Aisle 3 - Walk of Shame

Sunday brought us to the Home Depot for a new set of stairs for the attic door.  Of course, Joe brought his measurements along with to ensure we purchased the proper stair set.

We stood there for some time, debating whether to get the 22" or the 25" width, Joe's measurement was around 24.73259--or something just as ridiculous.  We discussed, we debated, we talked about how he measured and his confidence in those measurements.  We tried to remember how wide the set of stairs we have are and if these looked like ours.  Of course, Joe balked at my suggestion to ask for help--why would we do that?

With much hesitation and disagreement, Joe put his foot down and bought the 22" set. And we loaded that beast onto a cart to drive it out of the showroom.

As for a typical trip to the home improvement store, I made the suggestion that we peruse the door aisle, the bathroom vanity section, and .......--you know, how those places go.  One thing leads to another and that's when Joe got all snippy and crabby-like.  I wrapped it all up pretty quick by giving him the "look" and lecturing him about getting all snippy and crabby-like.  He even got a whispered "Oh, boy. You are in trouble now" from an older woman who witnessed the scene.

When we finally worked our way to the cash register, we were still debating the size of those stairs.  I said to the cashier "We'll be back in a few minutes to return the damn thing" and she laughed. Joe was not laughing. He was still snippy and all crabby-like.

Of course, you know where this is going.

We got home and Joe hopped out of the car and grabbed his measuring tape.  We both verified the rough opening and silently loaded back into the car. The purchased set of stairs never even made it out of the van and we headed back to the store.

"Uh, you can stay in the car, Lin," he says.  "Yeah/no. I'm going in." I said in return.

We no sooner walked in the door and our cashier busted out laughing. Really. It was an "out loud" laugh--you know, like you imagine me doing. And she wasn't even polite or anything, it was hilarious.  Joe just smiled and said "I know. It's the Walk of Shame."

I just walked behind him, smiling.

And it didn't end there--poor guy got guff from the women at the return counter as well--all egged on by me, of course. Joe was a good sport, encouraged me to push that heavy cart back to the farthest corner of the store for my "victory lap" and we both had a good laugh with the employees of Home Depot.  I'm sure they see it all the time.

Yes, he's got help to install it.  And it's not me--we'd kill each other.