I can’t do it! I’m not that strong…

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Let me guess. I'll put my armature phycologist's hat on and think about the very strange you. Umm, something unspeakable happened to you as a little boy at boarding school and you never really quite got over it?

Ha ha, so many wrong guesses, can only give you one point for guessing I used to be a little boy!

[Bill Douglas]

I don't even know who you are. Please, please just f' off.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

I don't even know who you are. Please, please just f' off.

Bill, have a cocktail and switch to decaf.

[zakthor]

Originally Posted by masraum

My wife likes to ask folks at stores technical questions, whether the store is a HD/Lowes or a random goods store. We'll be at a store that sells imported home goods, and she'll ask employees "what kind of wood is this made of?"

The days of getting good advice at HD and Lowes are mostly long gone. I never ask any more.

Employees are mostly useless so I just hit up customers that look like they might know their stuff.

[DWBOX2000]

Probably instructed not to because of possible injury and law suits. Sad but the world we live in.

[porsche930dude]

Yeah thats why i dont feel bad about not buying local. I went to lowes looking for impact driver bits 3 older employees in the tool section had no clue what i was talking about. I looked around more and found the drivers and showed them what i meant. They didnt seem to care. I dont know why I waste my time going there I always leave empty handed.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by porsche930dude

Yeah thats why i dont feel bad about not buying local. I went to lowes looking for impact driver bits 3 older employees in the tool section had no clue what i was talking about. I looked around more and found the drivers and showed them what i meant. They didnt seem to care. I dont know why I waste my time going there I always leave empty handed.

Maybe not "always." It seems you did find the impact driver bits.

You know that before you go, you can go to Lowes.com or homedepot.com and see if they have what you need in your local store (usually pretty accurate, unless they've only got 1-3 in which case it might be a crap shoot). As a matter of fact, the page usually then tells you where the item is located in the store, ie "aisle 18 bin 27."

[GH85Carrera]

As a genuine geezer, I can say for certain, on some things I sure miss the good ol days.

Just after I bought my first house, I had lots of fix it up projects. Not one thing on that old house was standard to the then current plumbing, electrical, or building standards. I used to go to a family owned hardware store that realized the value of a kitchen area with free coffee and donuts for the retired tradesmen to come in on Saturday morning and hang out and chat.

I could go there with any sort of issue, and one of the old greys would help me with his knowledge. It was better than Pelican OT, and YouTube combined. No bad advice, and the exact solution I needed. It did not matter if it was electrical, AC, plumbing, roofing, drywall, or what, they had a guy sitting there that had done it for years for a living.

My bathtub faucet was from 1952, and the handles were 26 inches apart. No modern single blend knob, but a hot or cold knob only. Nothing new was going to go into that cast iron tub to fix the leak. One of the old greys told me to follow him over to his shop. He had a small shop with nothing but faucet parts, and seals. He opened up some drawers on a cabinet that was likely older than I was, and found the perfect replacement seals. He then replaced my old dried up seals on his bench, and handed me two extra seals.

He said he was retiring soon and all of that was going away. He refused money. but I laid down $10 for his troubles. (It was the early 1980s) and my faucet was fixed.

Now, the only "fix" is to tear it out, and put in cheap Chinese garbage that will not last a year.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

As a genuine geezer, I can say for certain, on some things I sure miss the good ol days.

Just after I bought my first house, I had lots of fix it up projects. Not one thing on that old house was standard to the then current plumbing, electrical, or building standards. I used to go to a family owned hardware store that realized the value of a kitchen area with free coffee and donuts for the retired tradesmen to come in on Saturday morning and hang out and chat.

I could go there with any sort of issue, and one of the old greys would help me with his knowledge. It was better than Pelican OT, and YouTube combined. No bad advice, and the exact solution I needed. It did not matter if it was electrical, AC, plumbing, roofing, drywall, or what, they had a guy sitting there that had done it for years for a living.

My bathtub faucet was from 1952, and the handles were 26 inches apart. No modern single blend knob, but a hot or cold knob only. Nothing new was going to go into that cast iron tub to fix the leak. One of the old greys told me to follow him over to his shop. He had a small shop with nothing but faucet parts, and seals. He opened up some drawers on a cabinet that was likely older than I was, and found the perfect replacement seals. He then replaced my old dried up seals on his bench, and handed me two extra seals.

