It's just a symptom of the idea that cutting costs any way possible is a good thing: so instead of employing knowledgeable, time-served photographers, camera shops now employ minimum-wage slaves straight off the streets.
On the day I'd decide to buy a 7D - from Jessops in Newcastle - I was in the shop listening to another potential buyer trying to get some sense out of an air-headed young lass about the camera: she was clueless.
He eventually started asking me questions about it (I'd researched the camera in depth before deciding to buy it), and I was doing a damn' sight better job of selling it to him than the air-head was.
When she rocked up just as we were talking about video capabilities (he was very interested in video), butting in with "the video on this and the 5D Mk II is just a gimmick..." he flatly refused to deal with her any more.
When she asked why he was insisting that someone else serve him, he pointed to me and said "The video is a gimmick, eh? This guy [me] has just told me that an entire episode of House has just been filmed on a 5D Mk II..."
When the manager heard about what was going on, she was chivvied off into the back room, and - when I went back the very next day to actually buy my 7D - she was no longer around.
Hire 'em cheap on short contracts and get rid of 'em at the drop of a hat - and stuff good customer service.