[Shop-talk] [OT] Unbelievable

Bob Spidell bspidell at comcast.net
Tue May 4 08:26:41 MDT 2021 

Side note: The 'goto' for leaky steering boxes in the Austin-Healey 
universe is John Deere 'Cornhead Grease;' available at many places 
online (and probably equivalent to spindle grease). A friend sent me a 
couple tubes, but I haven't tried it yet; getting it in the box is the 
hard part.

On 5/4/2021 6:07 AM, Jim Stone wrote:
> Sadly, my experience has been that big (and too often, not-so-big) box 
> employees are either inadequately trained or simply lack the 
> motivation to put any work into looking for something that is not 
> readily obvious.  I went into a Tractor Supply store last week to buy 
> Cotton Picker Spindle Grease 00, which I am sure is not a frequently 
> purchased item.  (FWIW, I want to see if it is a good lubricant to use 
> in my Alpine’s steering gear, since traditional gear oil often leaks 
> out and regular grease is often too thick.). Their website showed the 
> store carried it, but the kid who helped me looked through the motor 
> oil section and said they didn’t have it.  I suggested that it might 
> be somewhere else, but he was adamant that it would be with the auto 
> oils and additives.  I eventually found another employee willing to 
> look harder and they had about a dozen bottles in a completely 
> different section just a few rows away.
>
> This has happened to me more times than I wish to count, and I now 
> rarely accept the first “we don’t have it” response and often just 
> find it on my own.
>
> Jim
>
> p.s.  Writing the above reminds me of an experience more than 30 years 
> ago.  We had just moved into a new home and needed smoke detectors.  I 
> did some research on them and discovered that there were then two 
> types, photoelectric and ionization.  I don’t remember which type I 
> decided to get, but went to a local big box store (the national 
> chains hadn’t taken over yet) and was studying their detector display. 
>  A young girl came over and asked if I needed any help.
>
>     “Yes I do.  Can you tell me which ones are photoelectric and which
>     are ionization?”
>     “Oh no, sir.  They all run on batteries."
>
>
>> On May 4, 2021, at 7:54 AM, Pat Horne <patintexas at icloud.com 
>> <mailto:patintexas at icloud.com>> wrote:
>>
>> I’ve gotten to the point where I call the big box stores & have them 
>> actually lay eyes on what I am looking for if the quantity is shown 
>> to be less than 20. If they confirm that they have it I then place an 
>> on line order & pick it up in a few hours. It saves a bunch of time.
>>
>> Peace,
>> Pat
>>
>> Pat Horne
>> We support Habitat for Humanity
>>
>>
>> On May 4, 2021, at 12:25 AM, Brian Kemp <bk13 at earthlink.net 
>> <mailto:bk13 at earthlink.net>> wrote:
>>
>>  I agree that it is unbelievable how bad some of the home centers 
>> can be.  Needed a vacuum cleaner belt fast.  Not in stock anywhere 
>> other than HD per the websites.  The nearest HD said there were five 
>> in stock.  Couldn't find any.  Next one said there were three in 
>> stock - none there.  Drove to a third one with seven listed in stock 
>> and still none available.  The employee at the last location said 
>> they are frequently shoplifted.  At each store I asked for help 
>> finding the belt and each employee said there were none in the 
>> store.  The sad thing is that a week later, the websites still had 
>> the same inventory numbers listed.  You would think there would be a 
>> process to correct inventory.  I'm in the Los Angeles area and have a 
>> number of stores to pick from and they are managed very differently.  
>> I have not gone to the one nearest to my office in about five years 
>> because it is so poorly managed and the items like the plumbing and 
>> electrical fittings are all messed up.
>>
>> My last adventure was a replacement battery for my wife's key 
>> locator.  Went to Lowes because they had 47 listed on their website.  
>> Had an employee help me and checked all the battery storage areas and 
>> we couldn't find any.  A month later, the website still said 47 and 
>> the hook for that size remained empty.
>>
>> I used to live near a nice True Value hardware store.  Much smaller, 
>> but organized better and there was always an employee willing to help 
>> me.  The prices are a little higher, but the convenience and service 
>> are worth it.  Sadly the landlord ended their lease to put in a 
>> restaurant that closed a year later (before the pandemic)
>>
>> Brian
>>
>> On 5/3/2021 9:01 PM, Bob Spidell wrote:
>>> Pardon me, I just gotta vent. Not being able to find these plumbing 
>>> pieces at HD and Lowe's--even though their websites said they had 
>>> bunches in stock--and at a plumbing supply, I finally broke down and 
>>> ordered from Lowe's (2"<->2" elbow, external thread to slip joint, 
>>> and a 1.5" plug, for a different application). So, after FedEx 
>>> apparently lost, then found, the shipment they showed up today. One 
>>> problem: the jackass that packed them jammed the 1.5" plug into the 
>>> threaded end of the elbow so hard it may be impossible to remove it 
>>> without breaking the elbow. I'll get it in a vice when I get to my 
>>> shop tomorrow, but there's no guarantee of successful extraction.
>>>
>>> I get it; working the line at a warehouse is a shit job, but someone 
>>> went out of their way to do this. I usually apply Hanlon's 
>>> Razor--"Don't attribute to malice that which can be explained by 
>>> incompetence"--but the plug is jammed in the elbow so hard someone 
>>> really had to work at it. I hope it felt good.
>>>
>>> Vent mode off.
>>>
>>> Bob
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>>
>>> Shop-talk at autox.team.net
>>> Donate:http://www.team.net/donate.html
>>> Suggested annual donation  $12.96
>>> Archive:http://www.team.net/pipermail/shop-talk  http://autox.team.net/archive
>>>
>>> Unsubscribe/Manage:http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/shop-talk/bk13@earthlink.net
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Shop-talk at autox.team.net <mailto:Shop-talk at autox.team.net>
>> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html <http://www.team.net/donate.html>
>> Suggested annual donation  $12.96
>> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/shop-talk 
>> <http://www.team.net/pipermail/shop-talk> 
>> http://autox.team.net/archive <http://autox.team.net/archive>
>>
>> Unsubscribe/Manage: 
>> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/shop-talk/patintexas@icloud.com 
>> <http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/shop-talk/patintexas@icloud.com>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Shop-talk at autox.team.net <mailto:Shop-talk at autox.team.net>
>> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
>> Suggested annual donation  $12.96
>> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/shop-talk 
>> http://autox.team.net/archive
>>
>> Unsubscribe/Manage: 
>> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/shop-talk/1789alpine@gmail.com
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Shop-talk at autox.team.net
> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Suggested annual donation  $12.96
> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/shop-talk http://autox.team.net/archive
>
> Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/shop-talk/bspidell@comcast.net
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/shop-talk/attachments/20210504/ae5ff1a7/attachment.htm>

More information about the Shop-talk mailing list