well, i asked how shopping at MAC works, and the pigment part was NOT the point of the question. after this live chat, i went on yahoo answers, and asked the same question. and i got a best answer :

"There are testers on the little tables for you to swatch and see if you like them, since all returned items are discarded. If you want to buy something, you asked an employee to get it from their stock, so you know their products are untouched by the general public. (Sanitary issue. I mean, who wants stranger-touched makeup, right? Haha.) Then they put it in a basket and you wait for them to ring you up."

and the thing is, i asked the same question. and it's funny how some random person can answer it better than a MAC employee.

to errine1881 :
you actually answered my questions better than my MAC live chat person. thank you!

well, i simply asked her if the face charts were free or not, and she did not even mention one word about it. because on nessasarymakeup.com, i saw the blogger designing looks on one of those, and i thought they were pretty cool.