So, we headed down to the local Orchard Supply Hardware store the other day to buy some steel aircraft grade cable. When we were there, I see a group of guys that look like they might be from the other local robotics team. So, my friend (tenfour on these boards) goes up to them and says "are you guys workng on some sort of project?" and they say "yeah, we're lifting his Jeep" we're like "oh" and they are all like "that was odd"
And then, this store is really strange for selling one of everything REALLY BIG. But they only stock one. They have ONE 10" 45 degree threaded pipe elbow that is like $99. They have ONE giant pipe wrench that is like 7 feet long. They have ONE giant level, that is like 10 or 12 feet long. They have ONE giant ratchet that is like a 2" drive. And to match they have ONE like 6" socket. Then they have ONE giant adjustable wrench that looks like it would be used for tightening the nuts that hold a big traffic light to the sidewalk.
And last, they have ONE giant turnbuckle. This thing is 5 feet long and is all cast, galvanized steel and weighs like 50 lbs. It costs $150. They have only sold it once in the store. A few months ago we asked one of the employees is they ever sold it and he said he thought he remembered a time a few years ago when some guy bought it. He couldn't remember what for. So the day we asked him, we marked it on the back with just a touch of sharpie and just the other day (months later) the mark is still there so it is the same one.
I thought I'd just go buy this thing one day to see what the cashier says. I bet the moment I walk out the door with a completed sale all the employees will throw a big party celebraing the sale of the giant turnbuckle.
And then I'll just take it back two days later and say I bought the wrong size and exchange it for a 5 inch one that costs $2.99. They will be so sad when I return it.
I don't know if I'll ever do this but it shure would be funny.
So back to that steel aircraft cable. We calculated how much we wanted to buy and then started pulling it off the spool. The cable got stuck and the spool goes tumbling on to the floor and rolling down the isle almost hitting this guy. Then we unreel it okay but have no way to measure it. So, we notice that the floor tiles in the store are 12" tiles with very minimal space between. So we lay out a line on the floor for as long as we were going to get. Then all these customers start coming over. This one lady comes and steps on it. My friend is yanking on the cable trying to pull it out from under this lady's feet and she won't move. (I'm cracking up as I'm writing this BTW) So my friend pulls harder. She still doesn't even notice. Finally we had to just drop the spool and leave the isle. After we laughed it all out we went back to the cable and she was still standing in the exact same spot, on top of our cable. My friend finally stops laughing enough to tell the lady "excuse me, we were just trying to get some cable here" and then she says "oh, oh, I'm really sorry. I didn't even realize"
So, we've got our cable but have nothing to cut it with. We find the machine for cutting chain and cable and it says to ask for assistance before operating. So, we go to look for some. There isn't any but there are like 5 other customers waiting for some employee to come back to the hardware department.
Then, we decide we'll cut it ourselves. We find an instruction card and there's like 8 steps for cutting the stupid cable. We can't understand the instructions so we look at the machine and find that all you have to do is stick it in there and pull the lever. So, we cut our cable. But there's no way to ring it up. We need a bar code or something. My friend goes and finds the pad of little tags the employees use to write down the linear items (like cable). So, he does it himself. We fill in the price, the feet, and the skew number on the tag. We are all set. Then we see on the bottom of the tag a place for department number, and employee name. So, my friend just writes his own name and scribbles in the department number line. When we go to put the tags bakc the employee finally comes and walks up to US and says "are you the lady requiring assistance in hardware?" We say no because that was the lady standing on our cable, not us. Anyway, going to put the tags back another employee sees them and gives us a look that seemed like he could say like "where did they find those? I'd been looking for them all morning"
Anyway, we go to ring it up and my friend asks the cashier if she knows the load rating on the cable. She says, "your asking me? I don't even know what this is." She didn't question the ticket and we got our cable.
All in all it was a really fun day at the hardware store.
Please share your similar experiences.