Olympia Gear Exchange

I worked for a few months at the Olympia Gear Exchange and after a friend told me about a ridiculous review left on Unilocal,I couldn’t resist looking it up. Low and behold the one review, is written by the worst person I’ve ever experienced in costumer service.
I worked here for a short time, my coworkers were lovely, and while some things could have been run differently that was the managements discretion. As an employee I dutifully followed their rules and guidelines.
Last I heard they do a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ split on all exchanged items, BUT the exchange also has brand new rep gear and outlet stuff. So if you exchange one item for $ 5 you’ll only get $ 2.50, and your gear might be competing with newer stuff. The best way to do well? Exchange a lot of stuff in bulk so it adds up as it sells. Or to get good gear deal, root around, there are folks like Nora trying to sell their dirty gear for way more than it’s worth and really cool people who exchange it next for nothing.
So… Nora walks in, and though she lies in her review, we had a pleasant conversation about her job, and how each of our days went, I was happy to be speaking with yet another awesome outdoorsy chill costumer that frequents the gear exchange — that was until Nora didn’t get her way… She whipped out a pair of hiking shoes so dirty with smoke and ash, for a second I thought the leather was stained black, she admitted she *may* have walked near a fire, or *maybe* left them by a fire… I would not have been surprised if she said she walked through a bed of coals. She said they’d only been worn once, and I believed her the, soles/​tread where very nice (I know because I touched/​picked up the shoes-​ore than a half-​assed glance). I informed her of our ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ policy after she asked how much we’d buy them for. Nora made a face…
She did not like the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ split. She told me she spent around $ 100 and wanted that much back. I asked her to come look at the other shoes we had on our shelf. The most expensive pair were brand new gore-​tex, vibram soled Boreal hiking boots for around $ 60. I told her I’d been instructed to not exchange shoes over $ 40 because no one will pay that for used shoes, especially when they can buy some new for $ 60. I said that with the soot problem, I could maybe exchange them for $ 25 – 30. I was very apologetic, I could see she wanted more, and hoped she understood I was following the rules of my job and it was nothing against her…
Nora then ranted how ridiculous that was, she blew up at me, told me she’d sell them elsewhere (I’d love to know how that went) and angrily slammed things around on my desk to cram her sooty shoes back in their box (meanwhile I’m staring aghast, thinking I don’t get paid enough to be berated by some cheap-​rude costumer) then lovely Nora departs, but not before flipping the bird at me. You go Nora. Take out your anger issues at poor unsuspecting service industry workers not cool enough to have your USFS job. I’d hate to see how you treat the employees of your «competing consignment store», or how you’ll make money when you try and sell used dirty shoes for $ 100. You write your 1-​star review, I’m not surprised — your behavior was 1-​start as well.

Went in 3 times to this new spot in town. Since moving back to Olympia I have been dreaming/​planning ideas involving a used gear/​consignment shop in town. Each time I went in I felt zero affinity for the people manning the front — which I could give a crap less about if the merch/​deals were worth it.
They aren’t.
I brought in a pair of Solomon mid GTX boots that are brand new from the factory only worn once on a 5-​mile hike. These are last season’s boots. They are great, simply half size too big for me and as I work professionally as a USFS employee I need boots that are going to feel good after 4 – 8 days of heavy use. I have bought many things from consignment gear stores in other towns in Colorado, Arizona and Utah and as a gear junkie I know what things are worth/​what I’ve seen similar products sold for at gear consignment stores. So… the chick rocking an Arcteryx shell not giving more than a completely half-​assed glance at what I was bringing her telling me they were worth $ 20 at best a) had no idea what she was talking about and b) had no idea how to communicate in such a way that doesn’t make others feel intrusive for coming into her brand-​ass new store.
I’ll sell them online. Forget that.
I have never written a negative review, especially not on a local shop. I care a lot about the work I do and the world that lies outside the confines of town. I was thoroughly excited to see this place in town and have to say, had any of the 3 times I’d been in there produced anything resembling a mutually respected conversation I would slough off the boot deal.
New goal: open a competing used gear/​consignment shop that knows how to not have folks walking out the door feeling utterly like never stepping foot inside again.