<font color='#000000'>I think many of us have to remember that we are much more educated about audio than the general public. There are many, many people who have absolutely no clue about audio systems including people that work at boutiques and regular mass market chains and if you were to try and share your knowledge with these people, many wouldn't even care to listen.
As an example, my best friend works at a place that does installation of components, whether they are sold through the store he works at or not. He was called to do an install on a receiver and TV, DVD, the norm. He gets there, hooks all the stuff up, shows the wife how to use it, even draws her a little chart for what button to push for what source she wants to use. Well he gets a call the next day and it's the husband bitching about how it doesn't work. So he goes back out there and they've re-wired everything and have it totally screwed up. He patiently ignores the fact that they've just undone everything he did the previous day, and hooks it up this time in a fashion where they never even have to change functions on the receiver, every thing went through the tv then into video 1 on the receiver. The guy calls back again and asks to speak to my friend. The husband says "Why are you not using all the cables?, your leaving things unplugged!!!" My friend says "Why are you being redundant?, and again "Why are you being reduntant?" the guy then asks why he said it twice. He answers "Why are you trying to use three video connections from your DVD player?" LOL
On a more serious note, I used to work at best buy so I can see the other side of the coin from a salesmen's perspective. I know now why they act they way they do at times, though it doesn't by any means make it acceptable for them to be jerks or ignore you if your wearing a t-shirt.
I have to admit I hated my job there, and I have a pretty quick fuse, but I really only got visably upset with a customer one time. In all fairness, I was having a bad day and this person just pushed me over the cliff. He came in the store with a huff and puff about how "I" didnt have this, and "I" didn't have that and he then went on to say "I" just lost 1,200 dollars because "I" didn't have the merchandise. So I proceeded to tell him, in a not so kind way, how the retail chain works, and what my job responsibilites were. Not at anytime did I ever, try as I might, influence inventory purchases, yet "I" was to blame for what some inventory control person failed to buy enough of so this gentleman could have what he wanted. After the guy stopped his rant I "duded" him. That is to say, I called him a dude because I knew it would piss him off, and since I worked at best buy, what credibilty did I have to lose anyway, right? He then asked, where the manager was, and I told him I didn't know, but if he happened to find him my name was John, and I'd be happy to explain to him how "I" was reponsible for losing this store 1,200 dollars. Needless to say I didn't lose my job, nor even receive a warning since all the guy really wanted to do was bitch and make people uncomfortable. That's all many customers really want to do when things don't go their way. You just have wade through the spit storm, and then things calm down. It happened all the time.
Since the time I gained a better perspective I've tried to be more rationale about how I interact with audio salesmen. I figure as long as I can examine the stuff for myself then I really only care what they think up to the point where they know something without me having to find out for myself. Beyond that I could care less what comes out of their mouth, though I will pay them the courteousy of pretending to.</font>