Talking to a Black Hole

The great thing about communication is its bidirectional nature. I communicate something to you, you communicate something back, and so on. If information only flowed one way, what would be the point? For example, when you go to the store and ask an employee a question about a product and all you get is "I don't know," you begin to wonder "What's the point?"

Today I went to Fred Meyer's to buy a particular item. There were two slightly different versions of the same item (different brand, so different appearance/details) for the same price of $25. But one was on sale for $10. There was, of course, a problem. There was only one box of the $10 version left and it was mutilated and missing a part. And had some random VHS in. No idea why. So I went to a cashier (This is the black hole part):

Me: This is missing a part.
Cashier:
Me: So it shouldn't be on the shelf.
Cashier: Oh.
Me: Are there any others?
Cashier: Probably not.
Me: Will any more be ordered?
Cashier: I don't know.

Well I went and found a manager and learned that, not only were there other boxes, but there were 7 other boxes. It was just that nobody could find them. So there were 7 boxes of a $10 item at the store that nobody could find which left me having to buy an equivalent $25 item. This didn't make me happy. I asked if I could have the $25 item for $10 since it was the same price, just not on sale. The manager said no and walked away. A few minutes later he returned and I got the $25 box for $15. Which wasn't quite what I wanted and came after I waited 10 minutes while he looked for the box I actually wanted. But I bought it anyway. I feel suckered.