The horse is dead

Let's put this into perspective. Take Hughes out the equation. The OP is beating his chest about years of experience. DECADES of experience. To which I'm not doubting. Nor am I doubting that Dave can be "short". The OP has basically already all but admitted to being sloth about not wanting to take the engine apart to make it right. Anyone who has done any semi-serious small Mopar effort, knows that these parts DO NOT just fall together. The reason for Chevy just falling together is the eons of support for the platform. So to banter about 1.6 Chevy roller rockers just falling in, compared to the Mopar that has to be modified, is apples to oranges. Ignorant almost.
Yup. My point from the jump.

The super expert didn’t even read the instructions.

They are clear enough for a high schooler to read and understand.

Then he calls Dave and says hey, your **** doesn’t fit. And Dave says **** it, this guy is over his head so he has him send them back.

Of course, now he’s double pissed at Dave because Dave didn’t whisper sweet nothings in his ear and tell him yeah, it’s my fault because the directions aren’t clear buddy.

I’ll give you a full refund and pay the freight and I’ll save the restocking fee because I didn’t make the directions clear.

Even though he could have wasted time and tried to help him over the phone, Dave said screw it send them back.

Makes perfect sense to me.

It’s clear who the inexperienced crybaby is.