Shopping in Peace, or Avoid the Droid

[Jon Danniken]

Is it just me, or does anyone else just like to mind their own business when they go to the hardware store to spend money?

I'm doing a tub surround right now, so I go to my local HD to get supplies. By the time I get to the paint department I already have about five people asking me how I'm doing, sticking their nose in my business, and trying to "help" me.

Having shopped at HD for awhile now, I know better than to listen to any "advice" the orange aprons have to say. On the rare situation in which I need to know where something is, I will *ask* for help.

So I'm left relatively unscathed in the paint department, it's nice and quiet, so I had time to shop and pick up a few more things than I had come in for. Tile area is quiet also, bought additional items, thought about grout color, enjoyed my shopping trip.

On my way to electrical, I had no less than three kids telling me I needed help. When I'm in electrical, two more overcaffeinated droids try to engage me, not realizing that I've been buying duplex outlets longer than they have even been alive.

By this point I'm flat out just ignoring them, so after asking me how I'm doing, one of the idiots tells me I must be having a bad day.

What the hell? Why is ignoring an onslaught of undesired contact with strangers evidence of a bad day? When did going to the hardware store turn into me having to babysit a bunch of snot-nosed kids with my personal disposition and the details of my own damn business?

Now, I realize I might be the exception these days, perhaps the majority of their clientele are lonely housewives eager for some touchy-feely social interaction from bored big box employees, but is it too much to ask that a guy be left alone to buy his hardware in peace?

Sheesh!

Jon

[Jon Danniken]

Well I'm doing fine, of course. Relaxing in front of the computer, drinking tea.

Just don't ask me that 12 times by 12 different people in the space of 10 minutes when I'm working on buying things for my project.

Jon

[Jon Danniken]

Oh, I have to do that 12 times when I go into a store to purchase things? I'll put that down on my list: $80.00 of items and face time with 12 complete strangers who are rude enough to get in my face and expect social interaction.

Sorry, but I have better things to do with my day than to spend it with hardware store clerks so I can give them pity time. They need to find something to do that isn't bothering people who are minding their own business.

Jon

[Jon Danniken]

DGDevin wrote:.

Well, you see, that's the difference between you and me. You go into the store to have your hand held and to and enjoy the social interaction between yourself and the clerks. That's great.

I have better things to do. I go to the store to buy things to work with, and I don't need the distraction of dealing with overly aggresive "help".

Jon

[Kurt Ullman]

I used to stop and ask if the stuff had alcohol in it (and it almost invariably did). Then I asked where the nearest hospital was since the medication I was on would cause my blood pressure to skyrocket with any contact with alcohol. I'd then leave the area at a dead run.

[aemeijers]

I solved that problem by not even shopping in stores like that any more. (Only had one or two like that around here anyway, where the main entrance was the cosmetics counter.) Hoity-toity department stores seldom have anything in my size/price range/ style I would be caught dead in anyway.

-- aem sends....

[JoeSpareBedroom]

In 35 years of shopping in all sorts of department stores in Long Island, the 5 boroughs of NYC and Rochester NY, I've **NEVER** had anyone spray me with any sort of fragrance, even if I'd stopped to check them out at the cologne counter. What kinds of towns do some of you inhabit? If this happens to you, you have every right to remove the entire sprayer mechanism from another bottle and dump the entire contents over the employee's head.

[Jon Danniken]

Right, now try getting asked that 12 times in the space of under 10 minutes by 12 different people - including while you are pushing your cart down the aisle - and you start to get the idea of why it was an unpleasant experience for me.

It's damn hard to concentrate on what I am doing, and what parts will work for doing it with, when I am getting continually (and randomly) barraged by over-eager sales "help".

The smart ones will walk by, twiddle with something on the shelf near me for a few seconds, then go away. This lets me know they are there, so if I need help, I can ask them for it. Otherwise, I get to continue shopping unmolested.

Jon

[Kurt Ullman]

It has pretty much disappeared over the last 10 years or so. Probably concerns about liability from spritzing a chemical allergy person. Now they hand out pads and such.

[Jon Danniken]

Thank you, Joe, I appreciate it.

I think the trick is finding a time when there are more customers in the store to distract the "help." Unfortunately, I do most of my business early, when most people aren't.

Maybe I could get a fake cellphone and pretend I am on the phone. Or a fake hearing aid and yell at them.

Jon

[norminn]

clipped

Indiana. I suspect that Long Islanders learned not to touch strangers a while before Hoosiers did :o)