Voyagers

[Rasa]

Coincidentally yesterday when this occurred I was sitting in the chair right beside the bud-menu. I didn't see with my own eyes what Ash did but I discussed with HB and he told me that he tried to lean over and pull a stem off the bud... now in my opinion this is very "in-proper" etiquette. First and foremost I have spent more then a couple years helping people out from time to time when they needed help with bud and when i'm using my calculator weighing something out for them they never touch and or never complain about stems because if you think about it a stem on a bud of that size weighs so little... like literally a couple crumbs of weed, its one thing if were talking a 35 gram cola nugg thats one thing but were talking about a puny ass nugget. Not to mention the simple fact is were in Amsterdam people, we have a Fucking "Menu" of weed to choose from, that in itself partially explains why I love the coffeeshop culture, I can get weed just as good in the states but tend to not have a selection like I do in Amsterdam. So don't take it for granted Ash that you can buy weed in the shops, you should show respect one way or another and let the budtender do their job their way and be happy that you can buy weed without the worry of persecution. I for one know I would never ever reach my hand over the counter, that's a given violation of coffeeshop etiquette and any bar/drug outlet, you wouldn't do this at the pharmacy, or at the bar. Would you pour your own beer at a bar instead of letting the bartender? ~ Just my two cents.

[USbongLord]

ill say it again..more room for me and luvtick..and ya reach over and grab the bud?..i dont care if ya got a million dollars on the table..theres gonna be a problem..not cool...BUT,if its not for you, move on..theres plenty more to try have a great trip

[travelling high]

Coincidentally yesterday when this occurred I was sitting in the chair right beside the bud-menu. I didn't see with my own eyes what Ash did but I discussed with HB and he told me that he tried to lean over and pull a stem off the bud... now in my opinion this is very "in-proper" etiquette. First and foremost I have spent more then a couple years helping people out from time to time when they needed help with bud and when i'm using my calculator weighing something out for them they never touch and or never complain about stems because if you think about it a stem on a bud of that size weighs so little... like literally a couple crumbs of weed, its one thing if were talking a 35 gram cola nugg thats one thing but were talking about a puny ass nugget. Not to mention the simple fact is were in Amsterdam people, we have a Fucking "Menu" of weed to choose from, that in itself partially explains why I love the coffeeshop culture, I can get weed just as good in the states but tend to not have a selection like I do in Amsterdam. So don't take it for granted Ash that you can buy weed in the shops, you should show respect one way or another and let the budtender do their job their way and be happy that you can buy weed without the worry of persecution. I for one know I would never ever reach my hand over the counter, that's a given violation of coffeeshop etiquette and any bar/drug outlet, you wouldn't do this at the pharmacy, or at the bar. Would you pour your own beer at a bar instead of letting the bartender? ~ Just my two cents.

I agree 100%.. Way out of bounds

[Ash333]

The funny thing is I believe Ash went to Greenhouse where I'll presume he bought some goodies and probably lost more money from them being shady cunts as there is proof that their scales weigh under.

I didn't buy anything except a coffee. Got the guy to show me some hash, but when he cut a 'gram' off it clearly wasn't, so I left.

To the guy asking about pouring ones own beer in a bar:
Yes, as someone who has worked in bars, if I see someone messing up I'll pull them up on it, and happily help them if it means I get what I want, and they get taught to do their job. Does that make me a bad customer?

Stems are regularly removed from buds, especially when half the bud had been removed from the stem, and the full stem remains with the remainder. Would you buy a bud that looked like a chicken leg?

[weedhog]

I agree with USBL if you don't like it move on, I mean not everyone is gonna like every shop.. On another note I was at the Dampkring 2 on Haarlemmer and the owner was working the counter when 3-4 guys came in and one of them reached in the jar and tried to pull out a bud to look at and the shop owner freaked the fuck out saying "Don't touch my shit ever!"
At first I thought what a prick then after they left he rolled a joint and handed it to me and was talking about how they have had guys do that before and once ran out with a whole jar of buds.....lol it's really no big deal just gotta learn the customs and proper etiquette...have fun!

[geekymonkey]

To the guy asking about pouring ones own beer in a bar:
Yes, as someone who has worked in bars, if I see someone messing up I'll pull them up on it, and happily help them if it means I get what I want, and they get taught to do their job. Does that make me a bad customer?

