The Hippie in the Hardware Store

During this phase of our consumer spending, we tried to spread our money around to the three different hardware stores in our area. We spent more than we would have liked at the big box stores, largely because they sweet-talked us with financing deals that enabled us to stretch our current cash flow farther (we supposed that we'd pay off all the bills when we became millionaire teachers in the near future). Anyhow, Dominic noticed that, some of the time, the (mostly male) employees at the hardware stores treated him as if he didn't know his gasket from his elbow joint. We guessed they didn't expect Dominic to be much of a handyman because of his long hair, but, hey, this is Northern California, and Dominic is full of surprises. That's why I love him.