We went to Carpets Plus ColorTILE in Oneonta because I was referred to them by the Valinge company…read morewhich makes Woodura. That product was out of our budget, but we welcomed the opportunity to spend our money at a smaller business instead of Home Depot or online discounter. We were told to ask for Steve specifically, and he seemed to be the owner or manager. We went in to talk with him on Friday, and he was very eager to help us find something that would work for our entire home (new construction). I asked about engineered bamboo first (after the Woodura), but he told me it wasn't really "green" because of the glues. I replied that it was GreenGuard certified, and we didn't want vinyl because of the off-gassing. "Vinyl doesn't off-gas," he said, which is just a lie. Or maybe it's ignorance, I don't know. Anyway, I said NO, and that we were looking for something not petroleum-based.
He shifted gears and started bringing out engineered woods, then some pressed-paper laminate (which, again, we did not want, just didn't look durable). Steve asked me about colors and materials, and our budget. I told him a figure actually more than we would spend at one of the big stores, but like I said, it's important to us that we support more local and family-owned businesses. We're trying to be good Americans, you know? It's hard making a living. He made some calls, trying to contact some distributors about specials he gets.
Anyway, my spouse had an unexpected phone call come in, so while he stepped away, I tried talking baseball with Steve. He was wearing a Yankees shirt, but I asked if he'd seen Ohtani's big 50-50 game. "I hate him. I don't watch him." I asked why, but mostly the reply was that Steve just hated him. I took a guess and asked if it was because Ohtani was from another country. "No, I'm not a racist!" I clarified that I didn't mean because of race, because there are people of different races in THIS country, just that Ohtani is not from the U.S. "You know the have to send a big chunk of the money they make here back to Japan!" Well, yeah, but we have to pay income taxes, too, or we're supposed to, anyway. Finally, I said, "You gotta admit, the man has talent."
Steve said, rather angrily, that Ohtani should have been thrown out of baseball for gambling. (FYI, Ohtani was cleared by multiple investigations; the money was stolen from him by his close associate & translator. Some of the evidence was phone calls to the bank, recorded by the bank, lying, saying he [the translator] was Ohtani and he wanted money transferred to a different account.) But Steve was not interested in evidence, because Pete Rose, who himself was caught red-handed gambling on *his own team while he was managing*, had been thrown out. "Pete Rose was the best player ever in the game." Okay.
"Come on, I don't want to argue about baseball. I just wondered what you thought." I asked about tile for the bathroom, and Steve showed me some, but no talk of prices. I don't know how we got back to baseball, but I said that my spouse and I had chosen a team that we really liked, not either of the teams in our geographical area (Mets or Yankees). We have enjoyed watching the Cleveland Guardians for a few years now.
"You mean the Indians...I believe that teams should keep the names they have." (I did not mention that most teams have gone through multiple name changes.) "Like the Redskins."
"But that name is really racist."
"No it's not, it's like the [he named local tribal nation]. Redskins and Indians isn't offensive." I didn't think fast enough to say that it's not Steve's skin that people named their sports team after, so he didn't get a say.
But what I did say was, "Look, I'm really starting to change my mind about wanting to give you our business," AND HE KEPT GOING. We backed toward the door, and he seemed to take enjoyment out of kind of herding us out with his angry white-man spew.
So I handed him back his business card and said, "Yeah, we're done here." And we left.
