how incompetent is your hardware store?

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

how incompetant is your hardware store?

If you're going to call someone incompetent, it'd do you more credit if you proved your own competence by spelling it correctly

[clide]

I've never asked the people at Home Depot/Lowes anything because I know they are incompetent. We have a few guys at Ace that are decent, but I still never ask them anything because I find that browsing through the store is much more informative.

The first and last time I went into a local plumbing store, I asked if they had 2" SCH80 and the guy told me that SCH80 didn't exist above 3/4"

[Hubb]

My hardware store is okay (I used to work there). They have a lot of fittings and unique items that the local Home Depot doesn't know exists. The older guys that worked there when I did know that I know what I want so they don't bother me. But those part timers sure like to bother you, even when you tell them you know what you came for (can't say much, I used to do the same when I worked there).

I think they realize I know what I'm doing and kind of follow me around so they can learn stuff, especially when I tell them I am building a launcher.

[Orpackrat]

Mine is just fine, every time I walk it they know I'm working on some kind of project. They ask if I need help with anything (most of the time I don't) and do anything they can to help. If I cannont find a part, they will spend as much time as needed to help find a place that has it or how the best make the part as cheap as possible. They are always interested in what I'm building.

[The Kid]

i am banned from one of the two hardware stores in my town. So one day i went down there to by so 20mm pipe and fittings and when went with the counter with the fitting and asked for a meter pvc pipe they said they would not sell it to me when i asked why the said i thought i was going to make a pipe bomb. When i replied that i wasn't he said he still wasn't going to sell it to me no matter what your making i told the guy to go fuck him self, it sort of got out of hand from there next thing i know the manger is standing right in front of me he tells me to leave and never come back i replied " ok see ya later dip shit" and left the store but not before i punched the coke machine on the way out. I do all my shopping at another hardware store and get all my pipe from point plumbing supplies(the shop owner makes spud guns too) both are better than that other store full of cock sniffs.

The End

[Redcoat]

Cock Sniffs.....Awesome Word. Do you mind if I can use it in my everyday language?

[The Kid]

yeah go for it, i feel good knowing i've made a difference

[VH_man]

At my lowes there are dudes who actually know what they are talking about AND still do so knowing im building a potato cannon. my lowes is awsome. hands down..........

[Modderxtrordanare]

Once I turn 18 in 6 months or so I'm applying at my local Lowes to make them less incompetent.
(Double negative, I know)

[spudgunnerwryyyyy]

I have the best store with 2 old guys and I give them so much business they trust me. I have not told them what I do with what I buy there. lol

[The Kid]

yeah i have two other stores in town i love point plubing suplies ands all the pipe fittings valves ect. you could ever need and is never out of stock.

[williamfeldmann]

I have the extremely good luck of having a Home Depot, a Lowes, a Menards, and a Plumb Supply all nearby.

So far, I have found that I know more than the HD guys, and have educated them on the differences between pw and dwv (the one guy didn't even realize that the letter were on every part). I have also had a hell of time with them being stocked with things like gauges and whatnot.

The Lowes guys are relatively smart and I like their system of stocking, however, when they are out of fittings it takes FOREVER to get a new box in. I also like how they have air hose by the foot.

Menards is my shop of choice though for most anything simple. They have way more brass fittings than either of the other two, and they are the only local supplier of sprinkler valves. However, the people in there also don't know squat about the differences in pipe and can't answer simple questions.

Then there is Plumb Supply. They can get me almost any special pipe (sdr, 2.5" + PW, fittings) in under 24 hours for less than McMaster + shipping. The only problem is they are wholesale only, so I got to know the manager of the store and got myself an account so I can order pipe. However, the one guy has handed me a box of DWV tees before when the order and I specifically said PW. I avoid him now.

If not for this forum and the WIKI, I would probably be dead by now based on some of the idiotic things I have heard from the guys working in the big box stores. I wonder if they just can't afford to pay experienced plumbers to work in the stores. I know lowes has a hell of a time paying experienced electricians.

[veginator]

i am banned from one of the two hardware stores in my town. So one day i went down there to by so 20mm pipe and fittings and when went with the counter with the fitting and asked for a meter pvc pipe they said they would not sell it to me when i asked why the said i thought i was going to make a pipe bomb.

I had no problem with people thinking I was making a bomb in fact it was the other way around the minute I walk into the pvc isle since they were following me like a hawk they were like are you making a potato gun and then when I went to buy my fittings even the other customers knew what I was building. The funny thing is they thought differerently when they saw a ball valve in the basket I was using to carry my stuff. I bet they all felt really stupid after that.

[benstern]

Hardware store employees and owners too have no need for a decent level of intelligence, nor any knowledge of what they are selling and what it is used for.

[c19o]

I got a small Do It Best hardware store near me and there always interested in what I'm building next. Lol the guy who owns the plumbing supply store near me knew exactly what i was making when I bought some 4" fittings and pipe. He even said he made a combustion launch with 8" pipe before.

The only incompentent hardware store I know of are the ones in the Philippines. You can get anything for yourself, you gotta ask and then they cant understand you. Thats what turns me off in hardware stores, not being able to get the parts yourself.