No disrespect to the OP but most interactions I have had in gun stores have been negative. I've found they treat me like a complete imbecile with weapons, with hugely condescending tones/attitude to match.
Hell, even a phonecall asking if they had a weapon I was looking for wasnt exactly pleasnt:
me: "Hello sir, I was wondering if you might have an M1a in stock at the moment?"
gun store worker: "Nope." (....then they hung up immediately).
I hate to hear things like this but its true. Its a retail thing. A lot of people cant handle dealing with a diverse set of characters that your customer base is going to be comprised of. If you arent a 'people' person, retail in general is not for you, whether you sell guns, or clothes. We've had our share of....well to be frank, shit, employees. Guys whom i think got into the job because the idea of being around guns all the time seemed cool, but then didnt want to put the work in to deal with the paperwork, the long hours, the minutia of dealing with stock and records and individual small items. You really gotta have a passion (or at least learn how to have a good time with it) for this kind of thing.
The biggest, number 1 issue i get with the new guys working? not knowing how to separate opinion from fact. Gun guys are like car guys. they like what they like and they want you to like it to. You gotta be objective as a salesperson. If a gentleman wants to get an AK variant from me because "AK's are more reliable than AR's and the 7.62x39 is a superior round" i am NOT going to try to engage him in a debate on the merits of the AR. You talk the pro's of his choice, commend him on his taste in firearms, and let him know he made a good choice that will make him happy. Just tonite, i had gentleman interested in getting into 3 gun competitions who wanted opinion on semi-auto shotguns. I told him between the 3 we had on the wall (Mossberg 930 tactical, FN SLP, Benelli M4) that the 930 was the best bang for his buck. This turned into a discussion with 3 other guys about how tits the M4 was. Instead of engaging in a 20 minute fanboy discussion, i told the loudest one to field strip the M4, and put it back together. When he said he couldnt cause he had never done it before, i asked how he was giving objective insight on a firearm he had no actual trigger time behind. Maybe i came across as a dick but my point was that a STOCK 930, at 750 bucks, comes with a full length tube magazine, competition trigger, ghost ring sights with pictinny rail attachments, and is ready for comp RIGHT OUT THE BOX. The Benelli is a 4 shot deal that doesnt even have a full length tube magazine because of import restrictions whose accessory trail is limited and extremely costly.
On a side note, Radical Firearms are shit and you should feel bad if you have one. everything they make is garbage and i hate dealing with the kit guys who use their lowers or uppers as the key part of their builds. please stop buying their shit. Get an anderson or aero precision and be happy.