Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Four and a half men

Had to go into a hardware shop today. It wasn’t like a woodies or large chain store, but an independent “building providers”. I’m not manly enough to garner any respect from the men working there. I annoy them. I’m wasting their time. They want to talk to my dad. Not me. I disgust them on many levels. Firstly my appearance. Short. Chubby. Glasses. Balding. Wearing runners. Secondly, my general air of nervousness. I don’t know the etiquette. I have no idea of the rhythm of the building providers. I’m not one for banter. And thirdly, my general ignorance to most things building related. I’m not a complete fool. I did get a c1 in honours building construction for my leaving cert. But then so did the boy who used to snort chalk. (Chalk isn’t some slang term for a drug you don’t know about. It was actual chalk. Crushed up chalk) But I’ve also worked several summers on building sites, its just that I didn’t take the slightest bit of interest in anything that wasn’t my job. That included talking to other people. Anyway today I had to buy a tap. A sink tap. I went into the shop, asked the lady did they sell taps, she yes but that I’d have to go out around to the back store. So I went out the back, missed the store and walked across the yard. I met a man in a yellow jacket (thinking about it now, he was a fellow customer not a member of staff) and asked him “TAPS?” He pointed to the door I had to go in. I went in and there were four men standing around discussing tiles. I walked in, and when they saw me they froze instantly. After a couple of second’s silence one of them said “Ah” (this was the last time one of them spoke to me) I said “have you got any taps?” Man turned to other man and said “have we got any taps?” man said “yes taps came in yesterday” Other man said “I wonder does he need the tap or the fitting” I reached in my pocket and pulled out broken tap. I said “It has stopped catching the fixing when you twist it” Man said to other man “he needs the tap” Man also said to other man “how much is that” Man said “7.50”(to the other man, not to me) We exchanged tap for money and I left. Was upset on the walk back to work so I got a packet of Milky Way magic stars to cheer myself up. Then I put the new tap on and washed everyone’s dishes.