The employee asked, "The what?" and the customer answered, "The picture plames." The employee said, "Oh the picture frames - they are right over there." (This conversation is not verbatim, but it took about fifteen seconds and the employee was able to very quickly discern what the customer was asking for.)
The customer walked over to the frame display and the employee turned to the woman who was ringing me up and said in a derisive tone, "Yes, all of our plames are over there." Really? Mocking customers in front of other customers is very rude and unprofessional. And this was the Macy's in downtown San Francisco - I would have to imagine that the employee is used to dealing with tourists and customers with accents.