I love Apple, but honestly I can say that their quality control this round was not to par. I have bought many iPhones on launch day and not a single one had problems as bad as the one I got almost a full month after launch. My iPhone 5 was chipped out of box, the lock button doesn't work unless I tap the very left tip of the button, the battery life is horrible (I'll be down to 33% within 2 hours when I BARELY use my iPhone), and the biggest flaw i recently found is that there is a ton of dust INSIDE the camera. I would be more understanding if it was one of the first one's made, but it isn't. Honestly, it has frustrated me so much that I am almost willing to go back to my iPhone 4S. This kind of quality control is not accepted for a phone manufacture let alone Apple. I have included a picture of a plain white wall I just took. I counted about 8 circles from either dust or a defective camera.
I agree with you, I just got a new iPhone 5 two days ago and so far I've been a victim of the mysterious "green glow" and several nicks/blemishes from the factory.
Honestly, though, you're covered under warranty for a year. If you can reproduce or document the problems, as it seems you have, take it back to the Apple store or call Apple Care and you should get a replacement without hassle. Sounds like the lady you talked to thought you just wanted to return it for your cash back, if you say you want a warranty replacement they should be able to do that for up to a year. Unfortunately I haven't been able to reproduce my problem in the presence of an Apple store employee, so I'm stuck with mine until I can properly document it.