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zboss · 24-12-2014, 18:45

I was in a local marina here in Key West registering (and paying) for a dinghy dock for a week. The guys working the office seemed decent enough except that KW slime that seems to stick to just about anything, although it may be me, who knows.

In any case, this kid, maybe 25 or 26 comes in behind me and says to the guys behind the counter... "I want to buy a boat and live on the dock here, how does that work and do you have any boats for sale? I have 10,000 dollars do you think that is enough?"

Of course, the shark behind the counter says "I don't know, there are not a lot of boats around here for sale but maybe you can look at the one in XYZ slip. You want to sign a lease and take over the slip right?" Slips here are about 3K month.

I almost dragged the kid out of there but I just let it be... should I have said anything or would that have been just too nosy?

Cheechako · 24-12-2014, 19:04

Speak up!

GILow · 24-12-2014, 21:37

I hate it when something like that happens. And often, you risk your own professional relationship with the other party if you do speak up. And often that relationship is too important to be jeopardised by someone who has not done even their basic homework, and who is most likely just a tyre kicker anyway, if they are that badly informed.

Part of me says Caveat Emptor, but when I think that, another part of me says that's just abdicating moral responsibility.

When I am thinking fast enough in those sorts of situations (rarely) I have been able to quietly catch up with the poorly informed individual later and say some equivalent of... "Oh, hey, didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you were looking for a slip. I know so and so is renting one for so much..." I try to avoid obviously bagging whomever was trying to rip off the uninformed individual when doing so, like I say, the relationships we form with these people are often very important.

But yeah, don't like to stay silent, even if the person SHOULD have done their homework. I work in I.T. (computers for those who hate acronyms) and I see this sort of thing a lot, sadly. Particularly as young blokes are often very reluctant to admit to what they don't know.

Matt

**Wotname** · 25-12-2014, 01:07

What would you want someone to do if you were the young uninformed guy?

zeehag · 25-12-2014, 05:33

have him join cf and be ragged on about how many ways in which he is gonna die...

Tingum · 25-12-2014, 05:59

The boat most likely had the wrong anchor!

rwidman · 25-12-2014, 07:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wotname

What would you want someone to do if you were the young uninformed guy?

What would you want if you owned a business and were trying to sell something to a customer and another customer or bystander butted in and tried to discourage the customer from buying your product?

letsgetsailing3 · 25-12-2014, 07:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by zboss

I was in a local marina here in Key West registering (and paying) for a dinghy dock for a week. The guys working the office seemed decent enough except that KW slime that seems to stick to just about anything, although it may be me, who knows.

In any case, this kid, maybe 25 or 26 comes in behind me and says to the guys behind the counter... "I want to buy a boat and live on the dock here, how does that work and do you have any boats for sale? I have 10,000 dollars do you think that is enough?"

Of course, the shark behind the counter says "I don't know, there are not a lot of boats around here for sale but maybe you can look at the one in XYZ slip. You want to sign a lease and take over the slip right?" Slips here are about 3K month.

I almost dragged the kid out of there but I just let it be... should I have said anything or would that have been just too nosy?

It's not fair to paint everyone in KW with the same brush, as there are many very nice people there in addition to a lot of desperate ones. I know you mentioned that people seem nice enough, but by using general terms you made a generalization. I'm guessing this person was being sarcastic, although in poor taste.

Any kind of housing in Key West this time of year is quite expensive indeed and in very high demand. I can understand how someone there might get desperate for a solution, as hotel rooms downtown cost a small fortune.

Philip St1 · 25-12-2014, 08:48

You have to qualify for the slip anyway. It sounds like his budget, even if could actually buy a boat for 10k would wake him up fast. I have found that slips 'can' be cheaper than good apartments, but you have to shop around a lot. marinas charge greatly differing prices based on location and amenities. Safety Harbor (top of Tampa Bay) was cheap, but the fixed bridge was low getting there and there was a loud bar next to the few slips that they had.

Stu Jackson · 25-12-2014, 09:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by rwidman

What would you want if you owned a business and were trying to sell something to a customer and another customer or bystander butted in and tried to discourage the customer from buying your product?

What would you want if you were the head of an evil corporate empire that was ripping off its own customers solely for the greed of the handful of "assistant vice presidents" and the shareholders, and you didn't want anyone to know the truth that what you were selling for $1,587 only cost $0.14 to make including shipping, handling and tax?

FSMike · 25-12-2014, 09:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by zboss

I was in a local marina here in Key West registering ----
In any case, this kid, maybe 25 or 26 ---- says to the guys behind the counter... "I want to buy a boat and live on the dock here, how does that work and do you have any boats for sale? I have 10,000 dollars do you think that is enough?"

Of course, the shark behind the counter says "I don't know, there are not a lot of boats around here for sale but maybe you can look at the one in XYZ slip. You want to sign a lease and take over the slip right?" Slips here are about 3K month.
----

In the first place, the "shark behind the counter" probably gets paid an hourly wage and does not profit one way or another from renting a slip.

Secondly, let's name names here. What marina is it, and what are their long term dockage rates in dollars per foot? The keys are expensive, and the residents have long since learned not to blink at high prices. They have also heard so many wild assed plans that nothing seems too unrealistic.

From the op's recounting of the conversation the guy behind the desk may have been leading up to the allegedly very high dock prices as a way to show the prospective customer what he would be getting into, rather than just telling him he was out of his league.

In any case, I rather think that the young man would have realized on his own that he should change plans as soon as someone asked him to sign a long term $3,000 a month lease.
No matter how naive he was.

Oh yeah, Merry Christmas everybody.

zboss · 25-12-2014, 09:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

It's not fair to paint everyone in KW with the same brush, as there are many very nice people there in addition to a lot of desperate ones. I know you mentioned that people seem nice enough, but by using general terms you made a generalization. I'm guessing this person was being sarcastic, although in poor taste.

Any kind of housing in Key West this time of year is quite expensive indeed and in very high demand. I can understand how someone there might get desperate for a solution, as hotel rooms downtown cost a small fortune.

You are correct but this is our immediate impression...in our defense, this is the first place we have found in our travels that is like this. I'm sure town has a lot of nice folks.

Regardless, these folks reinforced our impression.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FSMike

In the first place, the "shark behind the counter" probably gets paid an hourly wage and does not profit one way or another from renting a slip.

Secondly, let's name names here. What marina is it, and what are their long term dockage rates in dollars per foot? The keys are expensive, and the residents have long since learned not to blink at high prices. They have also heard so many wild assed plans that nothing seems too unrealistic.

From the op's recounting of the conversation the guy behind the desk may have been leading up to the allegedly very high dock prices as a way to show the prospective customer what he would be getting into, rather than just telling him he was out of his league.

In any case, I rather think that the young man would have realized on his own that he should change plans as soon as someone asked him to sign a long term $3,000 a month lease.
No matter how naive he was.

Oh yeah, Merry Christmas everybody.

This really wasn't about the business per se... it was an ethical and moral question about offering opinions to a stranger like I have been helped so many times in the past by my now mentors. The guys behind the counter, which will remain unnamed since I want to be able to keep my dinghy dock rights, were most definitely not hourly wage employees. Maybe one of the three; IMO, what they did wasn't necessarily wrong from a business standpoint but I have been around the blocks to many times to not know a shark when I see one. I and my fellowship in my business would definitely never take advantage of our clients in that way.

FYI - the rates are $44 a foot per month without any kind of finger pier, so you get on and off your boat either at the transom or the bow. For the slips with piers the prices go up from there.