So today I was in Warehouse Stationery listening in on people's conversations (as you do ) when I heard this guy ask someone about Office 2003. The conversation went a little like this:

Salesperson: Hey there, back again?
Customer: Yep. This time it's about Office
S:2003 or 2007?
C:2003 actually. 2007 is a little too expensive for us and we don't need some of it's features. Will 2003 run on Vista?
S: No. 2003 does not run on Vista.

It was that that struck me as weird - Office 2003 not running on Vista? I was fairly adamant that it did. It was the second most recent release of Office so why would Microsoft lock customers and potential customers out of giving MS their money? (and I know for a fact that Office 2003 does run on Vista as per here.)

I almost wanted to jump-in and say that Office 2003 did run on Vista, or at least talk to the sales person afterwards.

But wait - there's more!

About 10 minutes later, the same salesperson was talking to an older couple who happened to have a PC that had Vista on it. The monitor they had been using had died and so they were on the prowl for a new one. They asked the salesperson (remember, it's the same salesperson):

C: We're looking for a new monitor. What's the difference between these ones (pointing to a CRT) and these ones (pointing to an LCD) - they're more expensive, so we need a good reason to pay the extra money.
S: These (LCD) are smaller and use less power. In my opinion, LCD's are a lot better - what kind of computer do you have?
C: A Compaq I think
S: XP or Vista?
C: Windows Vista - the most basic one.
S: Ah, sorry. You'll have to pay more for the LCD - these big, clunky monitors don't work on Vista.

This was absolutely disgusting - I could see a Vista computer with a CRT attached working just fine. The entire episode really annoyed me - the Office thing was bad enough, but Vista not running CRT's? Come on... Was he out for the extra commission on the $200 between Office 2003 and 2007, or just plain uniformed? And what was the story with the monitor? $200 difference in price between a CRT and an LCD - what was in it for him? Or was it just more sales-retardation?

What would you have done if you had been there when this was happening? Would you have stepped-in right away, waited until the customer had left, or completely ignored it? (If you're wondering what I did, I didn't do anything - salespeople scare me - which is funny, because I am a salesperson)