19 Oct
2003
19 Oct
'03
7:36 a.m.
My friends judgement of a good hardware store started with if there were any
horse collars hanging on the wall or not. No horse collar, bad store.
So one day, we're standing around in the hardware store (Dux, down near
Georgia Tech, about 15 years ago. Prerequisite horse collar on wall), and
this guy about 70 walks in, holds up a part and says "You got one of these?"
The hardware guy goes "That's a butterfly valve from a 1936 Ford tractor, and
I got two of'em. $10 each, or $17 for the pair."
We stood agog.
--John
On Sunday 19 October 2003 15:11 pm, R. D. Davis wrote:
Quothe Tony Duell, from writings of Thu, Oct 16, 2003
at 09:41:11PM +0100:
No. Imagine what it would be like trying to find one if they did.
After all, this afternoon, the manager of the electrical department at
the local Lowes store didn't even know what an Edison base fuse was.
Doh! ...and the electrical department sales droid that I spoke with
over the telephone, who had to ask him what one was, didn't know
either. The sales droid told me that her manager was an electrician,
and I told her that he had no business being one if if didn't know
what an Edison base fuse was. Next, I explained what an Edison base
fuse looked like, then proceeded to tell her that the people working
in the local small hardware store, which Lowes helped to drive out of
business, knew what an Edison base fuse was.
About the aforementioned small hardware store: the owner, a very
pleasant older gentleman, was in his 90's, and he just died recently
while the store was still having it's going out of business sale... it
appeared that he knew more about hardware than all of the employees in
all of the Home Depot's and Lowes stores combined... plus, he spoke,
and could comprehend, fluent English... something that many of the
minorities (more like majorities in many areas though) and immigrants
working in those big stores don't appear to be able to do! (yes, I
know, that wasn't a politically correct statement, however, it was the
truth; screw political correctness, which is helping to destroy
western civilization)
I
constructed my PDP-8 replica with materials all found at Home Depot
(or Lowes since it's closer, but the people at HD in my area are pretty
Your DIY stores keep ICs, etc???? My moan is not that the salesdroids are not
knowledgable. I don't expect
them to be. All I expect them to be able to do is to find me the item
that I am asking for. If I want some 20mm M3 screws, then they should
know where they are. Most of the time they don't.
Yes, that's the problem. They don't even know much about their
inventory. Despite the size of those stores, the selection of
inventory is still lacking. Try finding hose supplies in the middle
of the winter, and be told something like "that's a seasonal item, we
won't be getting any more until spring." Ok, so, I guess I was
supposed to either tell the horses that needed water that a hose
coupling was a seasonal item, or else carry many five gallon buckets
of water from the stream to the barns; yes, right.
I don't expect them to tell me how to use the
stuff, or to suggest what
product I need (in fact, I find it _very annoying_ if I go to a shop and
ask for a particular product and the salesdroid finds me something else
which is 'just as good'. Hint : If I ask for something by name, then I
"But look, this is made in China, Japan, Outer Mongolia, Mexico or
Ungabungaland, and its cheaper, uh, somewhat inferior, but cheaper,
and our profit margin is higher if you buy it."
have a good reaso nfor wanting just that item,
I'd use a generic term if
I didn't care).
They're not in business to sell us what we want or need. We're supposed
to exist only to increase profits for shareholders and to help increase
government revenues.