12 Ways to Make a Ski Shop Hate You

January 2, 2017

Ohio Dreams OG Brendan Trieb (Ski Coach and Maple Syrup Adviser) lives winters in Utah and is one of the best local resources out there. He also works at Jan's Sports and MTN Ranks. He wrote a super funny (and pretty spot on) blog about how you are sure to make a Ski Shop (or any service industry shop) hate you.

We'll share the first part here, but for the rest, be sure to click the link to the MTN Ranks website.

A Ski Town Christmas: 12 Ways to Make A Ski Shop Hate You During the Holidays

Ahhh, Christmas time. The season of charity, love, and perpetual hope. Or if you live in a ski town, the season of traffic jams, lift lines, and city dwelling a**holes. With the massive influx of vacation home owners and five day per year skiers, also comes long lines at the local ski shop. Not to mention a stressed out and volatile staff who has been fitting boots, turning screws, and hardly being thanked for thirteen hours a day. The two weeks surrounding Christmas is D-Day for ski shop employees, and while we know it's coming, it's still impressive how many people seem to feel it's their civic duty to be a stuck up Grinch during the season of jolly Old Saint Nicholas. But just how do these Burberry clad, corduroy craving impostors so thoroughly anger a normally easy going ski bum populous? Well, we're about to tell you. Here are our top tips to piss off your local ski shop during the Holidays.

1. Knock on the door ten minutes before the store opens to pick up your gear. You might be a 4 minute walk from the lift, and the mountain doesn't open for an hour, but damnit you NEED to have first chair. Ski shops are always down to open their doors early, especially if you knock loudly and wave your arms. Early bird gets the corduroy!

2. Arrive ten minutes before the store closes. If you can't make it in the morning, then show up at the end of the day. Beat the dinner time rush and show up to buy boots right before the store closes, and get your heat molding done and foot beds made that evening. Shop employees are always game to stay late and help you out, and they are less stressed out because it is the end of the day.

3. Demand all of your skis be mounted and tuned immediately. What? There are 25 pairs of skis in the to-do rack? That doesn't matter because you're the most important customer of the day. You just flew in from Dallas and you need to go skiing NOW. You deserve on the spot service and you should accept nothing less. Also, you don't believe in tipping, this service should be standard.

Click here to read the rest on the MTN Ranks Blog