Why Britain really doesn't quite get capitalism

So you run a chain of shops, selling, oh let's say paint, and a customer comes in to one of your b ranches and tells you that they're looking for a specific colour, which they bought the last cans of from you just a couple of weeks ago, but which hasn't been re-stocked yet, and would like you to order in for them.

Do you

a) Say "Of course sir/madam, let me take the details and we'll order it in in the next order."

or

b) Say "Well, we used to have a system like that, but we don't do that any more. We're expecting a new delivery of paint in a couple of weeks, but we can't tell you specifically if the colour you want will be in it as it will depend on whether the colour has sold enough."

Personally, I'd've thought that a chain that wanted to encourage repeat custom and actually make sales would opt for a), but our local D-I-Y branch seems to belong to a chain that subscribes to b) as a business model.

Bah.