My parents have always loved calling stores to ask if they have a “insert name of anything here” before heading over to the store. I have teased them my entire life that there is no way the minimum wage store clerk is running around the store searching for the desired item. Yesterday, I ran into a local chain store to get a paint pen. I heart paint pens. While standing in line, the store phone rang. The clerk answered the phone, repeated the item the caller was seeking, said “one moment” and put the caller on hold. The clerk rang my order, picked up the phone and said “sorry, we don’t have that” before hanging up the phone. I pointed to a nearby display rack and said the name of the item that the clerk had repeated was hanging on that specific rack. The clerk mumbled, “Oh, they wanted something different.” Want to know if a store has something? Look on-line. Computerized inventories don’t have aching feet and sleep deprivation.