There are two ways you can look at that. I had some guy bending my ear and
had a few people walk up to look at some parts during that time.  But they
would pick it up, look it over, look at me, and never say anything.  Never
wave a hand, nothing.  I'd look directly at them and hold a hand out towards
them , but they would say nothing, and finally set it down and move on.

Of course, most of the time, I had people do the same stop, look, pick up,
look it over, then set it down without ever saying a word, even if I said
something to them about it.

When I go looking for parts, I know what you mean with vendors and people
talking, but I will go and hold it towards them or wave at them and say "how
much" or point at the item or something so they know I need some
information.

I think the restoration craze has gotten out of hand.  EVERYONE thinks they
are restoring something to the point they can only buy the correct part, not
one that works.  For example, I had several Q-Jets for sale.  Almost
everyone who looked at them checked the number.  A Q-Jet is not a Q-Jet, but
they break down into a few models that cover several years such that they
work on a huge number of cars.

Just in the Chevy group, you have Q-Jets that will work from '67 to '74
which have very minor changes - the air vent, couple of vacuum ports, etc.
However, numbers-wise, they only work on a few or even one vehicle.
Functional-wise, they interchange over several years and models.

At $10 each, you would have thought someone would have bought one.  Heck,
$10 is the usual eBay starting price and then you have to add a $15 or $20
shipping fee.  There are the ones that start at $0.99 bid, but if you check
they have a higher shipping like $25 or so where they are really getting
their price through the shipping fee.