Now there’s a tagline that is accurate. Ace is the helpful place. So helpful, that I’m not sure when I’ll return to Home Depot or Lowes again, even though I love them both.
The Backstory (Setup)
My wife and I recently moved to Salt Lake City, Utah (aka, “the 801″). We bought a pretty cool house (see view from front porch). However, with any “new” house, there are inevitably issues. My ongoing problem is an electrical one. Now if you know me, you are aware that I was raised by a father whose answer to home improvement skills meant picking up the phone and dialing in help. The only time I remember my dad fixing something, he nailed himself (his pants) to the roof. True story.
However, my father-in-law (K-Dawg’s dad) is on the other end of the extreme. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice to say that he built his own house, his own pit to change oil, and his own airplane. I can’t make this stuff up. That being said, there was a little bit of pressure when I first started dating Kristina to buy some “real” tools and fix some crap. So I started dabbling. I ended working on a few projects in our last house in Durham, NC. Projects from Arbors to hardwood floors to irrigation systems (see pics). Everything took 7x as long and cost 3x as much as it should have. I failed quite a bit, but of course with failure comes true learning (<–hmm – that’s another blog post idea).
Why Is Ace Hardware So Helpful?
I walked into my local (independently-owned) Ace store last week. I was greeted by 3 employees. I’m not talking about “paid greeters” ala Wal-Mart. I’m just referring to 3 employees who all said “hello” and all asked – in different ways – if they could be of assistance. I agreed to help from “Dave” (crap – can’t remember his name; therefore he is now Dave). Dave informed me that he is also a high school teacher. He teaches shop. Aside: I’m not sure if he really called it shop. I bet it has some fancy name now that it is 2009, but I think of it as shop still. Does that make me old? Anyway, Dave hooked me up with the tools (see below) that I needed to get power back to my bedroom outlets.
I’m not sure there could have been a nicer, more helpful (see Ace tagline above) person than Dave. He loaned me the tools I needed to diagnose the problem, trusting that I’d return them. He spent as much time with me as I needed to be sure I knew how to fix the wiring and ensure that I didn’t electrocute myself. I’m hoping to go back to Ace later this week to get some iPhone video footage of Dave. I’m not talking “Tan Man” video, just a bit of “Who Is Dave” coverage.
The Tools, The Results – Good News/Bad News
Below are pictures of the tools I used. The one on the left I call “The Thingamajiggy.” It basically told me that I wasn’t getting juice to one of the circuits (I think). The one on right is the dead breaker…at least I think it is the breaker. Either way, Dave hooked me up.
- Good news: I used the Thingamajiggy to find the problem. I replaced the breaker. Half of the outlets are now working.
- Bad news: Half of the outlets are still not working.
- Good/bad news: I need to make another trip back to Ace.
I love you Ace Hardware. I love you Dave. Keep on keeping it real.
DJ Waldow
@djwaldow
