Not surprisingly, we don't discriminate against clydes. lol
How I approach the customer depends on what the customer says when I ask if I can help them. If they say they're looking for a road bike, then that is what we talk about. If they say they're looking for a bike to ride around on the street, then I ask more questions to see if they need a road bike or a hybrid.
If the customer said they were considering road, cyclocross, and flat-bar road bikes, I would ask a lot of questions. If you aren't going to race cyclocross, I wouldn't buy a cross bike. What you might want instead is a touring/randonneur bike. As such, I would talk about the Fuji Touring, the Masi Randonneur, the Litespeed Sportive (sadly discontinued this year, but we still have a few), and the Surly LHT (which we don't stock, but can order). Flat bar road bikes....if you were planning on doing any mileage at all, I would try to discourage this, or at least make sure you were fully informed about the shortcomings (lack of hand positions being the main one).
Since it sounds like you are not wanting to be bent too far over, I might talk to you a while about the Fuji CCR line of bikes, which are basically carbon fiber comfort road bikes. They have a taller headtube and slightly more relaxed geometry.
Basically, there are lots and lots of options out there. Don't let any shop try to pigeon-hole you into one type or one product line. Ride them all. Then buy the bike that makes you smile the most when you ride it.