I called a local store, big chain store, when they advertised vacuums on sale.
Talking to the young salesman, I got the feeling he didn't really know what a cannister vac was. "Like a Swiffer with a motor you pull behind you."
Aha! No, they didn't have any.
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What woot! normally peddles are Roomba robotic vacuums. Sometimes they are discontinued models, sometimes they are refurbs, sometimes they are weird colors. I don't know whether they have bags or not, but it you were to Google Roomba, you could find out easily, I bet.
Your story reminds me of the time I went futon-shopping, The first place I went to was an enormous furniture store that was having (surprise!) a sale. Here in Miami, all furniture and carpet stores are always having sales.
This old dude comes up and asks what I am looking for.
"I'd like to see your futons," I say.
"What the Hell's a futon?", he asks.
"Something they sell in a different store, I guess", say.
The next stop was a store that specialized in futons, according to their ad in the freebie New Times newspaper.
I see just what I want. The price is right.
"I'll take this one", sez I. I take out my MasterCard.
"We can have this for you in a week," says the salesguy.
"No, I want this one, today", I say.
"This is a demonstration model he says."
"That's okay", I say.
"No, we can't let you take this one." he says. "We can have it in a week."
"Do you want it delivered for $20 more?", he asks.
"No, I don't want it at all, unless you sell it to me now. Here is the way it works: I pay you, then I take it home. It's a simple concept, really. It even has a name: cash and carry."
"We don't do business that way", he says.
"I don't do business any other way,", I say, slipping my MasterCard back into my wallet.
So I want to another store, bought an identical unfinished wood futon for $20 less, took it home in my hatchback Celica, stained and varnished it and slept in it the next night, and ever since.
About two days later, Hurricane Andrew hit, flooding all the stores on the beach, no doubt damaging the forbidden demo futon, and that store did not reopen for over a month. I am pretty sure I would have been sleeping on the floor for quite some time had I decided to wait for this clown's store to actually fetch their merchandise, or have it made, or whatever.
Lots of times salesmen know next to nothing about what they are selling, and act like their way of doing business is the only way anyone does business.