Wow, that's terrible how they treated you Dogmama.

I have found that the younger people in the bike stores are snotty little jerks but the older people are usually very kind and not patronizing at all. Sadly, I think the chicks working there are snots, too.

I also found that if you use some old fashioned girly skills--like asking the Big Smart BikeGuy about some dumb thing they get all
aroused by being able to tell you their reccommendations and blab about their experience and then seem to listen to you a bit better. Yeah, I mean stroke their egos! hA! Go ahead read me the riot act but sometimes my mother's methods work!