today i went to a music store to get a child a tin whistle to start learning to play. i didn’t see any, so i asked the guy at the register if he had any. his reply was “we only sell real instruments here”. i got a little mad, but i asked him what he meant. then he said “only instruments that somewhat difficult to play, the only thing easier is a kazoo and triangle.” i felt myself starting to turn red, and he had that smug little smile on his face. i said “well i see you sell recorders here, what do you think of those?” his reply was “only kids should play recorders, that is why we sell them in colors, tin whistles are easier than recorders. if you want a real woodwind instrument, try the flute.” i started getting real mad, but then realized that i should be better than him and keep my cool. i just told him that he should consider them instruments, because he could offend a lot of people with especially Irish in them. i will not go back to that store ever again. i guess he is either a jerk, or was just having a bad day.
I doubt he ever heard one played before.
As my wife reminds me, “don’t attribute to malice what may just be ignorance or stupidity…”
Would have been a perfect opportunity to enlighten him. If I had been there, and they actually sold pennywhistles, I would have dashed off a nice set of reels, then said, with a big smile on my face said, “Hey you’re right, that really is pretty simple!” and left him wondering…
I would have done that same thing as Mike suggests. You know it is really that simple, after years of practice. How about you go back to that store with your nicest most expensive whistle and show him what playing ITM is really about!
I once bought a $1.95 Trophy brand tinwhistle (made for kids) at a music store. While the cashier was ringing me up, I played some tunes on it. His jaw about hit the counter. 
that is what i will do, great idea. i would have done it there today if he sold them. i just thought that was rude of him knowing that i was going to buy one.
One idea that attracted me to the whistle was the “reverse snobbery” I saw on this board. Many musicians (indeed, many artisans and artists of any stripe) subscribe to the idea that as one’s skills increase, one’s instruments/tools should become more expensive, making expensive instruments/tools a de facto indicator of skill. Whistlers generally follow the opposite concept that the truly great whistlers are those who make the inexpensive whistles sing. If the music store clerk doesn’t get it, that’s his loss, not ours.
Your wife is spot on!
Take the opportunity to help the young man expand his knowledge, both musically and of instruments. A list of top ITM and whistle CDs and artists would be good too. He needs to know that there is much in the the world of music beyond his nose… but do it nicely. Many of us were pretty darned arrogant and “knew” much more when we were younger. 
Sometimes salesfolk say things before thinking, though
it sounds like your guy kept up the offensive…
I was taking target archery as a Gym class in college,
and I tried to find a place that sold wrist guards. I went
into the Great Outdoor Provision Co. and asked if they
had wrist guards for archery, and the clerk said, “No,
we prefer to keep the animals alive!” Once I mentioned
the class and said that I didn’t hunt, he apologized,
saying he had spoken rashly. I guess he didn’t care if
they lost hunters’ business…
I think the guy sounds both rude and ignorant. Congratulations on not engaging with him. I wouldn’t go back to that store or buy anything there. The people there don’t know anything about musical instruments. And the clerk is a JERK!
some of us don’t have the luxury of boycotting our local music store. although, i have at least 3 stores in my locale that have the chance of selling whistles and at least one more band instrument music store that i’ve yet to look for.
i would keep going to the store and find an angle to talk to the guy so that at some point, i could point out to him that there are irish musicians making a great living playing a tin whistle while he is working at a music store. naw, i wouldn’t but i would make him order me one, then i would play it in front of him. maybe ask him if he’d like to jam.
I like the idea of ordering this supposedly simple instrument, ripping off a tune in the store and then hand it to him- saying something like - “Yeah that was as easy as a kazoo or triangle- let’s hear you try it”
a “real instrument” - hah- I’d probably have to talk to his boss too…
The older I get, the more I find that it is a lot easier to pity such people than to be angry with them. After all, I only have to put up with them for a very short time–they have to live wwith themselves and their attitude 24/7.
Seriously, people who go out of their way to be rude and abrasive just wind up making life that much more difficult for themselves.
I don’t know if I would do him the service of hearing me play, but I would certainly go back and let the manager know that the clerk had offended me enough that I almost decided to never do business there again.
LOL, had something similar happen at an antique store in my hometown. I had purchased a pair of carved mother-of-pearl guitar picks and took a second look at a ceramic turtle that I’d originally taken to be a paperweight. From the new angle I could see it had 4 holes in the shell–an ocarina–and only a dollar. I forked over the dollar plus tax and tootled on it trying to get a feel for the fingerings (S. American–the holes were all the same size). The elderly lady behind the counter was so startled that when her grandaughter walked in with lunch she insisted that I tootle on it again!
I keep dropping into a local music store every few months just to hassle.
“Do you have any tinwhistles?”
“No, but we expect a shipment in anytime.” Their stock answer.
“You don’t seem to ever manage to have any in stock, although I’m always told you expect a shipment in at any time.”
“We can get whatever you would like to order”
“Wow, really! I’d like to order an Abell, please – key of C, blackwood & sterling. When can you have that in?”
Shuffling through a book … “Hmmmm, that doesn’t seem to be listed here”
“Then what brand of whistles are you expecting in your shipment that’s ‘due in’?”
“What do you mean?” Gives me a strange look.
“Well, did you order Acorn, Oak, Feadog, Clarke, Clare, Sweetone, Walton or maybe Dixon or Susato. Then there’s Abell, Alba, Overton, Busman, Bleazey, Chieftain among others …” Eyeballs are rolling by now.
“You seem to know your pennywhistles.”
Better than you, my friend … better than you, is the thought that passes through my head. If I’m feeling real contrary the next question is about about keyless flutes. 
So far i’ve been pretty lucky with the music stores around here, in one I over heard the people running explaining a bit about it, and showing them where books where, in another where I actully bought one, he had several and was telling me about the differences, was pleased that people actully knew what they were…
and i woulnt say the triangle is easy either, theres alot of cool stuff that goes along with playing one of those, like all insturments, well maybe not all, but it gets harder to play as you get better on it
also agree, you should go play some jigs for the guy, and then ask him if he could do the same…“casue it was soo easy”, but it was good that you didnt blow up at him…oh people these days
When I began whistle making, I took lots of measurements from good playing instruments to keep on file, and integrate into my own. This included several different keys of whistles too, with the hope of making a complete chromatic spectrum.
I had gone into my local music shop (at least they’re not total jerk there, its the only one withing 50 miles!) asking them about ordering in a whistle for me (the only stock they have is a few Gen. D’s). They said ok, and told me it would be in in a week. When I asked what key they planned to order (I was looking for an F) thye seemed confused. “Well,” they told me, “if you’d like to order in a book that will tell you how to use the keys in order to play in all the different musical keys, we can get you one of those too.” Realizing they were thinking of somethign else like a flute, I tried to explaing that, like flute, they are made in a specific root keys, that they were esentially diatonic. The man understood this, saying “oh, you mean like a harmonica, that plays like the white keys of a piano”. I said basically yes. He then asked me, and I’m not kidding, “well how do thet fit all those reeds in that little plastic mouthpiece, and what do the holes do?” 
I prefer the cowbell. More cowbell, please.
yes, this thread is moving in the cow bell direction
Don’t be too terribly hard on the guy. He naturally had no idea. I had no idea until about a month ago that that lovely sound in all those nice Irish tunes in my iPod was that very same $7 “toy” instrument.
You really should go down there and play one for him. And then ask him to order a few.