A Woman in a Hardware Store...
...is a target for male ego and attitude.
When I go into Lowe's or a similar store, I know what I want. Tonight, I needed bookshelves and a quart (or less) of high-gloss enamel paint in a deep red color that matched my kitchen chairs. Since I needed a high-gloss paint, I was hesitant to just look at all the colors without knowing what brand I needed to constrain my search to (thinking they might only have a high-gloss enamel in, say, Olympic and not Behr). I had the following conversation with Paint Mixer Guy (PMG):
Me: Hi there. I need to buy some high-gloss enamel with a color mixed in. Is there a specific brand I should constrain my color search to, or can I pick anything?
PMG: What are you doing with it?
Me (somewhat confused): Painting a chair to match my other chairs.
PMG: Are they white?
Me (thinking I already covered this): No, they're red.
PMG: So you need to mix in a color?
Me (Is he braindead?): Yes.
PMG: You can pick any color in any brand.
So, I venture to the "American Traditions" paint colors and--lo and behold--I find the correct color right off the bat. After checking a few other colors just to make sure, I take the card and set off to find my mom, so she can double-check my paint card against the paint chips I brought with me. After a "pretty darn close" from her, I go back to PMG.
PMG: You're back.
Me: Yes. I need this color in a pint of high-gloss enamel, please. (Hands card to PMG.)
PMG: You can only get a quart.
Me: No. I saw smaller sizes of high-gloss enamel on the shelf.
PMG: This color actually only comes in the latex interior. You can't get the enamel.
Me (getting annoyed): You TOLD ME I could pick from any of these colors on the wall and it would be fine! I made a point of asking you, and you told me I could choose anything. This is the exact color I need. That's why I ASKED YOU BEFORE!
PMG (laughing at my annoyance): It's spotty. You picked an interior color only.
Me: How am I supposed to know that it's an interior color only? You said I could pick anything.
PMG: Pick any Olympic color.
Me: Maybe you should have told me that in the first place and we could have avoided this entire situation.
PMG: (Walks away from me and pretends like I don't exist.)
Me: This is ridiculous. I'm leaving.
And so I left, without spending the $100 I had budgeted for some cute bookcases and random other things. I only got the necessities and got out.
This situation happens to me so frequently that I want to start ripping out eyeballs. Some older man waits on me and thinks I'm clueless just because I'm a girl in a hardware store. It doesn't matter that I've done my research online and read DIY articles that tell me what I need and how I should do something. No way. I'm young and I'm female, so I'm stupid about home improvement.
Well, PMG (wherever you are), you're old, ignorant and you probably have a small penis.
And I'm going to Sherwin-Williams.
So there.
When I go into Lowe's or a similar store, I know what I want. Tonight, I needed bookshelves and a quart (or less) of high-gloss enamel paint in a deep red color that matched my kitchen chairs. Since I needed a high-gloss paint, I was hesitant to just look at all the colors without knowing what brand I needed to constrain my search to (thinking they might only have a high-gloss enamel in, say, Olympic and not Behr). I had the following conversation with Paint Mixer Guy (PMG):
Me: Hi there. I need to buy some high-gloss enamel with a color mixed in. Is there a specific brand I should constrain my color search to, or can I pick anything?
PMG: What are you doing with it?
Me (somewhat confused): Painting a chair to match my other chairs.
PMG: Are they white?
Me (thinking I already covered this): No, they're red.
PMG: So you need to mix in a color?
Me (Is he braindead?): Yes.
PMG: You can pick any color in any brand.
So, I venture to the "American Traditions" paint colors and--lo and behold--I find the correct color right off the bat. After checking a few other colors just to make sure, I take the card and set off to find my mom, so she can double-check my paint card against the paint chips I brought with me. After a "pretty darn close" from her, I go back to PMG.
PMG: You're back.
Me: Yes. I need this color in a pint of high-gloss enamel, please. (Hands card to PMG.)
PMG: You can only get a quart.
Me: No. I saw smaller sizes of high-gloss enamel on the shelf.
PMG: This color actually only comes in the latex interior. You can't get the enamel.
Me (getting annoyed): You TOLD ME I could pick from any of these colors on the wall and it would be fine! I made a point of asking you, and you told me I could choose anything. This is the exact color I need. That's why I ASKED YOU BEFORE!
PMG (laughing at my annoyance): It's spotty. You picked an interior color only.
Me: How am I supposed to know that it's an interior color only? You said I could pick anything.
PMG: Pick any Olympic color.
Me: Maybe you should have told me that in the first place and we could have avoided this entire situation.
PMG: (Walks away from me and pretends like I don't exist.)
Me: This is ridiculous. I'm leaving.
And so I left, without spending the $100 I had budgeted for some cute bookcases and random other things. I only got the necessities and got out.
This situation happens to me so frequently that I want to start ripping out eyeballs. Some older man waits on me and thinks I'm clueless just because I'm a girl in a hardware store. It doesn't matter that I've done my research online and read DIY articles that tell me what I need and how I should do something. No way. I'm young and I'm female, so I'm stupid about home improvement.
Well, PMG (wherever you are), you're old, ignorant and you probably have a small penis.
And I'm going to Sherwin-Williams.
So there.
5 Comments:
You left, then went home and blogged about him having a small penis?
Wow. You really showed him, didn't you?
What's interesting to me is that Lowe's has been attempting to market themselves as a more female-friendly alternative than the Home Depot. Did you go to Lowe's or HD, out of curiousity? Not that it matters greatly--the whole thing still sucks.
And Anonymous? Do shut the fuck up, please, until you're brave enough to put your name by your snarky little comments.
It was Lowe's, Laine. And until Saturday, I'd always had fantastic help there. But at this particular Lowe's, I couldn't find anything I needed AND the help was rude to me.
(And thanks for telling Anonymous off for me!)
Oh Susie.... you missed your chance. I heard a story on NPR the other week that said the home improvent store is a great place to meet people. Apparently some guys go there just to try to get a date. You picked the wrong paint guy. :)
At least you found help. If I go into one of those stores, I usually have trouble finding someone to help me. Home Depot has been worse than Lowes, but typically if I have a question about something, I have to go halfway across the store to find someone who works there and then I'll have to wait a half hour til he's done with the other people waiting for help.
Of course, when it comes to the paint department, those places might have pictures of me, Bill, and Mitch posted as people to run from after our trip to get paint for Gage's room.
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