Ace, the Helpful Place

Unfortunately, I went to another, larger hardware chain.

I've been helping my friend move out of her apartment the last week. We've had to make a lot of repairs because she has a monster dog who's eaten the apartment and doesn't want to be charged for things that she can fix herself for less. So we picked up a lot of stuff at Walmart but had to make a field trip to the hardware store for the rest of it (I say field trip, because you have to make a pointed effort to go there, it takes 20 minutes down cow-lined roads to get to any kind of specialty store, i.e. anything but a grocery store).

We had a whole list of things, from ghetto light fixtures to spray paint to lock bars to bolts. We were 1 for 4 for the first four items, which included the spray paint. This was something that Walmart did have, but we didn't buy enough. How does a large hardware chain not carry a relatively plain color of paint but Walmart does? They had, like three colors.

We did get to meet The Most Helpful Large Hardware Chain Employee EVER. Another problem with this large hardware chain, which I've noticed many times in the past and proved to be true this time, was the lack of help. There's all kinds of people in their colorful hardware chain smocks until you need them. You'll turn around and they'll be gone, or on the phone, or attacked by another customer. But this guy showed us what we were looking for and offered to help us again and told us where to find him if we needed him again. My friend wanted to kiss him, I just wanted to marry him.