I'm an avoid-the-big-boxes/shop-local guy. I've lived in Palo Cedro for almost 25 years, and I've spent an ungodly amount of money in this store. I've been in three times this week alone.
It occurs to me earlier this week that my garage is looking darker than the inside of a basalt lava tube cave. The garage is lighted by four 48-inch duel-tube fluorescent fixtures, and they're past due for new tubes. So I buy eight tubes at True Value and install them.
I get all the tubes replaced, and of the fixtures doesn't work at all. I confirm that it's got juice, so I need to replace that fixture. In another fixture, one tube lights up when I throw the switch, but the other flickers for a second and goes dark. I switch the new tubes to make sure it's not one bad side of the fixture. Nope. One good tube and one dud tube.
Here's where True Value fucked up.
I walk in this morning with the bad tube, intending to exchange it and to buy a new 48-inch fixture. I tell the guy at the front counter that I got a bad tube and need to exchange it. He looks at it from 10 feet away and says: "That's a really old lamp that's just used up."
I'm like, "I bought it yesterday and used it for about one second." (Seriously, this penis with limbs is accusing me of trying to return an old burnt-out tube.)
He asks, "You bought it as a single?" (They don't sell singles, so I guess he's looking for a "gotcha!" victory, or some bullshit.)
"No," I say. "The other tube is fine and is still in the fixture, lighting my garage."
"Well, I can't exchange one tube. You need to bring the other back, too."
Why? So you can restock them? They come in pairs, shrink-wrapped in cardboard and plastic at the factory.
Fuck you, asshole. I drove straight to Home Depot and bought the bulb and the new fixture, and probably saved about $25. I'm not promising that I'll never shop at PC True Value again, but if I do, it won't be because of my "shop local" ethos. Asshole True Value dude lit that up and pissed it out. read more