Pretty typical of many bike shops. most are run either by enthusiasts who have no sense of how to run a business or by some half-arsed entrepreneur who thinks he has finally found a pot of gold. Other than going to a Performance Bike store, I don't set foot in LBS's anymore.

Bike shops exist at the pleasure of the consumer not the other way around. Order the wheels from one of the established mailorder outfits and be done with it.