Reply #4: I'm sure I'll still go in for strings and other odds and ends....

[SacredCow]

GC certainly doesn't have a patent on what I'm complaining about, which boils down to some salesmen not knowing anything about what they're selling. That said, there is a guy in the drum department who is excellent (but since I'm not a drummer, it doesn't help me too much!).

I've had the same exact problem in CompUSA (when they existed)- went in and asked specifically for 2 chips of 32MB EDO RAM (I even pointed to the packages on the shelf) but the guy wouldn't sell it to me until I gave him the brand and model of the computer (which I built from spares, IIRC). Fortunately, the manager heard the exchange and WAS knowledgable and told the guy that if someone asked for a specific memory chip then there was no need to look it up.

I'm just getting older and grumpier I guess.