This country is doomed.
Yeah, OK, the left handed hammer thing is a joke as we all know.
The thing is, watch them search their damn phones trying to find ANY hammer.
Here’s a tip for you little dumbasses.
Take a few minutes EVERY DAY and just walk around the damn store looking to see where stuff is.
YOU SHOULDN’T NEED A DAMN PHONE TO BE ABLE TO FIND THE THINGS AT THE STORE YOU WORK AT.
Case in point.
Several years ago now I went into an ACE Hardware store looking for some obscure item.
There was a very cute young lady working in there and I asked her if she knew if they had any.
She didn’t even blink an eye, gave me the aisle number and told me where it was on that aisle.
After I found that item I remembered there was something else I needed so I found her again and asked her.
Same thing.
Aisle number AND DRAWER NUMBER.
Right off the top of her head with no hesitation.
If I had to guess, I wouldn’t have put her past 21 years of age, if that.
That young lady had her shit together and by now I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if I went back and found her running the place.
This was just before The Kung Flu hit town so what happened to our kids in that space of time?
Wish I had worked there when you came in. I could have told you we were right out of those left handed hammers.
“We aren’t gonna make it, are we? People, I mean.”
Isn’t shop class required anymore?
Sent the new guy out for a “50# box of toenails” once. He went to every lumberyard in town and came back after 5 hours empty handed, which was fine with us because he was dumber than a block o’ wood. Bossman was madder than hell when he found out.
Then there is the gallon of polka dot paint, right handed monkey wrench, and don’t forget to change the air in the tires when you rotate them so they will turn correctly. A friend dutifully went looking for the tools for an hour. When asked, he smiled and said “I got out of class for an hour and a half and now the teacher feels sorry for me. win win”
Cute video and I get the joke, having been sent for a bucket of steam, to look for the mail buoy and other pranks in the Navy. I do agree that they should have been familiar enough with tools not to fall for it. But really, how many of us were immune in our teens and early 20s? (Unless we worked construction or the like)
I’ll bet that if he asked for a hammer, they would have taken, not shown, but taken him to the hammer display.
Those probably aren’t phones, either, but mini-tablets that all HoDe employees carry specifically to find if something is in stock, what store has it if they don’t, and not just “The tool aisle” but Aisle 27, Bin A3. That gets you within 6 inches or so of what you are looking for.
I went looking for some “Chicago Nuts”, which is what I learned to call them but they go by different names. Guy had no idea what a Chicago Nut was but was still able to find it in 30 seconds on the tablet.
I always have good experience with HoDe except I spend too damn much money. I go in for a 75 cent Chicago Nut and come out with $50 worth of stuff I might need in the future or have no use for but looked cool.
Everyone knows they’re right next to the screwdrivers?
They’re left next to the screwdrivers.
WORK with me here!!
Heh
I also applaud these kids for having a job instead of sitting home playing video games.
I would hope that the next time someone comes in asking for wierd tool that they can’t find in the system “They say ‘We don’t carry that. But let me show you our tool bin. Perhaps you will find something that works for you.'”
And for all you smart asses here, what would you do if I came in and asked for a flexible sledge hammer?
That really is a thing. Regular sledge head but the handle is flexible, bendy, rubber. After mocking me “Did you just get off the pickle boat?” you would cutely blush when I show you a picture.
https://youtu.be/V5uZRQuYLCw?si=BtH_rMH_I42F-rrP
We need to be learning every day. Nobody knows everything. Even the crusty old SOB that runs this wonderful site has to ask for help in identifying a tool from time to time.
I have to agree that at least they are working.
I also blame management.
My first job was in reatil (of course) and the Owner & manager, both walked me through the whole shop to and ensured I knew where every item was, what it did and didn’t do, and what we had to substitute what the customer wanted but we didn’t have.
Can’t even get that anymore in a grocery store these days, much less a mega store with a billion items.
They’re left next to the screwdrivers.
WORK with me here!!
C’mon guys, most of us that hang around there have been using tools since age 4 or so.
When visiting Ace hardware I usually go to the exact place that has what I want, don’t even bother asking anyone under age 50 when there is (rarely) something specific where I don’t want to waste time searching (and which they might or might not stock).
Sadly all the big box and hardware operations nowadays list every item they “sell” online, only you quickly realize the small asterisk means they will order it for you, not actually physically in every store.
Regarding Ace Hardwares, it’s actually a requirement for employees to learn where stuff is. It’s one of the big drawing points, right next to being able to buy individual fasteners, that keeps them afloat surrounded by the big box stores and Tractor Supply.
In the Navy, folks were always looking for prop wash, or flight line.
Initiative,, they lack initiative. I’d walk the aisles on break when I was a sacker, so if a checker needed a price check or customer asked for help finding something, I was able. They probably all have a fancy nook for all of their participation trophies.
Worked in the telecom industry.
We’d send the know-it-all newbie to get a 5 gallon bucket of dial tone.
Made for fun times…
There is a place not too far from me called House Handle Company and they have finely crafted wood handles for almost any tool that requires one. Needed a replacement handle for a field frowe, about 5 feet long and double tapered. Took the head in with me and the guy says “Wow, I haven’t seen one of those in years.” He disappears into the back and comes out with a new handle. No electronic gadget needed.