Stems are regularly removed from buds, especially when half the bud had been removed from the stem, and the full stem remains with the remainder. Would you buy a bud that looked like a chicken leg?

As someone who has tended bar, it would depend a lot on how you handled it, and it probably wouldn't make you my favorite customer...

I've found that only the shops with the best service de-stem your buds for you (maybe the top 20% of shops or so). It is of course, your right to only patronize those shops. I for one, am extremely picky in the shops I buy at, the cool part about amsterdam is that there is so much choice there were can all only patronize the shops we really love.

I would suggest though, that you did not handle the situation in Voyagers in a way that made it likely that you would get the best service.

(As someone who has sold all manner of things, I can tell you that it was always and only my best customers that got my best service.)

Hypothetically:

You could have asked the budtender, "Would you remind removing that stem?" with a nice smile. If she had refused, you could have said, "Thanks anyway, then I'm not interested."

You could have said, "I'm watching my money really tight this trip, would you mind giving me an exact price on the weed?" I suspect she would have with a smile, again if not you could have left.

More, touching the bud is a real breach of customer etiquette from what I understand. It's kind of like touching the stripper- you shouldn't, you might get thrown out of the club if you do, and it's never appreciated even if it's tolerated.

When I was tending bar, if you grabbed something or reached behind the bar, you would have had a fast trip out of there by way of my biggest meanest bouncer.

[geekymonkey]

I will also say, that the small blond female budtender gave me great service here, with minimal interaction or chat-up on my part. She was knowledgeable, she de-stemmed my buds, and she gave me the nicest nugs in the jar.

I also met highlyblessed on my next trip (again briefly in a fly and buy.) He was great, efficient, and also gave me beautiful de-stemmed bud.

[Roccy Tittzenbeer]

In March this year I bought a selection of € 10 deals so I could sample a variety of their buds to assess, which meant that HB and his lady budtender had to weigh them all out to varying decimal points of 1 gram.
They did this willingly and carefully removed stalks as they went along despite it probably being a bit tedious for them adding/deducting bits of good bud to get it right.
The fact that all this was done in detail openly and was weighed in front of me was great plus we had some happy banter along the way.
Payment was made and I was very happy with my choices, the top ones being OG18 and Lemon Bio Haze.
I thoroughly enjoyed my experience there and will be sure to visit again to treat myself to another 'Roccy's Mind-Melting-Moments Selection Box' .
Cheers guys, keep up the good work HB and crew

[Ash333]

To the guy asking about pouring ones own beer in a bar:
Yes, as someone who has worked in bars, if I see someone messing up I'll pull them up on it, and happily help them if it means I get what I want, and they get taught to do their job. Does that make me a bad customer?

Stems are regularly removed from buds, especially when half the bud had been removed from the stem, and the full stem remains with the remainder. Would you buy a bud that looked like a chicken leg?

As someone who has tended bar, it would depend a lot on how you handled it, and it probably wouldn't make you my favorite customer...

I may not be your favourite customer, but if you seem to be fucking up a semi/un/skilled job, I'll complain about it.
Pouring beer/dealing bud is hardly skilled work.

[geekymonkey]

I may not be your favourite customer, but if you seem to be fucking up a semi/un/skilled job, I'll complain about it.
Pouring beer/dealing bud is hardly skilled work.

I find that one tends to get the same respect from people that they extend to people. You really seem to hold budtenders in contempt. I'm not surprised that translates into bad service.

I have found that it is beyond foolish to judge people based on the job they are doing. It rarely tells you anything meaningful.

In my book you totally fucked up as a customer.

[Ash333]

I may not be your favourite customer, but if you seem to be fucking up a semi/un/skilled job, I'll complain about it.
Pouring beer/dealing bud is hardly skilled work.

I find that one tends to get the same respect from people that they extend to people. You really seem to hold budtenders in contempt. I'm not surprised that translates into bad service.

I have found that it is beyond foolish to judge people based on the job they are doing. It rarely tells you anything meaningful.

In my book you totally fucked up as a customer.

