Keeping up appearances.

Everyone has a different way they prefer to be approached. The boss, with his nearly infinite patience, thinks that information overload and overwhelming logic along with being just plain loud will overcome any question of expertise and therefore is a great sales approach. Make them feel that most choices should be limited and choosing otherwise will void general reason. Well if that's what you really want... Saying that you don't negate personal taste and actually not doing it are quite separate. I don't like to be pigeonholed or generalized. I don't mind being recognized, but when I shop, bugging me too much will send me out the door very quickly. The staff has a habit of not coming out from behind the counter to meet the customers. This leads to congestion at our bottleneck, the entry and exit from the mechanic's area and back stock to the retail space and showroom area. Often there are bikes leaning on other bikes and boxes lining the perimeter. Things that have fallen as they were brushed on by people trying to get in and out and behind this and that in an almost futile attempt at self service. Truth is that for all the merchandise littering the showroom, most of it it unreachable without some effort. Move this, wedge yourself, get a ladder or step stool, hold apart while extracting that thing find a place to put the three things in way of the thing I just want to look at for a minute. So much effort goes into cramming the shop full of barbels and trinkets, then an equal or greater effort goes into retrieving them.
We rent bikes and during a short portion of the year (less than 2%), we rent over 150 bikes per day. Without space or thought of the future we stack these vehicles vertically, hang them by any part which accepts a hook and otherwise compress them into otherwise viable space. This leads us to line the alleyway along the shop with bikes during business hours, rain or shine, and march them in and out of the shop at opening and closing. The idea is to demoralize the staff and make them ready to be subservient at opening and reluctant to do anything significant in the last hour of the day. With a half an hour of drudgery awaiting you at both ends of the day, aren't you excited to begin a career as a bicycle dodger and customer whipping boy?
It's not as bad as it seems, but it always occurs right when summer is beginning to do its worst. 99˚ and 99% humidity with frequent rain that steams the concrete and demoralizes the work ethic. But it really is a great place to work and I love my job no matter how much talent is pedaled into the dirt by unnecessary tasks and endless rearrangements.

No space for elitists

We have a small shop. 75' x 23' at the biggest point with 16' ceilings where it is not divided by the upstairs loft. We stuff as much product into our space as a store three times its size. Our mechanics in the main space have about 10 sq ft. in which to turn out profitable labor. Usually there are three wrenches on the floor, an assemble guy upstairs, and on weekdays, our head mechanic has his shop behind the main space. His room is 13' x 13' with a half loft. It's a really neat space with most everything you could want but more room. I really look up to him as he has taught me more than he could possibly think he knows.
Our main complaint you can see is space. It is at a premium. Without additional room, the only solution is consolidation and clearing out junk. Well junk isn't junk, it's stuff we are storing for one reason or another. The main violators are the boss (whose stuff will mostly be ignored) and customers who think we can hold on to their bits and pieces indefinitely. They fall into one category, elitists. A week, a month, no... months and even some years. Some know it is here and feign picking it up regularly and some have no idea it is still here. The time is coming and the stuff will hit the can.