Most of the people I deal with are in the hobby, so they just get it. A lot of the time a reaction comes from my house, if anything, because it's a huge old colonial. I quickly point out that I have 80 year old pipes and plenty of work to be done, feel free to lend a hand. The discussion quickly turns back to pinball.

I think what the guy said to him was insulting. It's one thing to clown and joke around with people you know, but too many times people feel at liberty to cross a line and insert more than just their personal opinions.
He could have said ''wow, those are out of my price bracket, not for me'' but he referred to them as a stupid thing, and that he was stupid for doing it.

So, you just tuck that away in your head that the guy is a probably an A-hole, most likely with issues that may not appear surface, because normal people don't say such stupid things.