Greg,
One day I went to the deli department at my local grocery store to get cheese. I wanted a pound block of cheddar and a pound block of something else. The girl behind the counter could not figure out how to take 4-5 pounds blocks and get 1 pound out of it as the deli slicer wouldn't go that thick. I had to clue her into the new technology of a knife.
She cut a block and tossed it onto the scale. It was too small. She wanted to just add another chunk, I told her I wanted a pound block, not two small blocks. Over and over she whacked at the block, and every time she wasn't close.
She was throwing the cheese across the deli and muttering under her breath. Finally she got the two blocks cut (well, hacked) to the right size. As I was walking away she was picking cheese off the floor and telling someone else about how "that man just wasted all this cheese". Of course I didn't throw it, I didn't cut (hack) it too small.
I went to the front and talked to the store manager (the actual head guy, not someone who is a "manager"). He was nice, he was polite, he was apologetic, he told me they should be able to handle a request like this without worry (and they had in the past with a pound block of ham).
He then offered to buy my cheese for me. That was above what I expected, but I was kind enough to allow him to do this as it seemed to mean a lot to him.
In the end I cut the pound block into pieces (of the size and shape I wanted, mostly, it was tough with the hacked up shape) and cold smoked it.
You may wish to speak to someone with more authority and see what can be done. Sometimes the fella that has to do the work doesn't want to, and he will cite "rules" that really don't exist.*
*that was pretty long winded to get to that last bit.
