I happen to know a manger at one store really well and what gets him p.o.'d is that people don't respect the gear. Many guitars come back with pick marks all on it (i.e., someone with no pick control what so ever), finger prints all over it (this is not such a big pet peeve of his), but the belt buckle marks is the real bitch he says. Some guys come in thinking they are rodeo cowboys (big silver platter on a leather string they call a belt) and pick up a nice PRS, EBMM and act like freakin' Billy Ray Cyrus. Not only do they extremely suck at what they are doing, they are carving gulleys they size of the grand canyon in the guitars. We, people who love guitars and what it means to own and play them, are the most respectful. I too, clean the instruments when I am done. Hell, I even spent a couple of hours at a store polishing them. Made my buddy happy, plus I get worked in for that employee discount.
The other pet peeve of his......newbie playing Mesa at 11! People, we all know what I am talking about. Some dude thinking he is the next guitar god playing a crappy guitar through a Mesa at extreme volumes. I am bold enough to tell them that doing that is making them look like a butt nugget in front of the whole world. Plus, if they are that good, playing at a lower volume will still attract attention, to their playing, not to their noise. Mostly, I will sit next to them, crank an amp, do the same thing and watch them cringe. Then I play a nice Vai, Gilbert or Satch run to make them go away. I hate intimidation, but sometimes you have to pull out the big guns. Usually, I get a student that way.
