I've probably told this big box story here before, but here goes again while we are on the subject. I asked for a piece of 4/0 SEU cable to be cut, about 20 feet if I recall. They were a bit short-staffed, so the smock-boy advised me to finish my shopping and he'd have it ready for me in a few minutes.
When I came back, it still wasn't ready. The nice guy wrote up a slip for me to take to the cashier with the understanding that he'd bring it up to the front in a few minutes. Sure enough, just as I finished paying, another employee was there asking me if I needed any help with the cable. I thought this to be a bit strange since he still hadn't produced the piece of cable. When I asked, he told me it was waiting outside as he asked me what I was driving. As we exited the store, it all started to make sense.......
He had gotten a lift and brought around an entire 1,000 foot reel of this cable. Sure enough, the guy wrote up the cut slip with a part number for the entire reel quantity, not the per-foot number. I could have very easily had them load the reel into my truck and I could have driven away. I didn't do this, but if I did, I'm sure nobody would have had a clue what had happened.
I would imagine that this happens far more often than we even know. This also explains some of the ridiculous prices for certain items at these stores. They have to calculate an incompetence factor into everything they sell.
