I remember that!! What an awful experience. Norman should take a lesson from the late Stan Jay @ Mandolin Bros. in Staten Island. As soon as he heard we came all the way from Los Angeles, he personally gave us a tour and even took us upstairs to the SUPER EXPENSIVE AND RARE room!! Such a nice guy. What a great memory.
Similar experience - in train museum.
It was maybe 1998 or 9 - I was new rep for LGB garden model trains. We wisited Nürnberg factory w my friend who was locomotive engineer. On way back up North we stopped at the propably best narrow-cauge museum in the world. Unfortunately I can not rememeber the name or city - but northern part of Germany it was. We arrived there just when the last person was leaving at closing time. We explained who we were - he looked at the side of my van w LGB logo. Then my friend opened his wallet and showed him no less than 13 different locomotive driving licensies - there was an individual licence for each type of locomotive.
The man let us in saying : There is a back door where you can get out whenever you are ready. Please make sure yuo close it when you leave. We took all the time we needed to study those fantastic locomotives - Spreewald ?? etc - then went out via back door and closed it safely behind us.
THAT was good service.