Oil dipstick looks dull grey at bottom

I was looking at the car listed above and pulled the oil dipstick. It looked shiny silver most of the length but about the bottom 6 inches was a dull grey, as if it had been dipped in acid. This grey area was at least twice as high from the tip as the full point for the oil. At first I thought I was looking at milky oil but the oil was clean (now). They said this long dull grey satin color area near the bottom was supposed to make it easier to see the clean oil. There were no markings on the dipstick except for 2 dimples with no labels, no crosshatch. I have a lot of trouble believing this is normal. I think someone messed up the oil or there was a leak of other fluid into it which they are not telling me about. The service manager could not understand what I meant by "this upper part is shiny and the bottom is dull." As if every dipstick he ever saw was dull grey at the bottom. Has anyone ever seen this? I haven't had a chance to examine other Kia cars yet.