Atlantic Self Storage

Ahhh, another rerun of the Seinfeld Car Rental episode.
You remember, Seinfeld is at the counter to pick up his car and is told that the car isn’t available, no car is available. He says, «You know how to *take* the reservation, you just don’t know how to *hold* the reservation.»
Well, this time it played out in a self-​storage business. I had spoken in-​person with the very sweet, but come-​to-​find-​out, slightly «inefficient» (to be nice) lady at the desk here. I’d purchased some boxes and was intrigued by a deal for storage units that she was rambling about at checkout. When I’d decided that the self-​storage route was about ¹⁄₅^th the cost of PODS (holy crap, I think on-​going blood extraction is part of their contract too), I rang up the same gal to line things up, here’s how it went:
Me: Hi, I was in about a week ago and was told that the 10×30 outdoor is $x.xx and the 10×15 climate controlled is $y.yy. Is that deal still good?
Atlantic Self Storage (A.S.S.) lady: Let me check… yes. Sometimes these things end without me knowing so I had to check, blah, blah, blah
Me: Great, I’ll be needing both units on (a specific date). I’ll be in the Saturday before I need it so should I stop by?
A.S.S. lady: Yes, will you be moving your stuff here that day?
Me: No, I’ll be getting a truck the next week to move my stuff into the storage area.
A.S.S. lady: So you’ll be driving a truck here on Saturday?
Me: No, I’m going to be loading the truck from a house in St Augustine and bringing to your facility.
A.S.S. lady: OK (sounding a bit confused).
Me: OK, thanks, I’ll see you Saturday.
So, about 10 days later, I show up and express an interest in the two units, but I’m told that they don’t have any of the 10×30 available right now. I’m stunned. I recall my conversation, so I say, I called and I think I spoke to you. She says, are you the guy with the truck from Ohio? I say, well, yes, the same guy (I am a guy from Ohio, I will have a truck in a few days…). So she recalls the conversation, surely this will cause her to reach into a folder and pull out my units. Instead she says, you can’t just show up and expect to get a unit. What? Oh, no, she then tells me that to have a unit ready when I get there, I have to pay in advance. Hmmm, interesting information, that would have been damn useful 10 days ago. So she tries to sell me one of the smaller units for more money (ain’t on special). I courteously go along to see the unit and then leave.
The moral of the story is that you have to be smarter than the help. I wasn’t in this case.
The rest of the story gets even better. In my now frantic effort to find another place to store my stuff (not so frantic, I had other places scoped out, but more expensive), I realize that there’s another Atlantic Self Storage, off the island. When I walk in, and ask for the exact same two unit sizes, the gal says, sure, we have that. Why didn’t this gal on the island pick up the phone, call her buddy on US1 and get me what I needed?
Go figure.