Horrible story Bren.
The Best Buy salesppl can be a hit and miss. I went into BB a couple of weeks ago looking for a dvi cable and the lad who helped me out recognized the "Axiom" jacket i was wearing and correctly identified it as a speaker company. In fact he was apparently looking at Axiom speakers himself and ended up going with Paradigm b/c of the lack of Axiom auditioning possibilities. Of course i told him about the forums if he was interested in knowing more and as well, i left him my card if he wanted to hear them at some point.
Afterwards we chatted about the dvi cable i was looking for and he reminded me about the various formats (e.g DVI-I, DVI-A, DVI-D) which went with different items (something that skipped my mind) and drew a diagram of the differences so we could sort out what cable i needed.
Following that conversation we started talking about dvd players and some of the onboard DACs and video chips. He was aware of the original Panasonic lineup which had the famous Faroujda chips that were often sought after.
Rather an informed young lad, somewhere around the age of 23-25 i would say. I was extremely impressed compared to any dealings with Future Shop which only seem to have brainless wonders pushing any product possible. It sure makes a difference when you shop in a store that is not run on the commissions method. I've never had anyone push me on Monster products at Best Buy let alone push me on anything.
Next time try talking to a different person. Maybe you lucked out and got an overzealous new employee. I'm shocked you didn't set him straight on your test of his knowledge with the gun vs. audio brand comment. I have a feeling he would have become rather quiet after that.
I have a couple of stories about Advance that are rather negative. I'm sure each store has its share of boneheads.
