I didn't say it gives him a free pass to be anything. I said it's EQUALLY not right to show joy at the fact that he was brutally beaten and left for dead because he was not polite in email.
There is a million ways to make Karma fit your own perspective. Some would say that Roy deserved to get robbed and beaten up in his home because he is not nice. Others might say that the fact that he does a lot of business despite being impolite to everyone is proof that he has good karma. So you can use "karma" anyway you want to.
No one here who is damning Roy for being "mean" should also ever say that someone deserves to be beaten up and robbed.
As for Gerry's particular situation I have no idea what set Roy off. When I am seeking a discount from someone I introduce myself as John Barton, owner of JB Cases and inquire as to whether the business I am talking to offers wholesale pricing and what the criteria to receive that pricing is. I can tell you that Roy has gotten lots of emails from people who don't identify themselves as being in the business, who don't introduce themselves on a professional level and still ask for discounts as if it should be an expected thing.
Not that this gives Roy the right to "go off" but it does illustrate that sometimes it's annoying to think that you are dealing with a retail customer only to find out you are dealing with someone else in the business who feels entitled to a discount from a fellow retailer.
Regarding going off that's also Roy's choice just as it's each person's choice not to deal with him. Still Roy manages to sell quite a lot of cues and cases. And he does it completely on his own terms. Love him or hate him the guy has been at this since 1993 and extremely consistent. I would bet that there isn't a supplier out there that doesn't welcome Roy's business. Unlike many I have dealt with in this business Roy always pays promptly and the check is ALWAYS good.
I was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1997 due to the fact that so-called upstanding and "nice" people in this industry owed me collectively around $80,000. Since I started selling to Roy in 2007 I have not been owed a dime by him and in fact it's me who is always owing him cases. If I would let him he would buy everything we could make. This is the kind of guy who, if he likes your product, will order ten of them and call you back the next day and triple his order.
So to me THAT gives him a bit of a free pass to act like a jerk if he wants to. The only person he is hurting is himself by this. He certainly isn't hurting the person who got told off because that person can and does take their business elsewhere. But amazingly Roy has a LOT of repeat customers. So perhaps it's also prudent to remember that there is another perspective here.
I would love it if Roy were nicer. Would be like a banana split with extra whip cream and cherries and would avoid all threads like this that come up every couple months. But I am not going to change him. Like I said in a previous post he has a heart of gold. Along with that though comes an exterior shell that's hardened steel when it comes to business. So like a lot of things in life you take the good with the bad and hope for balance.
I will take ten Roy Mallots over most other dealers though when it comes to being willing to stock deep and willing to work hard representing the products represented. If there were many more like him this industry wouldn't be in the toilet in my opinion. I'd trade some civility for some serious dealers who aren't afraid to stock and sell.
Of course it would nicer to have all-around nice people to deal with who don't jack you around on the money. But I will take a hard-ass who pays over a panderer who doesn't any day. Neither I nor Instroke will ever see a lot of that $80,000 that was owed to us. Say what you want about Roy but he doesn't owe any cue or case maker as far as I know.
And hopefully that will be all I need to say about it. Roy, be nice.
