On Nov 26, 12:18*pm, "Jon Danniken"
wrote:
RBM wrote:

A little story here to amuse too. * There's a local ACE hardware store
that's a real pain in the ass. * Everytime you walk in, one of the
village idiot store employees walks up and asks if they can help
you. * That's fine, to a point. * But they can't just point you to the
isle and get lost. * Instead, they like to start asking all kinds of
questions, try to re-engineer what you're doing, when they are totally
clueless. * As an example, I went in and was looking for screws. * The
guy comes over and asks if I need help. * I tell him I'm looking for
round headed wood screws. * He shows me flat headed ones, which I
already saw. * Then, he looks at me like he never heard of or saw a
round headed one. * Next, he's asking what it is I'm doing and starts
recommending sheet metal screws.

*Don't even get me started on that! *My (now) standard response for the
inevitable "what are you doing" question is to reply with "I'm just trying
to see what you have right now."

It usually gives them enough of a clue to go away. *Until the next helpful
little butterfly tries to land on me.

Jon

Of course the flip side is when you luck upon a person who actually
knows what he's talking about.

When I was browsing the Home Depot plumbing department and looking
into the Shark Bites for the project I mentioned earlier, an employee
asked me what I was planning on using them for. Not only did he know
all about the Shark Bites, he saved me some money by pointing out the
"hidden" stash of shorter lengths of PEX.

Prominently displayed were the 10' straight lengths and the 50' & 100'
rolls. When I said that I would need three 10 footers and a couple of
in-line Shark Bites to make up my 22' length, he pointed me towards
the barely-labeled boxed rolls of 25' that were down on the bottom
shelf. Between the cheaper PEX and the elimination of two $6 fittings,
he probably saved me close to 50% on this small project.

When I playing with the Shark Bite tee and thought out loud about
"aiming" it so I could attached the PEX, it was he that pointed out
that they swivel so no "aiming" was required. Had I gotten home and
found that the fitting was "loose" on the pipe, I probably would have
panicked.

Sometimes you just never know who knows what.