Silly, stupid or sly?

An acquaintance of mine needed two new tires for her little car.  It's a front wheel drive car and the front tires were badly worn.  The rear tires still had plenty of tread on them. 

She went to a large box store in Calgary to buy two tires.  She found two tires at a good price.  While purchasing them, she indicated that she wanted them to replace the two worn front tires on her car. 

She was told that was impossible - company policy.  The new tires would be put on the back and those two rear tires would be recycled! 

She explained to the young man that hers was a front wheel drive car and the new tires with better traction should go on the front. The rear tires were still good. The fellow insisted that these two new tires would be put on the rear - company policy.

She left the store without any new tires.  I suggested she go to a tire dealer or a small garage operation.  They could provide her with two tires and put them on any wheels she wanted.

Either the box store tire folks didn't understand the physics of tires and the difference between front and rear wheel drive, or they just wanted to sell her four tires instead of just two. 

I don't know.  It's a very strange story, but true!