Ladies slippers

I found this little plant in a supermarket, and just had to buy it because I used to buy them in Perth, Western Australia every year! The flowers are actually quite small, about the size of a 50p piece, and they are like a little bag......or slipper!
However, these particular plants were having a tough time of it. This was the best of the lot, and they were all very dry. Some had begun to wilt badly. When I got mine home, it absorbed an amazing amount of water, and the floppy leaves began to lift up again.

Why do so many big shops buy in plants and then neglect them so that they have to be thrown away? Is it too much to ask the staff to give them a little water each day?