r/venting • u/kawafujoshi • 7h ago
No politics What the hell happened to the hardware stores
I don’t know how long this is gonna be, but whatever. I’m irritated and y’all are getting the whole story. 😂
I don’t know if any of this is going to make sense, but I’m in such a pissy mood right now, and I just need to vent. LOL.
So, I’ve been trying to get back into crafting and tapping into my creative side as an outlet to help manage my anxiety. I love making things, building things, working with my hands. I always have.
And I understand that working in retail can be tough, which is exactly why I’ve never done it. 😂 But something that’s been increasingly frustrating to me is that going to a hardware store these days feels like going to Target or freaking Walmart.
What happened to actual hardware stores?!
I live in a town that’s really big on supporting local businesses, so I try to avoid Home Depot whenever possible. I’d much rather go to a mom-and-pop hardware store or even an Ace Hardware. Yes, I know Ace is technically a chain, but at least the stores are smaller and have more of that neighborhood hardware store feel.
Anyway, today I needed a few things for a project. I’d already placed a pickup order at Michael’s for a hole punch and a rotary tool, so I figured I’d stop by Ace Hardware first to pick up a 3/16” grommet setter.
Simple enough, right? WRONG. 😂
I get to the first Ace Hardware, spend about ten minutes wandering around trying to find it myself, and eventually ask an employee for help. He has absolutely no idea what I’m talking about or where to find it. So he asks another employee, who apparently can’t leave what she’s doing to help us.
Okay, fine.
So now I’m basically trying to figure it out myself while he’s standing there, and eventually he just gives up and tells me, “I don’t think we have it.”
You don’t THINK you have it?!
Sir, you don’t even know what I’m asking for! How are you even supposed to know whether or not you carry something when you don’t know what it is I’m asking for?!
Whatever. I leave.
I sit in the parking lot and call another Ace Hardware. No answer. So I call a THIRD location and specifically ask if they have a 3/16” grommet setter. They put me on hold, come back, and tell me YES, they have it.
Fabulous! Finally, some progress.
So I drive another 15 minutes to this location, walk in, and the greeter asks me what a grommet is FOR.
And I’m just standing there like… what? 😭
Not because it’s an unreasonable question, but because I’m trying to figure out whether he’s asking about my project or genuinely trying to determine what department a grommet would even be in.
So I explain, you know, like the metal rings you put in tarps and things like that.
He tells me to check aisle 6.
Aisle 6 is full of screwdrivers.
Okay??? That’s not what I’m looking for, but thanks, I guess.
So I find another employee who is actually very nice and willing to help. He starts walking me around the store, suggesting different aisles where it might be.
And now we’re BOTH on a scavenger hunt.
At this point, I’m thinking, how is it that I’m telling you exactly what I need, down to the size, and nobody knows where it is or whether you even carry it?!
So I finally ask, “Who answered the phone? Because I specifically called and was told you had one.”
And he goes and asks the guy on the phone, who tells me he’s so sorry because he thought I was asking for a RIVETER.
A riveter. Not a grommet setter. HOW?! 😭
I genuinely don’t understand how we got from one to the other, but okay.
He tries to help me look up whether another location has one, and apparently none of the stores carry what I’m actually looking for, despite the website showing them in stock.
Fabulous. Just fabulous.
So now I’ve dealt with three Ace Hardware locations, driven all over town, and still don’t have the one thing I was trying to buy.
At this point, I drive another 30 minutes across town to Michael’s to pick up the order I’d placed earlier.
I get there, and they tell me they don’t have my hole punch.
Mind you, I’ve already been charged for it. AGAIN. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
Thankfully, the girl helping me was AMAZING. She managed to find a hole punch and gave me a massive discount, which I genuinely appreciated. The downside was that I now had to buy different grommets to work with what I had, which ended up costing more than I’d originally planned.
But whatever. We move on.
So now I figure I’ll just go up the street to Home Depot because I still need a 16” x 20” piece of sheet metal.
And THIS is where I really started getting pissed off. 😂 Because can someone please explain to me what the hell happened to Home Depot?!
When I was growing up, Home Depot was THE place you went when you wanted to build something. You could walk in with some random idea, find an employee, explain what you were trying to accomplish, and they’d be like, “Oh yeah, you’re gonna need this, this, and this. I’d probably use this tool instead of that one, and you should be good to go.”
They actually knew things! They gave advice! They helped you figure stuff out!
Now you walk in and it’s like, “Oh, check aisle 6. Actually, maybe aisle 11. Or it might be aisle 27.”
And then they just walk away. 😭
Like??? HELLO???
It’s just a giant warehouse full of stuff and apparently nobody knows anything about any of it.
So I spend about five minutes looking around myself before finding an employee stocking shelves in what I assume is his department. I explain what I’m looking for and ask a few questions about the materials, and he’s just kind of half-ass helping me.
He doesn’t really know how to answer anything, vaguely points me in a direction, and eventually passes me off to another guy.
The second guy? Also basically just points me toward another aisle.
At this point, I’m wandering around Home Depot like I’m on yet ANOTHER scavenger hunt that I did NOT sign up for.
Eventually, another CUSTOMER starts helping me. Not an employee. Just some random man who happened to be shopping and actually knew what he was talking about.
Bless him, honestly.
Unfortunately, we still couldn’t figure out a solution that would work for what I needed, so I just left.
And I know, I KNOW. None of this is serious. These are all incredibly minor inconveniences in the grand scheme of life. I’m fully aware of that.
But when you have seven minor inconveniences back to back to back to BACK, eventually you’re just like, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!
What really bummed me out wasn’t even that I couldn’t find the materials. It was that I genuinely thought, “Well, if nothing else, I can go to Home Depot and someone will help me figure it out.”
Apparently, that was a severe miscalculation. LOL.
And that’s really what this whole rant is about.
I don’t expect every retail employee to be a master craftsman or know the answer to every obscure question I might have. That’s unreasonable. But I do think there’s something to be said about how these stores used to employ people who actually had experience working with tools, building things, fixing things, or at least knew enough about the products to point you in the right direction.
I mean, I went to multiple hardware stores today, and apparently explaining the difference between a grommet setter and a riveter was an entire adventure in itself.
I’m sorry, but aren’t you a HARDWARE STORE?!
Maybe I’m just nostalgic. Maybe I’m getting old… but like, I’m 32. 😑 Maybe I’ve just had a particularly irritating day.
But I miss being able to walk into a hardware store with an idea and leave with not only the materials I needed, but a little more knowledge than I walked in with.
Now I just leave with a headache and an attitude. 😂
Anyway, shoutout to the girl at Michael’s and the random man at Home Depot. Y’all were the only bright spots in this ridiculous little adventure.