sneaky viking

I actually respect a shop that wouldn't sell you a Pista.

I tried to talk a girl out of buying a Pista once, as a salesperson. She even said she hadn't ridden a bike in 10 years and would probably never ride it, but wanted the shiny one. She ended up buying it.

As far as not loaning you a tool... maybe the guy had only been working there a week or two. He knew the policy, but not the real world application. That's not really something that someone with a couple years experience in a shop would say. Give 'em the benefit of the doubt.

And installing fenders that had been purchased elsewhere? Even installing any fenders on a not-brand-new bike is a PITA and should be charged for, regardless of if they were bought there. $40 seems excessive tho.

Edit: Does Walmart even sell presta tubes?!

Find a better LBS that you would at least trust to do facing/ headset install/ thread chasing/ anything else you wouldn't buy the tools for. Just ask if they could do those things. And gauge their response. And slowly start to build a relationship. Maybe buy a tube. Establish some trust on both sides, so loaning a pedal wrench to some random dude off the street isn't an issue anymore.