From Mindspillage

The worst salespeople I've seen are at office supply stores.

I like office supplies. I can hang around in office supply stores for hours. I can understand the first inquiry as to whether I need help: it's their job to make sure everyone is finding what they need. "I'm fine, thanks" is usually enough to discourage anything further. The second time gets a more curt response. The five inquiries by three different salespeople in the 15 minutes I was in the store, though, was somewhat excessive. Finally, whenever I saw one of them, I would pointedly turn around and go in the opposite direction just to avoid their overzealous attentions. (Department store people mostly leave me alone—perhaps better sales training, but perhaps because I look like I couldn't possibly be the sort of person who spends very much in department stores?) I would definitely have stayed in the store longer if I could just be there for 5 minutes without someone bothering me.