Reply #9: Mass Consumption ...

[RoyGBiv]

I blame it on supermarkets. Seriously.

When stores sell "everything" no single person working there can be an expert on all of it, and in most cases no one is an expert on any of it. At the risk of starting a "good old days" (which I don't believe in, btw) rant, time was you went to a plumbing fixture store to get plumbing fixtures, and generally the people there knew quite a lot about plumbing fixtures. You went to a meat market to get meat, and at least the butcher knew a lot about the meat. Etc.

Regardless, people who shop at these places expect everyone there to be an expert. People assume I'm an expert at a certain aspect of my business even though I have absolutely nothing to do with it. And they get mad when I can't answer their questions and try to direct them to the people who can. "I'm talking to YOU. I want YOU to answer the question. Are you STUPID!?" If they take it far enough, I relent and, with a confident smile, give them all the advice they want. It's quite likely completely wrong, but hey, they insisted.