I liked the story too. And I don't know much about bikes, especially by the standards of these boards. I have met the occasional caveman, though, and it seemed to me the story was more about sexism than bicycle ignorance.

However, as a relative newcomer to the world of bicycling, I was mentally composing something of a rebuttal as I read it. Since you said to carry on, I'm going to. I've been frustrated by my LBS's here recently. One sold us a POJ (piece of junk) that we could just as well bought at WW. He's been bought out, and his successor told us it was a POJ when we brought it in to be repaired. Great. Apparently I still need to be an informed customer, and I don't have a clue how to go about getting informed. (Well, I do have one clue. I'm reading here. It's a slow process, though, when I don't even know what questions to ask. And a fair amount of what I read is right over my head.)
The other shop just doesn't seem very interested. One of my husband's students who works there said that every time the shop gets really busy, the owner leaves. People say, "Don't go there. They only care about people with $3000 bikes."

I'm wondering how many of you shop at big box stores for things other than bikes?