In my apron pocket...

You know how I've talked about my job requiring me to wear an orange apron?  Well, as I've mentioned, I was hired for the hardware department.  And it's perfect for me.  I think our department is one of the largest in the store.  Seven whole aisles of doorknobs, all of the cool power and hand tools (most that I've never, ever heard of before), 756, 588, 399 different screws and nails.  I have made it a personal goal to learn 4 new tools every day I work.  At that rate, I probably only have to work 22 more years to learn every tool we carry (:

Yeah, it's pretty awesome.  I've certainly learned a lot, but man, as I've told you, I still have a whole lot more to learn.  The other day was a perfect reminder of that, unfortunately.
It was my second day on the job I think and I was assigned one of those cool-looking cell phone looking store phones.  You know, the ones that you can scan with, call on and walkie-talk with anyone else who has one?  Well it started ringing in my apron pocket and when I answered it, the volume must have been turned down pretty low (and I didn't know how to adjust it), because I had difficulty hearing him, but our conversation went something like this:

Man: "Is Paul Maylor there?" (At least, this is what I understood.)
Me: "I don't know Paul, but let me ask if he's here."
Man: "Ok."
<<I put the call on hold.>>

I proceed to ask one of my co-workers who was making keys if he knew who Paul Maylor was.  He didn't, so he told me to have him paged.  I did.

Pretty soon my phone starts buzzing in my apron pocket again, so I answered it again.  Our conversation went something like this:

Me: "Paul never picked up?"
Man: "Who?"
Me: "Paul.  You asked for Paul Maylor, right?"
Man: "Um, no......I asked if you have any Palm Nailers."
Me: (Feeling absolutely STUPID.) "Oh.  Let me check." hahaha

I couldn't ask anyone for help because there wasn't anyone around!  They were all off helping other customers.  So, with the very last ounce of dignity left, I went off in search of a palm nailer that I had no idea what on earth to look for.  After a couple minutes,  I admitted to the customer that a) I had just been hired, and b) I had no idea what I was looking for.

Yes, I know...the shame!

The customer was awesome and told me to look for a tool that resembled a baseball.  (I sure wish I were kidding.)

This is what he I was looking for:

(I included the picture in this post because I'm pretty sure some of you also didn't know what it was, right?)

(via Google)

Well, wouldn't you know it?  I found it!  I could hardly contain my excitement!  I told the customer the price and he graciously went on to tell me the project he was working on, thanked me and told me he would be in the next day to buy it.  I am so thankful he was so nice.  We really have the best customers ever.

So....I guess you've figured out by now that I exceeded my goal that day:  I learned FIVE tools.

xo,