Not at all. If you read my original pot, you'll see I went in smiling, friendly, introduced myself and asked for Highly Blessed. Sure, judging people by job isn't good, I agree. Judging people on the way that they do a job that I've done is slightly different. As an experienced cocktail bartender, and an ex dealer, I think I should know how to make drinks or weigh out bud. I don't hold budtenders in contempt in the slightest but there are heaps of shops that will happily rip off tourists.
Once the novelty of buying dope in a shop wears off, and one has experienced excellent customer service in coffeeshops, it is not unreasonable to expect the same elsewhere.

[geoffk]

I don't hold budtenders in contempt in the slightest but there are heaps of shops that will happily rip off tourists.
Once the novelty of buying dope in a shop wears off, and one has experienced excellent customer service in coffeeshops, it is not unreasonable to expect the same elsewhere.

It seems that if you went into a shop with this frame of mind, that you might be pre-judging:

Coffeeshops are drug dealers, and dealers arn;t known for their honesty, integrity etc.

[geekymonkey]

Not at all. If you read my original pot, you'll see I went in smiling, friendly, introduced myself and asked for Highly Blessed. Sure, judging people by job isn't good, I agree. Judging people on the way that they do a job that I've done is slightly different. As an experienced cocktail bartender, and an ex dealer, I think I should know how to make drinks or weigh out bud.

You TOUCHED the bud. Over the counter.

I don't hold budtenders in contempt in the slightest but there are heaps of shops that will happily rip off tourists.

The second half of that sentence contradicts the first. You say you don't hold them in contempt, but then you say negative things about their intentions (making negative generalizations about all of them, based on the actions of some.)

Other things you've said, also seem to indicate a general contempt:

Yes, as someone who has worked in bars, if I see someone messing up I'll pull them up on it, and happily help them if it means I get what I want, and they get taught to do their job.

Coffeeshops may be legally tolerated, but they are far from being properly regulated, or considered part of mainstream Dutch culture. Particularly in Amsterdam centrum the coffeeshops aim far more for the one time tourist euro than the repeat local/regular visitors. Many dealers (in coffeeshops and elsewhere) are known for being less than reputable.

seem to be fucking up a semi/un/skilled job, I'll complain about it.

Seriously though, this sounds like I want to argue, but I really don't. I actually agree that you as a customer have the right to expect great customer service, and should give your business to the shops that deliver that to you.

I actually feel like Highly Blessed and his staff are trying to do that, and hoping to build a loyal regular following not just rip off tourists. I know a lot of others here feel the same way.

Peace,

Geeky

[Ash333]

Not at all. If you read my original pot, you'll see I went in smiling, friendly, introduced myself and asked for Highly Blessed. Sure, judging people by job isn't good, I agree. Judging people on the way that they do a job that I've done is slightly different. As an experienced cocktail bartender, and an ex dealer, I think I should know how to make drinks or weigh out bud.

You TOUCHED the bud. Over the counter.

Peace,

Geeky

I've touched other buds before. Usually, after asking to see a strain, if it is something that needs closer examination simply gesturing to the tub with ones hand is enough to signify that one would like a closer look. Either you'll get an 'ok, have a look' or 'sorry, please don't touch our product'
Lets put this into perspective. At Grey Area, I touched the buds on dozens of occasions with no trouble. My private dealer tossed me a bag to have a good look at, and offered me a joint to try before I'd spent a cent.

As I've said before, I don't have anything at all against coffeeshop staff.
However, when buying drugs in any amount(from a gram to a kilo, I only buy stuff I'd smoke myself) I tend to examine carefully what I'm buying beforehand. I've been ripped off before just asking for a gram of x hash or weed before, and now check everything before parting with funds. Are you really gonna say you've never bought a drink that should've had 3 shots but had 2, or a bag of weed that weighed less than it should?

[Ash333]

The second half of that sentence contradicts the first. You say you don't hold them in contempt, but then you say negative things about their intentions (making negative generalizations about all of them, based on the actions of some.)

Geeky

Life you've said, 'BASED ON THE ACTIONS OF SOME'

Of course not all coffeeshop staff are out to rip off tourists, but there are some out that that give the rest a bad name, and sensible shoppers look out for the well known scams.
I have NEVER, ever said that all coffeeshop dealers are bad people, or anything remotely similar to that. Pointing out that sometimes, some people get scammed in some shops by some of the staff is rather different. Pointing out the fact that when I felt like I was being scammed, I pointed this out to the dealer, and was then kicked out reinforces my point that this girl is rather clueless.