He said he was retiring soon and all of that was going away. He refused money. but I laid down $10 for his troubles. (It was the early 1980s) and my faucet was fixed.

Now, the only "fix" is to tear it out, and put in cheap Chinese garbage that will not last a year.

related note, I much prefer 2 knobs to 1. You've got far more control (maybe slightly less conveniently) over volume and temperature, with 2 knobs. And the modern single knob/lever designs include an anti-scald valve that can go bad and makes something that would probably be OK, not OK.

I have had similar experiences to you with some small local plumbing places, but they are disappearing.

[peppy]

My wife and I went to pick up a refrigerator from lowes a few months ago, and experienced the same wimpy guys.
Before we left I had helped a female employee load a washer onto an dolly and helped a male employee put a window unit in the back of a mini van. The guy dropped his side and walked back inside and left me to muscle the damn thing in the van by myself.
When they finally brought the fridge it was on a pallet jack and they thought we could just walk it up the ramp of a utility trailer. I asked for an appliance hand truck and was told it was broken. I told him to go get it, and I got a ratchet strap from my truck to secure the fridge to the hand truck and put it on the trailer myself.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

I don't even know who you are. Please, please just f' off.

Bill, short fuse you have there

If you can't take sarcasm then I suggest you don't use it!

[Bill Douglas]

Again... Please just STFU and go away. I don't know who you are and it's very weird you commenting on me all the time.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Again... Please just STFU and go away. I don't know who you are and it's very weird you commenting on me all the time.

Bill, own it. You called peeps in England f a * * o t s.

It's a real simple transaction.

I ain't moaning or on the woke train but you said it and you caught some friendly crap.

The end.

[Bill Douglas]

No Bob. This guy has been on my case ever since I mentioned I smacked over a black power guy I found stealing my motorbike. He said I was a BS-er. I said nothing back at the time, but are getting sick of his little snipes he makes at me all the time - so I have the right to ask him to F'off. I don't even know who he is other than being the guy who called BS on a comment I made.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

No Bob. This guy has been on my case ever since I mentioned I smacked over a black power guy I found stealing my motorbike. He said I was a BS-er. I said nothing back at the time, but are getting sick of his little snipes he makes at me all the time - so I have the right to ask him to F'off. I don't even know who he is other than being the guy who called BS on a comment I made.

Did not know history and have not observed threads mentioned - I don't think.

I be chillin'.

Were those the guys that had the unique tatoos?

[KFC911]

It wouldn't bother me if someone said I was BS'ing when I post...

I usually am

[GH85Carrera]

Another story about the good ol days of hardware stores dates to when I was in 2nd grade, and the world was still just black and white.

We moved to San Marcos, TX and dad rented a house. He wanted to paint the living room, and he went to the hardware store on square of downtown. Typical of many small towns, the county courthouse was in the middle of the square, and the businesses were on all four sides of the courthouse plaza.

Anyway, dad walked in and told the owner he needed some paint to touch up one wall in the living room. He gave the guy the address, and the owner replied, of that is the Smith family home, so you are the new renters, welcome to town. OK, you will need some of this paint for the living room and the kitchen is painted in this, and I have all the paint for any room. No computers, no log books, just the memory of the store owner.

[Bill Douglas]

A most sincerely apologise to anyone, everyone, and anybody I annoy.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

No Bob. This guy has been on my case ever since I mentioned I smacked over a black power guy I found stealing my motorbike. He said I was a BS-er. I said nothing back at the time, but are getting sick of his little snipes he makes at me all the time - so I have the right to ask him to F'off. I don't even know who he is other than being the guy who called BS on a comment I made.

Thanks for backing up my BS claim with yet more over embellishment of the facts

Other than this thread where you've kicked off because you couldn't take a sarcastic reply to your sarcasm I've not replied to any of your posts

Don't worry, I'll refrain from commenting on anything you post in the future as you seem too angry and sensitive to take my humour

[Rusty Heap]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

A most sincerely apologise to anyone, everyone, and anybody I annoy.

Have a steak pie for me!

Aussie and NZ pies are the BEST.