I went to a big city "big box" home repair store yesterday. I got most
of the stuff from my list, into my shopping cart, but I could not find
an outdoor thermometer (the old one I had outside my window broke
recently). The store is busy but lacks enough staff on duty. I had
already wasted a half hour in the electrical dept. trying to locate some
special parts, because there was no one there to assist. I finally find
a guy in the plumbing dept. and ask him where I can find an outdoor
thermometer. He tells me "thats not a plumbing item" [NO ****], but says
he will get someone to help me. 10 minutes go by, and finaly some young
guy arrives. I ask him "where in the store can I find some outdoor
thermometers". He replies "WE DONT HAVE THEM THIS TIME OF YEAR, BECAUSE
THEY ARE A SEASONAL ITEM". Trying to remain calm, I said "Then find me a
seasonal thermometer for the Winter Season". He looks at me with a very
puzzled expresion and says "that's a *SUMMER ITEM*", but they might be
in the garden center. Being a little annoyed by this time, I say
"There's temperature all year long, regardless of season". He tells me
to go look in the "garden center". Then walks away.

I go to the garden center (which is unheated), and it's very dark in
there. So I go to the nearby lumber desk, and have to wait another 10
minutes to find an employee. After waving my arms and nearly doing a
dance to get a guy's attention, he finally comes over. I tell him I was
told to go to the garden center to find thermometers and it's too dark
in there to see, "could you please turn the lights on". He says "I dont
know if we have them this time of year, but I'll look on the computer".
He looks them up, even goes on the store's website, and finally finds
them, and says "it looks like we have lots of them, which one do you
want (showing me the pictures on the screen). I said "can we just go see
them on the shelf". He flips on some lights in the garden center and we
find a whole shelf full of thermometers. -FINALLY-. I grab the one I
want and go back to the last of the shopping.

That's when I went to the "Closeout Lumber" section. I always like to
look in there for bargains. In there, I found a piece of metal trim made
for metal siding, and it's something I can use. It's marhed 25 cents per
foot. I grab it, and it's 10 foot long, and walk with it, back to the
lumber desk, knowing they have to print up a "slip" for these items.
After another long wait, I finally find someone who works there and it's
another young guy. He says "what do you need". I tell him this was in
the bargain area and I just need a slip for it.

He goes to the computer, and says "how much is it". I say, "it's a
quarter a foot". He says, "but what is the price" I said "I just told
you, it's a quarter a foot". He looks very puzzled.... I say, "It's 25
cents per foot, and it's 10 feet long". (He finally seems to
understand). Thats when he says, "hold on a minute, while I find a
calculator, so I get this right". He grabs a calculator from a desk, and
starts to push buttons, a minute later, he says "wow, this cant be
right.... lets try this again......". I tell him, "25 cents times 10 is
$2.50, simple math, just take the zero from the 10 and put it at the end
of the 25". He looks me straight in the eye, and says "are you sure?".
About the same moment his calculator says $2.50, and he says "you're
right, that will be $2.50. I did not say a word, (and I wont say what I
was thinking).....

With that accomplished, he enters the price into the computer, and asks
"what is it called". I said "it just says METAL TRIM on the sign. He
enters those words. Then I tell him I also need two pieces of vinyl
siding trim, from the outside building, it looks like *and I point to a
display on the wall*. He looks at the display, and says "I'll have to
look up the item number". He goes to the computer, when I tell him to
look at the sign on the wall, right next to the display, and it's says
the item number and the price right there. He says "Oh wow, it does".
Then for the 3rd time he asks me how many of them I want. I said TWO. I
did not say another word, because I felt like saying, "Dude, you're
"DUMBER THAN HELL".....

Finally I'm done shopping, and proceed to the checkout, hoping the
checkout clerk has a brain..... (Thankfully, she checked me out with no
problems).

I've come to the conclusion that they only hire 'Kindergarten Dropouts'
at that store......