+1 on Ace/ True Value, Louse and Home Despot suck around here.
I’m a southpaw and I hate to burst your bubble Bubba … yes, there is such a thing as a left-handed hammer. Got mine beside me on my sofa (on my Left side!). Made by Rigid, it’s an 18 ounce hammer and there are some for sale online, too. Pricey, though! I’ve had mine so long, I don’t remember what I paid for it, but I do remember that I bought at, you guessed it, Home Depot!
Big Al in AZ
https://tinyurl.com/2bodd2ct
Back when I was a toolmaker I had a big ball peen hammer I used every day. I ground flats on the sides of the hammer to make it a little more comfortable for my grip. My left-handed boss tried to use it and sure enough it was pointing about 10 degrees the wrong way. I invented the right handed hammer.
ask them for metric crescent wrench
Not a problem, they’re stocked next to the SAE Crescent Wrenches.
(I calls ’em Universal Strippers)
Meh. It’s a function of time at the job. I worked a summer at a warehouse many years ago, and my job was to go and find stuff. The first month I was there, I basically drove a forklift around aimlessly (this was back when high school kids were allowed to drive forklifts). By the end of the summer, people were coming to me to find out where things were.
A couple of things….White mid-20’s with a job. Clean floors.
Here at my big box stores…..hispanic or other non-english speaking countries 40-50 year olds. Trashed out store.
After college my daughter worked at Ace hardware for a couple of years until she could get a job in her field. Ace required her to learn where and what everything is which she learned in a couple of months. Many times she would come home and ask me what something was and where it was located. Granted she was raised around tools and equipment. Even now she still knows where most things are in the hardware store.
40 years ago my Dad’s hobby was rebuilding VW Bugs. He had to get those new fangled metric wrenches and sockets. My Mom asked Dad what he wanted for Christmas, he told her he needed a metric screwdriver set.
She started at Home Depot, they told her they had just sold their last set and sent her to Lowe’s. After 3 more stores someone finally let her in on the joke.
She was mad for 3 months, Dad enjoyed telling every that story for decades.
The good news is that today Mom would know better, but the joke will work on the Hardware store employees (Paid idiots).
MSG Grumpy
Hate to bust your bubble, but there ARE “metric” Phillips screwdrivers. They have a different angle ground into the tips.
How do I know? Working on computers and other related hardware. You can get by without ’em, but the metric-ground ones work better because the screwdriver fits the (metric) screws better, doesn’t strip ’em.
Hard to find, though.
Last year I bought a 12ft 4×4 and I asked the kid in the lumber department to cut it in half.
“Is that a 12 footer?”
“yes”
“So 6 foot pieces?”
“No, cut in half”
“”that would be half”
“Measure it”
12′ 2″……..
I was President of our local Little League. One day while working in our concession stand, a high school senior ordered a hot dog and a Coke. When I told her how much it was, she handed me a bunch of money and asked if it was enough. Had a feeling right there how well our education system works.
Way back in the day(before rampant inflation) it was either a nickel’s worth of knotholes or a boardstretcher.
Use an angle stretcher instead, sky hooks to hold it up
I can see being fooled by the joke, but how do you work there and not know where the tool section is?
In ’22 I worked at Home Depot as a sub-contractor assembling BBQs, garden furniture and snowblowers. Most of the young “associates” are part-timers who work 2 or 3 days a week and they stay in a specific section, Plumbing, Electrical, Tools, Appliances etc. Every employee has a mini tablet assigned to them to locate anything in the store so they don’t tell the customer “that’s not my department”.
Regarding the clueless employees, I doubt they’ve ever swung a hammer of any kind.
Left handed slate hammer $124
https://www.bigrocksupply.com/store/p/7078-Left-Hand-Slate-Hammer.aspx
Left handed crosspein hammer
https://hammersource.com/big-blu-2-6-lb-left-hand-diagonal-hand-forged-cross-pein-hammer-with-wood-handle/
I found several articles mentioning tools, including claw hammers, for lefties. Didn’t say where to buy them.
They also mentioned left handed tape measures and calipers. Never thought of it but can see how they would be handy.
I used to have a left handed tape measure. It was a Stanley.
All mine are left handed even though I’m right handed
Getting sent off for a bucket of steam was a good way to skate for an hour or two. Grab a bucket and just go wander off for a while.
Chief finds you on the mess deck drinking coffee? “jeez chief, Malone sent me to get a bucket of steam. Some guy told me to wait here and he’d fetch it for me”
Carry a bucket in one hand and a wrench in the other, looking purposeful and you can fuck off for quite a while before anyone notices you aren’t doing anything
Ex Machinist Mate
I was so looking forward to swinging a hammer on the latest build.
Not much these days.
Nail guns & screws.
Fatherless society.
My dad has a right-handed hammet. I think he paid $25 for it in the late 1950s. I know that it put on 5 roofs, built two complete houses, and the last time I saw it still looked and felt like new.
What’s a hammet?
I got to where I knew where everything was in the local Lowes store. Had the layout memorized, knew it better than any employee. Then the bastards rearranged the store. Dammit. Couldn’t find anything.
Case of spots for the spot welder is another item to send the probie out for.
Back before the whole chain got supersized, the Lowes store over by Lewes, Delaware was a great store. They not only knew where stuff was, they’d walk ya down to the location in the store.