I enjoy rants.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, a lass by the name of Wendy Reeve worked upstairs in the professional division of Teds. Dealing with her, you were guaranteed of professional, attentive and engaging service, and you got what you wanted, be it a box of Kodachrome or Ektachrome or a shiny black Canon body straight out of the gleaming glass cabinets. I bought my EOS 1N from her up there in 1994. I spent a weekend with her at her home in Healesville coming to grips with it (at the time she had a 1N for sports); it was quite bewildering at first. In the store, I never had dealings with the "lower class" (as I derisively referred to them) on the ground floor: it was up the stairs and straight to Wendy. True, this was in the halcyon days of film when the media was still rushing about processing negatives for the front page of the Melbourne tabloids, "The Spencer Street Soviet" (The Age), among.
Then, as Bob Dylan burbled, things had changed. And Wendy is long gone (she moved to Port Moresby and became an Aid Worker). So too, the courteous service at Teds. It's not just film that is not available there, but
knowledge. They've long ago sold out to digital, much like JB HiFi did. No, no film at Ted's. It's years and years ago since they had it. I do find his surprise at why you are using film to be indicative of lack of experience in the real photographic world, or a distractive, unhelpful predilection/infatuation with the joyous wonders of digital.
Photography is not all digital! It's not very competent to question a professional (incognito) what he is using, or why. Buying a spare battery for my Little Nikky was trauma enough, Anyways, just up the road is Michaels. Maybe they'll honour the card (albeit sharply devalue it, such is the snob rivalry). That old bastion of the 1970s right through the ages to the present stocks lots of film (albeit mysteriously over-priced, like VanBar), but no film cameras unless you're into Holgas, Dianas or ZeroImage pinholes — lots of them. Best of all, the staff will never be rude enough to express surprise you are using film.
The Analogue Underworld (what a cute term!) is alive and well.
I think you were handed a pee-straw piece to Ted's. Sorry for putting it that way. Ask Santa for a gift card to one of the others.