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That's right, I hate them. Unfortunately, when I need a specialized battery and I need it sooner than I can buy it online and have it shipped, well, I don't have much of a choice but to walk into my local Radio Shack and look for it there. I figured while I was there, I could pick up a couple of microcassettes as well, another item that's not too common these days.

I called first to make sure they had the battery. I wasn't going to waste my time looking for something that wasn't there, just so that I could go to the next Radio Shack and look for it some more. Besides, I was on my lunch break, and time was not on my side. When I walked in, I went straight for the batteries, found the one I needed, and started looking for the microcassettes. Some clerk walked up and asked if he could help me find anything. I asked him if they had microcassettes, and he led me to them.

As he was showing me the cassettes, he asked what I was going to use them for. I realize that he was trying to seem conversational. But there were two problems: a) I knew that he wasn't actually trying to be friendly, he was trying to look for an upsell and b) when it comes down to it, it's really none of his business what I'm going to use them for. So I lied and told him I was going to record lectures, because that seemed like the shortest answer. He asked me if I had ever thought about getting a digital voice recorder because of x, y and z reasons. Just short of telling him that if I was interested in buying a digital voice recorder I would be buying one right now, I told him that I wasn't interested and walked up to the register, leaving him little choice but to follow and start ringing me up. For the record, I did already have a digital voice recorder in my pocket. I have a nice little microphone built into my Sony Clie, and as much recording time as I can buy memory for. But I did have my reasons for using antiquated analog equipment.

When he got to the register, he told me he noticed that I was buying a battery too, and informed me that their alkaline batteries were on sale that week. Now, I have a lot of batteries at home. I bought a case of them a while ago at CostCo and I haven't even used a quarter of them. However, as I was tempted to point out to the clerk, none of them were the kind of battery I was buying. In fact, I was buying a watch-sized battery and try as I might, I won't be able to fit any AA or even AAA batteries into that little battery holder. When was the last time you saw a wristwatch that used AAA batteries?

When he rang me up, I noticed the price was a little higher than I expected. I asked him what the problem was, and he informed me that the microcassettes were $9.99, rather than the $5.99 that I was expecting. I went back and looked at the shelf, and found that the giant price tag for the item on the shelf above was covering the tiny price tag for what I was actually buying. Now, $5.99 is still extraordinarily high in my opinion for a couple of cassette tapes, even for the higher priced micro-variety. But $10? And I had little choice but to pay it, or spend time calling around and gas money looking somewhere else.

Now, I realize that I may not have been the friendliest customer in the world. I also wasn't trying to be mean at all. I just wanted to be in and out. That's all. As far as I was concerned, the employee had two jobs: help me find one or more of their poorly-stocked items when asked, and then ring me up. As long as the employee focuses on those two jobs, I tend to be a very friendly customer. But the more they act like they're just trying to get into my wallet, the less friendly they get.

Look Radio Shack, I don't like you, and you apparently have no love for any part of me but my money, but sometimes we have to work together. In the future, maybe if you treat me a little more like a customer and a little less like a money tree, then maybe I'll do my part to treat you a little less like a liability and a little more like an asset.