Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory Forums

I must say I don't get the hype for this shop, it sells great weed no doubt, but every time I've been I've been made to feel like I was annoyance to the person working behind the counter.

well the guy that served me musnt have been james so..because ye mentioned that james has 'dreads' the guy that served me definitely did not fit this description..he was young looking in his 20's perhaps a younger brother or maybe a son of jame's? I'm not sure.. anyway's my opinion will only change if the service improves next time around..

@GeekyMonkey..no I am not american at all...thank god .. I'm Irish..
as for your question about Coffeeshops that I liked , here is a small list..these are all places that provided great service and good bud.

1.Voyagers (Made feel very welcome by all the staff every day that I visited)
2. Paradox, nice and quiet little shop..great menu, great 0.5 grm deals very interesting budtender
3. Amnesia. (the english budtender with the shaved head was the most thorough dealer I dealt with all trip, he literally let me examine each bud over and over before buying, he had a vast amount of info which helped my purchase)
4. Homegrown Fantasy (female Irish budtender and Dutch guy) both equally as helpful, the guy recommended the 'Pot of Gold' to me..turned out to be one of the nicest strains all trip
5. YoYo ( always a friendly bunch)

Places with poor service
Greenplace (grunted at each customer..rushed through each order..)
Basjoes (didn't even acknowledge that we existed...too ignorant)
Rokerij (tried up selling every single person that came in)

cant_think wrote:I must say I don't get the hype for this shop, it sells great weed no doubt, but every time I've been I've been made to feel like I was annoyance to the person working behind the counter.

that's how we felt... like our money was an inconvenience to him or something...

I must admit that I always had great service with James, but the younger guy was never friendly with me too

I agree with what you said about the budtender at Amnesia Moogle, that guy is a really nice dude, and definitely takes his time to show you the wares

Only ever dealt with James and he's always been pleasant enough with me - no complaints on the weed front either.

Can I just add and maybe run the wrath of some but don't mean any harm when I say that in my observation a lot of amsterdam Dutch are quite grumpy fuckers, I've seen grumpy budtenders on every trip over the last three decades and I've been moaned at by young and alike for riding a bike too wobbly or walking in the way etc and my mate who married a lovely and beautiful Dutch girl says all her relatives are really grumpy! So I don't expect anything else when I walk in tbh I just want their gear and I don't want to be their friend either, but a nice little chat and a maybe a free coffee or whatever for big purchases is cool. And every trip I praise jah for allowing such a fucking incredible mad city to go on like it does. It's so tame compared to the old days now but bring on the budtenders grumpy or not, and appreciate the very existence of it all cos it will probably be cleaned up sooner or later so grab it warts and all folks while we have this wonderful city full of ganja

I would say they're "aloof" rather than grumpy. I read a great little book after my first trip to the Netherlands, which gave some good insight into the common Dutchman(women).
Culture Smart: Netherlands
ISBN: 1-85733-312-8

Over the years, I've come to appreciate & respect them for being very genuine.

Rasa wrote:I agree with what you said about the budtender at Amnesia Moogle, that guy is a really nice dude, and definitely takes his time to show you the wares

I have to agree with both of you- I delt with him too- and he was completely awesome. Does anyone know his name? I wish I had asked, but I was too stoned and focused on the tubs in front of us

templeball wrote:Can I just add and maybe run the wrath of some but don't mean any harm when I say that in my observation a lot of amsterdam Dutch are quite grumpy fuckers,

I kind of agree with you about both the (general) dourness and the fact that Amsterdam is the most amazing crazy magnificent city on the planet.

Kid Chavez wrote:I would say they're "aloof" rather than grumpy.

I think you actually have the root of it, as someone who has lived quite a few places in the world. Continental Europeans in general are a little aloof with people they don't know (yet). They just have a higher threshold for how long they have to know you and in what context before you cross their barrier of familiarity, and they tend to keep a bit of distance from everyone else. (Although I will note that this is actually way less the case in the Netherland than in France, and even greater in Switzerland (where the people from over the next mountain in the next village are strange foreigners who should be treated with suspicion).

But it's very different than say, America, where we are super familiar and friendly with everyone, the mailman, and the neighbor's dog.

To most Europeans they don't like that about americans. My german friends in the U.S. actually hate U.S. restaurant service. ("Why is this stranger being so obscenely insincerely friendly to me?") And another european friend totally freaked out when he first started university in the U.S. "Why does everyone keep smiling at me and asking how I'm doing? None of them care. Your country is full of fake people.")

Panog wrote:I must admit that I always had great service with James, but the younger guy was never friendly with me too

I think you're right about this, and that he (the younger guy) has been responsible for most of the bad reports I've seen. But, hey, he's still scaling James' excellent buds. My priority is so much about the quality of the bud, that I'll put up with some grunting and groaning (take Bushdoctor for example, whose service is pretty uniformly cranky, and pre-weighed bags to boot, but I would possibly buy there again because the weed I bought was quite nice and the are supposed to have some really good hashes that I want to try.)

Moogle, this has been really interesting- thanks for not being afraid to express an unpopular opinion. I do wish you hadn't called James a wanker, but that's just because I love him. Love him. Love him. Did I mention that I love him?

just out of curiosity Geeky where do you live in de Schweiz and what do you do there? I am an American citizen but by birth I have Swiss Citizenship as well and I actually just acquired my Swiss Passport so I officially have dual-citizenship. My grandparents are from Glarus and now have a home in Sedrun up in the alps between Disentis and Andermatt. I am trying to move somewhere in Europe in 2012 and put this citizenship to use.

more seats open...doesnt sound like a problem...plenty of other shops...you kids move on...heaven on earth ,and good friends,thats what basjoe is.....i hear grasshopper and bulldog have smiling happy budtenders..lol..oh yeah, greenplace and hunters if ya wanna see some real winners

Rasa wrote:just out of curiosity Geeky where do you live in de Schweiz and what do you do there? I am an American citizen but by birth I have Swiss Citizenship as well and I actually just acquired my Swiss Passport so I officially have dual-citizenship. My grandparents are from Glarus and now have a home in Sedrun up in the alps between Disentis and Andermatt. I am trying to move somewhere in Europe in 2012 and put this citizenship to use.

you cant even make it to maryland...now ya wanna climb the matterhorn?...lol

I will be making it to MARY-MARY-Land this summer most likely and will be climbing your Matterhorn sized mountain of Terminator and Paulverizer First things first though gotta go handle this bong-off on 4/20 and show em how the East Coast gets things done!

Sent you a pm Rasa.

geekymonkey wrote:...."I think you're right about this, and that he (the younger guy) has been responsible for most of the bad reports I've seen."

I keep reading about some having issues with a younger guy, but the only young guys I've seen working the counter are Leo's son (Jame's nephew) and the dude with the banded dreads. Forgot their names, my bad. The nephew doesn't know the meaning of the term "bad customer service", he's a prince. I've never noticed the other guy showing anything but respect, maybe at times with a hint of indifference. I have noticed a couple of guys working in the shop, but they looked to be more like temp labor and not tending bud, but I could be wrong.

To paraphrase USBL, there are plenty of shops in town in which to find what one seeks.

The Original Formula works for me just fine. I hope people find theirs as well.

Happy toking...