HOMEDEPOTPHOBIA

It’s a dreary Sunday morning in San Diego and Kris and I have a walk-through inspection in an hour for a home we sold that is closing escrow tomorrow. I learned recently that the seller (who has not lived in this home for several months) has apparently lost the remote control garage door opener. Being the sensitive real estate agent that I am and knowing that the buyer may need one of these convenience devices, I decided to go to my local Home Depot store to buy a replacement remote control opener. As I confidently strode through the aisles, I started to feel a bit nauseous. All these macho looking dudes were walking around me with the BIG carts holding huge amounts of lumber, pipes, tools and similar stuff  (not the silly looking grocery-type cart I was pushing for the few small things I needed).

Finally finding a Home Depot person I asked where I might find universal remote control garage door openers and I got this weird look that suggested he was thinking, “Is this all you want? Don’t you know this is Home Depot, where real men don’t ask for something as trivial as a garage door remote? As what seems to be the case for me every time I venture into one of these type stores I am reluctantly escorted to the correct place only to have my helper look at the shelf and say, ” It looks like we are out of the particular remote you need”. I ask, “Isn’t there any other brand that will work?” I think we all know the answer. It seems to be the same result for me with furnace filters, irrigation supplies, etc. Fifty different choices for every item in the store, but the one item I need isn’t there. So, I head back over to the customer service desk and embarassingly have to ask for a gift card to give my clients, instead.

I’m not sure why I have this aversion or phobia with home improvement stores. I can actually perform light maintenance to my home. But after many years of attempting anything more, Kris has banned me from using power tools, not so much for my own protection, but for the protection of my family and our home. 

Anyway, I’m off to my walk-through and just hope that I don’t break anything while I’m there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  Steve Berg is Broker/Owner of San Diego Castles Realty. He is an awesome agent and an all-around great guy. When he is not dazzling clients, he contributes the occasional article here.