i just want to return my cinder blocks.

al knows my frustration when i can't communicate with older people effectively. she also knows my frustration when i am stuck behind them in traffic, and reminds me that i will be an older person some day and shouldn't be so insensitive. last night while al was at the women's conference, evie and i went to lowe's to pick up some things for some projects around the house. we needed to return some cinder blocks and buy some new ones. the man behind the counter was probably 75 and seemed a little annoyed that i was returning something. i tried to make it as simple as possible by bringing in the 5 cinder blocks i was returning with the receipt and told him, "i need to return these 5, and buy 6 others in a different size." looking at me like i was trying to take advantage of the situation, he said, "well, i can only give you money back for the things you paid for." "right. i need money back for these 5, and then i want to buy some other ones." "well, i can only give you money for those 5." "great. and then i can buy the other ones, right?" "not until you return those ones." "okay, well let's do that then and then i'll buy the other ones after." "you can't make returns here, though." great, so i walked to the other side of lowe's and returned the cinder blocks. i was glad that was a simple process. i was told i had to buy the new cinder blocks at the register where i had just had my encounter. when i returned to that register i tried to act like we didn't just have our awkward misunderstanding. i told him i would like to buy six 8x8x16 cinder blocks. "well, where are they?" "i haven't picked them up yet. i would like to pay for them, and then i'll pick them up outside." as he rung me up, he said, "we don't normally allow that." i should have thanked him for being so accomodating.