Honda Manual Transmission Fluid - where from?

I called in to my local Honda dealer today to try and buy some Honda
Manual Transmission Fluid (MTF) for my Civic. The young lad from parts
informed me that they only sold Automatic Transmission Fluid and that
for manual transmission I could use anything and buy it from a "Hardware
Store"!

I queried this and said I though Honda only specified the use MTF in
their cars. Although he tried to assure me this was untrue the
conversation was overheard by another employee. He agreed I should use
only genuine Honda MTF (MTF-2 apparently) but explained that it was only
available in bulk and so he could not sell any to me. I was told that I
could, of course, book my car in and they would be quite happy to change
it for a fee.

So, where do you obtain MTF from and, if you can't, what do you use
instead? A google on the subject seems seems to suggest using normal
10W40 semi-synth oil in some discussions and dire warnings of what might
happen if you do this in other discussion groups.

Chris