Today, I drove to the same hardware store (Ace True-Value, CBurg) from which I purchased the last snow shovel for $40 this past January. I was looking for a long handle garden hoe. Before entering, I noticed that all the many trays of seedlings and plants offered for sale outside the door (herbs and veggie starts) were bone dry and either dead or dying for lack of watering. Inside, I walked down the long aisle of garden hand tools, but was unable to locate a hoe. I went to the checkout counter, where there were no customers waiting, to find two young employees surfing the Web on their smart phones.
"Excuse me. Do you have any long handle garden hoes?"
"They should be down there." He pointed down the aisle that I had already searched.
"I couldn't find one there."
"Then we probably are out." No offer to put away his smart phone, and look.
The other nearby employee tore himself from his phone for long enough to add, "We don't keep any back stock. If it's not out there, then we are out."
In abundant supply on the shelves of this hardware store were dozens of varieties of hot sauce. read more