# Retail is a hoot! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-is-a-hoot/775865 "2016-12-29T20:46:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-is-a-hoot/775865/41 "2017-01-04T19:46:19Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Sometimes you luck out, **Annie**. Last night at Walmart: > > Me, “Do you have any fresh sauerkraut, you know, in bags?” > > Sales Person 1, “Never heard of it”. > > Me, “Do you have any fresh sauerkraut, you know, in bags?” > > Sales Person 2, “I think we’re out of it”. > > Me, “Do you have any fresh sauerkraut, you know, in bags?” > > Sales Person 3, “Very end of the meat section, next to the dairy”. > > Dennis Fresh sauerkraut? Wouldn’t that just be cabbage? I mean, by definition sauerkraut is preserved. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-is-a-hoot/775865/42 "2017-01-05T14:57:12Z")
It’s still fermented and everything, but since it hasn’t gone though the canning process it’s less mooshy and has more flavor than canned kraut. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-is-a-hoot/775865/43 "2017-01-05T15:10:50Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Lady, you must not know anything at all about baking. Making the dough, letting it rise, baking it off, letting it cool, and wrapping it up takes _considerably_ more than an hour. > > I was nice to her, but she still walked away a little puzzled that she couldn’t get dinner rolls. To be fair, she didn’t know anything about baking \*bread. \*Lot’s of people bake only cookies and cakes. I’ve been baking cookies and cakes my whole life, but until I started baking bread, I never had to start something on Friday or Saturday to serve it on Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-is-a-hoot/775865/44 "2017-01-05T16:30:24Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I guess I’m old enough to finally worry about showing my age, but “how it used to be” was grocers like Kroger et al didn’t have butchers or bakeries at all; you would go to a butcher or bakery separately if you needed something that wasn’t pre-packaged. I’m 66, and while we would definitely go to a bakery for cakes, pastries, and such, all the grocery stores had butchers and we usually got our meat there. I remember when I was little, the butchers did not work on Saturdays or Sundays, and so they would cut a lot of meat on Friday, and that’s what you could buy over the weekend. When it was gone, it was gone until Monday when they came back to work. At least I think I remember that! Anybody else in Chicago in the 50s remember that? But anyway, all the grocery stores had butchers. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-is-a-hoot/775865/45 "2017-01-05T20:31:39Z")
> [@Azeotrope](#): > > It’s still fermented and everything, but since it hasn’t gone though the canning process it’s less mooshy and has more flavor than canned kraut. Ok, got it. I only ever eat homemade (it’s remarkable easy), so I wasn’t familiar with anything other than the old fashioned canned type. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-is-a-hoot/775865/46 "2017-01-05T21:01:18Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Ah, yes. The customer who will ask you if you have something. “I’m sorry, we don’t carry that item.” So they go ask someone else. “No, we don’t have it.” Lather, rinse, repeat. Week before Xmas I needed a new canopy for our gazebo. After ringing a couple of stores who told me they were awaiting a shipment of new stock, jumped online to find that a relatively local major hardware chain had them on their website. So rang the store, to be told that they’ve never stocked the item I wanted. I explained to the woman that it appears they DO because I’m looking right at it on the website. She insisted that other stores might have it, but not that particular store. Me: “Hey, how about I give you the product number and you might, y’know, look it up on your store inventory?” She: “Yeah, whatever…” (I could feel her eyes rolling from 15km away) Me: “Here’s the number…” She: “Well, whaddya know…we DO have it, and we have 12 units in stock”. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-is-a-hoot/775865/47 "2017-01-05T21:19:33Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > I stand by my retail credo: > > Never underestimate the public’s stupidity. The software developers version of this is: When you develop an idiot proof system, the world will create a bigger idiot. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retail-is-a-hoot/775865.md?page=2)