The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Dawn,
There's a difference between an Orvis shop and an Orvis-endorsed shop. An Orvis shop is owned by Orvis and carries Orvis and nothing but; an Orvis-endorsed shop is owned independently and has been vetted by Orvis to sell Orvis products in addition to other brands. In an Orvis shop, the employees get paid by Orvis; it is obviously otherwise in an Orvis-endorsed shop.

There's never any excuse for rudeness or ignoring a customer. One day on Maiden Lane I asked a quietly browsing Japanese fellow if he wanted any help. He said he was just looking around. I let him be after telling him I'd be happy to answer any questions he had. Everyone else pretty much ignored him. After about 15-20 minutes he came up to me and asked for some assistance, and I assured him I'd be happy to help. Turns out he was in SF on a business trip, and had a shopping list as long as my arm from all the guys back at the office in Japan (too expensive to ship the stuff). That was the day I sold half a dozen rods, two of them bamboo, numerous reels, fly lines to go with them, vests, waders, boots, flies, doodads, gizmos and the inevitable handful of zingers. Needless to say, the zingers were on the house. As I said, it never pays to ignore a customer.

Anglerboy