This is the convo I had with the clerks...all 20 year olds.
Me: Hi, I'm looking for a small photocopier for home use.
Clerk #1: *stares at me blankly* You mean a scanner?
Me: No, a photocopier.
*the clerks all look at each other blankly*
Clerk #1: Yeah, you mean a scanner.
Me: *slowly* No. Pho-to-cop-ie-r.
Clerk #2: *looking confused* Like, that thing you scan images on and it comes up on the screen of your computer....
Me: *seriously in WTF mode* No...you know the thing you lift the lid and put a peice of paper down...
Clerk #1: *having decided I'm crazy* Yeah, a scanner.
Me: *very slowly and carefully* And it copies the paper and spits a ditto out on another peice of paper. I know what a scanner is, I have one already. I need a PHOTOCOPIER.
The clerks still didn't get it, but send me off with Clerk #1, who seems a few brain cells short of being a Nobel Prize Winner, and wanders around till he finds another under-25 year old who seems to be a manager.
Clerk #1: Yeah, this lady is looking for a....*he looks at me for help*
Me: *REALLY sorry I asked by now* Photocopier.
Young Manager: Oh, you mean a copy machine?
What. The. Fuck.
I'm about to walk off and the youngsters snag an older around 40ish guy who seems to be above them in the retail heirarchy.
Young Manager and Clerk: Yeah, this lady is looking for a ph...photocopier?
Older Manager: Oh? What are you going to use it for?
Me: *Thinking Bringing everyone's favorite office thrill home so I can photocopy my ass in private, what do you THINK?!* Making. Copies.
Older Manager: Oh, we don't carry those.
HE at least knew right off the bat what I was talking about.
And yes, they did sell copier/scanner hybrids, but that's not what I'm looking for. Am I SO old by now that asking for a straight photocopier is like asking for a typewriter now? I'm 28. 28.
I'm going to crawl into bed and fear the world.