Late last week three high school boys walked in the front door of the store and excitedly began rummaging through the shelves and racks of gear and clothing, eager to see what we had in stock.
One boy immediately zeroed in on the helmet above.
I was only half paying attention to the boy as he walked around the store with the helmet, and as he showed it off to his friends and then tried in on.
Eventually he walked over to me and asked me if he could bring the helmet back for a refund if he bought it and it didn't fit.
Shaking my head I pointed at the sign on the wall that told him to be really sure about what he bought, because OAR did not provide refunds.
The boy walked over to a mirror to look at himself wearing the helmet. He walked over to his friends. He walked back over to the mirror.
Still only half paying attention to him, I smiled at his excitement about the helmet.
By the third time he had done the "look in the mirror - go show his friends" routine, I looked up to see the boy pulling on the chin guard. The helmet moved up and down freely on his head.
Too freely.
OK. He had my attention.
I watched him closely, as I realized that this kid really REALLY wanted this helmet to fit him.
I shook my head at the boys.
"Uhhh.......no. That's not gonna work. That helmet is too big for you".
The boy walked over to a basket filled with wool hats, grabbed one out of the basket and asked me how much it cost.
I watched him as he put the wool hat on his head and then put the helmet back on. Grabbing at the chin guard again, he moved the helmet up and down. It didn't move quite as freely.
He looked at me and said "That feels better".
I looked at him and said "Yeah that might work........until August when it'll be REALLY hot. That helmet is too big for you."
He took off the helmet, reached for his wallet and headed towards the counter.
I looked at him and said "It's too big. SHOW YOUR PARENTS THIS HELMET TONIGHT. If they're OK with it, I'm OK with it. If they're not OK with it, bring it back and I'll give you your money back, OK?"
He smiled at me and said OK.
I reiterated "Show it to your parents tonight OK?"
"OK"
The next day his mother walked into the store to get a refund for the helmet.
I thought about that incident a good deal for a couple of days.
It raised issues that I hadn't considered when I first opened an outdoor gear consignment shop here in Cody.
About minors. About minors purchasing safety-related gear.
I sold the bike helmet to a minor and told him to show it to his parents. I told him that if the helmet was a no-go, I'd refund his money.
What I SHOULD have just said was "No, I'm not going to sell this helmet to you. If you want it, bring your parents into the store. They can decide."
And that is exactly what I will be doing from this point forward.
At OAR we want our youngest local adventurers to be safe when they head outdoors, and OAR's policy moving forward will be to insist on adult decision making when it comes to all outdoor safety gear.
We have a lot of hunting gear at OAR, and the selection is increasing every day. Camo pants, long and short sleeve t's, jackets, vests, neck warmers, fleece hats and baseball caps. Orange jackets and orange vests. A great tree stand and climbing straps. A compound bow and bow case. Boots. A variety of camping gear. Cabellas packs. A couple of old external frame packs suitable for carrying game out of the mountains. If you have hunting gear that you no longer use and want to consign it, consider bringing it into OAR. We get a LOT of guys looking to pick up hunting gear!
