> I spent about 20 minutes at the jewelry counter at a department store once, with plenty of money in my wallet to buy myself something nice. I stood there, and stood there, looking the ladies behind the counter straight in the eye. And they ignored me. Not only did they not help me, they had the nerve to help countless other people who walked up and stood *right next to me* within a matter of minutes. Things like this bother me no end and I could go on and on about it. Needless to say, I walked away from the counter without purchasing anything, and took my business elsewhere.

I had to take Professional Selling class for my Advertising minor in college, and the teacher had some interesting stories to tell. He particularly seemed to have a vendetta against Radio Shack. He told one story of a time he went there to look for a particular item (I forget what it was). When he walked into the store, he said the two salespeople were standing at the counter chitchatting. This didn't bother him at first because he wasn't ready to be "helped" yet. After he found what he was looking for, he looked back over, and the two were still blabbing. He looked back and forth between them and the product, clearing his throat several times. Nothing. He took out his wallet and waved it in the air. The salespeople remained oblivious. After several minutes of giving off obvious "I'm ready to make a purchase" signals, he finally gave up and proceeded to exit the store. Only then did one of the salespeople attempt to intercept him with a "can I help you find something?"
"No thank you," he said, and left. I don't think he's been back inside a Radio Shack since. He seemed to have had several bad experiences there.

Grishny