An old fashioned hardware store joke

A young woman gets a job as a hardware store assistant. Her first customer comes in, a rough-looking gentleman. "Can I help you sir?" she says. "Yes miss" he replies, holding his hands about a foot apart, he asks "do you have a big bastard at all?" Confused she approaches her supervisor and says "I think this man is being rude to me". On hearing the story the supervisor goes to the appropriate aisle and retrieves a 12" bastard file for the customer.
A few days later another customer approaches the assistant and says "I want to buy a file". "Oh I know what you need sir," she says holding her hands about a foot apart "a big bastard"
"No no missy" he replies, holding his thumb and forefinger about four inches apart.
"I want a little fucker"