I've been spending a bit of time in hardware stores lately.

Which is great because most let you bring your dog along, and when it's raining you can basically walk the dog for half an hour indoors.

Anyway, last week I was in the shop looking for a sealer for a limestone tile.

Now, I have no idea about sealers and don’t know much about limestone tiles either.

But this is why you go to Bunnings or to Mitre 10, right? There's be someone there who knows about this stuff.

Well, fifteen minutes spent trying to track somebody down in a red t-shirt and overalls, and they had no idea.

One young person suggested I use AI to find the product. Which is I did. And then they didn't know where the product lived in their store.

Here we are, now 20 minutes in.

So, I did what any reasonable person would do. I began discriminating against the staff – based on their age.

Where have the wise older folks gone from hardware stores?

Usually, you'll find some bloke, grey-haired, long-in-the tooth, gruff sort of disproportion, in the paint section or the part where they keep the power tools.

They know their way around a screwdriver. Used to be a carpenter. Retired for an inside job. You know the sort.

Same goes with the excellent plant ladies.

I'm not saying young people don't know what they're doing, but if you've been round the block a few times, you're more likely to know a thing or two.

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