Poultry staples
I had a notable experience at Home Depot today. I had to pick up some things for work (yes, I know, I write software) and thought that as long as I was there, I should pick up some poultry staples. I didn’t actually know what they were called, approximating them as “U-shaped nails with a point on both ends that make an eye when you hammer them into wood.” Lame explanation, but I used my thumb and forefinger to help, which is a technique I use frequently at Home Depot.
(It’s also fun to describe something that you aren’t sure exists but have a need for, e.g., “I need something to plug into my power drill to turn it into a sander.”
“Oh, right over here.”
“Thanks, and, uh, I need something to plug into my power drill to let me cut things.”
“Well, that doesn’t actually exist, you’ll need a Dremel tool for that.”
“Oh, OK. Jenn, can I get a Dremel tool?”
“What would you possibly need a Dremel tool for?”
“Uh, to cut things.”
“No.”)
I was led to them (we’re back to the poultry staples) and put a 1 lb. box into my orange shopping bucket. I used the self-checkout because, let’s be honest, it’s lots of fun. First I rang up all my modeling supplies for work, and used the corporate credit card to pay for them. I then set those items aside and scanned my 1 lb. box of poultry staples.
The price came up as $0.01.
That was unexpected.
I called over the sales associate who supervised the four self-checkout stations and explained the situation.
“Perhaps you can buy them individually, and that’s a per-staple cost?” I asked. “But surely they’re not one cent per pound.”
She took the box over to her station and rang them up there.
“No, they’re ringing up as $0.01 over there, too,” I suppose suspecting it be a per-station bug, “so I’d just take it. They’re probably liquidating them or something.”
I always feel a little bit awkward in these situations, as I’m not sure her manager would agree, but hey, I had the blessing of a clerk. I was setting them down onto the scale (there is a digital balance on each station, and presumably an associated weight for each item in the store on a server, and they check to make sure the weight matches what they’re expecting) when she said “no, no, don’t put them there”, took them out of my hand, and put them on the top of the machine, above the touchscreen display. OK, that’s fine, I’ll swing with it. I take out one oxidized penny, dropped it into the coin slot, and received my receipt for $0.01.
So if you need poultry staples….
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