[GunRunner]

The Occupy parallel applies because of the entitlement mentality that you have with regard to brick and mortar merchants. I don't know what universe one must live in to think that I am obligated to purchase something from every single sales rep that I talk to.

I would love it if every time I talked to a prospect I got paid for my time. But in the real world, sales reps are paid on what they close, not how many potential customers they have conversations with. The job of the sales rep is to get the shopper to buy in the store. If they can't do that, they don't get paid; period.

[5thGenTexan]

I never said they were entitled. I said if they provided a service, they deserve to be compensated. You are so busy formulating your next insulting analogy to spend time reading what I am saying.

I am not talking about 5 minutes here. I know people who will tie up a sellsperson for up to an hour getting the information they needed to make a purchase then walk off and buy it online from a place that would not provide that service.

I personally make a point to ask a sellsperson if they are commissioned. If they are, and they made the case for the sale on the product, I buy from them even if I could have walked away and got it online cheaper.

I may have spent a little more money, but I can lay my head on my pillow at night knowing I did not take advantage of another person.

Sound like Occupy Wall Street to you? And to answer your question: I am in the computer industry, mainly software development but also hardware development. And you sound like someone who justifies pirating music and software with a lame argument that it only costs a few cents to press the CD anyway.