We made a trip into the big city today. The solar exhaust fan we ordered for the boat needs to have a hole 3 3/4 inch in diameter. There is a Harbor Freight in Brownsville, and I just naturally assumed we'd have our choice of 3 3/4" hole saws. I only need it for this one job, so I didn't care if it was made of cardboard, as long as it would last long enough to cut this one hole.
No luck at Harbor Freight. It wasn't far to Lowe's, so we checked there. Nope. Across the Expressway to Sears. I worked at Sears when I was a kid; over the years, I have bought plenty of tools from Sears. In the good ol' days, you went into the tool department at Sears, asked for what you wanted, and a knowledgeable Tool Man would take you right to it. Joan went to look on her own, I went in search of a Tool Man.
There was a young man putting things on a shelf. OK, not the image of the Sears Tool Man I remember, but I asked him, "Could you tell me where I would find a 3 3/4 inch hole saw?"
"A what?"
I could see this was not going to be the "good ol' days" experience at Sears.
"A hole saw... for cutting a hole. You hook it to a drill." I was being patient. Really.
"I have never heard of such a thing. Do you mean a saw on one of those extension thingies?" he asked.
I thought for a minute, then said, "No, not a pole saw - a hole saw. For cutting holes."
He took me to another young guy who also didn't look like a Tool Man... "Um, this guy wants one of those saw things on an extension thingy."
"No, I don't," I said. "I am looking for a hole saw."
"A what?" It's pretty obvious that their lack of training is consistent.
The first guy said, "He wants one of those saw things on a pole."
"NO, I REALLY DON'T WANT THAT. I am looking for a hole saw. It's round; it connects to a drill; you cut HOLES with it."
The second guy said, "I have never heard of such a thing."
Before I could beat them both about the head with a claw hammer, Joan popped her head around the corner and said, "I found the hole saws - they don't have the right size."
No wonder Sears is no longer a player in the retail marketplace.
Off to Home Depot. They have hole saws, closest thing they have is a 3 1/2 inch or a 4 inch. Truly, I thought this was going to be easy to find... I was wrong.
Joan said, "Can you use your Dremmel and just free-hand a cut?"
"I suppose. Especially since we decided to go with the fan through the forward hatch instead of through the cabintop above the head compartment." We gave up our search for a 3 3/4 inch hole saw.
Joan wanted to stop at Target. We pulled into the lot - I generally look for a parking spot away from the door... it makes the truck less of a target for shopping carts and door dings. We walked to a sidewalk straight out from the main entrance door and had to run a zig-zag pattern to get around all the abandoned shopping carts... "Sure glad we parked out a ways," I said.
We did our shopping and headed back to the truck. This is what we saw...
Seriously. You can see that there are few cars anywhere around us. I don't know if it's a "good ol' days" issue or a cultural thing, but most of the cart corrals you see in parking lots in this part of the country are empty, while the parking lot is full of loose carts. It makes me crazy. I always put ours away in the cart corral. I have even made it a point to park near the furthest out cart corral, because I know there won't be a cart anywhere near it!!
As we got ready to pull away, a woman driving with one hand and talking on her phone with the other nearly hit us. "Hang up and drive!!"
From there, it was on to Sam's Club. The parking lot was packed. Joan said, "Maybe we should do this another day?"
"We are one week from Thanksgiving - I won't be coming anywhere near this place for the next month and a half. Let's get what's on your list and head for home." It was a long walk from where I parked to the door... we dodged shopping carts along the way.
As we came in the door, a woman talking on her cell phone had her shopping cart at a diagonal and wasn't moving. "Hang up and drive!"
Everywhere we went in Sam's, people were parking their shopping carts in the middle of aisles, blocking traffic. "This can't be a coincidence," I said. "It must be National Dumbass Day." How did people shop before cell phones? And what ever happened to "keep to the right" as a general traffic flow sorta thing??
Coming out of the store and walking back to our truck, I laughed out loud when a car with three women came close to us... all three women in the car were on cell phones. I dunno, maybe they were talking to each other?
At the exit from the parking lot, the SUV in front of us honked at the car in front of them... yep, on the cell phone and not paying attention.
I like my smart phone. I try to avoid phone calls while driving. Or while pushing a shopping cart. Yeah, I miss the good ol' days.
6 comments:
Jim, As you might expect, I have one and your welcome to borrow it! It was used once and for the same task. The solar fan in the head is wonderful! Roger
I have a cell phone. I leave it on the boat. I don't carry it anywhere unless Pam is someplace else and might need me.
I only use my cell phone for phone calls. No internet, no texting. If I could buy a cell phone with a rotary dial, I would.
Hi Roger - mighty gracious of you. If I can't come up with something locally, I may get with you on it. I'd pay the shipping both ways.
I was considering in the head compartment or over the V-berth, leaning towards the V-berth. Both?
Hi Dave - I like my smart phone, but I am actually able to drive, walk, shop, and even eat without it stuck to my head. ;-) It cracks me up when you see a couple come into a restaurant, they both sit down, and each gets on their phone.
One word Jim...or maybe two. Roto-Zip saw. They can be had with a thingy to cut circles of any diameter. Kinda like a Dremel on steroids... If you don't have one, you need one, my motto.
Charlie
Hi Charlie - my Rotozip died a while back and I never replaced it... this might be a good time, huh?
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