash: "WTF! Are you f'ing kidding me?!!"

Our Manager: "Nah man, check out how stupid our alarms sound" *sticks phone outside the door into the hallway where the alarm is screaming*

Area Manager Ash: "F***, why me? Just why the f*** did I get f'ing stuck with your f'ing cursed store?"


Our store is a legend among those who had to deal with it.

Heh, I think the thread has been worth it just to read about 626s Horror stories. Some eye watering moments there. The joys of retail.

Tripped and fell on a loose piece of carpeting as I walked in. Should have sued them foo's. Then I'd own GW and change a thing or two (business plan: everything is now skaven)

TheRobotLol wrote:What a bunch of ers. They were fired? YEHZ. what a nice manager.

Thanks. Yep that Regional Manager was amazing, restored my faith in GW.

Pacific wrote:Gymnogyps, that is quite a genuinely awful story. Sadly, you occasionally get social misfits working in GWs, and it's good that they were got rid of.

Thanks, man. I know, I've worked in customer service, and I do get it when it is a bad day, or whatever. Or even people really not being cut out for customer service. In hindsight, I believe it was a combination of snotty Maryland attitude (this is a real thing), checked-out employees, and foolish over-adherence and over-literal application of company corporate doublespeak (passive aggressiveness, perhaps). Maybe it was even a bit of annoyance at web orders not giving the store credit for the sale, because it didn't go through their till, but they have to babysit the stuff. I've tried to understand what happened, but now it is more of a WTF than anything else.

Anyway, end of story, it worked out because a couple years later a store opened up 5 minutes from me. So I didn't even have to break up with that store. All for the best, really.

Pacific wrote:I've regularly used entire squads that are not GW models in a store. My IG army is a mix of Pig Iron heads, heavy-walkers and Copplestone Castings terminators. There is even an Infinity model in there, the key is:
- Paint your models, so it is not immediately obvious.
- Don't draw attention to them - if 'that kid' points them out, refute his claim (I always say the Copplestone Castings models are OOP Necrons for instance)
- Don't be a prat and behave like it is your God-given right to use them. It helps if you know the guy working in the store, but always be conscientious with their use.
- Spend money in the store, if the guy working in there is not a complete jobsworth then usually that gives you some breathing room.

Of course the best answer is to play in a club or FLGS, and to revel in the freedom that they offer you, but if you are smart about it you can play unmolested most of the time. I've been at events in Warhammer World where 'best painted' armies have had non-GW components and even models in them, but so much of it comes down to your behaviour and whether you try and behave like a wise guy.

This x one MILLION. I also would add you can say that you scratch sculpted or massively converted your minis from a GW base, then point out a likely candidate, green stuff, and sculpting tool. If you help the store make sales, you are going to be welcome. That is actually why the hobby areas are provided, after all.

I've wanted so badly to take other minis in to work on, but don't, because I understand it is a shop, where someone has to make sales. Anything that is even a slight distraction from that purpose is inappropriate. So, Pixelsaurus, while I understand it seemed harsh, you did cross a line when you told the potential customer that it was someone else's product. Sometimes diplomacy requires providing the appropriate answer, not the literal answer. The situation you described did require diplomacy, and you non-diplomatically over-shared. I'd say chalk it up to lesson learned, and even consider apologizing to the store manager and say you understand, it won't happen again.

For the detractors calling for censorship of this thread, or mocking with OTT tales, there is value to be had in these discussions, especially if substantive contributions are made. If you can't see it or don't like it, why post here?

On a completely different note, General Hobbs, you didn't happen to work at a GW in Maryland, did you?