Is It Gender?
My Tuesday lunch buddy and I often stop by Home Depot on our way back to the office to buy stuff for his various home projects. He's always fixing things. Ick. I would prefer Lowe's, of course, but there isn't one near work and I think he would veto it anyway. Just to rile me with a Jimmie rejection.
Today's item was an anti-syphon valve. I had no clue and assumed it was for your car's gas tank so people couldn't steal your fuel. That was an incorrect assumption. He told me it was something you put on your outdoor water line so it doesn't back up. He also vaguely described it to me. I heard something like "it's a valve with doohickeys on it".
He had only the vaguest idea of where it would be found. As we moved towards plumbing, an employee asked if we needed any help. He said "No." OK, I would have asked the nice lady where the anti-syphon valves were and saved us some time. When I suggested that might have been a wise idea, he told me, "She doesn't know". Uh huh. She only works at Home Depot so why would I be crazy enough to think she knows where stuff is? My mistake, apparently.
We got to the row that had backyard hoses and fixtures. There was a whole shelf bay with the original cardboard boxes that were cut open and that had shiny bits in them. On the boxes were written things like "something valve". Lots of something valves, in fact. I pointed to the bay and said, "Could they be here?"
Instant rejection, "No." He then headed down the aisle. I turned around to the other side of the aisle and saw big fixtures that had "Anti-Syphon Valve" on their packaging. As he wandered back, I pointed those out to him. "No, that's the full valve and I just need the inside part." (Or something like that.)
He then turned around and looked at the bay that I first pointed out to him and said, "Here they are!" Like he was Columbus discovering the Americas.
I had to say it..."That's what I first showed you!" Instant rejection, again. "No, you pointed to the middle of the aisle and you might as well have been pointing to the whole aisle."
Um, no. I had pointed to the exact shelf bay where he found his valve and that was completely filled with valves and related bits of fittings.
He told me, "I see no reason to keep talking about this." That was the first thing I agreed with. There was no point since he was clearly in the wrong and couldn't admit that I was in the right.
I think it was just too much for him to admit that my female hardware instincts were better than his male ones.
Today's item was an anti-syphon valve. I had no clue and assumed it was for your car's gas tank so people couldn't steal your fuel. That was an incorrect assumption. He told me it was something you put on your outdoor water line so it doesn't back up. He also vaguely described it to me. I heard something like "it's a valve with doohickeys on it".
He had only the vaguest idea of where it would be found. As we moved towards plumbing, an employee asked if we needed any help. He said "No." OK, I would have asked the nice lady where the anti-syphon valves were and saved us some time. When I suggested that might have been a wise idea, he told me, "She doesn't know". Uh huh. She only works at Home Depot so why would I be crazy enough to think she knows where stuff is? My mistake, apparently.
We got to the row that had backyard hoses and fixtures. There was a whole shelf bay with the original cardboard boxes that were cut open and that had shiny bits in them. On the boxes were written things like "something valve". Lots of something valves, in fact. I pointed to the bay and said, "Could they be here?"
Instant rejection, "No." He then headed down the aisle. I turned around to the other side of the aisle and saw big fixtures that had "Anti-Syphon Valve" on their packaging. As he wandered back, I pointed those out to him. "No, that's the full valve and I just need the inside part." (Or something like that.)
He then turned around and looked at the bay that I first pointed out to him and said, "Here they are!" Like he was Columbus discovering the Americas.
I had to say it..."That's what I first showed you!" Instant rejection, again. "No, you pointed to the middle of the aisle and you might as well have been pointing to the whole aisle."
Um, no. I had pointed to the exact shelf bay where he found his valve and that was completely filled with valves and related bits of fittings.
He told me, "I see no reason to keep talking about this." That was the first thing I agreed with. There was no point since he was clearly in the wrong and couldn't admit that I was in the right.
I think it was just too much for him to admit that my female hardware instincts were better than his male ones.
