Mandeville Hardware

When I went to buy it, the lawnmower was out front, already put together.  After I paid for it, I asked the employee if he could check the oil.  He told me it came with it.  NOW THIS IS THE CRITICAL POINT.  WHEN HE SAID IT CAME WITH IT, I THOUGHT HE MEANT THAT IT WAS ALREADY IN THE MOWER.  ANYWAYS, I FELT THAT IF IT WEREN'T ALREADY IN THE MOWER, THINKING THAT HE WAS A HELPFUL HARDWARE MAN, HE WOULD HAVE UNSCREWED THE OIL PLUG AND ACTUALLY CHECKED IT FOR ME.  So I would know what kind of oil to put in the mower in the future, I asked him what kind of oil did it take.  In the course of putting it in the car he showed me a bag of oil that came with it. SO, THINKING IT HAD OIL IN IT, I WENT HOME AND RAN IT FOR ABOUT 5 OR 10 MINUTES.  OF COURSE, IF I HAD KNOWN THAT IT DIDN'T HAVE OIL IN IT, NEEDLESS TO SAY, I WOULDN'T HAVE RUN IT.  WHAT MAKES ME AGGRAVATED IS THAT THE FIRST THING I SAID TO HIM WAS "COULD YOU CHECK THE OIL?".   I brought the lawn mower back to the hardware store, and explained to them that I thought he told me that the lawn mower had oil in it.   He said that he had explained to me that I needed to put oil in it.  That is not the way I understood it.  Like I said before, the first thing I asked him was "Would you check the oil for me?"  They refused to do anything for me.  So I just put the mower back in my car.    The next day I called to ask for the manager.  Eventually I got through to one of the owners.  To add insult to injury, he kept telling me how I had made a mistake and how wrong I was.   What I have to say is that it was a really bad experience for me.  And I want to warn other people out there to think for yourself.  If I had never asked him to check the oil in the first place, I would have done it the right way.   The owner offered to try to repair the engine for me.  However, I feel that I still wanted a new lawn mower, because that is what I bought, and felt that if the hardware person had simply check the oil for me, like I had asked, I would have never had the problem.  If the first thing I asked him was to check the oil, do you think I realized that it needed oil before I ran it?   One last thing.  Subsequent to the above, I went to a Sears outlet store where they had a few lawn mowers for sale.  On all their mowers they had a circular note around the oil plug warning that it needed oil before running.  Wouldn't it have been proper for the hardware store from which I bought the mower to either leave the note on the mower or else put the oil in the mower?   I could have done better without asking for help.