Bill writes: >>I'm also curious about goods which are now sold in giant stores (Office Depot, for example) where the "sales staff" are generally clueless, phone lines with automated menus replace a real salesperson, and you generally have to forage for your own goods (I'm exaggerating a bit).<< this is not much of an exagerration. I have decided to boycott CompUSA because they follow a strategy of not hiring very many people, so that there's never enough people to help or even take your money in anything approaching a timely manner. (They probably don't pay their "partners" very much, either.) Further, while you wait in line, commercial messages are blasted at you. Last time I went there, I simply decided to not buy the inkjet cartridge I had finally found. I left it at the counter and went to Staples, where it turned out that the price was lower, the staff was more helpful, the ambience was less hectic and noisy, etc. BTW, one good book on gender roles is by Carol Tavris, THE MISMEASURE OF WOMAN. in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ. 7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA 310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950 "It takes a busload of faith to get by." -- Lou Reed.
