Lets see, a gun store has thousands of products on the shelf, and the clerk is an idiot because he doesn't know about the one item you happen to know about. I'd like to see people compare their knowledge across the stores entire inventory before they call a clerk an idiot. Then, we've all seen the clerk who is knowledgeable and speaking to a customer, when Joe-know-it-all standing behind has to butt in so everybody knows how brilliant he is because he read a bunch of stuff on an internet forum. The clerk can't win, because if he says something wrong, he is an idiot. If he says he doesn't know, and asks another clerk, he is an idiot. If he says something right, but somebody disagrees, he is an idiot. It is certainly not limited to the young. Really, how many of the most seasoned "expert" shooters could answer all the technical questions, or known deficiencies of every gun behind the counter? Questions can be phased respectfully, so that a clerk does not have to feel like an idiot if he doesn't happen to know, such as "have you heard anything about...?" or "would you happen to know...? or "have you ever fired one of these? Sure some could learn to better handle questions they don't know, but if they are going to be humiliated, they won't likely admit it. Often they will just say what they think you want to hear so as not to be thought of as an idiot.