Radio (controlled car) shack

[Steven Varner]

Hi,
I went into Radio Shack to see if the 1997 catalog 
stuff had come in.  The two guys in there were 
totally clueless about electronics.  For one salesman 
it was his first day.  They both knew nothing about 
the electronic components the store sold.  I was 
talking to them about some stuff and while I was 
looking at the racks of 'Engineer's Handbooks', I 
noticed the op amp book was gone.  The little tag was 
still there but it said 'dsc' for discontinued.  I 
said maybe one could be found at another store.  The 
salesman's reply was that they just throw away any 
items that are marked as discontinued -- into the old 
dumpster!  One store he called (because I was really 
curious by this time and incredulous at such enormous 
waste and stupidity) told him they had already dumped 
the discontinued stuff.  I'm a physics teacher with 
15 year old equipment and things like this really 
burn me!  It looks like the back of the store (in the 
garbage) should be the first place you look when 
visiting your local Radio Shack (excuse me, Radio 
Controlled Toy Car Shack).

Steve Varner
svarner at sdcoe.k12.ca.us